May 2020

On Wednesday this week it was ‘Thank a Teacher’ day and the staff at Lea Forest quite rightly received lots of wonderful messages from you all, THANK YOU for taking the time to leave a message on the ‘Thank You’ Padlet on our website which can be viewed here. There’s still time to add messages if you didn’t get chance on Wednesday. One of you lovely parents also sent a very complimentary email to AET, our academy trust. THANK YOU for your kind gestures.

Well Done

I would like to share some good news with you all about two members of our REMARKABLE staff who have achieved some great things this week. Mr Taylor has been working on his NPQH (National Professional Qualification of Headship) over the last year. Mr Taylor heard the good news this week that he’s passed with flying colours. Well done, Mr Taylor. Also, this week, Mr White, who has been studying and completing his Masters Degree also heard the good news that he’d passed. Well done and fully deserved, Mr White.

Following Birmingham City Council and our Academy Trust’s advice, we will be completely closing over half term from Monday 25 May 2020 to Friday 29 May 2020. Given the immense planning and school reorganisation that needs to be completed before Monday 1 June 2020, I feel it is necessary to deep clean and re-equip our classrooms and areas over this period of time. I also have a duty of care to enable all staff to have a break, in order for us to all be working to our maximum capacity when we return for key year groups, those that are vulnerable and children of key workers on Monday 1 June 2020. It’s also an opportunities for our families to all have a week off from school work.

Thank you so much for all your messages and phone calls - it’s been wonderful receiving your encouragement and support. We want to make this a positive and caring experience for all our children, looking after them to ensure they feel safe and settled as we ease them back into school life. Throughout the last week we have been sharing lots of information with you. We have created a landing page on our website with the most up-to-date information. This can be found here: https://sites.google.com/aetinet.org/lea-forest-primary-academy/safe-return-to-school-lp

I appreciate how challenging and uncertain these times continue to be, and many of you will continue to have questions. To help, we have developed a list of FAQs which can be found here and on our website. We will continue to update the FAQs as we develop our plans, but if you have any questions that haven’t been answered, do not hesitate to contact school - we will be happy to help.

We will continue with our virtual learning for those children in Years 2, 3, 4 and 5 and also for children not attending school in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6. Our Virtual School can also be found on our website: https://sites.google.com/aetinet.org/lea-forest-primary-academy/virtual-school

Thank you again for your support and understanding during these times. Let’s hope it’s not too long before we’re running as normal again. Have a lovely half term and switch off until 01/06/20.

Every parent and teacher has been watching the news with bated breath to find out when and how schools will reopen.

We understand that you will have fears and frustrations over the government’s decisions to send certain year groups back on 1st June.

Please hold onto the fact that as a school we have put the best interests of our children first every step of the way during this difficult time; we have kept our children safe and kept you fully informed.

We ask that you continue to trust us over the coming months.

Trust us that we will plan very carefully how our school could reopen. This planning stage is crucial to ensure we get it right so please be patient with us. As soon as plans are finalised we will communicate this with you carefully and answer any questions you will have.

Amazing Lea Forest

We are so incredibly proud to be part of our remarkable family at Lea Forest Primary Academy.

Over the past few weeks, we have been so touched by the incredible messages of thanks on our ‘Thank You Wall’ and been so encouraged by the quality of home learning we have seen from our children. The whole community has pulled together to support one another.

As a school and a community, we have risen to the challenge that this current crisis has presented! We know many of you have really appreciated how staff here have gone above and beyond to support you with in all possible ways, from live bedtime stories, phone calls to food parcels and so much more. Although this has been a challenging time, we have seen even stronger relationships forming between home and school.

I hope that you are all keeping safe and well. We continue to be remarkable at Lea Forest even through these times of uncertainty. As part of AET’s commitment to ensuring every child is able to continue their education during this period of remote working, we’ve issued over 120 Chromebooks, Laptops, iPads and\or a mobile broadband (MiFi) devices with more yet to be issued next week. These devices have been provided solely for the purpose of completing school work and joining educational groups as directed by your child’s academy. They should not be used for general purposes such as social media, online shopping or streaming media.

Please note, devices issued by AET have been restricted to work only with an academy login. There is no value to the devices outside of this and they should only be used by academy students. Additionally, all mobile broadband (MiFi) devices have now been set to a 2GB data limit after some families taking advantage of our kind offer. Once this limit is reached the device will cease to work. The limit set is sufficient for pupils to complete any work set by their academy. It will not accommodate additional data uses outside of this, such as streaming or downloading media.

Don’t forget to watch our online assembly on our YouTube channel this afternoon at 3:30pm. Stay home and stay safe - we miss you lots!

Mr Clarke