Dear
Parents/Carers,
As
the end of term draws to a close, it’s opportune to reflect on just what a
great term it has been. It’s fair to say that whilst a great deal of fun has
been had by all, there has been some powerful learning in school throughout the
past 15 weeks. Every day in school brings new opportunities to develop new
skills - be they academic, creative or social - and I feel blessed to have over
300 beautiful children at Cookridge who wholeheartedly throw themselves into
every experience with zest, enthusiasm and determination. Our role as teachers
is a pleasure and a privilege whilst ever this is the case, and success is
inevitable. So, I begin the final newsletter of this half term with a huge thank you to the people who make our
school great – your children. This is, however, a newsletter of many thanks!
Christmas Fayre
On
Tuesday, our annual Christmas Fayre was a great success. The Friends did a
wonderful job in their preparations for the event and their hard work ensured
it went off without a hitch. Special thank-you’s to our new Co-Chairs of the
PTA Rebecca Herbert and Michael Land, to our new secretary Barbara Nixon, to
our new Treasurer (who counteth the pennies!) Dave Nixon, to our wonderful
grotto designer Wendy Bannister, to Friends everywhere who gave of their time
and of course to Santa, who made time in his busy schedule to come along and
support our Fayre once again. I am also very grateful to parents who donated
chocolate, bottles and raffle prizes, and who took the time to visit the stalls
and spend a pound or two. Final thank you’s to staff, all of whom supported the
Fayre brilliantly in their creation of Christmas cards, crafts and games...
What stars you all are! We raised a grand total of £1031.25 - an incredible
amount - and Friends will meet with our School Council in the New Year to begin
the conversation about how the children would like to spend the monies raised
across this year... More news on future Friends events coming soon: it’s going
to be an exciting year!
Baby News!
I
am delighted to share Mr and Mrs Smith’s happy news. Baby Maisie was born early
on Sunday morning, weighing a delicate 6lb10oz. She is absolutely gorgeous (of
course) and we are really looking forward to seeing both Mrs Smith and Maisie
in school soon. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Smith – enjoy your first Christmas
together!
Christmas Writing
Competition
Last
week in assembly, we shared a Christmas themed story. Not THE Christmas story,
but ‘Jingle Bells’, a Nick Butterworth story about two mice and THAT cat.
During that assembly, I invited the children to celebrate their skills as a
writer by writing their own Christmassy themed story where anything MIGHT
happen. Many children are keen to do so, and our first writing competition has
been born! Closing date for entries is Monday 7th January – our
first day back – and the winning entries will be shared in assembly, on the
website and a PRIZE awarded. Do encourage your child to think about entering
the competition – excitement about writing is just one of the ways we are
seeking to improve standards in writing across school, and your help in doing
that would be much appreciated! From January, we will also be nominating
‘writers of the week’ to keep talking about writing high profile across school.
Leeds Ahead’s Make the Grade
Programme
We
took delivery this week of boxes full of free books: now THAT doesn’t happen
every day! These were a gift from various businesses
supporting Leeds Ahead’s Make the Grade Programme and are aimed at encouraging
Y5 pupils to read more before their important SAT’s Year. The books are
fantastic quality and we are very grateful for the gift. If you are aware of
any other sources of free books or equipment for schools – including schemes
you are aware of through your own place of work – then please do let us know.
School funding is dwindling... Our desire to provide the best resources and
materials for our children is not!
Message from the Chair of
Governors
As 2012 draws to
a close, I wanted to bid all our families “Happy Christmas” on behalf of the school
Governing Body. It is important, periodically, that I relay to many different
sectors of the school community my appreciation for their individual
contributions to our school. First of all, I recognise the hard work of the
staff of Cookridge Primary School, a staff who consistently demonstrates their
commitment to our children. Specifically, I want to thank staff for their hard
work during the Nativity performances we have recently enjoyed. I thank fellow
Governors for their support and acknowledge the many hours of time each
individual contributes to this role. I would also like to thank you – the
parents’ - for your hard work in the past year. We have been glad of your
support of the school improvement agendas including attendance, of your efforts
to support your child’s learning through reading and homework and of your
support to the school by coming along to parent meetings and events. On my many
visits to school, I have been impressed with the children at Cookridge and
would also like to commend them for their achievements this year: well done and
keep it up. We must each keep up our hard work and determination so that we may
continue to see rapid improvements in our school during 2013. Best wishes for
the New Year.
Vijay Sharma
Attendance
Oh
my – we have some work to do! For 13 weeks, we maintained good levels of
attendance and kept ahead of our 96% attendance target for 2012-13. The past
two weeks, however, have brought incredibly high levels of illness absence
which have impacted massively on our year to date figure, reducing it to 95%
and the lowest it has been since I joined the school. Fortunately, this figure
can – and must! – improve as we move into 2013. Please throw the bugs out with
the Christmas trees, and let’s start the New Year afresh – we need some
outstanding attendance going forward if we are to get back to 96% overall.
This
week, 77 children received their 100% attendance certificate for this term and
today each child brings home this terms attendance letter – green, amber or
red. To receive a green letter, children have met or exceeded the school target
so far this year: well done. There is still opportunity for all children to get
themselves a green letter - and to earn a 100% attendance certificate - next
term. Wouldn’t it be great to be awarding closer to 300 children certificates
for this incredible achievement?
|
National Minimum
‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2012-13
|
Attendance this
week
|
Year to date
|
||||||||
|
95%
|
96%
|
84.1%
|
95.0%
|
||||||||
|
Class attendance
figures for this week are:-
|
|||||||||||
|
Rec
|
Class 1
|
Class 2
|
Class 3
|
Class 4
|
Class 5
|
Class 6
|
Class 7
|
Class 8
|
Class 9
|
||
|
A 87.6 %
B 88.0 %
|
81.4%
|
84.7%
|
88.0%
|
89.4%
|
79.4%
|
76.8%
|
86.6%
|
81.4%
|
83.5%
|
||
Finally, have a fantastic
holiday and a wonderful Christmas. Let me end 2012 by wishing you all a Happy
New Year: 2013 is going to be a very, very good year!
Mrs
Bailey
