Latest News

Gate plan from Monday 4th october

Thu 30 Sep 2021

From Monday 4th October children in Reception will enter school through Frederick's gate (the one behind the play park). Also Year 6 and Year 3 will be swapping gates. Year 3 will now come through the Stag gate and Year 6 will come through Frederick's gate.

Please see the picture below.

Meet our prefects!

Thu 16 Sep 2021 Mr Hughes

Yesterday in assembly, we introduced the pupils to the new Year 6 prefects. We have four senior prefects and eight prefects who school leaders and teachers believe represent excellent role models for the rest of the children at Drake. All of the prefects have been chosen because they demonstrate Drake's school values and make every effort to work hard, do well and show exemplary learning behaviour at all times. The role of the prefects will be to support and model behaviour, responsibility and decision-making for the rest of the children and to represent the school within the wider Thetford community.

Back to school arrangements 03.09.2021

Fri 03 Sep 2021

Dear families,

Welcome back to the new school year, we are really looking forward to seeing you all again next week. Our focus this term is to establish routines for the coming term. The leadership team have worked over the holidays planning to ensure we can return safely and you will notice a number of measures in place to enable a full return to school. Whilst the good news around the vaccine is a positive sign, we are still acutely aware that there may be disruption as a result of Covid-19. Leaders have put in place measures to mitigate this disruption and we do not foresee any changes to our policy to use existing Drake staff when covering classes in the event of a teacher absence. In order to keep teachers and support staff safe we are asking that all communication take place virtually/telephone/email wherever possible. Ensure you alert the office if you are contacted by the NHS contact tracing team as soon as possible.

This term we welcome new staff to our team

Chloe Jones - Trainee Teacher joins our existing year 6 team

Harvey Raven - Caretaker to join our existing team

Alexandra Adiguzel, Kelly Clements and Sarah Morgan – joining our MSA team

Class newsletters will be sent out on Monday 6th September and will include further details of educational visits, curriculum and PE/Forest School/Swimming times. Our curriculum is available on the website for all year groups.

It is vitally important for every child to have outstanding attendance in order for lost time to be made up. Please make sure you contact our PSA Mrs Kane if you have any difficulties psa@drake.norfolk.sch.uk .

Term dates

First day of term - Monday 6th September

Half term – Monday 25th- Friday 30th October

School closed for training – Tuesday 9th November

Last day of term – Friday 17th December

School day timings for children in Years 1-6

We are returning to our usual school day timings of 0845-1515.

At 0830 the Stag gate will open to admit children from Years 5 and 6. Parents to wait outside the gate please. At 0830 Fredericks gate will open to admit children from the SRB and Years 1-4. Parents are allowed on the field but not onto the playground. Please do not use your phone while on site. Please see the picture at the end of the letter which shows where each year group will be entering the school site. Both gates will close at 0850. Any child arriving after this time will be late and needs to come to the gate opposite the school office and wait to be collected by a member of SLT. In the afternoon gates will open at 1510. Children will be brought out by their class teachers at 1515.

These timings may seem tight, however our experience on the gates over the last two years has shaped our expectations. This will keep staff safe, reduce the anxiety for families who have expressed concern about multiple gates and create more space for social distancing.

School day timings for children in Reception

This information has already been emailed to families and we will see you all in the week starting Monday 13th September. Please contact the school office if unsure of the arrangements.

School lunches

We will be on week 3 of the Norse menu when we return on Monday 6th September. You can see the menus here - https://www.drake.norfolk.sch.uk/school-meals/

All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will be having one of the school meals. Please do not bring in a home packed lunch.

Year 3-6 can pre-book and pay for meals by using the pupil asset parent app.

If you think your child may be eligible for free school meals you can apply here - https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/education-and-learning/schools/school-meals-and-milk

Communication apps

Children in Years 1-6 - parenthub has been ‘rolled up’ so you will find your children are in their new year groups. Pupil Asset Parent app is as before. Children in Reception – we use two apps to communicate with parents. Please install the Pupil Asset Parent app and the parenthub app. For parenthub our school handle is @PrimaryDrake

Summer Reading Challenge 2021

Fri 18 Jun 2021 Mr Hughes

Dear Families, Your child's class teacher will be encouraging all pupils to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge this year. Please sign up at your local library to support your child's reading throughout the summer!

New Reception Intake

Mon 19 Apr 2021 Louise Rosen

Welcome to all our new families, today you should have received communication of your child's school ready for the autumn term. It is a very exciting time and we are really looking forward to seeing you all very soon. Our New Intake booklet 2021 will be published later this week, it will tell you all you need to know about how we begin the transition to Drake Primary School. We understand that the excitement may be tinged with worry as a result of the Covid 19 Pandemic. However, we are confident that with some adaptations our visits to child care settings and your transition visits here at school, can be planned safely to ensure the children are safely prepared for life at school.

Mental health and wellbeing talk

Mon 19 Apr 2021

Dear families,
Educational and Child Psychologist, Dr Georgi Turner is delivering a mental health and wellbeing talk to parents of children with additional needs in conjunction with Family Voice Norfolk, and you have the opportunity to join in.

If you are the parent carer of a child or young person with additional needs, please join us online on Tuesday 20 April 10:00am to 12:00pm

Email events@familyvoice.org.uk for full booking and joining instructions, giving the date of the event.

Georgina will talk about: • what is ‘normal’ and what is a cause for concern for individual children? • strategies to help • signposting to services

She’s also happy to answer questions and discuss your worries or concerns.

Attendance and punctuality

Wed 10 Mar 2021

Dear families

Thank you for preparing the children so well for their return to school, we have had a brilliant start to the week. Your children are a real credit to you all. The children have really enjoyed seeing their friends and getting back to life in school.

We know it’s hard to get back into the school routines having spent so long at home, and the staff are doing an excellent job. Whilst our attendance and punctuality is still one of the highest in the country at the moment at over 98%, we do want to keep it at this outstanding level. It is evident from these attendance figures that our families really value their children’s learning by prioritising learning and wellbeing. In order to catch up with missed school and reduce the risk of transmission of the coronavirus Covid-19 in our school and community, we will ask you to continue to;

· Arrive promptly at school in the morning. Gates will close at 8:55am

· Ensure all medical appointments are booked outside of school hours

· Plan for all holidays to take place during the school holidays

Our website has been upgraded this week to include an improved video sharing facility. Playlists are now becoming available for curriculum leader videos and assemblies. In addition, we are working towards a paperless office The website is currently used to publish some forms and we are developing better digital solutions. We plan by the end of the year to have a more fluid system for both payments and forms.

Thank you again for all your support, we love having the children back at school.

Best wishes
Mrs Rosen

The latest government guidance on returning to school

Fri 05 Mar 2021

Footwear - the field is still quite muddy so children will need a change of shoes. Please can children have their school shoes and PE footwear with them every day.

Rapid lateral flow tests - teaching and non-teaching staff at school are continuing to take twice-weekly tests using a home test kit. Primary school pupils are not being asked to test at this time. If you’re a member of a household, childcare bubble or support bubble of staff or a pupil you can get a twice-weekly test, but testing of children and their families is not compulsory for the return to school.
Please follow the link to find out more - gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff

Gate and Forest School timetables from Monday 8th March

Mon 01 Mar 2021

Gates and times

Gate	Year Group	Start time	Finish time
Forest gate	SRB	8.40	3.10
Forest gate	Reception	8.50	3.20
Forest gate	1	8.45	3.15
Frederick’s gate	2	8.40	3.10
Frederick’s gate (single gate)	3	8.45	3.15
Frederick’s gate	4	8.45	3.15
Stag gate	5	8.45	3.15
Stag gate	6	8.40	3.10

Forest School with Ms Farish

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
am	Darling	Attenborough	Merian	Stephenson	Zheng
pm	Darling	Attenborough	Merian	SRB	Hadid

Music lessons

Instrumental lessons will be resuming from 15th March. The music teachers will be following strict Covid protocols from the Norfolk Music Hub and our own rigorous Risk Assessments. The bill for the lessons will be put onto the Pupil Asset Parent App for individual/group lessons in keyboard, violin, flute, clarinet, recorder and saxophone.

Reopening school to all students on Monday 8th March

Mon 01 Mar 2021 Louise Rosen

Dear Families,

I am sure that you are as excited about our world getting back to near normal as we are.

In order to maintain a safe site, students will be using external doors to access the school building and remain in class bubbles wherever possible (unless it is detrimental to the learning or wellbeing of the child and additional mitigations can be put in place). The school day will be staggered but we will continue to ensure a full day for all children. Drake Primary School will cease daily lessons online from Monday 8^th March and all pupils will now attend school on site.

Please note that we do provide a free school meal for all children in years Reception, One and Two. Simply choose your meal on our Pupil Asset Parent App. The school receives additional funding for our school when KS1 and Reception children order school meals.

As always, we know we have your full support in reducing the transmission of the coronavirus in our school community. We would ask you to continue to

· Avoid using the narrow path to the north of the school by using the nearest gate as you come to school and drop off all children at that gate

· Wear a face mask at all times near school

· Ensure children and adults have washed their hands before coming to school

· Avoid using the play park until the end of the school day

· Maintain social distancing of 2 meters at all times

· One adult only to bring children to school

· Where ever possible older pupils to walk to school unaccompanied

· All gates are open from before 8:40 to 8:50 please ensure you arrive on time

· Park at the leisure centre and walk down to the relevant gate

· Only bring named packed lunch and water bottles and wear PE Kit or Forest school clothes as needed

· Students should wear PE or Forest school kit to school when needed

· Contact school through the office email account office@drake.norfolk.sch.uk

To ensure we can start lessons promptly and reduce risk of transmission please avoid chatting with other parents as the site will need to be cleared promptly to allow other year groups through the gate.

We are looking forward to seeing all the children back at school on Monday 8^th March.

Kind regards,

Louise Rosen

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