Headteacher: Mr Oli de Botton
Head of Primary: Mrs Meg Drummond
Dates For Your Diary Tuesday 12th February - E Safety Workshops for Parents
(2 Sessions: 8:45am & 5:00pm)
Date Changed - Wednesday 13th Febuary - Reception reading at home activities and workshop (2:00pm)
Thursday 14th February - Parent Coffee Afternoon
(2:30pm - 3:00pm)
Monday 18th February - Friday 22nd February
Half Term Break
(School closed to all Students)
Tuesday 26th February - Mental Health & Wellbeing
Parent Workshop (2 Sessions: 8:45am & 5:00pm)
Thursday 28th February - Year 1 Trip to the Museum of Childhood
(More information to follow)
Thursday 28th February - Reception Trip to the Maritime Museum
Friday 1st March - World Wildlife Day
Come dressed as an endangered animal
Gold Coin Donation
Monday 4th March & Monday 18th March - Cheap + Healthy Meals Workshop - Come and Cook with your child (3:15pm - 4:30pm)
Thursday 14th March - Parent Coffee Morning
(8:40am - 9:00am)
Monday 25th March - Year 4 Spark Speeches
Tuesday 26th, Wednesday 27th & Friday 29th March - Book Fair
Thursday 28th March - Inset Day
(Great Oracy Exhibition)
NOTICES:
Important Notices: From Monday 12th November, the Primary gates will not be opened until 2:55pm ready for a 3:00pm collection. This is due to the fact that many lessons are still taking place at this time and children may be working in the playground. Thank you for your co-operation and understanding.
Parents should not be waiting in the Front Office reception area after 4:30pm without a staff member. If you are waiting to collect from a club you must wait outside the building. Morning break snacks are to be fruit (fresh, dried etc) not biscuits or cereal bars. Please leave these items for lunch or after school clubs snacks. Reminder: Football shoes are not to be worn to school, they are dangerous as they do not allow the students to have a good grip when running on hard surfaces and could lead to an accident. Any student who wears them to school will not be allowed to participate in PE lessons or use the playground at break and lunch times.
Break Time Snacks: All children can bring a snack from home to have at break time. This snack MUST be fruit. If any child brings a snack that is not fruit, they will be asked to put it back in their bags to eat after school. Birthdays - If you wish to celebrate your child's birthday by sharing a cake with the class, can we
please ask that it is brought to the classroom the morning of the celebration and that it is already cut up and packaged. Our teachers do not have the time or equipment to be able to cut up sheet cakes and distribute to the children. We ask that you do not drop birthday cakes or party bags to the front office during the day as they are not always guaranteed to have the time to take them to the classroom, and this can lead to disappointment for your child. Lost Property - We currently have an abundance of lost property in the front office, including winter coats. Can all parents please come
and check if any of the items belong to your children. We will be donating all remaining goods to a local charity before half term due to space restrictions.
It is important that parents model good behaviour for children. Please do not swear or use insulting language in the playground. If a member of staff hears this you will be asked to leave the premises and may be banned.Please also remember that our staff are always working for the best interests of the children. If you would like to discuss
anything regarding your child please speak to the class teacher, Mrs Drummond or Miss Dilger. Please do not shout or be rude to a member of staff as this makes the situation very difficult.
School Attendance - EVERY DAY MATTERS!The school target for attendance is 97% or better. As a guide the Education Welfare Service advises that if a parent would go to work with the same condition then the student should be in school. We ask that students returning to school following sickness observe good hygiene rules as an adult
would in the workplace.We are keen to support all our students to achieve their best and this must include ensuring that they attend school as often as possible. We will do the following to support students’ attendance:• Write to you if attendance falls below 95% or is we are concerned about a pattern of
absences.• Invite you into school to discuss any concerns/worries with the Attendance Officer, your child’s Coach/ Class Teacher, Key Stage Leader/Head of Year, or Head or Deputy Head of School if attendance continues to fall.• Where sickness absence occurs on 3 consecutive days or 3 different occasions
within a half term, the school will seek medical evidence, such as a letter from GP, an NHS appointment letter, a prescription from GP, prescribed medication labels etc, so that we are able to support your child in school. Additional days of absences may no longer be authorised.• Refer the student to our Education Welfare Officer if attendance falls to 90%.• Please contact the Attendance Officer or Head of School if you feel your child is well enough to be in school, but not well enough to go to all their lessons. We may be able to make special arrangements• If you believe your child is well enough to be in school, but is refusing, it is essential that you talk to the Attendance Officer, or the Safeguarding Leads. We can offer a variety of options to support you in getting your child back to school.• If required, prescribed medicines can be brought to school – including those needing refrigeration, and stored in the Medical Room. A form should accompany any medication, stating that the school has permission to administer it, along with the times that this should happen. This should also be signed off at the front office.What you can do to support your
child:• Never grant days off for birthdays, shopping trips or any other reason other than illness.• Lessons begin at 8.30am prompt. We ask that all students arrive at 8.25am to avoid them starting their first lesson late. Students who are ‘dropped off’ at 8.30am on a daily basis will be
late to their lessons and therefore late for the start of the day.• Please leave a message on each day of absence by 8.30am at the latest - please email attendance@school21.org.uk leaving the name of your child, their Coach or Class Teacher and the reason for absence. It is for school to decide if an absence is authorised or unauthorised. Stating ‘Unwell’ or
‘Poorly’ gives insufficient information for us to make that decision, and the absence could be unauthorised.• Please phone or email daily unless you have made alternative arrangements with school. We do not know if you have sent your child to school and need to know this in order to keep them safe. If we do not hear from you we will endeavour to contact you, but we must have at least two up-to-date emergency contact numbers on record to be able to do this.• Last/First Day of Term, Non-Uniform Days or ‘Off-Timetable’ days are full curriculum days with content that is required by the national curriculum. It is unacceptable, and against the law, to keep students off on such days for any reason other than illness that renders a student too ill to attend. Any absence on days such as these could be unauthorised unless medical evidence is received, or prior agreement has been reached with school.• We have adopted a pragmatic approach towards the authorisation of Leave of Absence for Exceptional Circumstances where other schools have imposed blanket bans. Each Head of School considers every case personally and may ask for additional information. Taking leave of Absence in Term Time without authorisation is against the law, and phoning-in daily stating a student is unwell causes a breakdown in trust between home and school.• We approve up to two days of religious observance over the course of the academic year that fall during term
time.We understand that the majority of parents and carers support us fully in terms of ensuring their children attend school regularly and that you may have received this message on more than one occasion. However, we share this letter with all as it is important that we all understand the responsibilities school has to uphold to avoid any misunderstanding.Attendance Team
Mrs Drummond's ChallengeWell done to those who took part in the challenge last week, the number of you are growing! Remember to participate this week!
Mrs Drummond's Challenge Remember to bring your answer to my office on Monday morning!
Attendance Winners WC 28.01.19Reception De Coubertin 98.1% Overall Primary WinnerYear 1 Pankhurst 97.5%Year 2 Monet 98.0%Year 3 Einstein 97.9%Year 4 Seacole 96.9%
Emergency vehicle access - As some of you may have noticed, on Monday afternoon a fire engine attended the school after the fire alarm was deployed. In this case it was a false alarm. However, the firefighters who attended the school raised concerns about the delay they faced in accessing the school due to parents parking illegally on the zig zags at the front of the school. Due to the inconsiderate behaviour of some, our students could have been put in serious danger. We ask again that parents DO NOT PARK ON THE ZIG ZAGS at the front of the school. We ask for support from the wider community in
challenging this behaviour. As a school we will be asking for support from the council to attend the school at drop off and collection times to issue on the spot fines to parents who continue to illegally park at the front of the school.
Snowy South PoleThis week in Reception we have finally arrived at the end of our journey to the South Pole! Children have been discussing the environment in Antarctica and used exciting adjectives to describe the freezing weather. They have been improving their Computing skills using the iPads to create some wonderful landscape images of the
South Pole.In Maths we have been working on deepening our understanding of numbers 10 - 15. We have been representing the numbers with different objects and pictures, putting them in order and finding one more and one less. It's been really exciting to see so much progress already!
Old and newThis week in Year 1 we looked at objects from the past, discussed their purpose and thought carefully about how specific items such as phones, televisions and computers have changed over time. We then worked in groups to sort old and new toys. We had to decide when items were first used as some toys are used today but were also used
in the past whereas others were created in the modern day.
Time Superstars!This week in year 2 we have been calculating the duration of time in hours and minutes! We have used our mini clocks to help us work out the time. It has been very challenging but we have shown a lot of GRIT!
Setting the Scene
This week Year 3 have started to create scenes for their stop motion animations. They have been working well together and showing excellent collaboration skills!
Mixing our metaphors
Y4 have had a fantastically creative week in Literacy, creating their own metaphors and similes to describe characters from our novel Coraline. We have been very impressed with the wonderful imagery they have created!
Spark certificate winners Well done to those children who have gone above and beyond in showing the attribute of spark. You have shown a love for learning and a curiosity about the world around you! Well done to: Adeyah, Nikita, Keren, Louis, Liam, Rosemary, Iyannah, Theo, Zaeem, Zaheer, Kit-Mun, Luca, Maryam, Samuel and
Kadeen.
We are running a very successful club every morning from 7:45 to 8:25 (last entry 8:10). I would like to remind everyone of the Breakfast Club Code of Conduct so that parents can share this with their children. All pupils are expected to pack away resources and tidy the area. No pupils to leave the club area without the permission of an adult. Middle School pupils to stay in the club until 8:20. Pupils are not allowed into Middle School until this time. Pupils should help each other and be supportive of each other. Pupils will be warned about inappropriate behaviour twice then parents will be informed. If the behaviour continues pupils will not be able to attend for a week.If conduct does not improve they will not be allowed to attend the club for the rest of that half term. Extreme behaviour will result in a ban.
The club is for everyone to enjoy themselves in a friendly and safe environment. Thank you for your support.
Number DayA huge thank you to all the children and parents who took part in NSPCC Number Day! There were some fantastic digit-themed costumes and children really enjoyed taking part in lots of exciting Maths activities on Friday afternoon. In Reception there was a 'Messy Maths' number hunt and children decorated delicious digit biscuits. Year 1
and Year 2 teamed up together to create giant Numicon number lines and practice their number skills competing against friends in different dice games. In Year 3 and Year 4 children worked together to solve some challenging problems, cracked some tricky codes and even used their maths skills whilst playing snooker!Overall we were able to raise £145.80 for the NSPCC which will make a big difference to lots of children. Thank you again for all your support.
Parent Workshop Tuesday 12th February The Aims of the Session are:•Know which apps may be high risk to your child and which ones have age restrictions.•Discuss how you can restrict the amount of time your child spends playing games online.•How to help avoid certain risks for children when using the internet. 8:40am & 5:00pm - Run by Miss Dilger in the Primary Hall
Reception Reading WorkshopDear Parents/Carers of Reception,
Please complete the form through the link below regarding a Reception Reading Workshop taking place on Wednesday 13th February 2019.
Reception Team
Recieving Emails from School Those with Yahoo email accounts need to add: 3164001@capita-intouch.co.uk as a safe contact so that they can receive emails from the school.
Great Offer from CAMHS
CAMHS are offering parents a Open Door one off week 4th until 8th February (first time they have ever done this) where they can drop in for a 20 - 30 session regarding their child and will then follow up in needs be - please see link:
This is not intended for families who are already engaging with CAMHS.
Overdue Library BooksPlease return your overdue library books! We currently have over 500 books overdue. This means that students are unable to borrow popular books. Students are allowed to borrow up to three books for a loan period of one month and can be renewed after this period should the need arise. Any books that are lost or damaged must be replaced. Mrs Fisher
Librarian
Next Week's Lunch Menu is Week 3!
During our first rehearsal of the term, the community choir were designing protest slogans in preparation for our involvement in the school musical, ‘Hairspray’. Come and join us for community choir over the next few weeks for the chance to get involved!
Next rehearsal this Friday 4.15pm. All welcome
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