Dear
Parents/Carers,
I
have had some fantastic feedback from staff and parents across school this week
following a very successful, well attended round of parent information
meetings. You asked some great questions of us, and are clearly very passionate
about your child’s school experience – which is fantastic news for us! Thank
you to all parents who were able to come along. We will post the key headlines
on the phase blogs for those parents who were not able to get there so please
catch up there…
NUT/NASUWT Strike Action
Tuesday 1st October
You
may be aware that teaching unions are calling their members to strike on
Tuesday 1st October. Unlike many schools in the area, we are very
lightly affected by the action and will be open as usual on Tuesday. Can I
please ask that parents ensure children come to school, even if siblings
attending another school are off – we’ve got learning to do, and fun to be had!
Thank you.
Parent Consultations
The
first parent consultations of the year are due in a matter of weeks! This is an
excellent opportunity to discuss how your child has settled in with their new
class, to clarify what we are doing in school to support your child in their
next steps and outline how you can help your child at home. Early next week, we
will be circulating the paperwork to get appointments allocated ahead of the
consultation week during the week commencing 21st October. Please
return your form as soon as possible so that we can get the mammoth task of
matching appointments to preferences in good time!
Books, books, glorious
books!
Many
thanks to parents for their support at the School Book Fair in school this
week. I have had many excited conversations with pupils about the books they
have bought – your £5.00 (or so) investment here really does have a profound
effect on your children’s sense of themselves as readers, and those I spoke to were very pleased to
have boosted their own private home libraries. I did explain to the children
that the next job is to READ the books!
Parent View
With
Ofsted due any time, and having had such overwhelming and positive feedback
from a wide range of parents recently, I appeal to parents to share their views
via the online tool parent view. Parents are asked to answer 10 simple
questions which capture views of the school, and this information will be
accessed by the inspection team in the event of a school inspection, who are
always keen to take parental views into account. http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results.
National Curriculum 2014
Parents
may be aware that the Government has published a revised National Curriculum
for schools in England
Friends
Many thanks to all
parents who joined us for the first Friends meeting of the year last night. It
was very exciting to plan for the use of the funds raised in 2012/13, and plan
events across the coming year. Brief, tantalising headline plans include the return
of some old favourites, and some new ideas to boot. We will share more
information soon enough, and look forward to welcoming even more parents into
the ‘Friends’ group at the next meeting.
Fantasy
Football
It's back! After a
year’s break redeveloping the game and website, the popular Schools Fantasy
Football League is re-launching in the coming weeks. This fantastic learning
resource is available to Year 5/6 children, staff and parents and teaches
children to manage a budget, handle transfers and keep account of their points:
If there is a more enjoyable and competitive way to be doing maths at the
weekend then I'd like to hear it! Get planning those teams and scouting
players, the time has come! For more information please see Mr Gamble or visit
the website at www.schoolsfl.com.
Lunchtime
Play leaders
Don’t forget, we are
currently scouting for talent! We are looking for lunchtime supervisors to join
our crew and welcome applications or questions from interested parties. The
closing date for applications is Friday 4th October so if you are
able to offer your time between 11.45 and 1pm each day please call into the
school office and see Mrs Lucas for more information.
Attendance
We continue our
brilliant start to the year in terms of attendance and are currently flying
high at 97%. KS1 are running away with it at the moment as attendance bear
Bourbon hot foots it from Class 1 to Class 2 this week in celebration of their
magnificent 99.4%. Congratulations – and keep it up!
|
National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2013-2014
|
Attendance this week
|
Year to date
|
||||||||
|
95%
|
96%
|
97.5%
|
97.0%
|
||||||||
|
Class attendance figures for this week are:- 25/9/13
|
|||||||||||
|
Rec A
Rec B
|
Class 1
|
Class 2
|
Class 3
|
Class 4
|
Class 5
|
Class 6
|
Class 7
|
Class 8
|
Class 9
|
||
|
93.9%
98.7%
|
97.7%
|
99.4%
|
98.6%
|
99.3%
|
96.9%
|
93.5%
|
98.7%
|
98.2%
|
97.3%
|
||
Parental
Concerns
I have been approached
by several parents this week to express their concerns about conditions outside
of school, particularly at the start of the school day. The concerns include
the use of scooters and bikes on the playground before school. May I remind parents
that pupils who ride to school must park their vehicles in the shelters
provided before meeting their friends in the playground, as children darting
across the large expanse of playground put their own and others health and
safety at risk. I would, therefore, request that parents remind children of
this fact and explain that we may have to take the difficult decision to ban
bikes and scooters from the playground if the situation does not improve.
The second concern
raised relates to the traffic situation outside of school, a longstanding
concern. The parent in question has been proactive in contacting local MP Greg
Mulholland who has referred the matter to the Highways department for their
urgent consideration. It has been suggested that Mr Kelly begin a petition to
canvass parental and local resident support for initiatives to alleviate the
problem. Clearly, the more parental support we are able to gather, the stronger
the case for action at the Council. Many thanks to Mr Kelly for taking
seriously the safety of all families in the area and for his proactive and
direct approach to solving this problem.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Bailey
