Friday 21st October 2011

Dear Parents/Carers,

Well – what a week! Having had the ‘Ofsted’ call on Friday, last week rolled straight into this week with most staff working right across the weekend in preparation for our visitors. On Monday and Tuesday we were interviewing all day and when Wednesday arrived we were relieved to get the process underway. Ofsted inspections are very focused and very gruelling, and rightly so - their role pivotal in supporting school improvement across the country. We have engaged very thoroughly with the process this week to support our own evaluation of where we are at as a school and I thank you for your fantastic support both in returning completed surveys AND an impressive supply of chocolates and biscuits for the staff! I must also take this opportunity to reflect what many of you already know – what a phenomenal bunch of staff we have here at Cookridge. I have been very impressed with the team spirit in the building and the level of dedication every member of staff has shown. No doubt Ofsted will have much advice for ways in which we can improve and I have all the right people alongside me to do what needs to be done... I look forward to sharing our Ofsted news with you as soon as I am able.

Staff appointments

In January, Miss Hobson will join Miss Golia to complete our Year 1 teaching team. Miss Hobson is an experienced teacher who brings much strength to her new role in Class 1 and Numeracy Leadership across school. Most importantly, she was very passionate about her desire to work at Cookridge during interview and cannot wait to join us!

This week, we have also appointed our very own Mrs Speak as a second Assistant Head teacher in school. Mrs Speak will coordinate the efforts of a large staff team to further enhance provision for many different pupil groups in school including pupils with special educational needs, children who speak English as an additional language and higher attaining for more able pupils. Mrs Speak will maintain her class teaching commitment but will work in partnership with Mrs Spiers when she returns from maternity leave in December.  I am sure that you will join me in celebrating this very significant appointment in school and wish Mrs Speak all the best in her new role.

Parent Consultations

Please accept my apologies for the cancelled consultations scheduled for this week. I am sure you can appreciate the need to do so, and thank you for your patience. Please MAINTAIN the time and day given to you for this week and use that appointment on Monday 31^st October, Tuesday 1^st or Wednesday 2^nd November.  We very much look forward to seeing you then. If, for any reason, you are unable to keep that appointment time, please contact the school office so that we are able to rearrange an appointment for you.

The website

I hope that you have been able to take a look at the new school website and appreciate the earliest phase of our developments there. If you have not already done so, explore the site with your child over the half term holidays and encourage them to leave a short message on the message board. This is a secure area where messages left are approved by staff before publishing, but are still a fun way for your child to leave their message for friends to see once approved. Also be sure to show them where the ‘Learning Zone’ is, and encourage them to play some of the 350 games in the Maths area. I will get on with the Literacy section over half term... ! Go to www.cookridgeprimaryschool.org.uk – and let us know what you think!

Coffee Morning

Last week’s coffee morning was well attended and I am grateful to those parents who are taking the time to chat to us in this informal context. The next coffee morning will be held on Wednesday 23^rd November at 9.00am and if you haven’t already managed to come along, please do.

Parent Governors

As we have received two nominations for the Parent Governor vacancy, we will be going to ballot. Ballot papers will be distributed the week after half term and we would urge you to vote for your preferred candidate.

Sports News

Due to field repair work over half-term there will be no football club on the first Monday back (31^st October). Due to the training day the following Monday the first football club, depending upon how the pitch has recovered, is on Monday 14^th November.

Lost Property

Is mounting up! Please ensure ALL items of clothing are NAMED so that discarded clothes can be returned to their owner, where possible, within the school day. We do not have storage for large amounts of lost property and will need to regularly dispose of a large collection of cardigans, t-shirts and even coats that MUST belong to somebody! During parent consultation evenings, we will display the current lost property in the school hall and ask you to come and see if anything might belong to you. Anything left after Wednesday 2^nd November will be donated to a good cause.

Dates for next half term:-

Friday 21^st October                Training Day – school closed

Monday 31^st October              School reopens after half term

Tuesday 1^st November           Year 1 Skipton Castle trip

Wednesday 2^nd November     Class 8 & 9 at Yorkshire Cricket Club

Monday 7^th November            Training Day – school closed

Tuesday 8^th November           Class 4 & 5 visiting the Danelaw Centre

Thursday 10^th November        Friends Annual General Meeting – 6pm

Wednesday 23^rd November   Coffee morning

Friday 9^th December             Reception and Year 1 Christmas Concert ‘We Three Kings’ - 2pm

Monday 12^th December          Friends Christmas Bazarre - 3.50pm to 5pm

Tuesday 13^th December         Year 4, 5 & 6 Christmas Concert – 2pm and 7pm

Wednesday 14^th December    Year 2 & 3 Christmas Concert – 2pm

Thursday 15^th December         Christmas parties – pm

Friday 16^th December              Christmas Toy Giving Assembly – 9am

                                                 Christmas Carols around the tree – 2.30pm

                                                 School closes for Christmas holiday

Tuesday 3^rd January               School reopens after Christmas holiday

                                                

Have a wonderful half term break – I know I will!

Mrs Bailey

An Inspector Calls! Ofsted visit Wednesday 19th October-20th October 2011.

We today sent home a letter from Ofsted informing you of an inspection in school next week. The letter also included the official Ofsted parents questionnaire, the responses of which form a part of the inspection process. Please take the time to complete the questionnaire with your honest view of the school as this is not only useful to the Ofsted process, but also helps us with our ongoing self evaluation. You will no doubt have noticed that TWO questionnaires were sent home tonight - the official one, and the school based one which was copied and ready to go out prior to our inspection notification.. Completing both will earn you extra Brownie points!

I will also be writing to inform you on Monday that Parent Consultations scheduled for next week will be POSTPONED until after half term as, unfortunately, the Ofsted inspection makes the appointment times scheduled for next week unviable. Not only is it unreasonable for me to ask the dedicated teaching team to meet parents until 8.00pm the night before the inspection, during the first day of the inspection many staff are needed to meet with individual inspectors to discuss different aspects of school. These meetings are unable to go ahead if staff are committed to parent consultations. I am also very mindful of the fact that Parent Consultations are a priority for us in school, should be valuable and informative and I want to ensure that when we do offer them, staff are focused on conversations with you alone.

Thank you for your support during the week ahead.

Mrs Bailey

Friday 14th October 2011

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week I have watched our children rise to the challenge of managing their lunchtime with more independence. No longer will our Y6 pupils be asked to give up 30 minutes of their lunchtime to hand out knives and forks, serve salad and – most unpopular of all – scrape the trays of our younger pupils! All pupils are now asked to do these tasks independently... and they are doing so brilliantly. The salad bar has never been so popular, the clearing area is less congested and tidier than ever and our Y6 pupils are very relieved to have their lunchtimes back!

The website

The wait is finally over.... I am today able to open our virtual doors and urge you to have a look at our brand new website on www.cookridgeprimaryschool.org.uk The website includes lots of useful information about our school and is also a brilliant learning portal for our children, so do encourage your child to have a look at the children’s section, leave some messages and play some of the 350 games that are already available in the Learning Zone Maths area. This is obviously a developing space and we are keen to hear your views as to what else we could be sharing. Please use the contact page if you have any ideas, advice or feedback... that’s what it’s for!

New roles in school

As we have launched our new behaviour policy in school we have also established new positions of responsibility for our older pupils. Our first School Captains and Vice Captains were elected by their peers last week and, as our official school representatives, will take an active role in meeting and greeting visitors, hosting parts of assembly and supporting the school council in making some key school decisions. Our School Captains –Jordan Perrett and Phyllis Hoyle– welcomed our Swedish visitors on Thursday and proved themselves fantastic ambassadors for our school. This is a prestigious role and we look forward to working with our very first Cookridge Captains this year.

In addition, Team Captains were elected to lead our four new ‘houses’ in school and will take the lead in assembly when presenting their team mates with awards, as well as deciding how the winning team will be rewarded each half term. There is a genuine excitement in school about belonging to a team and I have already seen my first visitors who have earned a Head teacher’s sticker for earning 5 team points in one day! Our school council met for the first time on Monday and had the prestigious task of naming our new school teams, choosing authors as their theme.

We have also seen our Playground Friends take to the playground this week wearing their new yellow hats with pride. This is a key role in school which will see them manage a budget for playground equipment, lead games in the playground and ensure all our pupils have a happy lunchtime.

Well done to all our fantastic new post holders whom I am certain will do a fabulous job.

   

Friends of Cookridge

Last year, the Friends group raised £4,900 through their efforts, and these funds were used to subsidise many school trips across the year and to buy gymnastics equipment and waterproof clothing for our Reception pupils. In 2011/12, the committee agreed to raise funds to support playground developments and we would welcome your support in helping us to do so. If you are unable to attend evening meetings but are able to meet during the school day, please let us know so that we are able to accommodate as many volunteers as possible. May I offer my personal thanks to the dedicated team that continue to work very hard to raise funds for our school.

The ‘Friends’ school disco will take place on Thursday 20^th October. Years 1, 2 and 3 are invited to attend the earlier disco (3pm – 4pm), they should bring their disco clothes to change into and should be collected from their classroom doors at 4pm. Years 4, 5 & 6 should return to school from 4pm-5pm, suitably dressed for the occasion. For the cost of £1.00, drinks and a snack will be provided. There will be NO orchestra on Thursday as a result of the disco.

Photographs

Please send orders for photographs into school by Wednesday 19^th October at the latest.

 

 

Sports News

The next sporting event will be Athletics. Our team will be representing the school in a Key Stage 2 Athletics Competition at Horsforth High School on Thursday 20^th October.

 

 

An invitation to Slovakia!

Mrs Speak, Mr Llewellyn and Mr Gamble returned from Slovakia on Tuesday and will be sharing news of their visit with the children during a special assembly next Thursday morning (20^th October) at 9am. You are welcome to join us for the assembly and find out more about this exciting project.

 

 

Parent Consults

Next Tuesday and Wednesday evening, parent consultations are taking place. If you have not already got an appointment, please contact the school office on Monday. It is vitally important that you attend this important meeting and, if you are struggling to do so, let us know so that we can offer an alternative date/time. During these evenings next week, we will also be showing a video in the school hall of the July Learning Festival. This is a fabulous compilation of everything that is brilliant about our school. If you are ‘between appointments’ or have a few moments to spare, do pop in and watch a little. Lost property will also be on display in the hall for you to locate your missing items. Any lost property remaining after Wednesday evening will be disposed of.

 

 

Parents Survey

This week I am sending home a survey which I am asking you to complete and return to school by Friday 4^th November. This is all part of the information gathering as I embark upon a long and successful Headship and I would be very grateful for your completed and honest responses. The survey is also available on the website if you would prefer to complete and submit electronically.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Bailey

Friday 7th October 2011

Dear Parents/Carers,

I’m quickly finding it’s always Friday morning at Cookridge! The weeks are flying by and we are now only two weeks away from our half term break. This week I have had the pleasure of observing the learning in classes right across school. I have seen committed, hard working staff and pupils everywhere I have visited. Our Poetry Mix-Up day saw pupils of all ages working together to create a poem to present in assembly, as well as having great fun together throughout the day to generate ideas... Brilliant things happen every day here at Cookridge and our children really do have all the right attributes to be whatever they want to be, which is becoming our mantra.

Time to shine at Cookridge

This week, we have begun our conversations with the children about our new positive behaviour policy, which includes many ways to be recognised for every day achievements. I am sending a simplified version of the policy for your information, so that you know just what your child has achieved when they come home bursting with pride some time soon... The full details of the ‘Team Points’ system, the names of the teams, the ‘prizes’ on offer and those elected to the esteemed role of ‘Team Captain’ will all be revealed during Monday’s assembly and the system launched next week. The policy also includes a clear outline of how negative behaviours will be managed in school. Any feedback is, of course, welcome.

Harvest

Our children will be singing in celebration of Harvest festival in a special assembly on Friday 14^th October with our special guest, a visitor from Caring for Life. As is traditional for this celebration, we are collecting donations of non-perishable food products on behalf of Caring for Life, who have kindly agreed to distribute across the community. Donations of tins/packets should be brought to school on Friday 14^th October – if every child can bring just one tin, we will have almost 300 gifts to share... Thank you for your support.

Slovakia

On Wednesday, an intrepid team of three consisting of Mr Llewlyn, Mr Gamble and Mrs Speak set off for 6 days in Slovakia. Arriving at 4am on Thursday, this initial visit is an opportunity to meet teachers from our new partner schools in Ireland, Slovakia and Birmingham and agree some exciting projects all our children will be involved with. Funded by the EU, our International focus during the next two years is environmental issues across the UK and Europe and provides a rich opportunity for our children to work with children beyond our school.  The team will return late Monday evening, tired but enthusiastic I’m sure, and we look forward to hearing about their adventures.

Football

In our first League match of the season, our team worked hard and defended well but were beaten 1-0 this time.. Our first defeat this year, but let’s not dwell on that! Our next Year 5/6 match is on Friday 14^th at West End.

Community News

Cookridge Village Scout Group have applied to Natwest Community Force for a £6,000 grant to support their ongoing development. They need your help! Their bid will only be successful if they receive enough votes but, happily, anyone can vote! Visit  http://communityforce.natwest.com/projects/:,  enter your postcode and Cookridge Village Scout Group should appear. It is just a case of clicking on the icon, registering and then voting. Spread the word and encourage friends and family to vote for this valuable community resource.

Holiday Childcare

Funtime will be running their holiday club during October half term on Tues 25^th, Wednesday 26^th and Thursday 27^th October. They can offer childcare between 7.45am and 5.45pm on these dates, at a cost of £3.00 per child per hour. Take advantage of full daily booking of 10hours and save £5.00!
 

The holiday club is open to all children aged 4 years to 12 years regardless of whether they attend the before/after school club during term time. A trip to the cinema or bowling will be arranged over the three days covered, dependent upon numbers attending.

Booking forms were sent home last week but can be requested at our school reception if you have lost yours. To secure a place, please return the booking form with payment as soon as possible, confirming the times and dates required. Funtime also accept payment via childcare vouchers. Funtime staff are available in the community room before and after school if you have any queries.

 
Parental feedback
As I find out about systems and organisation at Cookridge, can I thank those parents who are taking the time to provide very valuable feedback about the things that we can do differently. Not only is investigating your queries providing valuable clarity for me personally, it is also giving us an opportunity to re-think what we do and, where necessary, make improvements. We are very determined to get every aspect of the school day ‘right’ and appreciate your support in helping us to do so. Next week, I will be sending home a parental survey which is another opportunity for you to ‘have your say’. Please take a few minutes to complete and return it and be an active voice in your child’s future.

Coffee morning

Join us in the Community Room after dropping your child off next Wednesday 12^th October for coffee, biscuits and a time to relax in good company. Mrs Laycock and I were delighted by the number of parents who took us up on our offer last month, and we’re hoping to see more new faces next week. Younger siblings are welcome to attend and might even find a companion!
 
Have a great weekend.

Mrs Bailey