Letter to parents, 31 January 2008

Dear parents and carers

Ofsted report Our Ofsted report has now been published and you should have a copy. If you have not got it – please ask Marie or Louise. It’s a very positive report that reflects well on the hard work that the staff and the governing body have done to develop high standards of nursery education at Kate Greenaway. As a staff, we continue to feel very fortunate to have such an engaged and committed group of parents. Thank you for all your support.

School travel plan I have tried to speak to as many parents as possible about our School Travel Plan. This piece of work is about finding out how families come to Kate Greenaway, and to look at whether there are any improvements to the local environment that would encourage children and parents to walk, cycle or use public transport to get to the nursery. If you have any ideas about this, I would really like to hear them.

So far 28 parents have answered the survey questions. 19 parents walk all the way from home with their children, 2 children come by bike, 5 by car, and 2 by bus.

Parents have made the following comments about walking/cycling to Kate Greenaway:

· Drivers going along Copenhagen Street need to slow down
· Need and extra Pelican Crossing near the path into York Way Court
· Cyclists go through red lights and cycle too fast near children
· Signs telling drivers to be aware of children on Copenhagen Street and in the estate would help
· There is a lot of dog mess on the pavements which young children can step in
· Walking in would be good for my fitness, but when it’s raining…
· Pavements are uneven and children end up falling over and hurting themselves
· We need more and better bike lanes
· The 274 bus service is not regular enough
· Roadworks mean that pavements are closed off or narrowed down so much you can’t get a buggy through – e.g. on York Way between Kings Cross and Copenhagen Street.

Please let me know your views. When the travel plan is written we will then be asking parents to consider what changes we should ask Transport for London to make. There is funding for this work.

Julian Grenier