Keep up to date with all the news happening in the school at the moment. Articles are added during the week. Parents are encouraged to check regularly. Our weekly newsletter, emailed directly to parents, summarises content for the week.

• High Temperature

  Sun 17 Jul 2022 Jill Williams

  High Temperatures.

  Temperatures are forecast to be very high on Monday and Tuesday next week. The government expects schools to remain open with all pupils attending school in person. Nursery, main school, childcare (before and after-school), and specialist clubs are all expected to be open as usual. We have reviewed and considered advice from the government, talked to governors and staff and preparations taken include:

  - flexibility for teachers to move classes for periods of time to cooler parts of the school, for example, outside in shade, or use of the school hall.

  - no active PE lessons will take place on Monday or Tuesday.

  - any combination of indoor play and/or short periods outside for morning and lunch breaks, depending on the weather and temperature.

  - windows open safely in all classrooms, internal doors and external classroom doors to remain open, to maximise air flow through the building.

  - pupils are able to drink water freely during the day, including during lessons.

  - summer school uniform matches warm weather conditions and should be worn. Polo style t-shirts can be relaxed to any plain white or red t-shirts if families wish. If pupils do not already own or wear school style shorts, any plain grey or black shorts may also be worn for more flexibility.

  Schools are unique. Each school operates in different circumstances. Some schools may partially close, depending on their individual circumstances, approach and attitudes to risk. We mitigate risks, remain flexible and intend to operate as normal. If any of the classrooms reach an unsafe temperature or if any children struggle and become unwell with the heat we will contact those families directly.

  If parents choose to keep children at home due to the heat then this is likely to be marked as an unauthorised absence. However, in a small number of cases, if there is an underlying medical condition, we may authorise absence on a case by case basis.

• Eco News

  Fri 08 Jul 2022
  Plastic Free July

  This month we are taking part in Plastic Free July. A challenge to schools to refuse single use plastic by: 

  • Switching plastic water bottles for refillables
  • Skipping the straw
  • Choosing reusable sandwich wraps
  • Keeping single-use plastics out of our school

   

  If you would like more information please head to www.plasticfreejuly.org 

   

  Thank you!

  A huge thank you on behalf of myself and Miss Ramsay to all of our amazing Eco Warriors. You have all worked so hard this year and have achieved so much. Including:

  • Forest of promises
  • Tree and bulb planting
  • Last ever Terracycle crisp packet collection
  • WWF Book Report Competition
  • Fairtrade Fortnight 
  • Achieving the Fair Active Award
  • Bottle top art project

  You have been absolutely amazing!

  Thank you

   

  Mrs Willis

  Eco School Coordinator

  

• Geographer of the Year

  Fri 08 Jul 2022

  Yesterday, it was my pleasure to award certificates and special Geographer badges to the children chosen by their class teachers as 'Geographer of the Year'. We shared some examples of their beautiful Geography work in assembly and I was very impressed by the high standard. Congratulations to you all!

   

  

• Attendance Reports

  Fri 08 Jul 2022

  As the end of this school year is nearing we have reviewed your child's attendance. We aim for all pupils to attend school regularly, this means attendance of 96% and above. We know that specific health needs and COVID have had  an impact on school attendance for some pupils this year. 

   

  As part of our attendance procedures, in line with DfE guidance we:

  ‘regularly communicate expectations for attendance and punctuality and school performance with staff, pupils and parents’ and

  ‘establish robust escalation procedures which are initiated before absence becomes a problem, for example by: sending letters to parents and carers’

   

   We will also report attendance in your child's annual report.

   

  For us, attendance of:

  • over 97% is excellent – this is our target for your child
  • 96-97% is good attendance,
  • 90%-95% is starting to cause a concern.
  • below 90% is a concern

   

  For pupils who's attendance at the end of the year is between 90 and 94.9% we will be monitoring their attendance in the autumn term and offering support to those families who need it.

   

  Any absence, authorised or not is registered as non-attendance at school and count towards your child’s overall attendance. There following events are recorded as absence (even if authorised)

   

  • illness, including self-isolation, even if you have followed our absence procedures, or we have asked you to collect your child
  • medical appointments (including speech and occupational therapy)
  • authorised leave for exceptional circumstances
  • being late after the registers close
  • your child not wanting to come due to anxiety
  • open days at other schools
  • religious observance
  • exclusions or suspensions
  • remote or hybrid learning at home 
  • any unauthorised absence

   

  If you have any worries or concerns about attendance at school please contact Mrs Lawson, our attendance officer or arrange to speak to your child's class teacher.

• Annual reports

  Fri 08 Jul 2022

  Annual reports

   

  We are just putting our final touches to your child's annual report. 

   

  Reports will be given to your child on Wednesday 20th July 2022. Please remember if you require a duplicate report and haven't already done so, please let the school office know as soon as possible.

• Transition Arrangements

  Fri 08 Jul 2022 Headteacher

  The chart below shows who your child's class teacher will be next academic year.

   

  On Monday 11th June  the children will come into school as usual - lining up the the usual places. We will head to assembly at 9am and the children will leave assembly with their new teacher and go to their new classroom.

   

  When you collect your child at the end of the day you will need to collect your child from their new classroom.

   

  Support staff will be around the site to support you in knowing exactly where to go.

   

  On Tuesday and Wednesday please come into using the arrangements for your child's new year group.

   

  On Thursday we will go back to normal until the end of term.

   

  Current Teacher	New Teacher
  Mrs McCaw/Mrs McDonald (RMW)	Mrs Ray (1R)
  Miss Bartlett (RB)	Mrs McCoy (1M)
  Mrs Ray (1R)	Miss Turnbull (2T)
  Mrs McCoy (1M)	Mrs Akram (2A)
  Mrs Akram (2A)	Mr Tincombe (3T)
  Miss Turnbull (2T)	Mrs Burnip (3L)
  Mrs Burnip (3L)	Mrs McGarry/Ms Kelley (4MK)
  Mr Tincombe (3T)	Miss Garrett (4G)
  Miss Garrett (4G)	Mr Kindley (5K)
  Mrs McGarry/Mrs Willis (4MW)	Miss Dodds (5D)
  Miss Dodds (5D)	Miss Croft (6C)
  Mr Kindley (5K)	Mrs Burleigh/Mrs Willis (6BW)

   

  Year 6 pupils will continue as usual. 

• Sports Day Success

  Thu 07 Jul 2022

  Firstly, I would like to thank Miss Garrett, our PE leader, for organising a wonderful sports day for the whole school.

   

  The children were amazing and competed like true athletes! The sportsmanship they displayed was fabulous as was  the atmosphere. 

   

  I enjoyed having the opportunity to have a chat with so many of you, it was good to feel that life is back to normal. 

   

  I'm looking forward to our Year 6 sports day next week. 

• Teddy Bears Picnic - Wednesday 20th July

  Wed 06 Jul 2022 Headteacher

  After the success of our previous special lunches, children will be invited to a Teddy Bear's Picnic on Wednesday 20th July on our Burnside School Field. 

   

  The school catering company will be providing a picnic lunch for children who purchase a school meal.

   

  Children will be invited to bring along their favourite teddy bear from home to join in the fun! Please remember sun scream and sunhats. 

• Cake Sale 21st July

  Wed 06 Jul 2022

  We will have a cake stall on 21st July organised by our Year 6 pupils. 

   

  All cake donations will be gratefully received. Please don't send products decorated or containing nuts. 

   

  It would be great if some of you sent in shop bought products which are clearly labelled nut free/ gluten free and we could have a stall which children who have allergies are able to safely buy things from. 

   

  Children will have the opportunity to buy a cake during the school day.

• Phonics Screening Year 1 Results

  Wed 06 Jul 2022 Headteacher

  Nearly every pupil in Year 1 has met the standard for the phonics screening check:

  • 88.3% pupils reached the pass mark of 32+ out of 40 marks;
  • 63% pupils achieved very highly with 37+ out of 40 marks.

  We are delighted with these results for our pupils. This reflects the work of every adult in school who has worked with this group of pupils from Reception and Year 1. It is also thanks to all of the practice that parents do at home, giving children time to read and rehearse the letters and sounds that they know.

   

  Individual pupils' results will be published in annual pupil progress reports on 20th July.

   

  Phonics is very important to us. Learning to read by matching letters to sounds is a key milestone in a child's learning at primary school. Rightly, our ambition and expectations for our pupils is very high. We aim for our pupils to achieve high marks, not just meeting but smashing the threshold pass of 32 marks. 

   

  The phonics screening check is a government test for children at the end of Year 1. Pupils take the test one-to-one, usually with their class teacher. Whilst children learn phonics to help them with both word reading and spelling, the Phonics Screening Check only tests their skills at word reading. This is sometimes called decoding. During the Phonics Screening Check, children are asked to read (decode) 40 words. Most of these words are real words but some are pseudo-words. Pseudo-words are included to ensure that children are using their decoding skills and not just relying on their memory of words they have read before. Some children may misread these pseudo-words based on their similarity to words in their existing vocabulary, so each pseudo-word is clearly identified with an image of an alien. This means most teachers and children, refer to pseudo-words as 'alien' words.

   

  Our results mean that our pupils can access the whole curriculum, especially from Year 3 onwards. For the 4 pupils who are yet to pass, we will work intensively with them from now and through Year 2.