This message is from the Head Teacher of Catcott Primary School
Dear Residents,
I am writing to you as Headteacher of Catcott Primary School. As many of you will know the school has been closed (as part of the nationwide closure of schools) since March due to the current Coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Minister has directed schools to start planning for a potential re-opening of the school to very limited numbers of children from 1st June.
Our plan is to re-open the school on 2nd June. We are taking many pre-cautions within the school to reduce the risks that gathering so many children together in one place may present. If you would like further information about the steps we are taking, then please do not hesitate to contact me by email ( caxten-higgs@educ.somerset.gov.uk). I have outlined below the pertinent points which I feel will affect you as local residents.
Staggered drop off and collection times
Our parents have been asked to drop off and collect their children over a wider period of time. Drop-offs will start at 08:45 and last until 09:45. Collections will start at 14:45 and last until 15:45. Parents have been asked to queue along the street outside the school, standing at 2m intervals. These intervals will be temporarily marked on the pavement.
This means that between these times there will be (relatively) significant numbers of people queuing on Manor Road – up the hill towards the church. Please bear this in mind when planning your daily exercise.
Increased traffic
Obviously many of our children are not resident in Catcott itself. We serve many villages across the Poldens (including Edington, Chilton Polden, Cossington, Burtle, Shapwick, Stawell and Sutton Mallet). For many of these children the walk to school is too far or too dangerous, so they must travel by car. I am sure that you will have grown used to the peace of traffic free roads. I apologise for the increased traffic on our village’s road, however there is very little that I can do. I hope that the wider drop off and collection times will mean the traffic is at least spread out and will not present such an issue with parking.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all good health both now and in the future and also to thank you for your ongoing support. I will be leaving Catcott Primary School as Headteacher this summer as I am taking up a new Headship in Cambridge, so will be moving with my family. I have been the headteacher at Catcott for 6 years now and part of the teaching team for nearly 15 years. In that time I have come to love the village and its local community for all the support that it has given. I have striven throughout my time to keep the school as part of the community that it serves and worked to make sure that the children we educate have a real sense of their cultural heritage and appreciate the wonderful place the Polden villages are.
Yours sincerely
Chris
Chris Axten-Higgs
Headteacher
Catcott Primary School
www.catcottprimary.co.uk
01278 722527
|
