June 2020

Dear Garfield School Community,

It is hard to believe that it is June already and that we have not been together physically as a school community for over two months.

Over the last few months we have all had to start getting use to a different way of life due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

I appreciate that this is a very difficult time and for some of you, it hasn’t got any easier over time. None of us have lived through anything like this before and so we are all learning together how best to cope and get through, day by day.

I know that there has been members of our school community who have been deeply affected and suffered the loss of a loved one. There are others who remain extremely worried about unwell family members.

Please know that I am thinking of you all and that all the staff are thinking of all the Garfield pupils and families at this time.

Although the school remains closed to most pupils, there are a number of ways we still communicate and we will continue to find ways to support pupils and families.

You will know that we did a recent Parents Summery and found that 96% of you felt communication from school was good. I was delighted to hear that and my promise is that we will work hard on this to make further improvement. The survey also showed 79% felt that the home learning was meeting child’s needs. For those parents who replied it wasn’t best supporting your child, we will be contacting you in June to see how we can improve things.

I want to say that I think all those adults at home who have been supporting our pupils with home learning have been doing an amazing job! You are finding a routine that works for your household and we have had some great feedback and examples of home learning sent in. Please do remember that our expectation is that everyone is doing the very best they can and so please do not be too hard on yourselves.

Please remember you can email either the school office or the specific email address for your child’s year group and we will endeavour to answer any queries as soon as we can.

To our wonderful pupils, I have to tell you that you do not know how much I and all the staff miss seeing you!

Keep up the good work and remember to be especially kind, caring and helpful to all those you are living with I know you will do this as we have such fantastic children at Garfield.

Please do keep sending in your photos or examples of work or art work as it really makes our day and can also then possibly feature in our regular Community Flyer.

Speaking of which, I have heard such wonderful comments from families, staff and governors about our new Community Flyer. It really lifted spirits, made people smile, feel proud to belong to Garfield and feel part of our school community.

We will continue doing a weekly Community Flyer throughout the summer term.

I continue to feel immensely proud of the tremendous support, resilience and hard work that our staff, pupils and parents have already shown at Garfield and I know that through this difficult time, the Garfield School community will stand united, strong and find ways to support one another.

Please all take good care, keep following the government advice to keep safe and well.
Best wishes,
Karen Khwaja