Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Sunday 15th November

  Sun 15 Nov 2020
  Dear Parents and Carers, 

   

  You may have heard that our neighbours Heaton Park Primary School have had to close entirely due to COVID-19. This virus is clearly a huge problem in our community at this time.

   

  There has been a confirmed case of COVID-19 affecting Lilac and Willow classes. As a result these classes will need to isolate until Friday 28th November inclusive and will return to school Monday 30th November. Those in direct contact with staff and children from the effected classes, have already been informed. If you have not been contacted then your child can come to school tomorrow as normal.

   

  Families who have children isolating from Willow and Lilac and who have older siblings in other classes, the older siblings can still attend school unless any of the household display symptoms. Those children should be brought to the main office entrance at 9:15 and collected at 2.45pm. This is to ensure that children isolating do not come into contact with any other families during drop off and collection times.

   

  Information about class closures and the logistics surrounding this will come via the school office. Please do not contact your child's teacher as this only leads to confusion.

  Mr. Longworth and I will be working with Miss Glover and Miss Gaff to provide online learning for Lilac and Willow children for the next two weeks.

   

  I am disappointed that two classes now have to isolate but this is a sign of our times. We at St. Margaret's will continue to do everything possible to keep your children in school.

   

  Keep safe and well.

  Mrs. Perry

• Friday 6th November

  Fri 06 Nov 2020
  Hi everyone
  
  I thought I would email you all as we get to the end of the first week of the new half term. I can feel that there is more anxiety as we move into a new lockdown. We need to continue to be strong and look out for each other. St. Margaret's is well placed to do this as we are a close community. Staff have got to know parents and carers better as we chat at staggered entry and exit times, sometimes in the rain! This is been a real positive in the current situation.
  
  Personally, I have enjoyed getting to know you better and learning more about your families. Staff are at hand every morning and at the end of school if you are worrying about  something.
  
  We all have to be prepared for our children working at home at some point. School staff are included in this because they have families of their own. We want to teach your children face to face, but this may not happen as it normally would. My daughter has started teaching  in Warsaw at the British School. Her school shut today for a month because of the spread of COVID. It is happening everywhere. In light of the current situation, if you know that your child would struggle to access remote learning, please let your child's class teacher know.
  
  The school had been given an allocation of 17 laptops under the government scheme. They have now backtracked on this and we do not now know how many laptops  St. Margaret's will be offered if any. I am challenging this but I am unsure what will happen.?
  
  The children have had a good week in school and it has been lovely to watch them having a good time in class and on the playground.
  
  Keep safe and well and have a lovely weekend.
  
  See you on Monday.
  
  Mrs. Perry.

• Sunday 1st November

  Sun 01 Nov 2020

  Good evening everyone,

   

  Except it isn't evening ! It's quarter to five and where I am it's dark!! I am sooooo not a winter person!. The staff are all in school tomorrow planning for the next half term. They are so keen to welcome all the children back.

   

  The country has gone back into lockdown as you will know. If your child needs to work at home then work will be posted on the class page. Please let us know if you have a problem accessing this. I think that home learning will be inevitable at some point for all classes.

   

  I hope that you have all had a restful half term holiday.

   

  I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday,

   

  Lots of love.

  Mrs. Perry :)

   

• Wednesday 21st October

  Wed 21 Oct 2020

  Dear Parents and Carers

  I thought I would remind you that the Health and Safety representative will be in school tomorrow morning early doors. She will observe the children coming in to school  and have a look round the shared areas in school. She will not be in classrooms.

  I asked a Bury H and S rep to visit school today to give us any advice and make sure that the systems we have put in place are robust enough. There were a small number of tips but otherwise he was impressed with what we are doing. I go into tomorrow's inspection with confidence !!

  Soooo … remember your mask and remember to be 2m apart. I think we can be really proud of what we have achieved!

  Keep safe and well.

  Mrs. Perry

• Monday 19th September

  Mon 19 Oct 2020

  Good evening all Parents and Carers,

   

  I hope you have had a good start to the week. I think everyone in school is really tired and looking forward to the half term, I certainly include myself in that. I know that you all must be nervous about what is going to happen in Greater Manchester as Andy Burnham tries to gain a good financial deal for all of us. 

   

  I was in a meeting today with Heads and the Local Authority and they describe it as a 'carousel of in school and out' and of  'ups and down' on an escalator. As a person who likes to generally know what I am facing on a day to day basis, I find this hard. I am trying to think of it this way - if anything happens in the day that you expected..... smile!

   

  We need to be prepared for bubbles to be sent home and for children to be home learning. This will only be done on the advice of the local health team (who are excellent by the way). In light of this, please can you let school / your child's class teacher via the class page know if there are issues accessing home learning. We have limited access to new IT equipment via a Government scheme and I need the information to prioritise the allocation of the equipment as obviously not all children are eligible. School will explore every means of getting class work to you and this is why the information is required.

   

  On Thursday the school will have an Her Majesty's Inspector of Health and Safety on the premises. You will see her with me in the morning as the children enter school. This is a random visit to look at our Risk Assessment and to see how it is working in practical terms. I welcome the chance to show her everything that we have put in place.

   

  I hope that you are having a restful evening. 

   

  See you tomorrow.

   

  Mrs. Perry x

  
   

• Friday 16th October

  Fri 16 Oct 2020
  Dear Parents and Carers

  We have survived another week. :)

  I think I am slowly and reluctantly coming to terms with the fact that this is the way life will be for some time: bubbles being sent home; staff and children off ill and returning; parents and grandparents being ill also. I guess that the important thing is that we are returning  and well. My thoughts go to families where loved ones are not well. Now that we have reset the school again after a very sudden closure, I would like to ask that where parents are having a  real difficulty accessing on-line learning, please will you let us know? We will support you in whatever way we can, with alternatives if classes need to work at home. School staff will be helping me gather this evidence.

  I would like to say that, once again, the children are a credit to you and to the school. We do have our difficult days and I can see that the children need lots of TLC and that some of them worry. We will support them with pleasure. 

  Please can I also say that I am immensely proud of our school staff at every level. There has been illness with staff themselves. Illness within their families. Staff have children isolating at home, in the same way that you are and home learning. Some staff have elderly parents who are ill.

  I think that as a community we are well placed to support each other. School staff are at hand at the beginning and end of the school day to help. Personally, I think that we have all got to know each other better in the last few weeks because we have been talking more. Let's keep doing that.

  Have a lovely weekend. I will see you on Monday.

  Lots of love .

  Mrs. Perry XX

• Friday 9th October

  Fri 09 Oct 2020

  Good afternoon Parents and Carers,

   

  Thank you for all your support this week as all the children returned to school. We have had a good week and the children have been a pleasure to be with. Some staff remain poorly and our best wishes for a speedy recovery go to them. These are, unfortunately, the sign of the times we live in.

   

  Have a lovely weekend.

  Mrs. Perry. :)

• Wednesday 7th October

  Wed 07 Oct 2020

  My Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  It was so lovely to see everyone today. Thank you for your patience at the end of the school day!! We had everyone back in school including our Reception children. There were queues at times. This was partly due to everyone returning, but please bear with us as we do not yet know all of the new parents and so helping the new children to find their parents took a little longer than usual. We will get better and things will become smoother over time.

   

  We are so proud of you and the way school is dealing with this horrid situation.

  From a personal point of view, thank you so much for all the lovely comments and questions about my health and that of the staff. Several staff are still unwell and cannot attend school as a result. 

   

  Keep safe and well. I will see you in the morning. Your children are a joy and are a credit to you,

   

  Lots of love,

  Mrs. Perry. :)

• Monday 5th October

  Mon 05 Oct 2020

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  I hope you're having a lovely evening?

   

  The staff are very keen to welcome your children back to school this week. I think that all we all want is some semblance of normality, whatever that is these days. School will try its best to reset school as smoothly as possible and staff will be on hand to greet the children as usual, so arrive at the usual staggered time at the beginning and end of the day..

   

  I must admit that although our aim is for school to return to normal, you will know that the situation is ever changing. While school has been closed there have been a number of staff and children test positive. If this happens once the children are back, then this would lead to certain bubbles being sent home again. This would only be done on the advice of the Local Health Team.​

   

  Some of the staff are still too poorly to attend school even though their isolation period has ended. Therefore, supply staff has had to be arranged in certain areas of the school. The latest information I have from Bury Local Authority is that the number of cases is high compared with the North West and is continuing to rise. All we can all do is try our best, so please remember to wear your mask when you drop your children off and remember to socially distance as far as possible.

   

  We really are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow or Wednesday.

   

  Lots of love.

  Mrs. Perry x

• Friday 2nd October

  Fri 02 Oct 2020
  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  As we approach the end of another difficult week I am sending an update about the plans for school re-opening next week.

   

  The situation with poorly staff has changed as the week has gone on and so there are some unavoidable changes to our return dates. 

   

  School is following the Local Health Team Advice at all times.

   

  School will re-open as follows: 

   

  Tuesday the 6th October for: Years 6;5;3; Hawthorn and Oak.

   

  Wednesday 7th October for: Year4, Lilac and Willow.

   

   

  All I want is for all your children to be back with us in school. However, the spread of coronavirus, especially in our local area, means that the likelihood of children working at home at times,  is high and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

   

  I hope that your families are safe and well.

   

  Have a lovely weekend and I will see you very soon.

   

  Mrs. Perry