Welcome Back

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back.  I hope you enjoyed the summer and had time to relax.  It certainly went in a flash but it is so good to be back and see all the children buzzing and back into a learning routine.  We have had a really good first week and the children have made a brilliant start to the year with enthusiasm and a real drive to succeed.  It has been good to see so many children helping each other too when others have found their learning tricky and celebrating success together.

This year our key focus for school improvement is having a positive mindset (a ‘can do’ attitude) and improving reading skills.  Every day the children will work on positive mindset through their learning. We also want to improve love of reading for every child and with that will come improved skills in retrieval and deduction.  To launch reading we would like to invite you to a reading and phonics meeting on Thursday 20th September at 3.30pm and 6pm to share with you what we have planned to improve our school followed by a workshop on reading and phonics.  It would be fantastic to have your input and hope you can make that date. The following day we are having a ‘Book Fest’ in school, children can dress up as their favourite book character and parents are invited to join us between 11 and 12 to see how we learn to read in school.  We are looking for anyone who may be able to give an hour or two to read with our children to improve their reading. If you have time and would like too, you would be very welcome. Please let us know if you can!

This term we are continuing to develop our creative curriculum to ensure that learning is through key themes and children’s interests.  We have a question each term that we explore. The question this term is: ‘How do we resolve conflict?’. Humber class are starting by looking at World War I and conflict, Foss and Derwent World War II and Nidd are focusing on how we work well together and solve problems.  All subjects will be taught through this question and teachers have got exciting plans! Please look on the website to see what they have planned and what we have planned in school for this term.

Instead of a traditional pupil school council, we are introducing ‘Restorative Champions’ this year.  Children from Years 5 and 6 will be able to apply for this job which involves them supporting other children in school, having discussions with groups of children about what is important to them and how we can all work together to improve our school.  It is a very exciting venture for the children!

Homework is also changing slightly after we have listened to children and parents about what has worked well and what we could improve.  This term, as our main focus across school is improving reading; there is more emphasis on reading for homework in classes up to Year 5. We are trialing a grid with activities/actions/questions for the children to do to improve their reading skills and will help us when we are reading in school.  Teachers will share these with you and send out explanations via BLOOMZ. You will still have a list of spellings we are learning in school and children will have some short maths activities to do. Year 6 will be a little different and Miss Lord will explain to the children and you what is expected for homework.  After a few weeks we will have a parent forum to gather your views on how it has worked.

Over the summer we have improved our outdoor provision outside of Nidd and Derwent class after a successful National Lottery Funding bid and from a donation from Drax.  It is now a lovely space for the children to learn and now it is full steam ahead to raise money for the rest of Nidd outdoor provision to be upgraded.

Wrap around care is also now up and running, starting at 7.30am until 9 and 3.30pm until 6pm to help working parents with childcare.  If you would like your child to come along, you can book via ParentPay.

I really appreciate the support from parents and working in partnership so please, come and see me or speak to the class teacher if you have any worries or concerns.     

So, lots going on.  Keep checking the website and twitter to keep an eye on what is going on in school.  It should be another exciting term!

Many thanks for all your support.  I am really looking forward to the year ahead!

Mrs Fletcher