Dear
Parents/Carers,
This
week, in amongst our usual happenings, KS1 got their ‘Knights, Castles and
Princesses’ topic off to a flying start with a trip to a real live castle.
Imagine their joy?! We also welcomed our School Improvement Partner into school,
celebrating the children’s achievements since she last visited in September. Mrs
Lawson was delighted to meet all the Phase Leaders (Miss Hobson, Miss Golia, Miss
Fowler and Mr Maldonado) who all very proudly talked about the fantastic
progress in their phase during the past four months, and passes on her congratulations
to all staff, pupils and parents for this great team effort. Here, here!
Mrs Dawson
After
a period of absence, I am sorry to advise parents that Mrs Dawson has made the
decision not to return to her role at Cookridge. There can be few parents of
pupils of Cookridge – past and present – who do not know Mrs Dawson. She has
been a valued member of the teaching team for almost twenty years and it is
impossible to calculate the number of pupils she has taught during that time,
but with an average of thirty pupils a year (at least) over 20 years we are
looking at around six hundred! She is a very special teacher who cares deeply
for pupils’ right across school and far beyond their time with us at Cookridge,
as a ‘local girl’ she is still in touch with many pupils she taught many years
ago – which tells us something of her passion and commitment to the job and to
the children and families she served with all her might. On behalf of parents,
pupils and staff, let me wish Mrs Dawson all the very best in her future
career.
Parents
of pupils with Special Educational Needs will be aware that Mrs Dawson took on
the role of SENCO at Easter. Mrs Turner, Deputy Head, has now taken on the role
of SENCO and is your first point of contact for questions about this important
area of school life. We will be appointing an additional staff member to support
Mrs Turner in this role and will let you know as soon as this process has been
completed.
Friends AGM
Last
night, the Friends group met to report their achievements during 2013 and
discuss plans for the year ahead. Last year, the Friends group organised two
successful discos, Mark’s Magic Show, a Movie Night, the Christmas and Summer
Fair and through their magnificent efforts and your unending support are
pleased to report a current total of £5,167! We are aiming to raise £8,000 and
are about to begin talking to the children about their choice of new playground
equipment that we intend to install during the summer months. It is very
exciting to be so close to our fundraising target and I am confident that we
will get there during the months between now and the summer, and we will all
enjoy the playground equipment once it arrives. The beauty of Friends is the
children have fun attending the events which accrue the money, and on that note…..
Below are the next three planned events so get your diaries ready!
Movie Night is
back! On Wednesday 12th February between 5-6.30pm come along to sit
with friends and enjoy a movie. Children must be accompanied by an adult, and
all tickets cost just £1.00 a head. This year, children should bring along
their pocket money as there will be a ‘tuck shop’ open for business so that
children can select their choice of drinks and snacks. This year, we will be screening ‘The Croods’
and ‘Despicable Me 2’ and we really hope to see you there. Please see Mrs Lucas if you would like tickets.
Our
final day of term is Friday 14th February and it is officially a non-uniform day for no other reason
than we love them! All children are invited to wear their own choice of clothes
for a donation of just £1.00. In addition, we invite children to one of our
special occasion ‘one off’ themed meal when pupils who do not usually have a
school dinner get chance to join us for a ‘Valentines
Dinner’. If your child wants to take us up on this invitation, please
see Mrs Lucas in the school office.
The
Easter Disco is booked for Thursday
3rd April, with our favourite DJ returning for another fandango.
Tickets will be available nearer the time.
On
top of our plans for funding playground developments, the Friends group are
also very keen to support the sporting endeavours of Cookridge and are looking
to fund a new football strip and athletics kit for our teams. We are aware that
companies are sometimes willing and able to offer funding for such initiatives.
If you work for such a company, please get in touch with our Friends via friends.cookridge@gmail.com
Attendance
Attendance
is on the rise and I’m delighted to see 9 of our 11 classes this week securing
a ‘good’ level of attendance. Brilliant stuff, guys. Congratulations to Class 3
who have done it again, pipping Class 4 by this 0.1% lead that’s becoming a bit
of a theme this year!
|
National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2013-2014
|
Attendance this week
9/1/14 – 15/1/14
|
Year to date
04/1/15
|
|||||||||
|
95%
|
96%
|
95.6%
|
95.6%
|
|||||||||
|
Class attendance figures for the W/E
15/1/14
|
||||||||||||
|
Rec A
|
Rec B
|
Class 1
|
Class 2
|
Class 3
|
Class 4
|
Class 5
|
Class 6
|
Class 7
|
Class 8
|
Class 9
|
||
|
95.4%
|
92.2%
|
96.7%
|
96.1%
|
97.9%
|
97.8%
|
97.3%
|
96.6%
|
95.0%
|
93.3%
|
97.2%
|
||
Y4 Residential Assembly
Y4
parents - don’t forget next week’s residential assembly on 21st of January at
2:15pm!
Have a wonderful
weekend,
Mrs Bailey
