Head's Blog

Happy New Year and Back to School News

Dear Parent/Carer

Arrangements for the Start of the new Term on 4^th January 2020

I can confirm that the school will open again as expected on 4^th January and we are looking forward to seeing all our children to start the new term.

The Government reviewed plans for opening schools yesterday and confirmed that they are ‘quite clear that we must continue to do all we can to keep children in school.’ Of course, this is only possible if we continue to work hard to keep our infection control arrangements working in school every day. You can help with this too and we’d be grateful if you could remember to:

• Keeping children at home if they (or anyone in the household) have symptoms, arranging a test, and informing school of the outcome immediately – covid@beckfootheaton.org or 01274 363070.
• Wear a mask, unless you are exempt, when dropping off and collecting children.
• Keep the 2 metre rule when dropping off and collecting children.
• Follow the government’s Tier rules at home so that we reduce the risk of infection in school.
• Avoid coming into the school building even if you have a query and instead telephone with your question.

As ever if you have any questions or concerns related to Covid, please email covid@beckfootheaton.org

We remain absolutely determined to do all we can to keep children and staff safe from infection in school and are looking forward to an exciting new term and to seeing all our children on 4^th January.

For the last time in 2020, can I thank you all for your continued support in the most challenging of times.  When families and schools work together, great things happen.  Our school definitely benefits from the great families, staff and children who make up our wonderful community.

Wishing you all health and happiness for 2021.

Zoe Mawson

Headteacher

Half term has arrived

As half term arrives there are a few things that I would like to update you on.

• Unfortunately we have confirmation of another case of covid which has meant that some Nursery children will need to start isolating from today. They have all been informed separately.

• As we have had a number of cases, we have been liaising very closely with the Local Health Protection Team (LHPT) and even though we have had a number of cases, they are impressed with our procedures and have not recommended any changes. As you know, our area is an area of very high case numbers.

• I will continue to liaise with the Local Health Protection Team over the holidays and so I must ask you to inform us straight away if your child or someone in your household develops symptoms. This is so that we can make sure we are all working together to stop the spread which is already a concern in our area of Bradford. We can help to make sure that you know the date it is safe to stop isolating and return to school. Please inform us on covid@beckfootheaton.org preferably or phone 01274 363070 between 8a.m and 4p.m. Email is easier please.

• A note re symptoms - the three symptoms of - a high temperature (hot to touch on chest and back), a new cough, or a loss or change in taste and smell are the main symptoms. People feeling cold and shivery and achey has also been quite prevalent in the confirmed cases so please be cautious if someone in your house develops these also.

•  If we work together on this, we will reduce the chance of schools having to close again for a long period - which I know the majority of you want to avoid.

The most important thing to say is THANK YOU. Seriously, every day I feel grateful for the truly amazing families and staff we have connected to our school. We are a team and a team who have stuck together through these challenging times. I really do appreciate the emails of support but also the emails of concern, giving me the opportunity to explain and reassure where possible. Teams who work together achieve great things. Please do get in touch if you want to say ask / suggest anything at all - I will always be open and honest in my response.

I hope that those of you who are dealing with isolation in your house are OK - I know it's tricky. I hope everyone manages to have a rest and spend some time as a family this half term - either in the house or out.

Thank you and see you soon

A fantastic start to the year

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my first message on our new school website.

As I write this, I am sitting here reflecting on what a fantastic start to the year we have had and more importantly why that has been the case and I have come to the conclusion that the main reason is our strong community built on strong trusting relationships.

It hasn't been easy.  Trying to make sure that we are following the Covid guidelines as closely as possible while at the same time keeping the fantastic feel of our school was always going to be a challenge and I am sure that it will be for some time to come.  However, together we have worked through what each of our roles are in making the return to school for all children be as successful as it can be.

Staff have worked hard to make the school building and grounds as safe as possible as well as redesigning the way things like lunches and breaks can work.  Teachers have cleverly thought about how to make sure the return for children is caring and safe as well as exciting and motivating.

Families have carefully listened to the new routines and have not moaned once about the long loops that now exist in our long thin grounds.  You have put your trust in us and have been grateful for our regular updates.  This communication has been a two way thing and we have appreciated the suggestions you have made to further improve any aspects of the return.

The children - well - you would think that they have never been away.  It has been wonderful to see the children, whether loudly or quietly ease back into school and quickly show that absolute love of learning.  We have been impressed with the amount of support you have provided them over lockdown to make sure that they didn't stop learning while they were away from the school building.  

All of these things would not have been possible if we weren't such a great team.

Teams happen when trust happens.  Trust happens when we openly work together and understand each other.  Thank you.

We want to keep making sure that we keep working together and would love to see you at our first Parents Forum of the year on Zoom next week.  We will send you an invite via Ping and would love it if you could join us.

Thank you

Zoe Mawson

A message from Mrs Mawson

I am looking forward to welcoming you and your family back to school in September – as I am sure you are aware, the government has confirmed that schools will reopen fully.  We have followed the guidance carefully and want to explain the things we have put in place to keep your children, you and your family and our staff as safe as possible.

This might be a helpful order to take you through the information.

1. Watch the welcome back video first.
2. Watch the collection routines video (and paper guide if needed)
3. Read the parent guide
4. Read the home school agreement
5. Complete the survey which has been sent by Ping before next Friday.

We are all looking forward to seeing you all and know that we’ll work together to make it as safe and smooth as possible.

Please do add any questions / concerns

⁃ to the survey
⁃ phone on 01274 363070 or
⁃ email office@beckfootheaton.org.

Thank you
Mrs Mawson

A final message and video from Mrs Mawson

Dear Families,

July 17th would normally be the date that I stand at the school gate and wave you all off to start your summer holiday, giving a special goodbye and good luck to all of our year 6s who are leaving to show how great they are in their new secondary schools.

Even though I can’t do that in person, I can give you all a wave and wish you a really lovely summer holiday.  A summer holiday with a difference I am sure as we remember to keep a safe distance from each other but hopefully lots of family fun regardless.  I know that many of you will be celebrating Eid soon and I hope you all have a lovely time – I’ll keep my fingers crossed for sunshine 🙂

I am looking forward to seeing you all in person in September when we hope you can all return to school.  The current government guidance says that schools will open fully in September – we will of course be keeping up to date with all of the government updates in case anything changes.  As you would imagine, we have been working hard to make some changes to our school to keep us all as safe as possible.

This will mean a slight change to the way the school and classrooms look and some slight changes to routines like staggered start and finish times (which we have arranged in family groups to keep it as easy as possible for you).

When the new “walkway loops” markings have been completed during the summer holidays, we will be making a video to explain how everything will work from September.  We will send you this video and all of the other information you need in the last two weeks of the holiday (so we know that it is as up to date as possible with the government guidance).

We are planning for Y1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Y6 to be in one day in the first week back – either Wednesday 2nd, Thursday 3rd or Friday 4th September and then back every day from Monday 7th September.  The one day in the first week will make sure that we can help all of the children, and the parent who is dropping off or collecting to understand the new routine.  All the children in your family will attend on the same day.

Nursery and Reception children will start short sessions in school from Monday 7th September over the following two weeks and you will get all of the information you need in a letter later in the holiday.

Even though it has been a very unusual year, it has been a great one. Ofsted told us how good our school was in November – even though we already knew it.  The two phrases we loved the most from that were…”BHPSN is a great place to be a pupil” and we have “a real sense of community”.  I feel we have become even closer as a community as we live through this pandemic – I feel so proud to lead such a dedicated community of staff, parents and of course your great children.

Have a lovely lovely holiday – THANK YOU for all of your support and one final request from me…  bedtime routines.  I think you know what I mean… it might be a shock for some of our children to get back into their going to school routines… let’s use the summer holiday to get back into that routine. Thank you and see you all in September.

Update from Mrs Mawson

Hello everyone

I hope you are all keeping well. It’s quite unbelievable that three months have passed by since the school building closed for most children. I know that it has been a challenging time balancing a combination of running a home, working, caring for families as well as helping keep the children busy AND learning. I’m sure there’s lots more too.

I am proud that even though the building has been closed for most, our school community has stayed connected – through phone calls, doorstep visits, work collection and zoom calls. I hope that both you and your children have felt supported and still part of the school community. If you have any comments to make about this, positive or negative, please let us know through the website, email – office@beckfootheaton.org or by phone on 01274 363070. I always appreciate your feedback.

As you know, our school has remained open for key worker children since March and on June 8th, as per the government guidance, we welcomed back Year 1 and Year 6 children, into small “bubbles” of 8 children. I am very proud of the children who have adapted so well to the new routines in school.

We did not fill all of the year 1 and 6 bubbles and so for the remainder of this term, we have contacted some children in year 5 to attend school for the last three weeks of term. We would have loved to invite all children back to school but unfortunately given the current safety rules and regulations, this just is not possible and so we will not be opening any more bubbles.

We are very hopeful that we can start the new school year with all children back in September. We can’t wait to see everyone. We don’t yet know for sure whether September will be “back to normal” or whether it will still be a bit different but Boris Johnson has said that it is his goal for all children to be able to come back. We are waiting to find out the government’s plans for this so we can work out how to do it as safely as possible and as soon as we know, we will tell you.

Whatever September looks like, there are some things you need to know. If you need any more information about any of these things – please contact us.

School Uniform

School uniform is purchased via our school website Beckfoot Heaton Primary School.

It is not available to purchase at the Cash Office.

Please click here:
http://www.heaton.bradford.sch.uk/uniform
This will take you direct to the supplier website with all the choices available.

• You can either select for the uniform to be delivered to your home address which will have a delivery charge or for it to be delivered to school. If you choose for it to be delivered to school Miss Willoughby will be in contact to arrange collection.
• When ordering your child’s uniform please ensure you put their full name and current class.

Reports

Rather than send an end of year report this year, your teacher will be sending a personal ping message in the last week of term.

Open Evening

We are very sad that this is cancelled this year – its always a lovely celebration of your children’s work.

Y6 Leavers Celebrations

We have some lovely plans … more information to follow for year 6.

Classes

you will be sent a letter telling you your child’s teacher for next year. We have a dedicated and talented team here, so I am sure that your children will be delighted.

Thank you once again for your support. I feel so proud to be the Headteacher in such a wonderful community school.

A message from Mrs Mawson