Well – that was an exciting week! After a snow day
start, the children got back to it from Tuesday onwards and I must say seemed
highly energised following their day of fun... I’ve even heard suggestion that
every week starts exactly the same way. Fancy that?! On that note....
Snow day
Many apologies for the disruption to the start of
the week. As I’m sure you can appreciate – the decision to close the school is
never one taken lightly. On this occasion – the decision was entirely
determined by my concern for the safe arrival of our children into school,
given the conditions on many roads but in particular Tinshill Drive
I hope that the unexpected day was not too much of
an inconvenience for you, and hope that some of you even enjoyed the time to
play in the snow – as many did. Please remember your FIRST notification for
school closure will come via Twitter, the website and the Blog, followed by the
Leeds City Council website and radio stations. A decision will always be taken
as early as possible – typically around 7.30am. A parentmail text message is
also sent out at 7.30, but there is sometimes an unexplainable delay – perhaps
given the volume of bulk texts being sent at that time. I would ask that you
use these sources of news updates rather than phoning in for information... The
volume of calls on Monday and Tuesday morning were very hard to manage before
8.30 - when office staff commence work - and might also hinder staff getting
through to school to inform us of difficulties in their individual journeys.
Thank you for your understanding.
Friends Update
This week, Mrs Herbert (PTA Chair) met with our
School Council to talk through their ideas for fund raising in school this year
and quite what we might be raising money for. I am very grateful to Mrs Herbert
to take the time out of her busy life to pop in and chat to our councillors –
it was a fascinating conversation to oversee.
The decision was a tough one and was almost an equal split, with some
strong themes emerging. The older children had a strong preference to increase
the number of DS’s and Nintendo Wii’s we have in school, explaining how unfair
they thought it that some classes have these marvellous additions whilst others
do not. I take this on board and we WILL be doing something about it... How
quickly we can do that depends upon the funds we can raise! The younger
children were keen to expand on our playground repertoire and discussed a
number of options, including quiet ‘chill out’ areas (indoor and outdoor), and
a new climbing area. Exciting times – we will of course be consulting the whole
school via Class Council meetings but the headline news is: we need to pull
together and raise some funds to satisfy our children’s needs/wants/desires!
Our next fund raising & social event will be
the movie night, screened in school
on Wednesday 13th February, beginning at 6pm. Admission will be by
ticket only at £2 per ticket or a bargain £5 per family, and the cost will
include popcorn and a drink. I will consult with the children next week to
select the particular film. There is a reply slip attached to this newsletter –
if your child wants to come along, please complete the slip and return it –
along with the cost of the ticket(s) - so that we can make arrangements for the
number of children who will be viewing and get tickets distributed nearer the
time.
More news on Mark’s Magic Show to follow soon...
If you are able to spare some time to get involved
in the work of our Friends, remember remaining meetings for the committee will
be in school on Thursday 28th March @ 6.30pm, Thursday 25th
April @ 6.30pm and Thursday 23rd May @ 6.30pm. Come along – your
school needs you!
Sports News
We continue to wrestle with LCC to sort out our
swimming. There has been progress this week but not enough to resolve it and
set a date for the return of swimming. I will keep you informed and hope to
have positive news very soon.
Northern Ballet Easter Course 2013
Northern Ballet are running a course during the
Easter holidays – 9-12th April 2013. Suitable for any children aged
6-14 who are interested in dance with the opportunity to work alongside
specialist teachers in professional studios in Quarry Hill, I felt it was too
good an opportunity to overlook. The course costs £100 (or £95 with a Breeze
card). If any parents are interested, we
have a few leaflets in the main office which you can collect or you can contact
Shelley Firth on 0113 220 8000 or shelly.firth@northernballet.com .
Attendance
I am really impressed with the incredibly high
number of parents who got their children into school this week, when I’m sure
many of you would have been far cosier at home! Attendance this week is
fantastic, with 2 out of 11 classes securing 100% and 6 in total exceeding the
school target of 96%. As we have a 100%
tie, we will – for the first time ever – have to consult the class year-to-date
figures to determine who gets Cookie for the week! Our whole school year to
date figure remains 94.9%, below the Leeds average and significantly below the
National picture: we really do need to get back up to our best by maintaining
these good levels for many, many weeks to come.... Please continue to do your
bit! Thank you.
National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2012-13
|
Attendance this week
|
Year to date
|
||||||||
95%
|
96%
|
96.5%
|
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 100%
B 93.0%
|
100%
|
93.9%
|
97.9%
|
96.6%
|
95.0%
|
96.4%
|
95.9%
|
95.3%
|
97.1%
|
||
A reminder that the final week of
consultation for a change to Horsforth
School Horsforth
School Horsforth High School Horsforth
School
Parents are invited to respond to the
consultation and should send comments to Mrs J Grey, PA to the school's
Leadership Team, at greyja01@leedslearning.net by January 31 2013.
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
My child would like to come to ‘MOVIE NIGHT!’ on Wednesday 13th February, 6-8pm.
Child/children’s
name(s)......................................................................................................................
Class(es) .....................................
Please note – all children will need to be collected on the evening as
we will not be allowing children to make their own way home.
