We were so sorry to have to share the news with you yesterday that our entire Nursery School bubble has to close.
We have a 30 hr child that has tested positive and, in addition to this, other individuals are ill, or already in isolation.
We know we are not alone in suddenly having to close, a very high proportion of Bristol nursery and school children are all having to isolate as we see the local incidences of positive Covid tests soar in this area.
The closure period here, takes us until Thursday 22nd July, when we will be reopening to just the families who have booked in places in our wraparound club, so we will all miss the end of term.
This means that despite our best efforts we will not be saying goodbye to the many children who are moving onto Primary School in quite the way we would wish.
‘Emotionally claiming and connecting’ with our children is central to all we do at St Pauls, and we put great emphasis on getting the transitions right for our young learners as they arrive at nursery, move across nursery, and then leave us to go to school.
It’s heart-breaking for everyone to end the term this way, and many of our team were in tears as they headed home yesterday.
Because our isolation period extends to the rest of this final term we are sadly unable to bring you physically together for an end of term celebration. Our site is used for children accessing holiday club over the summer, who need to be in a ‘covid safe’ bubble and our staff team also start their summer holidays, so cannot be requested to work beyond the end date.
We would however like to mark the end of the year in some way.
With this in mind we invite you all to access a Zoom Celebration at 1:30pm on Wednesday 21st July.
More details of how to access this will follow. This session won’t be interactive, but you will get to see the teams thanking you all, sharing familiar songs with children and thinking about celebrations from each class.
Please feel free to email me on lucy.driver@bristol-schools.uk or the main office on stpaulsncc@bristol-schools.uk if you have any particular messages that you would like us to forward on to the staff team.
Our provision for Babies and 2yr Olds remain open to all children still.
September 2021
We are desperate for next year to start as we have planned it.
Those of you who will be returning will have received information about start dates etc.
As usual, we intend to arrange a home visits/nursery visit for all our new children and will manage the transitions into nursery school with a focus on making it right for each child.
Thank you for your patience whilst we do this.
Next year we have lower numbers in Nursery School, so will be reverting back to having just 2 classes whilst using the ‘POD’ for SEND support programmes or other specific planned activities for all children.
We are also making a commitment to getting our children out and about more – with a group each following an interest either in the kitchen, woodwork, forest, and community.
These arrangements ensures each class is more ‘staff rich’, in an attempt to minimise the impact of staff illness or isolation.
The DfE are releasing more communication for schools this week, and I expect over the summer holidays too about wider opening, but as previously stated, we will keep to most of our COVID risk assessment and continue to work in bubbles.
Staffing
We are really excited to share with you that Jet has secured the role of Temporary Acting Head at Speedwell Nursery School from September.
We like to think that they are just borrowing her, and that she will be back in a year!
During her time here at St Pauls Jet has transformed our SEND provision and shared her expertise in early language and communication. Jet leads ‘beautifully’, we have all learnt so much from her, and I know we will continue to do so, as I will also be working with Speedwell in an Executive Head support role, so there will be plenty of opportunities for the 2 Nursery Schools to work together.
Please join me in congratulating Jet and wishing her luck in this role.
I need to also thank Robin, who has kindly agreed to step up into the role of Assistant Head and Designated Safeguarding Lead here for the next year. Leadership of SEND will be provided by Denise Draper from St Phillips Marsh Nursery School for 2 days a week.
Robin is a really experienced leader, who will bring his own passions to this wider leadership role, championing exceptional learning experiences for all our children. We are very lucky to have him on our team.
What a year! I’m just so sad it hasn’t ended with the right sort of bang.
Thank you incredible Nursery School Team, and THANKYOU to you our families – for your continued support and for sharing your remarkable children with us. Every day they make our hearts sing.
Have a healthy and happy summer break.
Kind Regards
Lucy Driver
Headteacher and National Leader of Education
