Friday bulletin: 9th October 2020

We’ve made it – and breathe

I cannot say how pleased I am that we have come to the end of this school term, for no other reason than we’ve got to the end so positively. I am so grateful to the amazing staff of Team Edenside who have gone above and beyond to ensure your children have been supported to return to our ‘new normal’. My thanks also to you and your children for working with us to ensure a smooth and successful return. I wish you all a restful break and look forward to welcoming the children back on TUESDAY 20th OCTOBER (school is closed on Monday 19th).

Teacher phone calls – it’s good to talk

We hope you found this week’s phone calls from P2-7 class teachers positive and reassuring. The teachers commented on how good it was to reconnect with many families who were part of their lockdown weekly contact.

If you missed your call or if you ever have any questions about your child’s schooling, please get in touch via the normal channels.

Junior Road Safety Officers – 2 new recruits

In the midst of our ‘new normal’, we have been able to appoint 2 new Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) whose job it will be to support and educate the school on all matters relating to road safety. Our new recruits are Kirstin Thomson (P7W) and Jacob Harradine (P7S). They enjoyed their first assignment on Thursday, attending the first ever virtual JRSO conference; an exciting start!

Next term – starting as we mean to go on

When you start to get school bags ready on the evening before school resumes on Tuesday 20th October, please help us by observing the following:

– PE kits can be brought to school in kits bags! After carefully consideration, we will be resuming our usual changing practices on PE days. Please send a full PE kit at the start of each week.

– Order lunches via ParentPay.

– If using our breakfast club, make sure you’ve added credit for the week.

– Coats will continue to be necessary every day. The weather is so unpredictable and we want to be prepared.

– Toys from home must stay at home; we strongly discourage any toys or items from home being brought in to school – they cause unnecessary upset.

– Lego / collector cards will be for before school and after school only; we will strongly discourage these in school – they cause unhelpful angst.

Loose parts – a request for more!

Earlier in the term we introduced loose parts play into some of our playground zones. The children have thoroughly enjoyed playing with ‘the junk’ in their breaks and the results have been amazing! Through playing with loose parts, it is a chance for children to; play freely with friends, investigate, explore, create, use lots of trial and error, learn to make their own judgements about adventurous play and, recognising safe limits.

We would now like to expand the resources we already have and to introduce them to the other playground zones and the P1 outside play area. To do this we need to collect loose parts. The list of possible loose parts is endless but can include: hoses/pipes/gutters, tyres, old steering wheels, wheels from bikes/trikes, wooden boxes/plastic crates, metal pots and pans, metal watering cans, planks of wood, offcuts of decking/timber, pallets, large wooden picture frames (minus the glass), wooden cable reels, large pieces of fabric/tarpaulin, tree stumps/logs/log slices, buckets.

If you or any family members may have any such items which you could donate, we would be most grateful. Please contact Mrs White via the school email address. Thank you.

Attendance review – every day counts

This first term has been different with much anxiety surrounding sending children to school. We have been incredibly fortunate with the general health of our children which has resulted in an overall attendance rate (for 300 children) of 96.6%. Being in school is hugely important and we want to encourage good attendance habits in our children. With your help, we want every child to be in school as much as possible. The attendance of every child is monitored on a monthly basis and, if there are any concerns, we get in touch with you as parents and carers. We intend to resume this practice in the new school term.

And finally – our plans for the coming year

Whilst our focus continues to be on maintaining a safe and secure school for your children, we are also committed to being ‘the best we can be’. The attached School Improvement Plan (summary) gives you an overview of our plans for this year and the next 3 years. We do not know what the coming months hold but we are determined to ensure Edenside offers the best schooling experience for you and your children.

Edenside SIP 2020 2021 summary.pdf