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Here comes the sun

I was thinking just now about what I would be doing this week if I were still a headteacher. I reckon that about 60% of my time this week would have been taken up by 

  • Standing on the edge of our school field and telling children to go back into class to get their hats and put them on before playtime/lunchtime
  • Explaining to grumpy year six children who thought they were too cool to wear hats, why they needed to do so
  • Collecting unnamed hats that had been discarded by children whilst playing and attempting to return them to their owners
  • Writing letters and reminders via social media to our parents relating to hats, summer school uniform variations and sun cream
In light of that, I thought I would try writing the letter I would have liked to have sent out when I was a headteacher. Feel free to 'magpie' this for your own schools if you wish!

Dear Parents,

There is not really any excuse for sending your child to school on a sunny day without a hat, is there? You can pick them up in the supermarket for less than the cost of a bottle of prosecco, even the really cheap stuff. Oh, and by the way, the one they wore last summer probably won't fit, as they are growing up fast, aren't they? While you are at it, can you please write their name on it? The chances are there will be at least a dozen other children in school with identical hats.

If they do lose it, please think hard about who was responsible for the loss before blaming the school. Don't tell them that they shouldn't have lost it, as you will not get them another one.

If you can send them in with sunscreen already applied, then that would be lovely. Otherwise, please teach them how to reapply it and remind them not to share it with their friends. The teachers have better things to do than put sunscreen on every child before playtimes and lunchtimes.

Please limit the sizes of the water bottles your child brings to school this week to one that they can carry unaided. We would really appreciate it if they could have their name on it, too. Ideally, if their name could be written so that it will not disappear by lunchtime on Monday. If you could double-check that their bottles are water-tight, we would really appreciate it too!

Finally, if your child suffers from hay fever, please ensure that you have administered any medication before they come into school, so that we don't have to call you daily to come in.

Many thanks...



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