Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome to the new
school year. For most of you, it is a warm welcome back but let me firstly take
this opportunity to heartily welcome all our new families who have joined us
this week. Cookridge is a wonderful school community where new friendships are
quickly formed, and I have seen our children settle into their new classes with
ease, confidence and enthusiasm this week – with some of the broadest smiles I
have ever seen! It has been wonderful to finally have our children back in
school – their shiny new shoes were just a joy to behold on Wednesday, and they
most definitely came back with plenty to tell us about. I hope that your child
has shared lots of news and updates about their new class, their new teacher
and their new friends. I am very confident that we are going to have a good,
good year at Cookridge in 2012-13...
Summer Changes
Over the Summer
holiday, school has been far from a quiet place as we have had plenty of
modifications made to the school building to enhance the learning environment.
In the playground, the children were like bees to honey around the new
playframe that has been installed (thanks to YOUR contribution to our PTA last
year!), the ball walls and the fencing have GONE and the grass is no longer out
of bounds – extending the play space we have. The additional fencing and gate
has also increased the security of the school site – if ONLY they had run the
fence all the way up to the existing fence (like I’d asked) it would have been
perfect out there!
Up on our allotment, we were also lucky enough to secure the services of Interserve – the company building the Holt Park leisure centre – to make vast improvements to the pond area. Not only have they created a safe, great looking pond that would sit well in country parkland, they have also created a wildlife area and pathways, added fencing and are also donating shrubs for the children to plant. Their services have been offered FREE OF CHARGE and we are incredibly grateful for the fantastic job they have done for us. Have a look on the blog if you want a closer look...
In school, we have refurbished the office area, converted a shower room into an additional storage cupboard, installed an oven into our community room, given Funtime a facelift and created a high profile book corner in every classroom with some new, improved furnishings. Furniture has been cleared out of the hall to provide a larger eating and PE space and every cupboard in school has been sorted, reorganised and cleaned to within an inch of its life. The teachers have given up weeks of their holiday to create fabulous classroom spaces that look bright, well organised and inviting.. I am thrilled with every one of our beautiful class spaces this year and know that they are primed for great and fabulous learning. Praise to ALL of the teachers for a great job – and its only Day 3!
Finally, I have to
commend our cleaning team who have done an excellent job over the summer
cleaning every nook and cranny. The
classrooms really are shining, as are the corridors, the offices, the hall and
public spaces across school. Special thanks should be given to Dean (our site manager) and Jamie (his able assistant) who, in
addition to their actual roles, have also helped me almost without complaint (!) to move 155 pieces of furniture, get
rid of mountains of rubbish and provide your children with a fantastic school.
Four weeks from now, we
are due to have our amazing new library installed so watch this space!
School Dinners
I
was thrilled to enjoy my first school meal on Wednesday – the first time
someone else has cooked for me for six weeks! The new menu is available to view
on the school website http://www.cookridgeprimaryschool.org.uk/parents/school-menu.php.
The cost of school meals is £1.90 a day (£9.50 per week) for Rec-Y4 pupils, and
£1.95 a day (£9.75 per week) for Y5 and 6 pupils. Parents wishing to swap to
school meals or vice versa can do so with 2 weeks notice at the school office.
Sports Clubs
After
a brilliant summer of Olympic sporting success, our brand new range of after
school sports clubs start in school next week. Please check the school sports
blog www.cookridgeschoolsport.blogspot.com for
all the details regarding the clubs as well as details about competitions and
local sports clubs. If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to
ask either Mr Gamble or Mrs Hyde. There are still some places available if your
child has been inspired over the summer but you must be quick!
Information
about our other after school clubs
will be coming out to you next week, and clubs will start in Week 4 once we
have processed all the reply slips. Places are usually in high demand so please
return slips quickly once the letters come out!
Music
Our
musicians have been back in action this week and it has been great to hear the
familiar tone of the violins, cellos, flutes and guitars as the children have
reacquainted themselves with their instrument of choice. Mrs Fletcher has taken responsibility for music across school and
will be coordinating music tuition, choir and orchestra. We will be letting you
know soon where there are gaps and if you would like your child to learn an
instrument during their time with us, look out for this information and get in
touch.
Parent Meetings
As
promised during the ‘welcome to your new class’ meetings at the end of the
school year, we are now hosting further information meetings to get the year
started with real clarity. During these meetings, we look forward to sharing
the housekeeping information as well as giving you further information about
the new curriculum and the work we are doing to strengthen phonics and spelling
across school. Please come along and support your child during the coming year.
The meetings are as follows..
Reception –
Wednesday 12th Sept or
Thursday 13th Sept, from 1-2pm.
KS1 (Classes 1, 2 & 3) –
Tuesday 25th Sept, 2-3pm
LKS2 (Classes 4, 5 & 6) –
Thursday 27th Sept, 9am.
UKS2 (Classes 7, 8 & 9) –
Tuesday 25th Sept, 9-10am
Coffee Morning
The
first coffee morning of the year is scheduled for Wednesday 19th
September 2012 at 9am. This is a chance for a coffee, a few biscuits and a
catch up with – or to make new – friends. As usual, I will be there and happy
to answer any questions you may have, or just to eat biscuits – I don’t mind
which and am likely to do both! You can tell me what you think of the Funtime
facelift and this year I have even invested in a few toys for our younger
friends. It would be lovely to see some old and new faces there so please come
along...
Have
a great weekend.
Mrs
Bailey
