September 2020

Dear All

It is September and schools around the country have resumed after what has been a strange and difficult year for pupils and schools alike. At Drake we have been unique in that our children did return to school before the Summer break to adjust to the new, stringent COVID restrictions, furthermore were fortunate in the daily provision of learning provided by our dedicated team of passionate teaching and support staff, online and then face-to-face.

I’m sure that some parents amongst us still carry some level of anxieties as the levels of COVID rates remain prevalent, including local outbreaks and school closures within Breckland. I am however, reassured and hope to reassure all that regular, forensic risk assessments are carried out by Mrs Rosen and her team, formulated by Norfolk County Council and meticulously completed by the Senior Leaders at Drake to ensure that our children remain safe at all times. I’m sure the feedback you have received from your children have identified that changes have been made to the school day to ensure that children remain in their bubbles to minimise transmission including:

• eating lunches in their classrooms;
• the use of screens, masks (where applicable) and visors by staff 
• individual stationery and learning resources for children

Please be assured that a massively increased level of cleaning, sanitising and social distancing is enforced to further bolster their protection, including stringent sanitising of communal play equipment. I am reassured by the level of updates issued by the school to parents, and the Governing Board are committed to actioning views from our community by working closely with the school to re-evaluate processes and strategize how to ensure that our school, it’s pupils and staff and wider community remain (COVID) safe. It is evident that families trust the precautions and expertise of our staff as they have welcomed almost all applicable children back to the setting, with pupil absence at negligible levels and would like to feedback to you the thanks from all at Drake in your patience, cooperation and supportive communications as we all navigate our way through new processes and protocols.

Governors

I am delighted to welcome 3 new governors to the team. We have already met as a collective and have designated roles to all to ensure that all statutory and curriculum focused areas are continued to be monitored. Furthermore, our intention is to increase the number capacity of our board to reflect the size and provision of our school, especially as we look to establish a specialist resource base in the next academic year. We currently have 1 parent governor vacancy as our current Instrument of Government permits. We will be liaising with the school to advertise this post, however application forms and job description can be found on the Governor pages of our website, should any parent wish to apply.

Curriculum

As governors we remain committed to ensure that the school’s curriculum remains  broad, balanced and reflective our wonderful community and environment. As previously mentioned we are proud of the reduced curriculum which was taught during difficult lockdown circumstances and as the school begins to operate to our new normal, the governors and I will look to monitor key priorities from the school’s development and improvement plan and ensure that the impact and implementation of key areas for improvement, in addition to the broad curriculum, are delivered.

Thank you all for continued support to our school in delivering a high quality education and school experience to our little people.

Best wishes & stay safe

Carly Brien

Chair of Governors