Gomersal St.

Marys CE(A) Primary School

Autumn 1 Newsletter

October 2012

Dear Parents/Carers
As the mornings and evenings grow darker each day we are approaching the end of the first half term of the year. All the children have settled into their new classes and classroom routines have been established. The refurbishments undertaken over the holidays were completed on time and we have a much improved school kitchen and a new school menu. The modular buildings are really spacious and light and house YR 3 and YR 4. This means that we now have all our Key Stage 2 (Junior) children in one block. This makes it easier for joint working between classes. The room that was the YR 3 class is now the Blue room and is used as a Music room, group and meeting room. Over the half term we are having a canopy fitted over the main entrance to the school and a covered walkway. Hopefully it will keep the rain off children and staff as they move from one building to another. Mr Pitts has made lots of improvements to our school website and there is lots to see and read. There is also a Parents page! If you would like to have a look at our website just follow the link below:

www.gomersalstmarys.co.uk

Our Harvest Service was very well attended by parents and I would like to thank you for your generosity in providing items for the tombola and the bun stall and supporting us on the day. As you know we chose St Marys Church for our Harvest Appeal as they have lots of vital repairs that need to be carried out to maintain the church. In total we raised 278. Once again thank you! The School Improvement plan A lot of work has already been done on the new School Improvement Plan (SIP) for this year. Our priorities for the 2012/2013 plan are: Reading Assessment procedures Restorative Practices- as part of our Positive Behaviour Management Strategy Eco School Silver Award (we already hold the Bronze award) Improving communication with parents Reading Afternoon We hope that as many parents as possible will be able to drop in on our Reading afternoon. It is an opportunity to see how children learn to read and to find out more about our Family Reading sessions. You can also pop into our cafe for a drink and refreshments

The School Council Our newly appointed school council have got their photographs on a talking postcard in the main entrance. If you press their buttons you can find out what they have to say! Attendance The Department for education has published a report to share the concerns they have of the amount of absence from school. As a result of this the school are having to be much stricter when it comes to authorising absences. The governors will be discussing this fully at their next meeting in November but until then I will not be authorising any holidays in term time unless it is in exceptional circumstances. Appointments for dentist and doctors must be made after school. I will give further information regarding absence from school after that meeting. Punctuality is also extremely important. The most important thing for parents to be aware of is that if your child is more than 30 minutes late in the morning (arriving at school after 9.15am then they will receive an unauthorised absence mark for the session. This will then go on your childs annual report. Incidences of unauthorised absence are monitored by the education social worker. Parent Governor I am pleased to inform you that we have a new parent governor in post. Her name is Nicola Grey and she has a son in Year 2 and a daughter in the Reception Class. We will be pleased to welcome her onto the Governing Body of the school at our next meeting in November. Visits and visitors This week the children in KS 2 have had a visit from the Police to talk about E- safety and Anti- social behaviour. They are also coming to talk to the whole school about bonfire safety. We have booked our annual visit to the theatre. We are taking the children to see Beauty and the Beast at the Lawrence Batley theatre in Huddersfield. Details to follow after the half term. Reminders There are a number of children who still do not bring a PE kit/swimming kit every week. They must bring a PE kit and leave it in school for the week. It can be taken home to wash each Friday. PE is a requirement and is as important as other subjects of the National curriculum. It is statutory not a choice. Please talk with your child about this. May I remind parents of the importance of registering their childs name for a Nursery place as early as possible. Some parents are leaving it late and as our pupil numbers are increasing we do not want to disappoint parents who wish to send their children to our Nursery. Application forms are available from Mrs Earnshaw in the office. Dates for your diary Friday, 26th October 2012 School closes Monday, 5th November 2012 School opens Thursday, 15th November - School closed for Polling day Mrs Scott, Head Teacher