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

Please click a headline to read more or visit our school Facebook page: Cliftonville Primary and Pre-School.

• Letter to year 6 Parents

  Fri 26 Jun 2020

  Dear Year 6 parents,

  I understand that a few of you have experienced issues with completing and emailing in the Year 6 leavers’ book template. If this is the case, you can just email in the details and attach a photo file and we will complete the template for you. Please encourage your children to include as much detail as possible in the sections ‘My Best Memories’ and also ‘Proudest Moment’. For instance, if their memory is of a school trip, provide details of which school trip and what they particularly liked. Another example could be sports day – can they give details about which race they won etc?

  The templates will be compiled into a year book for all children. If your child is not in school, there will be an opportunity on the last day of term (Wednesday 22nd July) to come to the school gate, say goodbye to their teacher and to collect their year book.

   

  I am sure you will agree that it has been a difficult year for the children and they have missed out on so many end of year 6 celebrations due to the pandemic. It is therefore really important that they have something to remember their time at Cliftonville and to have closure on their primary school life.

   

  The link for the template is here: https://www.cliftonvilleprimary.co.uk/year-6-leavers-book/

   

  Please email completed templates or information in an email with attached photo to: homelearning@cliftonville.kent.sch.uk by FRIDAY 3^rd JULY to allow us time to print and compile the year books. If you have any queries about the above, please also email the home learning email address.

   

  Best wishes

  Andrea Frith

  (Assistant Head Teacher)

• Phone calls home

  Thu 25 Jun 2020

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  Many thanks to those of you who completed the Google Form questionnaire sent home last week regarding home learning. The results were overwhelmingly positive and we thank you for the time and effort you have put in to support your children learning at home.

   

  We recognise that many of your children are missing their friends and teachers. We are also missing them – and you! Our weekly teacher newsletters, photographs on the school Facebook page and the voice overs on the Power Point resources have gone some way to addressing this but we do understand that some of your children need more.

   

  Therefore, from next week and if your child is not in school (or already in touch with an adult in school), they will be receiving a weekly phone call home from their teacher or Year Group Leader during school hours. Due to the number of children we have to call this will, unfortunately, only be a short call but they will have time to talk about how they are, what they have been up to and how the home learning is going. We will be calling the telephone number stored on our system and unfortunately, due to time and teaching constraints, will not be able to keep trying if a call cannot be taken or is missed. If you would like to discuss any issue or worries you might have, please contact the Parent Support Advisors on the following email address and they will be in touch with you: psa@cliftonville.kent.sch.uk.

   

  We are really looking forward to speaking to the children,

   

  Best wishes

   

  Mrs Louise Wilson

  Deputy Head Teacher

• Dear parents and carers

  Thu 25 Jun 2020

  Thursday 25^th June, 2020

  Dear Parents/Carers,

  I would like to start by once again saying thank you to you all for your support for the school. These last few months have been challenging for us all. I know from speaking to parents that whilst it has been nice to spend quality time with your children undertaking a whole range of different activities with them, it has also been challenging at times to meet the home learning needs whilst, for many, working from home yourselves. Staff at Cliftonville have also been in the same position! I also know that many of you are maybe frustrated because you would like to have your children back at school; for them to be learning with their teachers and their friends. We feel the same way. We would love to have all the children back too.

  You may like to learn that along with the increasing number of Keyworker groups, we have had the Y6 returning successfully. The Reception children will be starting on Tuesday 30^th and we are hopeful that we will be able to offer some provision to Y1’s before the end of the term. I understand that this may not help those parents of Y2-5 and if there were some way to have them back as well, we would.

  You will now all had a text confirming that the school will be closed from Wednesday 22^nd July at 12 o’clock and will remain closed over the summer holidays until our return in September. We are hoping to offer a couple of mornings where parents will be able to drop off any reading books they may have and pick up a new reading book. There will be further details about this later this term.

  Following on from the government’s announcement on Friday 19^th that all children will be returning to school in September, we are waiting on the guidance promised to help us plan what that may look like in reality. Once again, I am asking you to please bear with us. As soon as we have seen and digested that guidance we will be letting all parents know about the September start. I can inform you though that transition to your child’s new year group will happen in the first few days back in September.

  For now, we are also concentrating on the end of year arrangements. Your feedback from the remote learning survey has really helped us clarify our thinking around the use of technology and we will be trialling some software in the coming weeks. I am really pleased that the PowerPoints with audio has gone down well with the children and we shall obviously continue with these. Now we have more staff on site we will be starting to make phone calls home to you all – just checking in with your childs class teacher or year group leader. We hope these will be useful and enjoyed by the children and yourselves. Finally, we will be having some pre-recorded video end of term assemblies for the whole school and separate ones for the year groups. Further details will come out about these and how you will be able to view them. The Y6 leavers event information will come out separately.

  In the meantime, stay safe and keep well.

  Yours sincerely,

  

• Letter to Year 1 Parents

  Tue 23 Jun 2020

  Dear Parents/ Carers,

  I hope are all keeping safe and well. As you are aware, we have started the phased return of our Year 6 children (with year R starting next week) and now feel that we are in a position to be able to open our doors to our Year 1 children from Tuesday 7^th July on a part-time timetable – either a morning or afternoon slot Monday to Thursdays. Unfortunately, we do not have the classroom space or the staff to open for a longer school day due to the number of children we have returning to school in the next few weeks. Fridays will be used to deep clean the classrooms and for teachers to plan and prepare lessons. We need to ensure we can meet the needs and safeguard all children at all times with staffing numbers and social distancing measures. As promised, we have been evaluating at the end of each week, our health and safety measures and the number of staff available to ensure that any return to school can be as safe as possible.  Taking into account and following the Government guidelines, we will be:

   

  • Continuing to enforce a 2m social distancing rule with the children as much as possible.
  • The children will be in a class with up to 9 other children.
  • To minimise the threat of the virus spreading, the children will not be able to socialise with other children from different groups but will remain within their ‘group’ for the duration of their time at school.
  • The children will have their own set of resources to be used
  • The children will not necessarily be with their usual class teacher. We will be using all available Cliftonville staff to lead the classes of children. We will be using the year 2 classrooms.
  • Arrival and departure from school will be staggered to avoid too many children arriving and leaving at one time. Drop off and pick up will be via the Key Stage 1 playground using a one way system.
  • Children will be expected to wear a set of clean clothes every day to minimise contamination. This does not have to be school uniform but must be appropriate for school and be easy for children to take off when using the toilet.
  • Children will only need to bring a water bottle and sun hat to school.
  • One to one support will not be possible.
  • Parents/ carers will not be allowed into the school. All communication will need to be via telephone or email.
  • Children will need to be dropped off and collected by an adult at the end of their session.

   

  If your child currently attends in a Key Worker bubble, they will have to either stay in that bubble OR attend in a year 1 bubble. We are NOT able to mix them.

   

  If you would like your child to return to school from Tuesday 7^th July, please click on the link below and complete the Google Form. You are able to express a preference of a morning or afternoon slot. However, I cannot guarantee that we will be able to fulfil your wish – this will depend on the number of families who sign up. We are still operating on a skeleton staff and so need to plan for enough adults to keep your children safe. If you do not sign up by Friday 26^th June, we will not be able to guarantee your child a space.

   

  https://forms.gle/LBmkRXz3o9DkbRy57

   

  If you would like your child to return to school and have completed the Google Form, we will be in touch with you next week to let you know who your child’s teacher and TA will be and which slot you have been allocated along with drop off and collection points.

  I would like to reiterate that the decision over your child returning at any time is 100% your choice and we will fully support your decision. The provision of online learning will continue for those children remaining at home.

   

  Yours Sincerely

   

  Mrs L Wilson

  (Deputy Head Teacher and Early Years Leader)

• Using public transport to come to school

  Thu 18 Jun 2020
  

• Letter to all parents

  Wed 17 Jun 2020

  Wednesday 17^th June, 2020

  Dear Parents and Carers, 

  I am sure that you are aware that last week the Secretary of State for Education finally clarified the government’s position regarding the full opening of primary schools for a month before the end of term. He has accepted that most schools (particularly primary schools) do not have the capacity, in terms of both physical space and teachers, to welcome back all students, but went on to say that if schools do have capacity, then the government would like them to accommodate the return of more children before the end of the summer term.  As a result of this statement, we (myself, the staff and our governing body) are considering what this means for us here at Cliftonville Primary and Pre School.

   

  In the last few months we have been asked to respond, usually at very short public notice, to circumstances we could scarcely have imagined as we entered into 2020. Over the past few weeks, we have been tasked with the complete redesign and reorganisation of our classrooms and other learning spaces in school to ensure it was safe for a phased return of children with Year 6 in the first instance. Following several incarnations of risk assessments, this has meant: emptying or moving classrooms of furniture to enable social distancing; sectioning off playground equipment and outdoor spaces; the installation of further hand washing and sanitising stations as well as acquiring sufficient PPE for staff. Revised timetables were then drawn up to allocate staff to these smaller groups, alongside opportunities for them to continue to provide work for home learning. We were, of course, committed to doing all of this and more and we thank the governing body and you, the parents, for your support in delaying the start, until this was in place and the school was as safe as possible, for your children to begin to return.

   

  By the end of this week, we will have seen a successful return of Year 6 along with increasing numbers of Keyworker children. We now are moving onto the next stage, which will be welcoming our Reception children back on a part time basis, mornings or afternoons from 30^th June. More details will be going out to our Reception parents separately this week. We shall then review the measures we have put in place and amend them if necessary. Depending on numbers we are hopeful that we may have a bit more capacity to welcome another year group but this is very much dependant on capacity. Clearly, if anything needs to change we will inform you of this in due course.

   

  At present, because of the physical size of our school, and the structure, we have planned for the groups who have already returned to school, along with the expanding number of children requiring our key worker provision, and unfortunately, I have to be honest with you and say that we currently, do not have the capacity to take any more children at this time in Year 6 while current social distancing restrictions apply. This will also include our reception children. The sign up this week will be the only one and no further requests will be possible for Year R and Year 6.

   

  As a staff, we all feel concerned for the children who remain at home. We know that the vast majority have been keeping up with their home learning, but this can never replace the experience of physically being at school. If we were able to bring everyone back safely, believe me we would do it.

   

  We understand that this situation is far from ideal and is frustrating for both yourselves and more importantly, your children. You, and they, will have many questions about the future, some of which we cannot answer now.

   

   

   

   

  As yourselves, I await the next announcement from the government to find out what arrangements for September will be. Whilst we are obviously looking at a variety of options and different models we are unable to clarify anything with you at the moment. However, as soon as we are able, we will do so.

   

  As the situation changes so rapidly at present, such as governmental discussions around schools opening over the Summer, it is very likely I will be communicating our responses to you as soon as decisions are made. Thank you for your unerring support over the past couple of months as it has made a very difficult situation much more manageable and ensured we have all been able to stay safe and healthy. If there is anything else I can help you with at this stage then please feel free to contact me at school – email is best at the moment for obvious reasons.

   

  We will, of course, keep you all informed and offer a further update in the coming weeks.

  In the meantime, stay safe and keep well.

  

• Letter to Year R Parents

  Tue 16 Jun 2020 Mrs Wilson

  Dear Parents/ Carers,

   

  I hope are all keeping safe and well. As you are aware, we have started the phased return of our Year 6 children and now feel that we are in a position to be able to open our doors to our Reception children from Tuesday 30^th June on a part-time timetable – either a morning or afternoon slot - Monday to Thursdays. Unfortunately, we do not have the classroom space or the staff to open for a longer school day due to the number of children we have returning to school in the next few weeks. Fridays will be used to deep clean the classrooms and for teachers to plan and prepare lessons for the following week as well as provide online learning resources. We need to ensure we can meet the needs and safeguard all children at all times with staffing numbers and social distancing measures.

   

  As promised, we have been evaluating at the end of each week, our health and safety measures and the number of staff available to ensure that any return to school can be as safe as possible.  Taking into account and following the Government guidelines, we will be:

  • Enforcing the 2m social distancing rule with the children as much as possible.
  • The children will be in a class with up to 9 other children.
  • To minimise the threat of the virus spreading, the children will not be able to socialise with other children from different groups but will remain within their ‘group’ for the duration of their time at school.
  • The children will have their own set of resources to be used
  • The children will not necessarily be with their usual class teacher. We will be using all available Cliftonville staff to lead the classes of children. We will be using the year R classrooms but your child may not be in their usual classroom depending on numbers of children.
  • Arrival and departure from school will be staggered to avoid too many children arriving and leaving at one time.
  • Children will be expected to wear a set of clothes every day to minimise contamination. This does not have to be school uniform but must be appropriate for school and be easy for children to take off when using the toilet.
  • Children will only need to bring a water bottle and sun hat to school.
  • One to one support will not be possible.
  • Parents/ carers will not be allowed into the school. All communication will need to be via telephone or email.
  • Children will need to be dropped off and collected by an adult at the end of their session.
  •  

  If you would like your child to return to school from Tuesday 30^th June, please click on the link below and complete the Google Form. You are able to express a preference of a morning or afternoon slot. However, I cannot guarantee that we will be able to fulfil your wish – this will depend on the number of families who sign up. We are still operating on a skeleton staff and so need to plan for enough adults to keep your children safe. If you do not sign up by Friday 19^th June, we will not be able to guarantee your child a space.

   

  https://forms.gle/4vY7uaUmLT7UHtwz5

   

  If you would like your child to return to school and have completed the Google Form, we will be in touch with you next week to let you know who your child’s teacher and TA will be and which slot you have been allocated along with drop off and collection points. Additional information to support your children in returning to school will also be available on our school website from Thursday 25^th June.

   

  I would like to reiterate that the decision over your child returning at any time is 100% your choice and we will fully support your decision. The provision of online learning will continue for those children remaining at home.

   

  Yours Sincerely

  Mrs L Wilson

  (Deputy Head Teacher and Early Years Leader)

• Dear Y6 parents

  Tue 09 Jun 2020

  Dear Y6 Parents/Carers,

  Firstly thank you to all parents who bought in their Y6 children to school this morning. It was lovely to see all the smiling faces- we have missed you all very much!

  Overall, it was a very smooth and happy start to term 6. The new entry system of through the car park worked well. I also appreciated each bubble group coming in at their allotted time. This ensured that there was a steady stream of children and parents walking towards the drop off/ pick up point- all socially distancing.

  The children were obviously a little nervous at first but were clearly excited to be back to see their friends. Although the school was not as they would have remembered it, they took on board the regular necessities of hand washing, sanitising and keeping 2m apart. They relaxed quickly into their routines and enjoyed being back with their teachers, friends and learning.

  I have had some requests from other Y6 parents wanting their child to start attending tomorrow. The answer is no. We will be sending a text out every Tuesday to Y6 parents not currently attending but wishing to start the following week. If you want your child to start attending, please reply to this text message (MOB: 07540686882) by 5pm on Wednesday. Your child will start from the following Monday. We need this time to organise the additional classrooms, resources and staffing for the extra bubbles. Please remember that the provision is Monday to Thursday.

  For example, a text has gone out this morning to Y6 parents. If you want your child to attend (from Monday 15th June) please reply (MOB: 07540686882) with your child’s name by 5pm on the Wednesday. If you are keeping your child at home, please do not reply.

  Please do not turn up at the school wanting your child to start immediately. This will to be possible.

  Thank you for your understanding with this and we look forward to see more year 6 children in the coming weeks.

  

• Start of term 6 : details for all parents

  Fri 05 Jun 2020

  Dear Parents and children

   

  We are looking forward to welcoming back more children to Cliftonville Primary and Pre School from June 8th. We have spent a huge amount of time ensuring the site is ready so that we can have more children in safely- following the governments guidelines.

   

  The arrangements for the start of term 6 for all children are as follows;

   

  Key worker children who have already confirmed their place for this first week (week beginning 8th June) will be attending school 9am to 3pm. Please arrive via the green 'reception' gates and follow the one way system and maintain social distancing at all time.

   

  Y6 children who have already confirmed their place will start on Tuesday 9th June. Please arrive at your allotted time (already communicated to you) via the Car Park( which will be closed during drop off and pick up times). Please follow the footprints,  one way system and maintain social distancing at all times.

   

  All other year groups will continue with the home learning activities accessed through the website.

   

  For information about what school will be like - 'the new normal', please follow the link below

  https://www.cliftonvilleprimary.co.uk/school-organisation-during-covid-19-wider-opening-/

   

  Future weeks

  We send a text out to the Key worker group weekly. Please reply to the text if you wish your child/children to have a place for the following week. Please give name (s) and date(s).

   

  For year 6, we will text parents next week (week beginning 8th). please reply of you want your Y6 child to attend from the 15th June. This process will be repeated weekly.

   

  On Friday 19th, we will be reviewing the capacity of the school and if safe to do so, we will be welcoming another year group back to the school from Monday 29th.

   

  Thank you again for your commitment to our school.

   We look forward to see you all soon.

• Kent Test registration is now LIVE!

  Mon 01 Jun 2020

  Kent Test registration is open from 1 June until 1 July. Please ensure that you register at www.kent.gov.uk/ola .

   

  Thank you