Dear
Parents/Carers,
It
has been a wonderful week in school, largely due to the enormous smiles we have
seen each day on the children’s faces as they’ve left the Mother’s Day stall
clutching their specially chosen gifts! I hope you enjoy them half as much as
they enjoyed browsing and spending…;0)
Strike
Thank
you to all parents for your cooperation during Wednesday’s strike day. I fully
appreciate the disruption that this caused and the particular issue which
arises where only one member of the family is affected. I am very grateful to
report excellent attendance for pupils in those classes not affected by the
strike action on Wednesday, even though many told me how dismayed they were to
be leaving brother or sister at home!
Pride
One
of the finest parts of my role is observing the very real and very deserving
sense of pride our children have. Very frequently, children show me (and anyone
else who they can!) their incredible learning. Clutching the books they are
reading, the writing they have just completed, the calculations they have just
solved, their art work or something they have done at home, their chests are
positively puffed as they recognise how brilliant they are. This week, we have
undertaken assessments across school and are busy readying ourselves for the
final term of the year based on what that tells us about next steps for your
child. Inevitably, it is a great opportunity for the children to appreciate
their achievements. If you haven’t lately, ask your child what they are most
proud of in their learning: I am sure they have plenty to tell you about! And
on that note…..
Parent Consults
You
should, by now, have received your appointment time for the Parent
Consultations taking place next week. If you haven’t – please ring or call into
the office early next week so that we can offer you one of the remaining
appointment slots. This is your chance to see for yourselves the brilliant
things we are seeing day after day – be sure to do that flick from the first
page in the book to the last and ‘spot the difference’. I hope you enjoy it!
Can
I please ask all parents to respect the tight timeframes that teachers are
working to during these appointments. Allocated slots are ten minutes in
length, and there are few breaks built into the schedule to accommodate all
parents. If you wish to discuss a matter which is likely to take longer than
the ten minutes that is not a problem but please ask if you can pop back for
another chat after the Easter hols, when there is unlikely to be a queue of
other parents outside! Thank you.
Easter Disco
The
D.J. is booked and the disco will be in full swing next Thursday 3rd
April. Reception and KS1 pupils will disco from 3pm and should be collected
from their classroom exits at 4pm. KS2 pupils should return to school from
4-5pm and should be collected from the hall doors. Y5/6 pupils can make their
own way home if this is their normal home-time arrangement.
The
Friends meeting yesterday focused on planning for the ‘Challenge Night’, a
family event due to take place on Wednesday 21st May. Put the date
in your diary – more details coming soon!
After School Clubs
Please note - due to the
final week of term and parent consultations next week there will be no after
school clubs next week. All these clubs will commence again the first week back
after Easter.
Sports News
Last Friday, as part of the Sports
Relief events, 15 children from our school went to watch the Leeds Rhinos play
against the London Broncos in Super League. As well as being invited to the players
lounge before the game where they met Ronnie The Rhino, the children
participated in a relay race at half-time against 5 other primary schools. Each
child had to run half the length of the field in front of a packed South Stand
before passing the ball onto the next member of the team. After a thrilling
race, we came second- a fabulous achievement! A BIG thank you to Mr Gamble, Mrs
Horsley, Mrs Pattison and Miss Carroll who gave up their time to support the
kids. The pictures – and all our other sports news - can be seen on the sports
blog www.cookridgeschoolsport.blogspot.co.uk/
Sporting
success for former Cookridge pupils
Mr Philpott has shared news with me this week that is too good
not to share! Three former Cookridge pupils - Nicole Finn, Ellen Auty and Eden
Philpott - were part of a 4 girl team that won the National under 18 schools
table tennis championships last weekend. They were representing Horsforth
School, but 3 of them owe it to Cookridge for the beginnings of their table
tennis skills during their time at the after school club. This is just what a
successful primary school curriculum is all about: igniting passion and
enthusiasm in young people who go on to enjoy and achieve long after they’ve
left us. Congratulations, girls!
Attendance
We have maintained our excellent attendance
of 96% overall this week – well done to you all: I need to book a sunny day and
those Bouncy Castles! Delightful that it is our Reception pupils who have this
week bagged the highest rate of attendance at over 99% - a massive achievement
for our youngest pupils in school! Bourbon will be coming to Reception for the
first time this year on Monday and I bet he has plenty of people to play with…!
|
National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2013-2014
|
Attendance this week
20/03/2014 -26/03/2014
|
Year to date
04/09/2013 - 26/03/2014
|
||||||||||
|
95%
|
96%
|
95.4%
|
96.0%
|
||||||||||
|
Class attendance figures for the W/E 26/03/2014
|
|||||||||||||
|
Rec A
|
Rec B
|
Class 1
|
Class 2
|
Class 3
|
Class 4
|
Class 5
|
Class 6
|
Class 7
|
Class 8
|
Class 9
|
|||
|
99.2%
|
89.1%
|
96.7%
|
92.3%
|
98.3%
|
94.3%
|
95.3%
|
94.2 %
|
97.0%
|
97.4 %
|
95.6%
|
|||
Next half terms dates
It’s
a funny old half term after Easter, with just 5 short weeks until the final
half term of the year! Some key dates for your diary…
Tuesday
22nd April – school closed to pupils: Training Day.
Tuesday
23rd April – return to school.
Tuesday
29th April – Y1/2 trip to The Deep.
Monday
5th May – Bank Holiday.
Tuesday
6th/Thursday 8th/Friday 9th – Y3/4 visits to
Leeds City Museum
Monday
12th – Thursday 15th May – Y6 SATS week
Wednesday
21st May – Friends Event: Challenge Night
Friday
23rd May – Break up for half term.
I
reckon that one is going to fly by…. !
Easter Egg Competition
Don’t
forget - we will be welcoming your decorated Easter eggs into school from
Monday. If you need some inspiration for your design – have a look at the blog
for previous year’s brilliant entries! I will be roping all staff into judging
this year and there will be a winning entry per class, revealed in next
Friday’s assembly. Good luck!
Have
a wonderful weekend and a glorious Mother’s Day!
Mrs
Bailey
