Dear Parents and Carers,

Happy new year to you all! I hope that you managed to have a relaxing Christmas despite the many changes that occurred.

We apologise for the short notice that was given last night following the government announcement which is unfortunately unavoidable as we found out the changes at the same time that you did. We have worked hard to try and get information to you as quickly as possible after finding out the news on the broadcast. We are sure that you will share our frustrations that this has come at such short notice and we were so looking forward to welcoming all children back after Christmas.

Schools have now closed from today until February half term apart from vulnerable and children of key workers. Nursery will also remain open. We have yet to receive any updated guidance but as it stands, this list stands the same as it did in the previous lockdown.

As of yet, we still have no guidance to know whether breakfast and after school club can continue, so this will continue for key worker and vulnerable children in the usual booking system unless we hear otherwise.

From Monday, the times of the school day will revert back to 8.45am-3pm for all pupils attending so that there is some consistency across classes and for parents collecting. Children will still be greeted by SLT to sanitise hands and make their way into classes with parents not going into the school building as this is still not allowed for safety. For the rest of this week, we will continue with the staggered drop off and pick-ups.

From tomorrow (Wednesday), learning will be available for all children working from home via Seesaw. For the rest of this week, this will be worksheet based. From Monday, we will be moving to more pre-recorded lessons with a teacher input to best support pupils learning at home.

Please see below our remote learning offer. I would like to stress that this offer is there and we would value pupils completing as much as possible to aid their education, however, I appreciate that many of you have lots of things to juggle at home and so please complete whatever you can and upload to Seesaw. If children are unable to access Seesaw, please contact the school office who would be happy to help.

Remote learning offer Mill Lane:

  • A daily welcome and overview of learning will be sent via announcement on SeeSaw by 8.45am daily
  • Literacy and Maths provided daily with at least one being pre-recorded teacher input each day
  • Daily Storytime pre-recorded
  • Guided Reading (Yr2-6) provided daily with a weekly comprehension task
  • RWInc (EYFS-Yr1) daily with pre-recorded teacher input/RWI video’s
  • Weekly 10-a-day mental health and wellbeing activity
  • All children’s learning to receive feedback (like and approve) with every child receiving at least one daily comment on learning
  • Fortnightly phone calls home from class teacher to check in – weekly for those not uploading learning

For those in school, we are trying to keep pupils with the teacher and staff that they are familiar with where possible to keep their education moving forward, and also to support their emotional well-being as this difficult time.

Lunches will remain as hot dinners for school. For those pupils entitled to free school meals at home, we will be available to offer a school packed lunch again which will be available for collection from the school office at midday each day. This will consist of a choice of a cheese/tuna/ham sandwich with a yoghurt, fruit, biscuit and a drink. If you would like your child at home to receive this and they qualify as a free school meal, please phone the office daily by 9.30am to place your order.

We will be updating our risk assessment to reflect the following changes which I would appreciate your co-operation with:

  • Masks will be worn for all staff receiving children in the morning and afternoon
  • Masks to be worn by parents on school site
  • Due to extra ventilation needed to keep the school as safe as possible, children may wear extra layers in the classroom. Ideally this will be under their school uniform but where needed, can be added over the top of their school uniform
  • We will be minimising face to face contact between parents and staff as much as possible, so if you wish to have conversations with staff, please do so via e-mail or telephone to limit contact

We will continue to take the safety of the children with highest regard and realise that this situation may be highly challenging for many of you. We will continue to provide a caring, learning focussed environment over the coming weeks for the pupils in school and at home. If you wish to contact me to discuss any of this further, please do so via e-mail on annabelle.thomas@teignmouthschool.co.uk

Yours sincerely

Mrs Annabelle Thomas
Head of School