Dear Parents/Carers,
Another week has rumbled by and the children
continue to impress me every single day. Despite being cooped up all week due
to snow, they continue to give it everything they’ve got. A wander through
school this week revealed the quality of learning going on in Literacy. With
Reception writing about Hansel and Gretal, Years 1&2 tackling mystery
stories, Y34 traditional stories with a twist and Y56 getting their teeth into
writing persuasive letters it is easy to spot the talent we have in school.
This week, we launch our ‘Writer of the Week’ award. From this point forward,
the teachers will meet to choose the writer in each key phase whose writing
really does ‘go that extra mile’. This will be shared in Friday’s assembly,
uploaded on the website and displayed in the hall. If your child comes home
with the ‘Writer of the Week’ award anytime soon, please be aware just what a
huge achievement this is: for their writing to be selected from the quality
writing of 90 children is incredible and should be celebrated. Keep your eyes
peeled!
Random Acts of Kindness
Our assembly theme for the New Year has been
exploring the many different ways we can offer kindness to one another. We’ve
begun the thinking process with the quote ‘Three
things in life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be
kind. The third is to be kind.’ Over the coming weeks we will be reading
stories and thinking about what ‘being kind’ looks like in our school. The
challenge this week was to offer kindness by simply smiling, saying thank you
and perhaps even holding the door open for another... I’ve witnessed firsthand
our children naturally offering kindness to others’ in many different ways and
it is wonderful to be able to point out just what a wonderful quality this is
and celebrate one of the factors that make Cookridge a special place.
Can you believe it is ONE whole year since we introduced our ‘new’ behaviour policy,
launching team points, rewards and clear sanctions for inappropriate behaviour.
We are just beginning our review of the policy and will be discussing both the
successes and areas for improvement with staff across school and children. If
any parents have views they would like to share to add into this review
process, please email me with your thoughts baileys06@leedslearning.net or call in for a brief chat with myself or Mr Green.
This week, as many others, I’ve had the pleasure of
showing around parents of pupils who are joining us in school. Our numbers
continue to rise and we are now nearing capacity, with a number of children on
the waiting list in some year groups. Without fail, visiting parents comment on
the wonderful atmosphere in school, the quality of learning happening in school
and the incredible school environment. They’re not wrong: we’re very lucky at
Cookridge and I always ‘take the tour’ with great pride.
Friends Update
Last week, the Friends (Parent-teacher association)
met to celebrate the success of the Christmas Fayre and plan events for the
remainder of the year. It was the AGM meeting, and role and responsibilities
were agreed amongst the committee – full details on the blog
http://friendsofcookridge.blogspot.co.uk/
As part of the agenda, we also looked at events
across the rest of this school year. We are aiming for an event per half term
and have so far made firm bookings for a
movie night and a magic show,
with an all adult ‘Strictly Come
Dancing’ event later in the year, date yet to be confirmed.
The movie
night will take place in school on Wednesday 13th February, with
the screening beginning at 6pm. Admission will be by tickets only at £2 per
ticket or a bargain £5 per family, and the cost will include popcorn and a
drink.
The family
magic show will take place on Wednesday 20th March 6.15-7.30pm.
The show will be presented by ‘Mark’s Magic Kingdom’ and will most definitely
be a fantastic, fun evening. Again, tickets come at £3 per child or £10 per
family and drinks will be provided for the children.
The summer
fair is booked for Saturday 15th
June from 2-4pm. This will include all the favourite stalls and is always a
fantastic family day out.
The final event of the year is going to be
spectacular. Year 6 children have approached me to ask for a different event to
mark the end of their time in school – a prom! A committee of children will be
meeting with the Chairs of Friends very soon to get some advice about fund
raising and event planning, and there is a real air of excitement, talk of
themes and clothes across Year 6.. We can’t wait and I am very grateful to
Friends for offering our children the chance to put their ideas to real experts
in this field!
It is wonderful to see so many events on the
calendar, and to note that many of them are about having fun with friends, as a
family and as a community. Friends will also be meeting our School Council
shortly to decide upon our 2013 fund raising project.. Last year – the
spiderweb, this year... Who knows?
Remaining meetings for the committee will be in
school on:-
Thursday 28th March @ 6.30pm
Thursday 25th April @ 6.30pm
Thursday 23rd May @ 6.30pm
We would LOVE to welcome new members to the Friends group, so please
come along if you can or email us to let us know you’d like to be involved but
struggle with the main meeting dates/times, as there are times in the year when
it’s very much an all-hands-on-deck extravaganza... Just before the Summer Fair
for example!
Wintry Weather Procedures
With forecasts for more snow over the
weekend, please take a moment to refresh your understanding of procedures
should we need to take the decision for school to close. Full details are on
the website and on the blog http://cookridgeprimaryschool.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/friday-14th-december-2012.html . In a nutshell, we will only take the decision to close school if the
site is unsafe or if high numbers of staff are unable to get into school to
assure your child’s safety in school. That decision will be published on the
blog, via twitter, via ParentMail and will be reported to Radio Aire as early
as possible. Fingers crossed it won’t come to that!
Remaining
Training Dates
There are only two remaining training
dates for this school year – Monday 15th April 2013 and Friday 5th
July. The school calendar and all training dates are posted on the school
website each year. I will get 2013-14 planned and posted by the end of
January so that the organised amongst you can make plans for holidays NEXT
summer! http://www.cookridgeprimaryschool.org.uk/parents/school-calendar.php …
Sports News
Sadly, following the closure of Holt Park Leisure
centre before Christmas and despite assurances to the contrary, we are still
awaiting the relevant departments at Leeds City Council to coordinate a
swimming slot and bus transport to another leisure centre in the city.
Apologies to Y4 children and parents but there will be no swimming again on
Monday. You will be notified as soon as we have a firm fixture.
Attendance
This week’s attendance clearly shows we are back on
form, with three out of the eleven classes achieving over 99% attendance, and
nine out of the eleven classes exceeding the target of 96% This is great news
and – if we can keep this up – will lead to a gradual improvement in our
current year to date figure, which took quite a knock before Christmas! Onwards
and upwards...
|
National Minimum
‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2012-13
|
Attendance this week
|
Year to date
|
||||||||
|
95%
|
96%
|
97.1%
|
94.9%
|
||||||||
|
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 93.9%
B 99.1%
|
99.2%
|
91.7%
|
98.8%
|
98.2%
|
99.3%
|
98.3%
|
97.5%
|
95.7%
|
96.3%
|
||
Coffee Morning
The next date is set for the coffee morning –
Wednesday 13th February, 9-10am. It will be great to see you there.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Bailey
