venice

we also waiting for wednesdays rubbish to be collected, recycling made worse by the fact that 2 weeks ago on our collection the bin men threw our 2 blue boxes and blue recycling bag in the bin lorry, went after the lorry and asked for the boxes to be returned he first said he didnt know where they were but then said they had slipped out of his hand.....said we should get a blue bin as the boxes were difficult for them to manage. Reported the loss of the boxes and bag to southwark who said it would be up to 3 weeks to get replacements so front garden now full of carrier bags of recycling, not nice.... According to Southwark website it shuold be collected by tomorrow Disruption to service Please be aware that due to industrial action our refuse and recycling service has been severely affected. If your bins are due for collection on Wednesday, please leave your bins ready for collection and we will clear the backlog as quickly as possible between Thursday and Saturday. If your collections haven't taken place by Saturday evening, please report the missed collection online.

and the rest of the questions.... 11. Who will pay for all the changes that will need to be made to the buildings? The school will receive additional money from Southwark Local Authority to make all the necessary changes. Southwark Education wants us to make sure these changes make ?permanent improvements to the school environment?, so they will benefit many more pupils in the future. 12. Won?t we need a new class teacher? Yes. We are delighted to have already appointed a new teacher to teach in Foundation Stage from Sept 2011. Over the new few weeks the senior management team will be considering what additional support staff will also be needed. 13. Is the school going to have 3 classes in all future Reception year-groups? No. This is a one-off, and there are no plans to move to a permanent 3-form entry. 14. Will Breakfast Club continue to operate? Yes. Breakfast Club will continue as normal, but will be located in the dining hall. 15. How will the extra children be catered for at lunchtimes? We have plans to upgrade the kitchen and dining hall arrangements. The movement of children in, through, and out of lunchtimes will be carefully planned. 16. Will the quality of learning and pastoral care be diminished by having a year group of 90? No. We have appointed a very capable new class teacher; we will add appropriate levels of support staff. Other schools that have taken bulge classes have seen no negative impact on the children?s learning experience or pastoral care. 17. What admissions criteria have been used to award the additional 30 places for Sept ?11? Children have been awarded places for Sept 2011 using the usual St John?s and St Clement?s admissions criteria. 18. Will the extra class make it harder to get places in the school in 2 or 3 years time if there are more than the usual numbers of siblings taking places? It is true that there will probably be a higher number of sibling places allocated as younger brothers and sisters of the extra 30 children reach school age. The school will monitor this as closely as we are able and will endeavour to keep interested parents informed about the potential impact on places. 19. How are all these changes being managed? A special committee of governors is overseeing the strategic plans; this group includes senior and class teachers, clergy and parents. A management group within the school will do the detailed operational planning over the next few weeks. 20. To whom should I speak if I have further questions or concerns? The governors will be hosting a Parents? Forum on Tuesday 28th June 3:30pm to which all parents are welcome. You can also email the governors at [email protected], speak directly to governors in person, or drop a note labelled for the governors into the school office. If you are not sure who the governors are, their names and photographs can be found on the wall in the school entrance lobby.

St John's and St Clement's school sent out these questions and answers today to parents 1. Why is this extra class necessary? Southwark has a population bulge for children born in 2006/2007. Without extra classes there would be many children without school places for Sept 2011. Several local schools are taking ?bulge? classes for Reception 2011, including Goose Green and Dulwich Village Infants School. 2. Why has the decision been made so late in the school year? The Local Authority was only certain shortly before May half term that the extra class was absolutely necessary. 3. Who has made the decision to take an additional class at our school, and what were the reasons? The decision was made by the St John?s and St Clement?s School Governors (a full list of the governors can be found at the end of the FAQs) The governors said yes to the request for a ?bulge? class because it is local children who would have been without a school place, and the school exists to provide education for children in our local community. The governors were confident that the school had sufficient space, could appoint a high quality class teacher, and could continue to provide increasingly high standards of teaching & learning and pastoral care. Over a year ago, the governors discussed in detail the possibility of taking a future bulge class, and agreed in principle that we would do this if asked. It wasn?t until now that Southwark Local Authority made a formal request to us though. We believe strongly that it?s the right decision for the community and the right decision for the school. 4. Why weren't parents consulted on this decision? The role of the Governors is to take collective decisions on the overall strategic direction of the school and how to respond to developments of this kind. There are 3 elected parent governors on the Governing body and in total 7 of our Governors have children in the school, so parental views have been a considerable part of the discussion which led to the decision. 5. What have the current pupils been told? The pupils have been told about the additional class. Miss Kemp has explained that ?there are lots more 4 year olds living in this area than in previous years, so the council have asked our school to have another Reception class in September. There are going to be some changes to the Reception and Year 1 classrooms which the builders are going to complete over the summer holidays?. 6. Does the school really have classroom and playground space for these additional children? Yes. Our school has plenty of space. The governors will be considering how best to use the facilities and space that the school has, including use of the main playground. 7. Where will the 30 extra children be accommodated? The current 1B classroom will become the additional Reception classroom for Sept 2011. The Breakfast Club room will be converted into a Year 1 classroom. The dining hall will be modified to accommodate additional children at lunchtimes and to provide space for Breakfast Club and cookery activities. Most of the changes to the building will be carried out over the summer holidays. 8. Will the new arrangements still allow all children to enjoy the same high quality Reception environment? Yes. The generous, self-contained physical environment for Reception - where children can flow freely between classroom and playground - is a very positive feature of the children?s first year at our school. The additional classroom will be adjacent to the existing classrooms, joined by the same corridor, and the movement of the children between classroom and playground will retain the same informality and freedom that the current arrangements afford. 9. What will happen to the Reception playground? The Reception playground will benefit from considerable modifications, including putting down a soft play surface and building a new, fixed climbing frame. We are making careful plans for slightly different arrangements to avoid congestion for children and parents at drop-off and pick-up times. 10. Will the extra class fit in as they move up through the school? Yes. We are lucky that our school has a lot of space. Some of the modifications that are being planned are to the first floor, in order to accommodate the larger year group when it becomes Year 2.

Auto text from St Johns and St Clements - School will be open today but witrh a reduced staff. If you would like to keep your child at home today please do so. Any absence today will be authorised. If your child will be in school please send them with a spare pair of shoes and extra clothes...

I have spoken to the HT and St Johns and St Clements is closed today, the travel problems from the weather mean not enough staff are able to get in

My employer does not give me time off if my child is sick, only if I am. If my child is ill then I have to take a days leave I always used to make sure that I had a couple of days not booked in the year to cover emergencies like this. Mine are a bit older now and I have more flexibility to work from home so generally can cover most sick days like this