Headteacher News 10/11/23

A big welcome back to the second half of the Autumn term. With school photos, productions, singing, parties and many other events taking place this half term, it truly is a magical place to work in and see the children enjoying themselves and working hard to improve every day.

Parent and Carer Progress Meetings

It was so pleasing to see so many parents and carers at our recent parent/teacher consultations. We do hope you found the information shared useful. School currently has two evenings per year for each child and a final report is given at the end of the academic year. Any parent/carer is also entitled to request an appointment to discuss their child’s progress at any other time of the year. Please email or call school to make any further appointments or see your child’s class teacher at the end of the day to make an appointment.

Of course, we also offer many other opportunities for parents to come into school. With stay and learn sessions, Harvest festivals, learning celebration events, Christmas performances, Fashion shows, art galleries – we always aim to offer at least one event per half term per year group for you to come into school and see the amazing things going on!

Vacancies

We currently have vacancies in school for general teaching assistants. If you are interested or know of someone who may be please encourage them to read through the information and where possible to book a time for a school visit so they can see how amazing it is to work in our school with our children. Vacancies can be found here… https://www.northsteadprimary.co.uk/vacancies

Attendance Matters

Attendance continues to cause me a concern as Headteacher of our school. I am aware that there are a number of bugs going round again, however our attendance continues to be below our target of 95%. Children who miss school regularly are missing out on the sequences of learning that we have carefully planned and constructed for the children. All children should aim to be in school everyday.

With many thanks to our friends at Everyone Active, we have a number of family swim vouchers to reward children with attendance over 95%. At the end of this half term, all children with attendance above 95% will be entered into a prize draw with 7 winners being announced.

Run a local business? Know someone who does? Want to donate a prize to school for the Christmas fair or for other reasons such as excellent attendance or excellence in school – please get in touch. We love to reward our children for their resilience, determination and responsible attitudes to school and to their learning.

Children In Need – Enterprise Day

On Friday 17th November, we will again be having our enterprise afternoon whereby our Y5 and Y6 children will be hosting stalls during the afternoon for children from EYFS to year 4 to come and spend their pennies. Children should bring their money in a named envelope and give it to their class teacher upon arrival. (No more than 2 pounds please). Children will then visit the stalls in the afternoon to buy cakes, play games etc – all to raise money for Children In Need. Children can come to school looking spotacular on this day (no donation necessary – however you can donate to Children In Need online if you would like to).

Anti-Bullying Week

During next week, children will be looking at and learning about Anti-Bullying. To launch this on Monday, we are encouraging children to wear odd socks with the aim of celebrating and understanding that difference is what makes us stronger together. More information has been shared on the recent newsletter and information about learning in class will be shared on class dojo by year groups.

Dates and Events (See this week’s newsletter for further information)

Please take a close look at the dates and events at school over the next 6 weeks. Letters for performances and invitations into school will soon be coming home. Please return these asap to ensure tickets are returned to you. The children will be working so hard in so many ways to ensure we are able to entertain you with our array of Christmas performances this year.

News from our classrooms

News from the year groups will begin next week but here is a small glimpse of some learning from this week…