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September 2020

New Academic Year 2020/21

Dear parent/carer,

Welcome back to the new school year. I would especially like to welcome our new Year 7 students and those joining us in the Sixth Form. I look forward to the year of learning ahead and to achieving our usual high standards by working in partnership with you.

In order to protect every individual and each other, our school will be organised in a very different way to our usual way of working. The arrangements have been made to keep all of us as safe as possible and to reduce the risk of transmission of coronavirus.  Both individually and collectively, we all have a role to play in keeping ourselves and each other safe.

Start of the new academic year – Covid19

We have taken full account of all government guidance and undertaken extensive planning and preparation. The school has been separated into zones that have been allocated to different year groups. Each year group will spend the majority of their time in their allocated space; only moving for practical subjects, break time and lunch times.

Full details regarding the measures we have in place can be found on the school website. It is important that you read and understand everything outlined on the website, and share this information with your child. Keeping ourselves and each other safe is a collective community effort.

We appreciate your support in helping us implement these changes, and we will continue to review and develop areas of the school where necessary.

Uniform

I would like to remind you students should not wear any SJCR branded items of clothing and will not need to wear a blazer in September. Students should wear a white shirt, mid-grey trousers or skirt, mid-grey v-neck jumper (optional), their year group coloured tie and sensible school shoes. Students who wish to wear a jacket to school may wear a smart black or navy jacket or coat to and from school. The coat should not be worn on school premises.

As mentioned previously we will ensure that parents do not incur any additional costs as a result of the name change. Once the new logo has been finalised and produced we will provide patches to cover the old logos on blazers and will swap any SJCR branded uniform items.

Students should be equipped with what they need in all lessons. In their school bag they should have black or blue ball point pens, pencils, a rubber and a ruler. It is useful for students to have equipment such as highlighter and glue sticks also.

Water fountains are still available for students to use, however students will need to bring a reusable and labelled drinking bottle to fill up from the fountains. The water fountains should be used for filling up water bottles only, students should not drink directly from the fountains.

ID cards will be issued to every student and must be worn at all times. ID cards will be used in place of the finger scan system when paying for meals. The ID card is a new addition to the school uniform, and students will need to pay a replacement fee of £5 should they require a replacement.

Face masks

Face masks must be worn when moving around the school. This is due to the fact that our corridors are narrow with low ceilings. Once outside the building and in lessons these do not need to be worn. Face masks should be appropriate and not have a slogan written on them. If students are wearing a reusable facemask, guidance suggests that this should be stored in a plastic bag when it is not being used to prevent it from getting dirty or picking anything up from surfaces. Reusable facemasks should be washed regularly at home.

Friday Prayer

It is with regret that due to current government guidance we will be unable to accommodate Friday prayer in the sports hall. This is due to the requirement to keep students in teaching bubbles and to limit contact. As soon as government guidance changes to allow prayers to happen, I will update you immediately. Students should have sufficient time to make their way home at the end of the teaching day and pray before the start of the asr salat.

PE kit

On the days where students have PE lessons, they should arrive at school in their PE kit. The changing facilities in school we be closed based on government guidance. This means that students should arrive at school in their PE kit, complete all lesson in their kit and go home in their kit. As the old PE kit was branded, we ask students to wear a plain red PE t-shirt and navy PE tracksuit bottoms. If students do not have this colour kit, they may wear a plaint t-shirt and tracksuit bottom (not leggings or running tights) of a different colour as long as the colour and fit are both appropriate. On these days, students will obviously be wearing suitable PE trainers for their PE lesson. This is the only time that students should be wearing trainers.

Behaviour updates

We have every confidence that students will follow and adhere to the rules and processes in our school, and an outline of the addendum to the behaviour policy put in place due to the pandemic is available to view on the policy section of our website. Behaviour that falls below our usual high standards, especially those surrounding hygiene will be dealt with in accordance to the behaviour policy.

Visitors

In order to minimise the risk of spread of the corona virus, and in line with government guidance, all schools are to limit visits to the school site as much as possible. Consequently, parents will not be allowed to visit the school site to drop off items for their children. Please use this as an opportunity to help your child to organise themselves each evening to ensure that they have everything that they need for school the next day. Should there be a need for a member of staff, such as a Head of Year to meet with a parent specifically, details of how to access the school site will be given to ensure that all parties are working with each other safely.An accurate record of any essential visitors will also be kept in order to support the government’s track and trace system.

Meeting your child after school

In order to support social distancing, there are no common waiting areas in the school for parents or students to use before or after school. Students or parents should not be waiting on the school site or around the school site for their children or for friends from their own or other year groups. If you are collecting your child or students need to wait for siblings from other year groups, please arrange a local meeting point away from the school site where siblings can meet before going home together.

Communication with parents/carers

In our bid to go paperless and also to avoid the possible spread of Coronavirus, we aim to communicate with parents primarily via email and phone calls. It is essential that you as parents/carers ensure that the school has the correct contact information so that we can communicate with you efficiently. In addition, I would to encourage you all to follow the Stepney All Saints social media accounts which provide regular updates and useful information. These can been found @StepneyAS on Twitter and Facebook.

Again, I welcome all new students and parents who have joined our school community and look forward to a wonderful 2020-21 academic year and working with you to provide all of our students with a fulfilling, challenging, joyful and life enhancing education. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us via email on info@sjcr.net. I will be writing to you again in the coming week.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Woods

Headteacher

Download this letter here – Headteacher letter 4.9.20