New Headteacher’s Welcome
Dear Children, Parents, Carers and Colleagues,
A very warm welcome to the new 2021-22 school year from me, Mr Mason-Edwards, the new Headteacher here at Greenways Primary School. I want to start by saying how privileged I am to be serving the Greenways community and look forward to meeting you and your wonderful children and us all working as a team to make their school even greater than it already is!
As we are all far too familiar with and aware of, Covid has affected the country and indeed the World for the last 18 months. However, I want to reassure you that it is our prime concern that the children and community of Greenways are kept safe and healthy and that education is placed back at the heart of our community in order to lay the foundations for the next generation of amazing scientists, artists, sports professionals etc etc, who will make a positive difference to all our futures and our planet.
I would also like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to Mrs Croud who has been the Acting Headteacher through a very, very difficult time indeed. The feedback from the staff team has been very positive and I am sure you will join me in showing your respect and gratitude to her for leading the school through such unique and challenging times.
We will be looking at the new school Covid guidance issued by Central Government over the next few days and altering our whole school risk assessment accordingly. Once this is complete I will upload it to the website with any major changes highlighted. I am to have this on the website by 4pm on Friday 3rd August along with any supporting documents and/or information.
In the meantime, here is some information that you may need for the first few days and weeks of the new school term:
Term Dates
Please see our Greenways term dates 2021-22. They are also available on our website. Please do not book holidays during term-time. Thank you.
School Uniform
Please note that, as all shops are now fully open, we will return to the expectation of wearing full uniform beginning from September. However, we know that some of you may need more time to go out and purchase/buy it so we expect a phasing in of this from the first day back until 2 weeks into the new term. It is my expectation that by Monday 20th September, all children will be back in full school uniform. Please do come and speak to us if this may be a concern or issue for you and we will try our best to help.
PE Kit
We will retain the wearing of the PE kit to school on PE days ONLY, as we have found that this maximises curriculum time, keeps the kit freshly laundered and less likely to be lost, and should limit the amount of uniform which parents need to purchase. Information about our uniform is here.
Drop off and Collection Points from September
Pupils in all year groups will be able to come into school at anytime between 8.30 and 8.45am and will go directly to their classrooms. To avoid congestion please consider staggering your arrival throughout this 15 minute slot - registration will not begin until 8.45am so your child will not miss out by arriving towards the end of the slot.
Collection times:
Early Years - 2.50pm
Years 1 and 2 - 2.55pm
Years 3 and 4 - 3.00pm
Years 5 and 6 - 3.05pm
We will share gates for entry and the collection points later this week (3.09.21).
Covid-19
For your information, the new government guidance for parents can be found here. Please note that you can find out more about Covid and what advice and support services are in place by visiting the Council’s website. There is also a link to the Government webpage where you can order home tests to be delivered directly to your door, and a list of the local libraries where you can get them from.
I look forward to meeting you all very soon and plan on holding a more formal meet and greet session as soon as our risk assessment allows – watch this space!. In the meantime, if you have any ideas, worries, concerns or would just like to introduce yourselves and/or your family, then my direct email address, is:
lloyd.mason-edwards@greenways.lihtrust.uk
I will leave you with an old but simple African proverb that I think is even more important now than it was 18 months ago and epitomises my approach to being a Headteacher:
‘It takes a village to raise a child’