Dear
Parents/Carers,
This
week’s newsletter is jam packed full of news of the high number of events which
are coming up in the next three weeks through till the Easter holidays: there
is a LOT to do!
Sport Relief
Next
Friday is Sport Relief! In exchange for £1, children can come to school wearing
their sports kit. This can include football strips, cricket and rugby kits and
basketball tops. There will be plenty of activities on offer throughout the
day, including Wii sport games at lunchtime, all classes will complete the
'sport relief mile' and there is a special sport themed lunch being served at
dinner time. We intend to have lots of fun whilst supporting this fantastic
cause and all proceeds will go directly to the charity.
Friends events
The
busy Friends calendar hots up again this week with an open invitation to all
pupils to don their dancing clothes and get on down to the Easter disco! The
disco is booked for Thursday 3rd April and is open from 3-4.00pm for
Reception and KS1 pupils, and from 4-5.00pm for KS2 pupils. Pupils should buy
their tickets in advance by completing and returning the attached slip to the
school office by Friday 28th March. Reception and KS1 pupils should
bring their disco clothes to change into and staff will assist them and escort
them to the disco hall and back to their classrooms for 4pm, where parents
should collect them as normal. KS2 pupils can arrive and be collected from the
hall doors. A drink and a snack is included with the cost of the ticket, but
KS2 pupils can also bring a small amount of pocket money to spend at the popular
tuck shop.
During
the week leading up to Mother’s Day, KS2 children will also be manning a
Mother’s Day Gift Stall each playtime. If children would like to buy their
mum’s a little gift, they should bring their change (no more than £1.00) to the
shop during playtimes for that week.
We
have one more Friends meeting before Easter too. We remain desperate for you to
get involved so please think about giving an hour of your time to come along
and get involved. During the next meeting, the team will be planning for the
next half term’s event – a family ‘Challenge Night’ – and ALL ideas for
exciting puzzles, quizzes and activities for families to complete as a team are
very, very welcome. Just come along to the Beehive on Thursday 27th
March at 6.30pm – children can play in the setting during the meeting.
Easter Egg Competition
Yes
– it’s that time of year again and time for the annual ‘Decorate an egg’
competition. We have had some brilliant entries to the competition in recent
years, and it is always a tricky one to judge! All winners will win an Easter
egg but the fun is most definitely in the taking part… Boil an egg (or two!)
and get creative – you know you want to! Entries will be welcome from Monday 31st
March.
Parent Consults
During
the final week of this half term, parents of pupils from Reception to Y5 are
asked to make an appointment to see their child’s class teacher about the
fantastic learning so far this year. We will be distributing letters asking you
to request your preferred times for appointments early next week and ask you to
return your slips quickly as times are allocated on a first come, first served
basis.
School
Photos
Tempest photographers will be in school on
Tuesday 25th March to take class and sports team photos. Please
ensure your child has their PE kit in school so that their team work can be
captured on film!
Attendance
Our excellent attendance continues and I am
delighted to see we are still on the brink of our target this year and the
highest level of attendance at this stage in the year we have ever secured. The children are all
aware of my promise that IF we manage to achieve our target we will ALL enjoy a
day of Bouncy Castles on the field and I’m pretty sure they will not let me
forget! I’ve got everything crossed – keep up the excellent work!
Congratulations to Class 3 this week with a near-perfect 99.3%
|
National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2013-2014
|
Attendance this week
06/03/2014 – 12/03/2014
|
Year to date
12/03/2014
|
||||||||
|
95%
|
96%
|
96.9%
|
95.9%
|
||||||||
|
Class attendance figures for the W/E 05/03/2014
|
|||||||||||
|
Rec A
|
Rec B
|
Class 1
|
Class 2
|
Class 3
|
Class 4
|
Class 5
|
Class 6
|
Class 7
|
Class 8
|
Class 9
|
|
|
92.8%
|
95.5%
|
97.0%
|
97.3%
|
99.3%
|
95.2%
|
98.3%
|
98.7%
|
98.3%
|
98.3%
|
98.4%
|
|
Exciting news
This
week, parents coming to the school office will have noticed a new face! Mrs
Crabtree began her role in the office on Monday, and has had a very busy week
getting to grips with things. Mrs Lucas, Mrs Lister and Mrs Crabtree complete
the office team and her start sees us back to our full capacity – halleluiah!
Yesterday,
Mrs Turner, Governor Jackie Moore and I spent a very full day interviewing for
another new member of the Cookridge team – a Family Support Worker - and on
Monday we have another day set aside to interview for the post of Inclusion
Manager. We had over 120 applications for the post today and a high number for
the post of Inclusion Manager too, so the calibre of applicants is very
strong. We are very excited about these
brand new posts in school, as they mark a new era for us in our capacity to
fully support the children and families of Cookridge and access the services
available to children in Leeds. The successful candidates will join us after
Easter and will complete the newly established ‘Family & Support Team’
alongside Mrs Turner, Mr Kerr, Mr Green and myself, a team who will work
together to enable all staff in school to ensure our children are safe, happy,
emotionally secure and achieving. More news next week…
Today,
though, we bid farewell to Mrs Colefax,
a wonderful teaching assistant and lunchtime supervisor. Mrs Colefax has been
really good fun, and was a key player in the transformation of lunchtime play
from an era where we had around 50 behavioural incidents a week (2011) to an
average of 5 (2014), bringing the idea of playtime fun alive. She has been an
absolute asset to us, will be missed by children and adults alike and we very
much hope that she is able to return to us at some point in the future…
Book
Fair
Don’t
forget – next week the book fair will be open for business from Monday 17th
March until Thursday 20th March. It will be open between 8:30 - 8:45 every morning and from 3:05 - 3:30 after
school. Children will be able to spend their World Book Day vouchers at the
fair so please come and have a look at the fantastic range of books on
offer.
Have
a wonderful weekend,
Mrs
Bailey
