Friday 30th September 2011

Today marks my one month anniversary as Head teacher at Cookridge... Unbelievable! As a staff team, we have looked at increasing the ways in which we reward our children for their brilliant behaviour and attitude to learning day after day. We have devised a new positive behaviour policy which will soon see your child allocated to and earning points on behalf of a team. The winning team each term will be celebrated in our weekly achievement assembly and the team with the highest total at the end of each half term will receive a special reward. In addition, children will earn Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum awards for their individual team points and each half term the class will vote for their own champion ‘Learnatic’, all of whom will be invited to a very special lunch date with me. There are so many great things to reward at Cookridge that we felt it only fair that we had more ways to recognise it. I will shortly be sharing a summary of the new behaviour policy with you, and will be publishing the full version to the website as soon as I am able to... Not long now until I can do the ‘big reveal’ on the new website!

Book Fair

This week’s Book Fair has been a rip roaring success. The hall has been jam packed with excited readers before and after school every day this week, which has been an absolute pleasure to see. Altogether, we have sold over £500 worth of books to our little readers - a fantastic figure given the low cost of so many of the books. Thank you to all parents and carers who have supported the Book Fair and encouraged their children to ‘buy into reading’, to Mrs Laycock for organising the event and to all staff who have manned the stalls across the week.

Music Workshop

During my recent round of classroom discussions, the children were asked what they love about Cookridge Primary school. Across every year group in school, the children were unanimous in the thing they love most – the weekly Music Workshop. Each Thursday afternoon, Mrs Thorpe gathers our children in the hall and they have a fantastic time singing their little hearts out, complete with actions, enthusiasm and a certain amount of musicality! This week and last we have been visited by staff from other schools who – not surprisingly – are hoping to learn from the genius that is Mrs Thorpe. It is wonderful testament to Mrs Thorpe’s talent that not only do staff from other schools recognise it, more importantly – so do our children!

Football

The latest update from Mr Gamble, who is doing a great job as our roaming Sports Reporter... The Year 4/5 team won their match at Newlaithes 4-1. Our goal scorers were Mackenzie Turner, Nathan Brown and Dominic Purrell. The team went into the second half 1-1 but our team remained upbeat, positive and focused on the goal to claim a well deserved victory. Man of the match was Dominic Purrell who managed to score two goals on behalf of Cookridge.

The first league game for our Year 5/6 team is next Tuesday 4^th October at Iveson Primary School. Our players are definitely demonstrating their dedication the Cookridge cause!

Parent Governors

The information for the election of a new Parent Governor should arrive with you today. If you would like to put yourself forward for the role, please complete the paperwork – we want to hear from you. It is important that our governing body is represented by all our community members and I can assure you that you would find the role rewarding, interesting and not too time consuming! If you have any questions about what the role may involve, do get in touch.

Friends of Cookridge

A reminder that the first PTA meeting of this school year is on 6^th October at 6pm. This is another way in which you can get involved in enhancing your child’s primary school years, helping the staff and parents of Cookridge to think of interesting and innovative ways of raising funds for our children.

The first school disco this year is on Thursday 20^th October (the last day of the school term for the children, as we are closed for a training day on Friday 21^st). For the low cost of only £1.00, children are offered a DJ, drink and a biscuit. Years 1, 2 and 3 should attend from 3.00 – 4.00, and Years 4, 5 and 6 from 4.00 – 5.00. Y1, 2 and 3 ‘disco goers’ should bring their clothes into school to change into at the end of the school day and should be collected from their classrooms at 4.00.  Thanks to Mrs Willetts and the Friends of Cookridge for organising what is always a super event.

Coffee morning

A reminder that our second coffee morning is scheduled for Wednesday 12^th October at 9am. There was a fantastic turn out at the last meeting, and I am hopeful that we can sustain this level of enthusiasm for a monthly get together. If you didn’t manage to come along last time, don’t let this put you off – there were plenty of biscuits left over! This is a good opportunity for you to meet other parents and chat to Mrs Laycock and myself about things that matter to you. Hopefully, I will be able to get the website available for your review and feedback at the next gathering also!

Key dates this term

Parent Consultations:  18^th/19^th October

Training Day: 21^st October (school closed)
Friends of Cookridge meeting: 6^th October, 6pm
Coffee morning: 12^th October, 9am

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Bailey