Friday 27th April 2012

Dear Parents/Carers,                                                                 

This week, we have had lots more rain but have – at least – managed to get outside a little bit! This is not the April weather we had hoped for... Fingers crossed for May!

School Improvements

We have taken delivery this week of some new equipment for the dining hall – a state of the art clearing station, cutlery rack and salad bar. Over Easter, we took delivery of additional dining tables and are now able to seat all of our children within 20 minutes of ‘service’ at lunchtime – which is great. Our brilliant school meals service, provided by Pinnacle, have launched a new menu that has offered pizza, chicken wraps and a simply divine range of deserts. The children are joined for lunch each day by a range of teachers who regularly dine with the children and everyone who takes a school meal comments on the quality of the food on offer. The children - cottoning on to this ’improvement’ agenda - have now requested lidded jugs at the table with iced water... It is marvellous to engage the children in conversation about the ways in which they would like to see their school improved. I have asked the children to share their ideas with me about lunchtimes – and any other aspect of school - via the website message board http://www.cookridgeprimaryschool.org.uk/children/message-boards.php?board=9 and there are already some interesting ideas emerging.. In assembly on Monday morning, I also asked the children to tell us what they want to learn about as we begin the exciting task of planning for the next 6 years of learning for our youngest pupils. I have also spent the week engaged with various contractors about playground developments and minor alterations to some of the rooms in school – work to be undertaken over the summer.

If you have any suggestions for ways in which we can improve, please do use the message board to leave your comments – it is great that we all have the opportunity to shape the future of our school and create something truly spectacular.

Jubilee News
On Friday 1^st June - the last day of this half term - we will be celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. All children are invited to take a special ‘themed’ school meal on this day – we will be eating a range of assorted sandwiches, cheese and onion rolls, pizza fingers and iced fingers in a traditional ‘street party’ – exporting all of the dining furniture out in the school playground! If your child would like to have a school meal on this day the cost will be £1.85 for Reception to Year 4 and £1.90 for Years 5 and 6. Please send payment to Mrs Hyde marked ‘Jubilee School Meal’ by Monday 14^th May. We are still working on the finer details of the celebration across the day, but it is hoped that many of you may be able to join us for the lunchtime ‘street party’ and sing-a-long.

Trust Status
Local schools in the area are looking into the possibility of working more closely together to form a ‘Cooperative Trust’ or learning partnership. Next week, we will be beginning an official consultation process which will be seeking your views about this through questionnaires and parent meetings. More information will be sent home early next week and full documentation live on the website at noon on Wednesday, when the consultation officially begins. Please look out for this information and take the time to share your views.

Polling Station
Next Thursday – 3^rd May - school will be used as a polling station for the local elections and will be open from 6.30am to 10pm for these purposes. The Y6 classroom will be used for the day, and Y6 should enter school via the hall on that day.

Sports News

The Year 5/6 team travelled to reigning champions Adel on Tuesday and, despite playing well, lost 1-6. Even the Adel teacher commented on the quality of play and said the score line did not reflect the match. Our players showed determination and bravery... Every tackle was fiercely contested and there were some bumps, bruises and sore limbs the day after. The Cookridge goal was scored by Faisal Alqahtani, who was a very close runner up for the man of the match award. Instead it was awarded to Elliott Coultas as without him producing save after save and his good goal kicking, the score line might have been worse! Year 5/6 play their last league game of the season next Thursday at home to Ireland Wood. We MUST win if we are to have a chance of finishing second and qualifying for the quarter-finals. Please come and cheer them on!!

Parent Connections

Mrs Smith is currently exploring grants for funding available for Community purposes that we may be able to access. She is particularly keen to hear from any parent who works for First Direct bank, as we are aware that funding can be accessed by schools where they have a parent who is employed by the bank. If any parents work for companies whom they know supports schools in this way, we really do want to hear from you! We have big plans for the school and the more funding we can access, the faster we can make it happen!

Funtime Club and Little Sunshine’s Pre-School Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting for Cookridge Funtime Club will be held on Thursday 24^th May at 5.30pm in the Community Room here at school (duration approximately 1 hour). Any parents that use either

pre-school or the before and after school club are very welcome to attend as well as anyone thinking of using these facilities in the next school year. The settings are run by a small committee of volunteer parents. Committee members will cover developments and improvements that have been made to the club over the past year and any plans for the future. It is an opportunity for you to learn more about how things are run and ask any questions about the settings. Refreshments and childcare will be provided at the meeting. If you can, then please let Ann Sadler in Funtime or Julie Bird in Pre-school know in advance if you are attending.

Attendance
Our attendance this week was 97% and is well above our Local Authority attendance target of 95% this year. Brilliant – and thank you. Please continue to make your child’s attendance at school a priority and ensure that whenever they are fit and well enough to do so, they are in school. Overall this year – September to April – we are at 95.3%. We are aiming to exceed all expectations this year to achieve 96% - so keep up the great work in getting your children into school every day... If we are able to sustain a figure of 97% or more over the summer months, it is entirely possible that we achieve our personal target this year. I cannot do it without you! 

Coffee Morning

The next coffee morning has arrived! If you are free for an hour on Wednesday 2^nd May, 9-10 come along to the community room for a chance to catch up with some friendly faces. Amongst them next week will be Mrs Smith, our new Assistant Head teacher, who is eager to meet as many parents as possible in the coming months.  We are looking to find out your views about the curriculum. What do YOU want your children to be learning in school? If you have a view – come and share it!

Have a wonderful weekend

Mrs Bailey

Friday 20th April 2012

Dear Parents/Carers,                                                                  

Boy, has it RAINED this week!! Across the course of the week, we have doubled the number of indoor play and lunch times that we had had in the previous 4 terms – which tells us something about how lucky we’ve been weather wise so far this year. Despite that, our Reception and Year 1 children visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park to launch their latest topic ‘Out of Africa’. I have to say, the children’s exhilarated faces and excited news as they came back through the doors at 3.30 was life affirming stuff – I felt positively energised from the jet stream of excitement that returned to school, each child with their individual piece of news to share with me about the day... Just wonderful! Memorable experiences like these are a part of the magic of the primary school experience and I am confident that every single one of our 90 children who went on Tuesday were touched by a little bit of that magic this week. My grateful thanks to the teaching team who organised the event and to the army of staff and volunteers who made the day so special – despite the rain!

Teaching and Learning Review

This week, we were visited by our colleagues from Leeds City Council who undertook observations right across school. This ties in with our school wide focus at the moment – to get EVERY lesson into an outstanding place for ALL of our little learners. The process also involved conversations with the children about their school and their learning, all of which feeds into our next push for improvement - what the children think is crucial. The team commented favourably about some of the elements we have been working hard to embed into our lessons – paired work and collaboration, speaking and listening, the children’s heightened understanding of their own learning targets, higher levels of challenge. Given our focus across the year, we are thrilled that they were particularly impressed by the children’s high levels of enthusiasm around reading. We are pleased with the feedback and grateful for the time invested by the local authority to support our journey for improvement. Personally, I would like to take this opportunity for celebrating the fantastic staff team we have at Cookridge. We are very lucky to have a dedicated team of teachers who are ‘going that extra mile’ right now, working together to achieve our goals. It’s a privilege to lead such a dedicated and talented group of professionals.  

TV Notoriety for Mr Gamble!

It was only a matter of time.. This week, Mr Gamble was asked to appear on TV. It wasn’t Sky Sports who came-a-knocking though (?) but local news networks. On Wednesday – surely the wettest day of the year so far? -  Mr Gamble, Miss Carroll and Miss Glendinning took 20 fantastic children down to Millennium Square in Leeds for an Olympic Ceremony to celebrate reaching the milestone of 100 days until the Olympics begin in London. The children ranged from Year 1 to year 6 and were chosen because of their fantastic commitment and dedication to sport both in and out of school. The children were super and a credit to themselves and the school, coping with the pressure of the media and the poor weather. We had a ‘flash’ appearance on Calendar news, and there is more ‘news’ on the school blog...

Sports News

The Year 5/6 footballers play their penultimate league game at Adel St John on Tuesday hoping for revenge for the 12-1 defeat earlier in the season, with a win guaranteeing a quarter final place.

The Year 3/4 football team kick start their season with a friendly match at Newlaithes Primary next Friday. We will be defending the Leo Jones Trophy soon so this match will be a good test for us!!

The second Judo Club will start on Wednesday. Children involved should get changed in their classrooms and then take everything to the hall where they should be collected at 4:15pm. Those children who have not paid yet for the sessions need to pass payment to Mrs Hyde before the sessions begin. Please speak to Mr Gamble if you have any further questions.

Netball Club have expanded and are now inviting Year 3 and 4 children to join in the fun. If you haven't received a letter but your child wants to join, then please ask them to speak to either Miss Golia, Miss Fowler or Mr Gamble.

Responsible Behaviour - before school

I appeal to all parents and carers to act responsibly during the sometimes challenging morning routine. The parking situation continues to be a source of concern for us, and I would urge more parents to consider walking to school OR parking a short distance from school and walking the last few hundred yards. The difficulty arises from the fact that all parents are trying to park, disembark and escort their children into school within a 10 minute time frame... With 300 pupils – that’s a lot of cars on Tinshill Drive. I am very concerned that a number of our local residents have reported not only persistent parking across their driveways but – more disturbingly – that they have suffered verbal abuse from parents and carers who they have asked to move. Please be considerate when parking in the mornings.
 

My second area of concern lies in the number of children who arrive at school independently – some of them with up to 30 minutes of waiting time. Please be aware that school staff do not supervise the playground before school and the advice we give – in line with LEA guidelines – is that children should be supervised by parents or carers at this time. Concerned parents have also made me aware of a number of incidents where parents have directly spoken to unaccompanied children about their before school behaviour where they have witnessed something not to their liking.  I must ask ALL parents to refrain from doing so. If you see something of concern, please make school staff aware so that they are able to manage the situation on your behalf. Parents challenging children in this manner can lead to a ban from the school site for the adults involved and this is not a situation any of us want to find ourselves in. Rest assured, we will take up any concerns you have – so please do not put yourself in this position.

Attendance

Our attendance this week was 94.9% and is this week satisfactory and below our Local Authority attendance target of 95% this year. Please continue to make your child’s attendance at school a priority and ensure that whenever they are fit and well enough to do so, they are in school. Please remember, all requests for holiday in term time will be unauthorised and our Attendance Improvement Partner will be notified of any unauthorised absence of this nature. Overall this year – September to April – we are at 95.3% overall. We are aiming to exceed all expectations this year to achieve 96% - so keep up the great work in getting your children into school every day.
 
Coffee Morning
The next coffee morning will be on Wednesday 2^nd May 2012, 9-10. Please come along if you have an hour to spare – it will be good to catch up as it feels like a long time since we last had a chat! Mrs Smith – our new Assistant Head – will also be coming along to this first coffee morning, and we will be looking to gather your views about the curriculum.. What do YOU want your children to be learning in school? If you have a view – come and share it!
 

Have a wonderful weekend,  

Mrs Bailey

Cookie Update!!

Class 5 won the attendance award this week and have had the pleasure of Cookie's company all week long.. He even went along to the 100 days event in Leeds!

Here are some photos of Cookie enjoying a Thursday evening with Lily! Lucky Cookie.. It looks like is he having a ball... I don't think Cookie will EVER want to retire: he has the best job in the world!

I'm looking forward to reading that diary, Cookie - I hope you are recording all your adventures!

I wonder where he will end up next week?

Mr Gamble was there!

Mr Gamble, Miss Carroll and Miss Glendinning were lucky enough to make their way to Millenium Square this morning to join Leeds in marking the fact that today is just 100 days to the opening of the Olympics. Read this article all about it... Can you see anyone you know?!

Traditional Tales E-books

Some time ago, I shared this fantastic resource  which has over 250 e-books to enjoy completely FREE!!

Now... There are even more e-books and story teller videos available for you to enjoy based on some of our favourite traditional stories, and books that we have recently added to our fabulous guided reading resources!

Click here to see the new e-books and story teller videos compiled by our friends at Oxford University Press.