Dear Dunalley Families, 

I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful summer.  We are looking forward to welcoming you back to nursery and school next week for another fun and productive school year.   

I’m delighted to let you know that, thanks to our exceptional premises team, the school building and grounds are looking fabulous.  The team, led by Sara Byrne (School Business Manager), has worked tirelessly throughout the summer to enhance our learning environments and facilities.  Numerous rooms and corridors have benefitted from a fresh coat of paint and our forest school areas have been carefully tended to.  I am sure that your children will also enjoy the 20 tonnes of sand that have been added to our super sandpit! 

Teachers have also been going the extra mile.  They have regularly been in school, and working from home, to ensure that the return to school is smooth and productive.  Teachers have been busy setting up their classrooms and planning for and preparing stimulating learning opportunities and experiences for your children.  Their dedication and unwavering commitment to ensuring that children thrive and flourish is extraordinary and very much appreciated.  

Given that the start of the new academic year is fast approaching, I thought it might be helpful to signpost you to some of the updates and reminders that we published last term.  Please click on the following link to refresh your memory.  You will find that our 21^st July Dunalley Update contains information about 

• arrangements for the start and end of the school day 
• school uniform 
• pencil cases and stationery

Nursery, pre-school and reception families will find additional updates and reminders on Tapestry. 

We look forward seeing nursery, pre-school and children in years 1 to 6 on Tuesday 6^th September, and our new reception starters from Wednesday 7^th September.  I hope that you enjoy the remainder of the school holiday, whilst looking forward to the excitement and opportunities that the new academic year will bring. 

Yours truly, 

Alison Godfrey 

Headteacher 

The start of the school day 

• Children in reception, year 1 and year 2 need to be dropped off at the main school entrance at 8.40am.  Staff will be there ready to welcome them at the double doors near to the main entrance.  To ease congestion, please enter the school grounds via the nursery field and exit via the main pathway (we will maintain the one-way system).   

• Children in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 need to be dropped off at the gate to the main school field at 8.45am.  

• If you have children in different key stages, please drop both of your children off at the main entrance at 8.40am.  Siblings in year 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be able to walk to the top of the playground (towards the bandstand) and around the building so that they can access their classroom at 8.45am via the field entrances with their peers.  

• Families must not cut through the staff and authorised visitor car park as it is not safe to do so. 

The end of the school day 

• Children in reception, year 1 and year 2 need be collected at 3.10pm.  Parents/carers should enter the school grounds via the nursery field gate and enter the central playground via the double doors near to the main entrance.  Class teachers will dismiss the children into the playground when they see you.

• Families who then need to collect older siblings should to walk to the top of the playground (towards the bandstand) and wait for them outside their classroom on the field side of the building. Having done this, families should leave the school grounds via the main field gate.  

• Families that do not need to collect siblings in years 3 to 6 should exit the site through the double doors near to the main entrance and walk up the main path.  

• Children in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 need to be collected at 3.15pm.  Families that are only collecting children from these year groups should enter and exit the school site via the school field gate. 

We politely request that families leave the school site as quickly as possible.  This is because children attending Lates and after school clubs will need to stay inside the building until families have left the site and the gates have been locked.  Thank you for your understanding. 

Earlies, Early Birds and Lates 

All children attending Earlies and Early Birds must be dropped off at 8am at the main school entrance.  Please be punctual - staff are not available to welcome, and ensure that late arrivals get safely to their group, between 8 and 8.40am as they have other duties to attend to during these times. 

Children who attend after school clubs and Lates will be dismissed via the main entrance.  Please use the main school pedestrian entrance to enter and exit the site. 

Nursery & Pre-school will inform families via Tapestry

You may recollect that governors sent out a school uniform survey during the autumn term.  They published the outcomes in a December newsletter.  You can access this here.  Please follow this link and refresh your memory.   

You will see that the changes are scheduled to be implemented from January 2023 as 70% of families felt that a transition period of a year was appropriate.    

Next term, all children (reception to year 6) should continue to wear their active uniforms every day.    

Children in years 3 to 6 should not return to school in September wearing the more traditional uniforms that are due to be introduced from January 2023, as this would mean that some children would need to wait, whilst others needed to change their clothes for P.E. and Commando Joes sessions. 

If you have already purchased traditional uniform for September as your child will be in key stage 2, and you would like it to be worn before January, please make sure that your child wears their current active uniform to school on P.E. and Commando Joes days, and their new traditional uniform on other days of the week. Class teachers will confirm the PE / Commando Joe days at the beginning of term. 

Can you help? 

The individual stationery packs that your children used last year were really useful so we will continue to work in this way from September 2022. 

We would really appreciate it if you could supply your child(ren) with the following items in from September. 

• An inexpensive, small, plain, wipeable named pencil case  
• 12 coloured pencils 
• 2 HB pencils 
• 2 rubbers (plain are best) 
• 1 named glue stick 
• 1 highlighter pen 
  

We will provide everything else.  We would like these items to stay in school all of the time.