Dear Parents/Carers

I have been made aware of concerns about not always being able to speak directly with your child's teacher first thing in the morning.

Could I please encourage you after dropping your child at the gate to approach either Angie Bristow (Home School Liaison Worker) or Conor Devlin (PFSA) if you have a concern or wish to give the teacher a heads up about something. Part of their role is to alert teachers to any issues and check your child has settled well. Both Angie & Conor are in the car park every morning, if they are speaking with another parent and you are unable to wait, the office team are also very good at passing messages onto classes.

There are several reasons for asking parents to leave their child at the gate, in addition to trying to develop children's independence which is so important for them to become successful learners it is also around punctual start to learning each day; when parents dropped off their children at the classroom doors it was really difficult to ensure all parents were off site and learning starting punctually. We noticed a significant difference in the ability for teachers to start learning punctually and without distractions during Covid times, when reviewed by SLT it was acknowledged that actually this was a massive improvement for the children's learning. In addition to this we have introduced early morning teaching from 8.45am this year, teachers are supporting the early learning activities in the classrooms from 8.45am, which is why teachers are not out on the gate every day. We are able to cover teachers with support staff once or twice a week to enable them to go onto the gates.