Dear Parents and Carers

I am pleased to be able to share another week of relatively Covid free news for our school and as a result would like to thank you all for the way that you continue to conduct yourselves.  Many schools in Maghull and the wider community have been sending large groups of children home when one child has tested positive.  Perhaps we have just been lucky to date but I firmly believe that your responsible behaviour in keeping your children off school if you feel that they are unwell is definitely helping.  I have no doubt that some of our school community will need to remain at home and may ultimately test positive.  These selfless acts of responsibility should be acknowledged as helping to keep our school open and our school community safe.  This is a fact that we are simply going to have to get used to and I know that the teachers have arrangements in place to ensure that the children will be able to continue with their learning although I am the first to accept that this can never be as good as being in class. 

If you are ill or any member of your family is ill please stay away from school and contact the school office where we will help to advise you if necessary.  We all now understand that we should only arrange for a test if a person has developed symptoms.  Doing this will help us to get back to some form of normality although that seems some way off at the moment.

I discovered for the first time that I live in the Liverpool City Region, something that I have never heard of, however, as this region includes, Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helen's and the Wirral I can confirm the following

From Midnight on Saturday 3rd October residents in the Liverpool City Region must not meet anyone outside their household or bubble in any setting, except outdoor public spaces, such as parks and outdoor hospitality. 

This builds on measures already in place restricting residents from mixing with other households in private homes or gardens in the Liverpool City Region. 

The new measures are enforceable by law and subject to fines and it is recommended that people do not meet in outdoor public spaces, such as parks and outdoor hospitality.  The good news is that schools and covid secure settings are not effected and remain open.  The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has stated that he wants rules like this to stay in place for as short a time as possible and that the more people following the rules the quicker we can return to the previous arrangements. 

I am delighted that our school attendance last week was 98% and I am equally pleased that the few children who are at home were there for the right reasons as they had picked up the usual seasonal snivels and colds.  The arrangements for dropping off and picking up are working well although it would be a great help if some of you used the MCA car park as a number of governors have raised concerns about general parking etiquette. 

I am still hopeful that our Year 5 children will be able to celebrate receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion next Saturday and remind the boys that they are to wear long grey trousers and white shirts.  We shall provide them with a blue bow tie and sash in an envelope with your child's name.  These will be given to the boys next week.

The children are working extremely hard and can I thank you for your support particularly in helping our younger children develop their phonic skills which are so crucial as they develop their independent reading.  I cannot stress the importance of reading each evening with your children and if you are able to do this it is a wonderful gift. 

The children are enjoying the after school activities that we provide each evening until 4.15pm.  Numbers have risen steadily and I have enjoyed taking part with some of them.  The Year 1 & 2 classes will be able to use our polytunnel if the weather is too wet on Wednesday and Thursday.  Can I remind parents that Junior children are collected at the front of the school whilst the infants can be collected from their playground.  There were over 100 children who enjoyed these sporting activities and I would like to thank Sam and Matthew from Active Soccer for providing a suitable range of high quality clubs which the children are clearly enjoying. 

Can I thank you all for reducing any cash transactions by making use of Parentmail Pay.  This clearly helps in all aspects of office administration and if you have not yet done this could I ask you to give it your consideration. 

We have again been fortunate with the weather this week and I hope that you enjoy your weekend all be it in some form of isolation.  I am sure that if Everton beat Brighton and Liverpool beat Aston Villa our respective cheers shall be heard.

Thank you for your kind words of support which are always appreciated.

Yours sincerely

Mr D MacAreavy - Headteacher