Dear Parents and Carers,

It is World Book Day on March 4th. The children usually come dressed up as a character from a book. This year the day will be deferred until all the children have returned, so that no one misses out.

Mrs. Perry

:)

Dear Parents and Carers

It is with much relief that we will welcome our children back on March 8th. I am sure that you are as relieved as we are!! All the children will return on that day. School will be re-instating the systems that were in place in the Autumn Term with some, what we hope will be, improvements. (More information to follow by the end of the week.)

Having said this, COVID is still with us and the disease has seemed very close to home in this latest lockdown. Many of us, both in school and at home, have experienced COVID close at hand. Therefore, we still have to take great care. Our Risk Assessment will be reviewed and will be put on the school website before March 8th. It will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Smarties will remain closed until I am satisfied that our Risk Assessment is working well and that our children have returned safely. Clearly this will be as soon as possible.

I look forward to seeing all the children back on March 8th.

Keep safe and well.

Mrs. Perry

Dear Parents and Carers

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

I have received an email from Bury's Director of Children's Services, March 8th is still the date from which schools will start to re-open. That is how things stand at the moment, but there is no detail about what this will look like. Therefore, I am unsure whether all the children will be able to return or whether the return will be phased as it was in June. The hope of all the staff is that we can all return and be together.

When the Prime Minister gives more detail later today, we will know more.

In light of this, until March 8th, school will continue with remote learning twice daily. We have increased the number of Zoom sessions to two following requests from a significant number of parents. However, school recognises the pressures on working parents. The work for the day is on your child's class page each morning. If a second Zoom each afternoon is not feasible within your working day then clearly school would not wish to put any further pressure upon you. The pressures on all of us are already significant. Complete what work you can in whatever way is best for your family.

If a second Zoom gives more structure to your child's day then this is what school was hoping to achieve.

If one Zoom is sufficient to meet your needs then this is also what school has always hoped to achieve.

School will re-open to children of critical workers and to those who are vulnerable on Tuesday 23rd Feb. Today, I will be consulting with Miss Glover and Miss Gaff to further identify how best to support our youngest children.

Keep safe and well.

Mrs. Perry x

Dear Parents and Carers

I would like to say how proud I am of our school community this half term. I know what a struggle remote learning has been for many of you. Staff have worked very hard to provide good online learning for the children. It has been a steep learning curve for all of us.

 Teachers will be putting on two Zoom sessions from the 23rd February. (Monday 22nd is a PAD day and staff will be in school for training.) The morning session will be at the same time and will include registration and the explanation of the morning's work. The session at 1pm will also be a registration session with an explanation of the afternoon's work so children now need to attend. Parents from across the school,  have asked for more structure to their child's day so this change is in response to your request.

We look forward to what the Government has to say about schools re-opening on February 22nd and really hope that all children will be able to return very soon.

Can I wish you all a very happy half term. I think that it has come at the right time!!

Keep safe and well.

Mrs. Perry.

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have survived another week!! I know that the start of the new term has brought many last minute changes and stresses, but our St. Margaret's community is doing really well. We moved to remote learning for the majority within 36 hours of being told that schools were open only for critical workers and vulnerable children. The move was fairly smooth. This is an admirable achievement for all of us!

On Monday, when a significant number of institutions: schools; colleges and  universities moved to online learning there was an understandable strain on the internet. Thank you for your patience. I think generally things were working  much better by the end of the week.

It has been lovely to see the children in school and also in Zoom meetings and on Google Classrooms. Staff have been working on these - an area they are not trained for. I am proud of the way they have 'got to grips with it' and I am proud of the way the children and our families,  have done the same.

This afternoon I have met (virtually) with Christian Wakeford, our local MP, and I have told him the realities of what life is like for us at the moment(In school and at home). He will take this information to his future meetings and we have his support. 

Hopefully next week will be a little calmer. Please keep safe and well this weekend.

Lots of love,

Mrs. Perry x

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am pleased to say that our remote learning sessions have run more smoothly today. Thank you for bearing with us!! Staff are working extremely hard to make this work!

I have received a letter today from Bury's Assistant Director for Learning, Julien Kramer. He has provided an update for parents about National Lockdown Arrangements. Please select the link below to view this letter.

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/st-margarets-cofe-primary-school-manchester/UploadedDocument/12c520f7601f4f07a2a00c53d9e67713/letter-to-parents-carers-final50224.pdf

The numbers of children in school remain high and in some classes are putting pupils and staff at risk. Please read this letter and if you can possibly keep your child at home, please do. A big thank you, to those of you who have already decided to do this.

I have capped the numbers of children offered a place, in some classes,  on health and safety grounds. Any child needing a place will be added to a waiting list. I know how hard this is for you and your families and I genuinely look forward to when we can all be in school, together again. Any decisions I make are for the benefit of our St. Margaret's community.

Thank you again for all your support and good wishes.

Keep safe and well.

Mrs. Perry :)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to a new week. Goodness me! It has been all fun and games!! I know that technically there has been a few issues. The whole country has now moved to more remote learning and this would seem to be the issue. Staff are working as hard as they can to provide work on each class page and to provide lessons online. The work that is coming in from the children is really impressive. If required, School can print work off for you.

I know that these times are again really stressful and challenging! Please continue to work with us to support your children. Each day will get easier and smoother. Thank you for all your emails giving support to the school.

Also a big thank you from me to those who have revised plans and will now keep their children at home. 

Keep safe and well.

Mrs. Perry xx

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am aware that there have been technical issues with some of our class Zooms and Parents also cannot log in to Tapestry, neither can Miss Glover. School has emailed Tapestry and their developers have increased their servers capacity for home learning traffic and they are still experiencing errors. They are working to resolve these as quickly as possible.

Hopefully, any issues with Zoom will also be resolved tomorrow.

Mrs. Perry.

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend? Personally, I have tried to have a quiet one in preparation for next week! Let's hope that we can be allowed to get on with the week without any more changes just for now!

Please can I make another plea to Critical Worker parents. The Government Guidance says that if there is one Critical Worker in a family of two adults, then your child is entitled to a place. However, I have consulted with the Local Authority and the Public Health England guidance and it is the same as it was when school was open for Key Worker and vulnerable children only, between March and July. 

In classrooms, there should be 2 metres between all persons present. That is, in front, behind and to each side. That means that every classroom at St. Margaret's can only accommodate 8 children. Each class has at least this number. 

There is no more room in school for any more children, if the situation is to remain remotely safe. My intention is not to take places away, but if there is any possibility that your child does not need a place each day, please can you let school know. A reduction in places on a Wednesday would be particularly appreciated, especially in Hawthorn Class, where the numbers are nearly double what PHE recommends is safe.

The number of positive cases in Bury continues to rise (by 40%).  Bury has the third highest infection rate in Greater Manchester - in schools the number of positive cases has risen by 333% (this is PHE information I received in the School's Advisory Group last Thursday). 

My concern is for the safety of everyone in the St. Margaret's community. We all need to do everything we can to reduce contact with others and, therefore, reduce the chance of transmitting the disease. Where there is a genuine need for any child to attend school, then a request will always be granted.

I thank you all for your continued support and I really appreciate all the heart-warming comments my staff and I have received this last week.

Keep safe and well.

Mrs. Perry. x