4^th September 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have all had a very enjoyable summer break and are as excited to be back to school as we are.  It was great to see everyone arriving this morning and catching up with all the children in class throughout the day.  A very warm welcome to families new to our school with children joining Nursery and Reception this week. 

You may have noticed some exciting changes on your arrival this morning if you came past the KS2 end of the building.  We have a new cage with a sports matting surface and an extension which gives lots more room for the children to move in and out of school safely. If you managed to peek through the windows you may have also seen our new toilet area.  Children on the bottom corridor and all of the KS2 children have been very excited to make use of them today!  Please do come along to our meet the teacher events soon when you will be able to get a closer look. 

Site Security

Children arriving at school after 9:00am once the close of register bell has rung should be brought to the school office. At 9:00am the outside doors will be locked to ensure children are safe inside the building until the school gates are locked. After school the site is secured at 3:30pm to ensure that the children attending clubs are safe as well as helping to ensure the security of our premises for staff working on site. Please help Mr Parcell in this role by leaving in a timely manner.

If your children come to school on their own or you drop them off outside of the school, a gentle reminder that they should not arrive before 8.30am and that the site is not supervised so you do so at your own risk.

Help us to keep our site safe by reminding your child that bikes and scooters are not permitted to be ridden in the school grounds.  Please push them to the bike/scooter shed.  Unsafe behaviour may result in your child being asked to leave their bike or scooter at home.

Should you come to school with your dog then please do not bring them into the school grounds.

Parents and carers should only enter the building along with all visitors at the main entrance and sign in when they do so. The office staff and members of the leadership team who are usually around at the beginning and end of the day are happy to pass a message onto your child’s classteacher if they are in the year 4, 5 and 6 upstairs classrooms.  Mobile phones should not be accessed in the school building.

Uniform

Thank you for the great support of our uniform expectations. The children looked exceptionally smart today. We expect all children to wear only school uniform and suitable shoes or trainers. Please help us to maintain these standards by following these expectations.

Breakfast and After School Club

The Drop off and collection point for out of hours clubs is now the Fire Door at the top of the steps down to Reception at the front of the school.  This is to ensure the safety of our school site and pupils.  Please note that breakfast club is FREE from 8am but if you require an earlier start at 7:30am we are able to offer a limited number of spaces for 50p per child per day.  Please sign up and pay in advance in the school office.

Healthy Eating

We encourage healthy eating and suggest that our school meals provide the best solution to a healthy and nutritious lunch.  The are FREE for children in YR, Y1 and Y2 and all the way up to year 6 if you meet the criteria for Free School Meals.  If you do choose to send a packed lunch I ask that you reflect on the content of the packed lunches you provide and ensure there are fruits and vegetables and low sugar options included.  Sweets and chocolate bars should not be brought to school at all.

Staffing

We are delighted to welcome Miss Shaddick who is teaching in Year 2, Mr Owens who is teaching in Year 5 and welcome back Mrs Patch who is teaching in Year 1 with Mrs Larsen and Miss Cefai who is teaching in year 6. We also welcome Miss Hewlett, Miss Tottle and Mr Friend as teaching assistants and welcome back Miss Hughes.

Congratulations are due to our newly married member of staff, Mrs Davies (Miss Northcott) in Reception.

Governance

Mike Newman is our new acting Chair of Governors. Please see our website for full details of the governing body. 

Looking Forward

It is a pleasure and a fantastic privilege to work with your children and we really look forward to helping them make great progress across the curriculum during the next academic year. If you have anything you would like to celebrate regarding school please let me know and also if you think we can improve any aspects of our provision, myself or the appropriate member of the senior leadership team are always happy to listen.

Likewise, our teachers are available at the end of each day for a quick chat or appointments can be made through the office if you think you need a longer conversation. Our staff meetings are on a Wednesday this term and start at 3:30 where staff take part in training.

Please come along to the meet the teacher events to find out about other initiatives we are running this year and how you can support your child with their learning.

Have a fabulous new school year with us.

Kind Regards

Lucy Lang

Headteacher