My final newsletter of the year is actually upon us – a clear indication that this academic year has drawn to a close and my first year of Headship at Cookridge is complete. It seems like two minutes since I wrote my very first newsletter, and the events of the past twelve months can be re-capped via this weekly monologue – all still available to view via the school blog should you choose to! It’s been an incredible year and I am already excited about the next one... But I will be having a lie down in between then and now! We have, today, bid our farewells to our beloved Year 6 – as well as a number of staff. Let’s begin our newsletter this week by wishing all our leavers our very best wishes for the next phase in their lives – I am certain that each and every one of them will seize the opportunities that new starts inevitably bring. Good luck!
Thank you!
School has
been brimming with cards, gifts, flowers and good wishes this week. Staff
really do appreciate your messages of appreciation and I have been blown away
by your generosity. It is incredible to see such generosity in these trying
financial times and please be aware that you really shouldn’t... But THANK YOU
anyway! Exciting Events across the week
We began our week with two willing visitors to our Monday morning assembly. Olympic Torch bearer Phil Marshall brought his torch into school and explained to the children some of the facts behind the torch bearing ceremony ahead of the Olympics, as well as the particular reasons he was chosen to be a torch bearer. We were also joined by Glyn Williams, the pastor at Tinshill Free Church who welcomed our Key Stage 2 pupils recently for a bible exhibition. Mr Williams presented prizes to a number of Cookridge pupils who had scored highly on the quiz – a very exciting part of the week for those lucky people! Monday (and Tuesday!) evening brought us the KS2 production Robin Hood starring our Y6 leavers – and what a phenomenal performance they gave! Our Tuesday ‘Learnatics’ lunch was another big success and it was a pleasure to dine with the 11 pupils chosen by their peers to celebrate their success over a slice of pizza or two... On Wednesday, 31 of our children went to see Ice Age 4 to celebrate their high levels of attendance across the year – 21 pupils having met the challenge of being in school every single day. Ali was so excited and so afraid to miss out he got to school before me on Wednesday (!), and I’m delighted that he, the 30 other children and Mrs Barnes and Mrs Horsley (in particular) loved the film... and the popcorn! Wednesday also brought us an Olympic Torch relay event between ourselves, Ireland Wood and Iveson Primary and Ralph Thoresby. Mr Gamble, Phyllis Hoyle and Jack Hoyle had to receive the torch from runners from Ireland Wood before running on to Ralph Thoresby, and were welcomed in the auditorium by the whole of Year 7! On Thursday, Miss Hobson (our very own Diamond Jubilee Queen) and four children were able to pop into
Governors News
As the year
draws to a close, I wanted to draw your attention to a seldom celebrated group
of people who support, champion and challenge the school in equal measure to
get the very best outcomes for your child. Your Governing Body is composed of
18 Governors, a collection of staff, parents, community and Local Authority
representatives. Since September, this voluntary group have met on 26 separate
evenings, investing approximately 50 hours in discussing, questioning and
shaping provision for your child. These are professionals from all walks of
life who value education and are freely giving of their time towards improving
the quality of your child’s school experience. As many of you are aware, Pete Gathercole
has retired from the Governing Body this year after dedicating 20 years of
service to your school – that’s over 1000 hours in meetings, as well as
frequent visits into school, days spent interviewing staff and annual support
of the Y6 residential. He is not alone in offering this level of dedication
over numerous years and I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the
Governing Body who have provided wise counsel to me personally this year.
Last week,
we were joined on the GB by Glyn Williams as a Community Governor and Deborah
Hill as an LA Governor. In the new school year, there are two parent vacancies
arising as Matthew Cherrington and Sarah Scowcroft’s terms of office come to a
natural end. I will be providing more information in September, but would
encourage anyone who cares deeply about our school to consider putting themselves
in the ring for this role.
Trust News
On Wednesday, the Governing Body met at
the end of the statutory consultation period regarding the formation of a
Cooperative Trust. I am delighted to inform you that the Governing Body agreed
to proceed with the acquisition of Trust Status and that the Leeds North West
Education Partnership [
Headline Data
Last Friday, you received your child’s
report which provided information about their personal achievements across the
year – and what a lot there was to celebrate! It has been lovely to receive
such positive feedback from the reports this year and I am very glad that you
enjoyed hearing of – and celebrating – your child’s progress this year. Over
the summer, I will prepare some key data for presentation on the website in the
new school year so that you can see the progress we are making as a school
towards our goal of raising pupil attainment in line with National benchmarks
in reading, writing and maths, but I was keen to share some ‘headline’ data
with you as we break for the summer...
·
70% of our Reception pupils have
secured National expectations this year – an increase of 20% from previous
years.
·
Pupils securing age related
expectations at the end of Year 1 this year has, in some strands, doubled. In
maths, 70% of pupils secured 1a or better – with a significant 40% this year
securing expectations in line with Year 2 expectations.
·
Our Year 1 phonics screening test saw
70% of pupils secure age related expectations. We are yet to see how this
compares with national outcomes, but are delighted with pupil progress in this
strand this year.
·
Our Year 2 results were in line with or
slightly higher than previous years, with pupils in Year 2 making good or
outstanding progress towards this goal in-year.
·
Our Year 6 results brought us a 15%
increase in the number of pupils securing L4 or above in maths, a 10% increase
in writing and outcomes in reading which saw almost 90% of pupils secure L4 or
above.
·
Our reading statistics evidence
significant improvement in this strand across school. Reading achievement is
now almost in line with National expectations in every year group in school –
and next year we anticipate being above that benchmark.
·
Our attendance this year is up by
almost 1% to 95.2% and sees us into a ‘good’ category for the first time in 5
years.
This is a fabulous profile to begin
with next year and we anticipate even greater impact in 2012-13. Next year’s
priorities will be shared with you in September and are certain to include
school wide improvement in writing outcomes and progress in maths throughout
KS2 in particular. I am sure you will join me in recognising the hard work and
dedication of your children and your teaching team who have undoubtedly
worked their socks off to ensure that our headlines are very pleasing indeed!
Staffing News
Last week, I shared with you Mr El Sayed’s offer of a teaching post in Saudi Arabia to commence in September. I am delighted to be informing you this week that he has now decided not to accept this post and will be staying with us at Cookridge for the foreseeable future. This is good news indeed, for he is a valued member of the team and a real asset to the school. His decision to turn down such a great role is testament to Mr El Sayed’s dedication to the children and families at Cookridge – he really does make a difference to children’s lives with the work that he does and it is good news indeed that he has elected to stay with us. Welcome back, Mr El Sayed!
And so it remains for me to wish you all a happy and healthy Summer. I can’t promise you sunshine, but I am confident that we will all have a wonderful time, wherever we each end up over the next six weeks. Have a good one and I will see you all in September!
Mrs Bailey
