Dear Parents/Carers,

Strike Information

You will have seen in the news that some teachers may be taking strike action on Wednesday 1st February, Wednesday 1^st March, Wednesday 15^th March and Thursday 16^th March. As I previously advised, at the moment, we do not have any plans to close the school or any specific classes. The strike is about the level of funding provided by the government for schools and the terms and conditions. The argument is not with our school but we could be affected by the strike. Almond Hill is committed to doing everything possible to ensure school remains open on strike days.

However, we have no means of knowing for certain which staff are members of the NEU or whether they will decide to take strike action, right up to the morning of the strike days. If we are not able to guarantee the safety of the children on the day, we may need to close some classes that would not be adequately supervised and parents may need to make other arrangements for their children on that day. I know that making alternative arrangements for your children will be extremely difficult for some parents which is why I wanted to be completely transparent with you as early as possible. Further complicating the process, the government and unions are updating their advice and guidance daily and the school is compelled to work within the remits of the law regarding employee rights. 

At the moment, we remain of the view that all classes will remain open and will advise parents as soon as possible if anything changes. This could be a possibility up until the day of the strikes. 

Raise Resilience
We have had a fantastic response to our Raise Resilience online classes for parents and will send further details about how to join in due course. Mrs Burgess, (Pastoral lead), will be contacting further parents next week to discuss why we think your child would benefit from your participation. Initially, we had planned to fund 10 places but demand has outstripped supply which is a truly wonderful thing. We believe that the resilience programme we run in school (which is affiliated to this parenting course) is very effective and teaches skills which are invaluable to a happy journey through junior school in preparation for secondary education. For this reason, we are committed to spending some of the school budget on this. However, if you feel you are in a position to finance this course for yourselves you will have the opportunity to do so in our next communication. 

Safeguarding and Online Safety

 I have had more than one report already this term about children being unkind on social media. I know it can be difficult to say no to your children especially when it seems everyone else is allowing their children to communicate via social media and apps. However, most primary aged children are not mature enough to fully understand the implications of using social media and this is why they are not recommended for this age group. Not only do they not fully comprehend the hurt and distress they can cause, they also do not understand the risk at which they put themselves by communicating in this way. Once online always online- even if you have taken it down yourself, someone else can have screen shot/video recorded it and shared over and over. We advise parents to go to the police if they believe their child is a victim of cyberbullying as this is beyond the remit of the school. 

It has come to my attention that some parents have been entering the school grounds via the vehicle gates at the drop off. If the Year 3 gate has been padlocked shut, this is because we are trying to avoid slips. Please use the gate nearest Walkern Road in this eventuality. May I politely request that parents never use the vehicle gate when on foot. This suggests to your children that it is safe and may encourage them to use it when you are not there, resulting in an accident. 

Emma Fordham,
Headteacher