Our plans for wider opening of school…
At Our Lady’s we are missing the children of our school family so very, very much. Although I am encouraged to hear about how hard many of you are working at home, your teachers are desperately missing you and wish that we could be together to celebrate the end of the school year together. Unfortunately, as we have now heard from the government, that is not a possibility.
However, at Our Lady’s, we are continuing with our plans to safely welcome further children where it is safe to do so. All our guidelines are being carefully implemented and the staff team have been working hard over the holiday meeting to ensure there is complete clarity in our approach. We are very mindful that the safety of everyone in the building is paramount. It is essential that we all continue to develop safe hygiene practices that can be modelled and taught daily to the children as they get used to school operating in this new way.
Next Steps…
From this Monday 15th June we will be opening for Year 1 pupils.(NB you have been sent a text to confirm your survey response and whether your child has a place from Monday) This has been done in consultation with the Local Education Authority, our Director of Public Health and of course with the full support of Our Lady’s Governing Board. I know this has not been an easy decision for parents to make, but please know that we go forward having taken every step to strictly adhere to current local and national guidance.
Staff have been in school putting our detailed risk assessment guidance in place, reorganising classrooms and key areas of school to welcome more groups back alongside key worker children. Together we have created learning bubbles, based on our survey results and have planned key learning alongside essential well-being activities, which we hope will develop excellent hygiene practices. We know going forward, as children return, it will be essential to embed these hygiene practices into our daily lives so that they become second nature to us all, to ensure that we all take shared responsibility for keeping each other safe.
We have had to ensure that we have enough space to be able to adhere to the social distancing rules but also that we have enough staff to be able to support the children in this new way of working.
Our guidance remains the same and can be accessed below.
Reception & Year 6
Currently we feel we are only able to safely open for Year 1 children and then following this, Year 6 children. After much planning we feel that we could not safely provide provision for Reception at this time, but will keep you informed of any changes.
Year 1 will begin from Monday 15th June and will be in school each Monday and Tuesday 9.30am - 2.45pm until 7th July. Mrs Hollinghurst has put some photos and further information on the Year 1 page on the website.
We are currently planning on Year 6 joining us in school week beginning 13th July for the final 5 days of school before the holidays: 9.30am - 2.45pm
Pop Idol 2020
We have just had an announcement from Blackpool Music Service that the Pop Idol Competition for 2020 WILL go ahead but will be a ‘virtual competition’ this year.
To participate in the first round heat for Our Lady’s, we will need each entrant to…
1) choose an appropriate song
2) practise singing the song with a backing track
3) make a video of yourself performing the full song (along with the backing track)
4) send your video to admin@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk by Wednesday 24th June
Please ensure:
That the track is a backing track only and not the actual song.
That the recording is a single recording of the full song. (Not edited)
That the length of the recording is approximately 2-3 mins only.
That the performance is lively and animated.
The competition is open to children from Years 4, 5 & 6 and we must have full agreement from your parents in order to ensure safeguarding measures are fully met.
The entries will be judged by Miss Benson, Mrs Bird, Mrs Burrows and Miss Haggerty. If your entry is successful, you will then be put through to the ‘virtual final’ against successful entrants from across Blackpool. We will let you know if you will become the entrant to represent Our Lady of the Assumption by Monday 29th June.
Good Luck!
Thank you
I know this is a challenging journey for everyone and as ever, we are here if you need us. For now, we continue on the journey we are on, to once again bring our school family back together as soon as it is safe to do so. I would just like to say those two little words….
Thank you… I can’t tell you how much we have all appreciated every kind word of support, leaving us feeling such a great sense of community and a true belief that we are ‘all in this together’. I know you have found this time difficult, and for some of you, faced with making a decision about your child’s return to school, there has been much to consider. Please know whatever decision you have made has always been yours to make and will be fully supported. Every family situation is different.
For now, we will wait, and as we always do, walk hand in hand, placing our prayers in the loving embrace of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
