As of Wednesday 10th of June the school increased the number of key worker children places. All of our bubbles are now full and we are currently unable to increase the number of places. We have a waiting list for additional key worker children places and will be in contact should we be able to offer you a place.

 

We understand these are difficult times and we are really eager to get all of the children back, but we will only increase the number of places that are available when we are fully confident it is safe to do so.

If your child is due to start in Reception in September please keep an eye on our new web page designed just for you.

 

https://www.athelneyprimary.org.uk/new-reception-parents/

3rd June 2020

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Further my letter before half term I am writing to update you with our plans for the wider re-opening of both Athelney and Elfrida.

 

In my last letter I said that the once the date for schools re-opening was confirmed by the government, priority will be given to children in the following categories:

1. The children of Critical Workers, and those employed in the fight against Covid-19 
2. Children who have a Child In Need Plan, a Child Protection Plan or who are a Looked After Child (who are not already attending school)
3. Those children who have an EHCP and it is determined, following risk assessment, that their needs can be as safely or more safely met, in the educational environment
4. Children who have been assessed as vulnerable, and who could therefore benefit from continued attendance. For example, those living in cramped housing conditions, with no access to outside space or in temporary accommodation.
5. Year 6 pupils

 

Since the easing of some lockdown measures we have had a significant increase in requests for places for children of critical workers, children with EHCPs and children who are vulnerable. Therefore we will be splitting the Federation hub from the week of the 8^th June. This is so we are able to offer more places for pupils from those three groups whose parents have already registered their interest and are eligible.

 

During the week of the 8^th of June both Athelney and Elfrida will be open to children from all year groups allocated a place using the above criteria. Children will be allocated one of six bubbles of up to 8 children. These bubbles will be taught, eat and play in isolation from each other and a number of social distancing and enhanced cleaning regime measures will be put into place. Whilst every effort will be made to socially distance children within the bubble we cannot guarantee this will always be possible due to the age of the children and the school environment.

 

Our ultimate priority is the safety of your children, so before we introduce more bubbles into the school, we need to be confident that we can manage the safety of children and staff within this new structure.

 

The school offices will remain closed to parents and visitors but are contactable by telephone and email from 8am – 4pm every weekday. Parents and visitors will not be allowed on site in order to protect the children and staff.

 

We will continue to provide on-line learning and class teachers will continue to provide online learning and to make contact with your children by telephone or class email.

 

Parents and Carers of children with allocated places will be contacted with the new safety arrangements, a starting date and the start and end times for their children.

 

I understand how difficult this situation is for you and I want to reassure you that we are committed to making the best judgements we can for the safety of our families and school staff and their families. These are challenging times and your support and understanding is paramount.

 

We hope that if our new system proves manageable and safe, that we may be able to consider opening to more children after these first 2 weeks. We will contact you again, nearer the time to update you with our plans.

 

Children should only return to school when they have received a start date and an email or letter confirming this from us and not before. Only children who have a confirmed allocated space may attend.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Kathryn Wong

Dear Parents / Carers,

 

Expression of Interest in 15 hour and 30 hour places at Athelney Primary School’s Rockets Nursery

 

During the Summer Term we will be allocating nursery spaces according to our Nursery Admissions Policy.

 

We currently have vacancies for three and four year olds born between 1/9/2016 – 31/08/2017 to start nursery in September 2020. We offer 15 and 30 hours places; if you would like to be considered for a place in our nursery please contact the office to put your child’s name on our waiting list or visit the Admissions section on the website. Closing date 31 May 2020.

 

If you do not have a 30 hour code yet, but think you meet the criteria for a 30 hour place, you can still express your interest. However, please note that any offers made will be subject to our receipt of a valid 30 hour code.

 

More information about eligibility and details of how to apply can be found at:

• www.gov.uk/childcareaccount,
• www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
• www.lewisham.gov.uk – search for ‘30 hour childcare’

 

Yours Sincerely

Mrs Samuels

Admissions, Attendance and Dinners Officer

Athelney Primary School

17/5/20 
 
Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you and your families are safe and well at this challenging time.  

As I am sure that you are aware, the government has announced plans for some children to start to return to school from Monday 1st June (at the earliest).  This date is not yet confirmed and the government will make further announcements.  Since the announcement last weekend we have examined every publication and guidance document that the government has put forward, we are taking our responsibility for our community very seriously. As I said in my text message last week, please do not worry. 

We know you will have questions about when your children will be able to return to school and we are really looking forward to welcoming children and families back. We are asking you to give us time to work on our plans for this, to make sure arrangements are in place so that all children and adults can be as safe as possible while they are here.

 
In the meantime, only children of critical workers and those identified as vulnerable can come in to school with the agreement of the Head of School. If you think your child can be in school under these criteria and have not already taken up a place but would now like to please call the school office on 020 8697 2945 by Tuesday 19th May 3pm. If you are successfully allocated a place you will be contacted with a start date (1/6/2020 at the earliest).  

Once the date for the wider re-opening of schools is confirmed, we will contact families individually to let you know when your child can come in. This is unlikely to be at the same time for all children, even in the same year group. Children should only return to school when they have received a start date from us and not before. 
 
We will tell you more as soon as we have made progress with our plans and have a date confirmed by the Local Authority and Government. 

If you have any concerns or questions please contact the school office via email on admin@athelney.lewisham.sch.uk. 

Stay safe and take care of each other. 

Yours Sincerely  
 
Nathalie Dummer

Head of School

Athelney Primary School

King Alfred Federation 

Happy sunny Friday,

 

Our amazing support staff have put together a video as they are missing you very much too. 

 

https://youtu.be/YjHx1kuT5qs

 

As always take a look at your child's class page to access activities set by their teachers. Remember don't stress about the work do what you can when you can. 

 

https://www.athelneyprimary.org.uk/class-pages/

 

Have a great weekend 

The Lewisham School Wellbeing service (based at Athelney) are now offering virtual coffee mornings for small groups of parents.

 

It is a safe space for parents/carers to:

•Hear about the new service and connect with others

•Share and/or listen to experiences

•Think about challenges during this time

•Discuss ideas 

 

All parents and carers are welcome 

Online every Friday @ 11am to 12pm

 

The team would also like to hear what support might be helpful to parents over the next few months in these challenging times.

 

You  can email or call school to express an interest and then someone from the Wellbeing team will be in touch with the coffee morning details. 

Obviously this is all being done virtually as services are not offering face to face support at the moment.

 

Details are on the attached flyer

Hello again everybody,

 

One of my highlights of every year is sports day, every year since I have been here we have had beautiful weather so I will really miss it this year.

 

However, drum roll please, Miss Hedington, our wonderful Reception Teacher and PE coordinator has organised a 'Stay at Home Sports Day' for Wednesday 20th Mail.

 

Please see the pictures below for the details and events and of course email any photos or video of the day to info@athelney.lewisham.sch.uk

We are missing you all and wanted to send you a little message for the Bank Holiday weekend.

 

https://youtu.be/y_xDFecL_ys

 

Remember the class pages are being updated with work each week.

 

https://www.athelneyprimary.org.uk/class-pages/

 

Have a great weekend!

Hello amazing Athelney families,

 

Wow what an amazing amount of videos have been sent in this week, it has been really enjoyable putting them all together! Take a look at the finished video.

 

https://youtu.be/gSGt9rmdSKA

 

Whilst you're here why don't you have a look at your child's class page which has online work for the week.

 

https://www.athelneyprimary.org.uk/class-pages/ 

 

Stay safe!