Hello Everyone!
After a busy couple of weeks where I am sorry to say that I did not find time to write my weekly blog, I am now back into the routine and raring to go with a couple of big announcements.
Firstly, may I launch the very first (of many!) St Peter’s Phone Call Fridays. Unlike teenagers in secondary schools, the vast majority of our pupils do not own mobile phones, and nowadays most children and teens who do own them don’t actually use them for making calls. But this needs to change, and we can make that difference for our children. I would ask that at least every Friday, you take the time to allow your child to call up, or if you have the facility Face Time, one of their friends for a proper conversation and catch up. This is not messaging on Roblox or Fortnite (which primary aged children should not be playing anyway), but a chance for a natter and a giggle with friends. If parents are willing, perhaps some more numbers can be swapped between adults so that more and more children have the means to have conversations each Friday. Obviously, sharing numbers is entirely at a parent’s discretion and should only be done between adults using adult and not pupil phones, with the usual sensible safeguarding measures in place. However, the gradual building up of some trusted communication networks could be a great way to help the children feel a part of St Peter’s even when we are forced apart.
Secondly, the show must go on! Friday 3rd April 2020 is in the calendar as the Friends of St Peter’s UV Disco. The Year R and Key Stage 1 disco was scheduled for 4:30pm to 6:00pm, and the Key Stage 2 disco from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Just because we are not in school doesn’t mean that we can’t all have our own discos and celebrate the end of term at home. So, next Friday afternoon, the tickets are free but the location is your place, wear something super bright to glow in the dark, shut the curtains, turn the volume up to 11 and get your groove on! The more people we can have partying at the same time the better – you could even combine it with Phone Call Friday to contact friends and party together at a distance. Now we all know that the best part of a school disco is the sweet stall and the snack bar, so during your one essential shop next week see if you can sneak into the trolley some hot dogs or pizza, some fizzy jelly sweets as a treat, and a bottle of soft drink in any un-natural looking colour that takes your fancy.
Finally, a big thank you to all families who have offered words of encouragement to the staff at school during these testing times. We have worked our hardest to maintain a sense of normality for the pupils before and after the enforced school closure, and we will be stepping up our home-school contact and on-line presence in the coming weeks as we settle into new ways of working. To an individual the pupils have been brilliant during these past few weeks since returning from the half-term break, serving as a real credit to you their families in how they have behaved and responded to some unprecedented upheavals.
I hope that everyone is able to enjoy a restful and fulfilling weekend.
Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher