Dear Parents/Carers,
This week has seen our children utterly engaged when completing their end of year assessments. I am very proud of the children’s achievement this year, and their efforts and diligence were palpable in school this week as they completed a series of activities devised to help the teachers measure just how far they’ve come this year – and pinpoint accurate starting points for next year! Our Year 1 children have also completed the highly controversial new phonics screening test, introduced for the first time this year. They took it all in their stride and I am incredibly impressed with the number of children who have reached the threshold deemed as meeting national expectations. I look forward to sharing the details of our attainment in relation to other schools nationally in due course. In the mean time, well done to every single child and every single staff member who have worked incredibly hard this week... Relax: it’s Friday!
Class Organisation 2012-13
As I’ve advised in recent newsletters, our class organisation next year is set to change. We will be moving to mixed age classes throughout school and establishing strong key phase teams, each under the leadership of a phase team leader. We are about to internally appoint two additional team leaders to complement our existing management structure, and I will let you know which staff members will be leading in Key Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2) and the Foundation Stage (Reception) as soon as the process is complete. At this stage – pending those appointments - class organisation is as thus:
Reception - Mrs Fletcher and Miss Hobson
Year 1 - Class 1 – Mrs McHugh & Mrs Cairns
Year 1/2 - Class 2 – Miss Golia
Year 2 - Class 3 – Mrs Speak & Miss Streams
Year 3/4 - Class 4 – Mrs Dawson & Mrs Spiers
Year 3/4 - Class 5 – Miss Carroll (Miss Cowles is
due to return in January 2013)
Year 3/4 - Class 6 – Mrs Smith (Lower KS2 Team Leader) & Miss Glendinning
Year 5/6 – Class 7 – Mr Maldonado
Year 5/6 – Class 8 – Miss Fowler (Upper KS2
Team Leader)
Year 5/6 – Class 9 – Mr Gamble
Class allocations will be made according to the
class allocation policy and determined by age. I will be writing to you within
the week to let you know which class your child will be in next year, and they
will be spending the morning in their new class base on Monday 2nd
July. Remember – there will be an opportunity for you to ‘meet the class
teacher’ at 3.15 on that date and I strongly recommend that you ask your child
to show you to their new classroom and introduce you. This will be an informal
information sharing meeting and you are free to pop in for a short spell, or
stay for the whole session depending upon your commitments. Younger children
are welcome to attend, but I would ask you to leave pushchairs outside of
school please.
Friends of Cookridge
A reminder that the PTA Summer Fayre is coming up
soon, and we hope to see you all at the Fayre on Saturday 30th June,
2-4pm. As ever, there will be fantastic range of stalls and attractions and we
are confident that you and your family will have a great day. The monies raised
at the Fayre will be used to invest in what we hope will be a great new
playground development installed over the Summer.
Class Photos
We hope that you liked the outside setting for this
year’s class photos – with rain like ours those photo opportunities are
extraordinarily limited and we were very lucky to secure a mild (if not sunny)
day for the 2012 photos! Please return order forms for Class photos by next
Wednesday 27th June.
Attendance
Our attendance this week
was our worst since September. A combination of illness absence and holiday
absence has seen our attendance plummet to 91.9% - well below our Local Authority attendance target
of 95% this year, and sadly reducing our year to date percentage to 95.4% . Some classes in school last week were as low as 83%. Please do what you can to help us maintain
the attendance figure we have worked so hard to accrue over the past 35 weeks.
There is a
bout of chicken pox in school and I
would ask you to be vigilant for signs and symptoms to mitigate the spread of
this infection. Children are most infectious during the 2 days leading up to
the outbreak of the dreaded spots, but should remain off school until all spots
have crusted over (that’s official guidance talk for you!) – typically about 5
days from the outbreak of the rash. The extent of the rash can vary enormously
– from one or two spots to a full body outbreak - so please use your discretion
as to when your child is fit and well enough to attend school.
Sports News
The Ubunye Cup was again washed out
yesterday due to the torrential downpours throughout the day. A new date will
be announced for this shortly. Next weeks Football Club on Monday 25th June is
the final one of the year due to various competitions and commitments coming
up. I would like to thank all children and parents for the time and
dedication put in over the year and I hope to see all the children back in
football club when it resumes in September. A special thank you to all parents
who have helped with transporting players to and from matches - Mr Gamble
couldn't have done it without you! Next weeks Netball Club on Tuesday 26th June
is also the final one of the year. It has been great to see so many news faces
at netball this year and it's been pleasing to see it expand to include a Year
3/4 section. Places are filling up for both Y5/6 and Y3/4 Netball Club next
year which is great as we have joined a league! A huge thank you to Miss Fowler
and Miss Golia who have run this club all year! Please ensure after school
sports club forms for September are handed in to either Mr Gamble or the school
office by next Friday, 29th June and
make sure your child's name is on the form as we have received some forms
without names. If you have lost the
letter, additional copies can be collected from the school office or please see
Mr Gamble. The clubs are filling up fast so to make sure you get a place at the
club you want- get those forms in ASAP!
Sporting Dates for the Diary:
Tuesday 26th June- Year 6 Rounders
Competition @ Ireland
Monday 2nd July- Year 3/4 Football
Competition, Leo Jones Trophy @ Queensway Primary, Yeadon.
Thursday 12th July – Sports
Day – Reception to Class 3 in the morning and Classes 4 to 9 in the afternoon.
International Cookridge Week –
starts on Monday!
Next week will see our annual International
Cookridge Week with various activities and events organised throughout the week
which celebrate the wealth of cultures we have in school. On Monday, our
Mexican visitors arrive in school and will be joining in with class based
activities across school. On Wednesday, there will be a parent led assembly and
fashion show and children are invited to wear traditional
clothes or costumes. If your child would like to take part in the fashion show
please ask them to see Mrs Speak at 12.30pm on Monday 25th in Class
5. On Thursday morning, our annual Cultural Cabaret will be held in the hall,
and the afternoon will see the infamous ‘World Cafe’ open for business once
again, with an opportunity for all children to sample food from the many
different cultures represented in our school. Food contributions can be sent
into school anytime during the day. (Volunteers helping serve food need to
arrive by 1.15pm.) There will also be an exhibition of artefacts in the hall
and these can be sent into school anytime before Thursday. Please remember to
label all artefacts with your child’s name and class so that they can be
returned after the exhibition!
In the midst of all this, we have artist Lee Threadgold in school making
gigantic puppets in readiness for the BIG Olympics week, coming soon.... and any donations of sheets to help in the
making of banners with Lee next Wednesday would be greatly appreciated.
I need a lie down, and next week hasn’t even begun yet...
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Bailey
