Welcome Back
Welcome back everyone and a belated Happy New Year to you all. We had a fantastic Christmas in school and it was wonderful to see so many parents and friends at all the events. We really appreciate your wonderful support and the partnership we have which enhances the learning and development for all our children.
All the research reinforces what we know that children learn most effectively when parents/carers are involved. Details of the learning in each classroom is displayed in school and there are updates in this newsletter.
Please continue to encourage your child to read regularly at home, learn their individual spellings and complete their homework as this contributes greatly to their progress. Parents / carers are always welcome in the classrooms and we have a fantastic group of volunteers who listen to the children read.
We have several excellent trainee teachers working in school with us this half-term. We have trainees from York St John, Jessica Daley is in Cl 3 and Laura Walker is working with Emma Harrison in Cl 9. They are all making a very effective contribution to our school and enhancing our capacity to work with individuals and groups of children.
We have lots of additional events and activities planned this term that we will do our best to keep you informed about. Thank you all for your continuing support.
Janet Foster
Sign 2 Sing
Last year the children enjoyed taking part in the national ‘Sign2Sing’ event.
Last year 570 schools took part and 94,489 adults and children took part which broke the world record. Children and adults joined together to sign and sing ‘Id like to teach the world to sing’ at exactly the same time. As the children enjoyed the event so much and we are continuing to encourage them to learn to sign we have registered to take part again. This year we will be singing and signing (and having fun!) at 2.45pm on February 8th.
Get Active With Your Child
As this is the year we are hosting the Olympic Games in London we are keen to make the most of the event as a vehicle for improving the fitness of the whole school community.
You will recently have received a letter from school encouraging your child and families to get active together. We have talked to the children about all the sorts of activities they can put on their charts and we will be sharing them in school at the end of the initial 2 weeks. Please can you return the charts to school on Monday 23 January.
As the event approaches the children will also be learning all about the games, the events and some of the athletes who will be competing.
Parking
As you are all aware safe parking around the school site continues to be worrying. Please can I remind you all NOT to park on the raised bumps or park irresponsibly around the neighbouring streets. In response to parents concerns and also complaints from neighbours I have been outside at the beginning and end of the day and reminded parents about their responsibilities to park safely.
I am very worried that it will only be a matter of time before a child or parent is knocked down so I have again contacted the Parking Enforcement Officers who will be visiting the area regularly.
Eco Warriors
We were really excited to see the raised beds built outside Class 5 and Class 7. This will mean that each Key Stage 1 class now have their very own growing space. We have already planted a rose in each bed and are looking forward to seeing what each class decide to put in their area.
A big thank you for all the Morrisons vouchers you collected. We managed to get 1775 vouchers and have ordered some very exciting resources for Eco-Warriors to use in school! One of which is a wormery! We are eagerly awaiting their arrival so we can make our own compost for our flower beds!
Following on from Eco-Week and the success of a letter that Class 9 wrote to Peter Davies, the Mayor of Doncaster, we are now able to start recycling our tetra-pak milk cartons. We are now thinking through the practicalities of this and hope that this will be up and running soon!
Since achieving our Bronze Eco-schools award we are now working towards the Silver award. One of the criteria is that a parent attends some of our meetings, so we are very pleased to welcome Mrs Isle as an honorary Eco-Warrior! If any other parents wish to be involved or have any ideas please contact Miss Harrison, Miss Griffiths or Mrs Isle.
Healthy Packed Lunches
I regularly join the children over lunch time and have recently become concerned about some of the packed lunches that the children are bringing to school.
Many of the children have large bags of crisps in their boxes which take a long time to eat and are also often a distraction from eating sandwiches and more healthy foods. Could I please recommend that small bags of crisps are limited to maybe one day a week and that children are encouraged to eat healthy foods if they have a packed lunch.
Thank you.
Feedback from parent questionnaires
Our governing body are very keen to consult with parents and we distributed questionnaire at our Christmas concerts. Thank you for your responses.
Many parents spoke very positively about the communication from school and particularly the text messaging service however there were some requests for letters to be placed on the school website. We intend this to be done ASAP.
Other parents also mentioned the condition of some of the reading books that are taken home by children. Our intention is that the books will be sorted out this half-term and new books ordered.
I would also like to clarify the situation regarding the red accident slips we send home. If a child has a minor accident in school a red slip will be placed in their book bag so please can parents check them at night. However if your child has a more significant accident we will either contact you directly during the day or class teachers will speak directly to parents at the end of the day.
A number of parents have also asked for more sessions related to the children’s learning. There are more sessions planned for this term.
Story Book Week
The themed week this half-term will focus on stories and storytelling, and will be the week commencing Jan 16. The week will begin with a visit on the Monday from a storyteller called Adam Bushnell and he will be working with the children and helping them understand what makes a good story and how to create their own.
On Friday 20 January we are inviting all the children to come to school dressed as a storybook character for the day. The nursery children will have their dressing up day on Wednesday 18 January when all the children are in school.
Look out for the photographs on the Life Channel in the hall and on our website!