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Regents Park Community Primary School
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Dear Parents,
I am writing to let you know of some changes I am proposing to the start of the school day from January 2023.
As you know, currently the school day begins at 8.40am when the school gates open. Children walk into class and begin “Start of the Day” activities – these activities can include extra handwriting, spelling or multiplication table practice; children can be targeted in this time to support their phonics, reading or maths or children use this time to complete work or respond to marking.
The school gates stay open for 15 minutes from 8.40am until 8.55am when they are closed.
The problem we have is that some children regularly do not arrive until late - some children arrive just before 8.55am and never get to take part in the Start of the Day activities at all. As such, over 5 days, these children miss out on 1¼ hours of learning per week; this equates to 48¾ hours per school year. Even children that arrive at 8.50am are missing out on 50 minutes of learning per week (32½ hours per school year).
Ideally, we would like all children to arrive at school every day at 8.40am ready to take a full part in the Start of the Day activities in order to support their learning.
As such, I am giving all parents notice that from the start of term in January I am proposing a change to the start of the day. Instead of being open as they are currently, the gates will now close at 8.45am. This means that parents will have from 8.40am until 8.45am to drop children off at one of the 3 main gates we have on either Arthur Street, Camelot Way or Dixon Road. I believe this will give enough time for all children to arrive at school and make their way into class safely. They will then have up to 15 minutes per day for extra learning. Unfortunately, this does mean that any children that arrive after 8.45am will be marked as late.
I understand that we have some parents who are making a number of drop offs to different schools with their children in the mornings who may need to adjust their routines as a result. However, I would remind all parents that we do provide a Breakfast Club every morning from 8.00am so children can be dropped off earlier instead.
Obviously I’m hoping that you will agree with me that by closing the gates earlier there is the potential for us to provide your children with more teaching and learning time. However, I am always happy to hear from parents and it would be good to get your feedback on this proposal whether it is positive or negative.
If you would like to come in and meet with me to discuss the decision to close the gates at 8.45am from January, then I will be available in the school hall to meet with parents from 9.00am and from 2.20pm on Thursday 1st December. I will also send a link to an online form so parents can also give their feedback - https://forms.office.com/e/bQfH2Li8MZ
I look forward to hearing from you.
Mr A Beale