News

Christmas Arrangements at CL

Posted On: 25 November 2021

Christmas is coming…

The festive season is fast approaching and never have we entered it with more hesitation than we do this year. Amidst rising numbers of COVID cases, we have been grappling – for several weeks now – about what to do regarding celebrations in school. However, we are keen for the children to experience as many of our festive traditions as possible this year and enjoy every minute of the lead up to Christmas: it is what they deserve. With this in mind, we have finally decided to go ahead with most of our Christmas events, making reasonable adaptations to do everything we can to minimize the spread of infection and keep all members of our school community as safe as possible.

To this end, we shall be:

·       Presenting Key Stage One Christmas productions in year groups – more information set out below

·       Holding a ‘closed’ Christmas Bazaar that only the children will be able to attend, in their year groups, during school time – more information below

·       Having Christmas Dinner in smaller groups – dates, cost and arrangements to follow

·       Holding a Christmas Jumper Day on the 13th December and participating in a Santa Dash – more information below

·       Holding our outside Key Stage Two Carol concert on the 15th December at 7.00 p.m. Please wrap up warm

Donations for the Christmas Bazaar

We would now like to start collecting for our school Bazaar, so if you have any unwanted/unused/unopened toiletries, gift sets, toys, games, books, etc. that you can donate please send them into school as soon as possible.

In addition, we are asking that every child in:

Key Stage One – that’s Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 - decorates an empty jar and fills it with sweets (please avoid sweets containing nuts)

Key Stage Two (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6) brings a selection box into school

We will send out additional information about when the Bazaar will take place and how your child can participate in due course.

Key Stage One Productions

Ordinarily, all the children in Key Stage One would participate in a whole key stage production; however, in the interests of everyone’s health we have decided to separate year groups this year. Obviously, the shows will be a little shorter because of this, but hopefully they will be equally enjoyable and you will all get a chance to see your child shine in their own special way.

We are not charging for tickets this year because the performances will be more like assemblies than full on productions, although we will be collecting voluntary contributions after each event to help cover the continuing additional costs of antibacterial hand wash, hand sanitizer, tissues, etc. that we are going through at a rapid rate! Please bring some cash with you in order to be able to make a contribution! Thank you.

Ticket Allocation

Each family will be issued with two tickets, one for each of their child’s year group performances. It is up to you if you choose to swap the tickets around amongst yourselves, but school will not change the ticket allocation for anyone. It is absolutely imperative that you bring your ticket with you on the day on the performance as there will be absolutely no admission without a ticket. This is part of our drive to keep audience numbers small in the health and safety interests of all involved.

COVID Restrictions

On the day of the performance all ticket holders will be required to wear a mask and to keep it on throughout their time in school (any persons exempt from wearing a mask must bring medical proof of this with them please). In addition, we are asking every ticket bearer to bring a negative lateral flow test with them on the day. Of course, it goes without saying (I hope) that anyone exhibiting any symptoms of COVID-19 should stay at home and not attend a performance.

Symptoms of COVID are:

A high temperature

A persistent dry cough

Loss of taste or smell, or a change in the taste/smell of things

We are taking these measures to keep you, your children and our staff as safe as possible – particularly in the run-up to Christmas – so please adhere to them without question: thank you.

Performance Dates

Children in Reception – that’s Mrs Jethwa and Miss Sumner’s Classes – will be singing and sharing their Christmas activities with parents/carers on Wednesday 8th December at 9.45 a.m. and again at 10.45 a.m. One ticket for each performance will be sent home with every child.

Children in Year 1 – Mrs Edwards and Miss Whitfield’s Classes – will be sharing a simple musical nativity with their parents/carers on Thursday 9th December at 9.45 a.m. and again at 10.45 a.m. One ticket for each performance will be sent home with every child.

Children in Year 2 – Miss Health, Miss Boyce and Miss Pavlou’s Classes – will be sharing our take on the nativity with their parents/carers on Friday 10th December at 9.30 a.m. and again at 10.30 a.m. One ticket for each performance will be sent home with every child.

I look forward to seeing you all at one of these special performances.

Christmas Jumper Day – Monday 13th December

Due to Year 2 having performances on 10th December, we shall be holding our Christmas Jumper Day – in aid of Save the Children – on Monday 13th December this year. The children should wear a Christmas Jumper to school on this day (with their choice of clothing of their lower half!) and bring a £1.00 donation (if possible) in support of Save the Children.

Throughout the day, all children will take part in a Fun Santa Dash; we did this last year and they absolutely loved it so hopefully it will be another resounding success.

I will send more information shortly about the Christmas Bazaar and Christmas dinners. Please start sending in your donations for the bazaar and I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Kind regards,

Stacey Ward

Head Teacher