Dear
Parents/Carers,
Four
days to go and still so much happening in school! This week, Reception pupils
visited Ralph Thoresby in search of the Easter bunny. Now – I might be mistaken
but I suspect that an Easter Egg hunt IN THE SNOW does not happen very often?
Wonderful weather we’re having! Mark’s Magic Show was a phenomenal success and
the KS1 team have quite simply transformed the KS1 corridor into a phenomenal
celebration of Literacy learning across this half term. Using practically every
board in the building, they have created a spectacular Julia Donaldson display
adjacent to the library that simply has to be seen to be believed! Three cheers
for Mrs Farrell, Mrs Hallatt and the KS1 team (children and adults!) – be sure
to call and see it when you are in school for parent consults next week!
Parent Consultations
Don’t
forget: next week brings the opportunity to sit down for a chat with your
child’s class teacher. You should, by now, have your appointment slip – if not
please contact the school office who will be happy to allocate one of the
remaining slots.
During
this round of consultations, we will be seeking your views! Governors will be
in attendance and will be catching as many of you as possible, encouraging you
to complete a survey. This is your chance to tell us what we’re doing well,
what we could do better and perhaps even things that we haven’t even thought
about doing yet: this is your school, and your opportunity to shape it! Please
take a few minutes to complete the survey in between meetings and post them in
the boxes available.
Leavers Event: Wednesday 27th
March
Since
the news in last week’s newsletter, you have been busy! A group of parents have
been in touch to organise an event to celebrate Mrs Speak’s promotion and
departure from our school. All parents and governors are invited to join the
celebration from 1.30 – 3pm on Wednesday. My thanks to those parents who have
galvanised themselves to organise the event: I’m certain Mrs Speak will be very
touched by your good wishes.
Staffing News
As
you know, Miss Cowles returned from Maternity Leave just before Christmas. She
has since secured a post at another Leeds school in a role which allows her to
spend more time with her little man, and will be leaving us at Easter. Miss
Cowles has been a fabulous and fun teacher at Cookridge for over five years,
and I am certain that those children who have been lucky enough to be in her
class have loved every minute. We wish Miss Cowles and baby Seth a beautiful
and bright future... After Easter, we
will be joined by Mrs Withington. Mrs Withington will be in school all of next
week around Class 4 and I’m sure she’ll appreciate a warm Cookridge welcome:
pop in and say hello!
Friends Spot
Mark’s
Magic Show on Wednesday was a phenomenal success and I’m assured much fun was
had by all. Sadly, I was in a governors meeting and missed all the magic...
Including levitation! I have reserved my spot on the front row next year.
Enormous thanks to Mrs Herbert and Mr and Mrs Nixon who manned the event as a
dynamic team of three... We really do need more hands on deck if we are to fulfil
our dream of these fun, family events becoming bigger, better and more
frequent! If you can get involved – please do come along to the next Friends
meeting, or email us to say how you can help.
The
next Friends event is the Easter Disco on Thursday 28th March.
Reception and KS1 children will dance from 3.00 and should be collected from
their classroom doors at 4pm. KS2 (years 3-6) should arrive for a 4pm start and
should be collected from the hall doors at 5pm. Y56 children who normally make their own way home
are welcome to do so.
Revised date for Movie Night:
Thursday April 18th 6-7.45pm.
Sports News
Football-
After another cancellation due to the poor weather, Football Club will resume
on Monday 25th March (weather permitting). The Y5/6 football team resume their
local league matches next Wednesday with games at Adel St John Primary, again
weather permitting. Good luck boys!
Rugby-
The Y5 Rugby Day at Yarnbury was cancelled yesterday due to snow and the
condition of the playing fields. It will be rescheduled for as soon as possible
and those children who were attending will receive another confirmation letter.
Kickboxing
Club- After an exciting assembly this morning led by John Lloyd, Kickboxing
Club, for Y3-Y6, will start in the hall on Thursdays (3:15-4:15) after the
Easter break. All children in Key Stage 2 will be bringing home a letter today,
places at the club are limited so please return your reply slip as soon as
possible to ensure your child receives a place. My thanks to Ben Walker for
making this introduction and hopefully enticing other children to take up this
sport longer term through the club that Mr Lloyd runs locally. This year, we
have introduced a wide range of sports to the itinerary at Cookridge and hope
to have got children interested in a sport they may never have experienced
otherwise: thanks to Mr Gamble for his work in this field.
Attendance
Next
week, you will receive your termly letter sharing an update for your child’s
attendance for the year so far. Remember, letters are red, amber or green –
green letters celebrating children who have managed to maintain attendance
above the school target of 96% this year and amber marking the large group who
could still achieve that with impeccable attendance in the final term! At this
point in the year, 43 children have done remarkably well to avoid the bugs and
have so far maintained 100% attendance this school year and are on track for
the end of year trip to celebrate their achievement. Keep it up guys.
Sadly,
attendance this week is below our 95% ‘good’ benchmark and has reduced the year
to date by 0.1%. Every little helps – please do your bit to support your
child’s learning by ensuring they are in school whenever they are well enough
to do so.
|
National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2012-13
|
Attendance this week
|
Year to date
|
||||||||
|
95%
|
96%
|
94.6%
|
95.3%
|
||||||||
|
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 96.1%
B 87.5%
|
98.1%
|
97.4%
|
95.6%
|
94.9%
|
95.5%
|
95.7%
|
90.4%
|
93.3%
|
95.2%
|
||
Easter Egg competition
Final
call for entrants to the annual Easter Egg competition! Children can bring
their decorated eggs into school from Monday, and might just win the coveted
prize! If you are looking for inspiration, just have a look at some of last
year’s entries on the blog: http://cookridgeprimaryschool.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/egg-straordinary-eggs.html
Final
thought... A reminder that we break up on Thursday 28th March and
return to school on Tuesday 16th
April after the Easter holidays. A
lovely long break for you! I wonder if there will be any sign of Spring when we
get back for the SUMMER term?!
Have
a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Bailey
