Wednesday 30th November 2021

Dear parents and carers of Stepney Park Primary School,

Face coverings

You may have heard in the news that the Government has decided that staff and visitors must wear face coverings again in schools. The face coverings need to be worn when moving around inside the building, but not when outside.

Please wear a face covering when entering the school building until you are seated, thank you.

Chromebooks Chat

We have recently dealt with some reports about children who were making inappropriate and unkind comments to each other on Chat whilst using their chromebooks at home. We were shocked to see that there was a Chat which included children from Year 2 to Year 6. Of course we know that all children need to learn about what good behaviour looks like, including what good online behaviour means, and we also know that they need our help with this.  Please make sure that you help us with supervising your children when they are online at home, and regularly check to see what they are saying to other children on Chat.  If you see any inappropriate language, we would like you to report this to us straight away, so we can investigate this and take appropriate actions.  Because we are not able to respond to issues over the holidays, and because we want our children to feel safe at all times, we have decided that we will disable Chat during any future holiday.

Children in Need

Thank you for your ‘Children in Need’ contributions last week. Together we raised £464.00!

Christmas Festivities

We are pleased to say that we are busy planning some exciting Christmas festivities, we will have some real Christmas trees, and children will be making their own Christmas decorations which will be used around the school.  All classes will have their own advent calendar and there will be special assemblies to teach children about the cultural and religious aspects of Christmas. 

Monday Dec 13th: All KS1 and KS2 classes will be taking part in a poem recital. Their performances will be posted on Google classrooms, so parents can ‘be there’ virtually. 

Wednesday Dec 15th: This will be a Christmas Jumper day; children can come to school wearing their favourite (if possible homemade) Christmas jumper. The School Council has organised a ‘ Homemade Christmas Jumper’ competition and they will be giving certificates to children who made the biggest effort. They have also organised a ‘Save the Children’ charity money collection, any donations for ‘Save the Children’ are very welcome! On this day the children will be offered a lovely Christmas meal, which they will eat alongside their teachers in our festive dining halls.

Children in Reception will be taking part in a special Christmas performance on that day in front of a Year 4 audience. Their performance will be posted on Tapestry, so parents can see it as well.

Thursday Dec 16th: We will have class parties on this day, and Santa will be visiting each class! Children can bring in party food; their teachers will offer them some suggestions for this. School will provide soft drinks. Please make sure of the following:

• Do not send in any food which contains nuts.

• Only send in food which does not need to be refrigerated.

• Only send in ‘fingerfood’ which can be eaten by hand and does not need to be cut.

• Remind your child (if old enough) and your child’s teacher of any food allergies and any types of food your child should not eat. (Of course we hold this information in school as well, and teachers are aware of food allergies already, but is is better to be erring on the side of caution)

Friday Dec 17th: Children from Nursery to Year 2 will get a hot lunch. Children in KS2 will have a packed lunch in class. School will close at 1 pm for the Christmas holidays, the children will therefore need to be picked up at 1 pm. There will not be a childcare after school club on this day.  School will re-open on Wednesday January 5th 

Have a great week everyone!

Kind regards,

Edith Philipsen

Headteacher- Stepney Park Primary School