For over 10 years now our staff team have not had a ‘fit for purpose’ staffroom area within the school and now… finally…we have a fantastic relaxing space which we are calling The Chill Out Zone!
When I joined the school the ‘staffroom’ was literally a cornered off area within a classroom, then when numbers increased the whole classroom was needed so the only area we could use was the school office – which is tiny and very busy with the phone ringing and visitors arriving. When the Sure Start centre closed we took over a very small ‘cupboard’ which contained the electrics and computer server and we had to sit in two rows facing each other with about 60cm between us! All meetings had to be held in classrooms as the ‘cupboard’ wasn’t big enough for us all to fit into. It was totally impossible for us to socialise at lunchtime as a team.
When COVID hit, the ‘cupboard’ did not meet the requirements of the risk assessment and we had to move the staffroom into the baby area of SCAMPS. Again, all we had was baby sized furniture and the area did not have doors so we could hear the babies and children in SCAMPS through the open gaps. This was a million miles away from a relaxing area for staff to take a well-deserved break – especially during such challenging times.
When SCAMPS closed in July 2021, we have been able to use this area permanently as our staffroom.
During the last two years, parents and children have very kindly made cash donations instead of presents and gifts at Christmas and at the end of the summer term. As such, I have been saving this money up and this is how we have funded the purchase of our new furniture. Myself and the team cannot thank you enough for all of your kindness and support.
We now have four (adult sized!) sets of tables and chairs where staff can sit to eat their lunch and six comfortable chairs for them to relax and take ten minutes out of their extremely busy day. I cannot express clearly enough what a hugely positive impact this has made to staff morale and well-being and we are all incredibly grateful as it has only been possible thanks to your generosity over the last two years.
As you know, we always put our children first and every penny we have is spent on them. We would never have spent this amount of money on ourselves from the already stretched school budget and therefore our Chill Out Zone would never have happened without our amazing parents and carers.
Mrs D Cross
Head Teacher
