Parent Hotline
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Message from Mr Woods Newsletter No 36—December 2014 Dear Parents/Carers The end of the term approaches, as does the end of 2014. We reflect back upon the long autumn term and the many excit- ing learning activities that have taken place across the school. It is an equally exciting time for the school as we look forward into 2015 and beyond with the plans for the growth and expansion of the school continuing to be developed. Over the coming months we will continue to update you on developments with the expansion programme. The term ends with a singing concert of Christmas and Festive songs by the younger classes and role-play of the traditional Christmas story by the older classes. This reminds us all that the United Kingdom has a long history as a Christian country stretching back well over 1000 years. Today the United Kingdom is a multi-ethnic, multi-faith country where all citizens are free to celebrate and practice their own beliefs. This ‘tolerance’ is a key British Value visible in school through the harmonious friendships between pupils. The school has embarked upon a journey to be recognised as a ‘Rights Respecting School’. This is a process that will be developed over the next 2-3 years with teaching that will inform pupils of their ‘rights’ under the ‘United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’ (UNCRC). This convention was ratified in 1991 by the UK. Under ‘article 42’ we are required to make the convention known to children and adults. Our teaching will help to ensure that this is so. Many of you will be aware that there have been some significant changes to school assess- ment this year. The ‘old’ system of National Curriculum Levels (Level 1, 2B, 4, 5 etc.) have been discontinued for classes other than this current Year 2 and Year 6. This does not mean that we are not assessing pupils. We are now using a system called ‘Assertive Mentoring’ with pupils being assessed against “age related expectations”. You are invited to attend a workshop on Tuesday 27th January at 9.00am to learn more about our assessment pro- cesses. I want to thank you for your continued support in school. I also want to thank my dedicated and hard-working staff team and the many helpers and volunteers. I want to wish all those celebrating a very ‘Merry Christmas’ and to everyone a ‘Happy New Year’ for 2015. Best wishes Mr Dave Woods Head Teacher Parent Hotline We have our parent hotline number 08447 707 576 in place and we will be using this more over the coming months to add school messages regarding adverse weather conditions. When you dial 08447 707 576 you need to then dial our school ID Number: 71486 to hear our school mes- sages. Page 2 Newsletter No 36— December 2014 Premises News — Expansion The initial consultation on the expansion project concluded on the 12th December. The results of this will be discussed by the governing body in early January. The preliminary report show that more than 70 responses were received with over 95% of respondents in agreements with the expansion project. At the public consultation meetings on the 1st December over 60 people attended with no dissenting at- tendees. The main element of the proposal is to construct an additional building that will house four new classrooms, two new ARP classrooms, a new kitchen and dining room and a range of group work and special- ist facilities. Also as part of the plans, the existing building will be exten- sively remodelled to create three new classrooms, upgrade office facilities, new outdoor play areas for Reception and Year 1 classes along with major electrical and heating improve- ments. The outdoor play spaces will be redesigned to make better use of space and to incorporate games equipment, soft play and nature areas. Curriculum News Reading At school pupils undertake a wide range of activities designed to ‘teach’ and ‘support’ the development of reading skills. Like all skills, reading needs to be practiced regularly. For this reason we expect that all pupils should be completing reading at home each day as part of their homework. We will be introducing a ‘Reading Incentive Scheme’ for pupils from Year 1 to Year 4 that is linked to home reading. This will involve reading cards, stickers and certificates with a chance to win £50 to spend on books in July. More details of this scheme will be sent home in the new year. In the mean time do take time to visit the local Southall Library over the holidays to ensure that your children continue reading. Times Tables (Maths) Many of you, like staff in school will have memories of learning ‘time tables’ at school. Knowing ‘tables’ very well is important to support other calculation work in multiplication and division. The national curriculum expects that by the end of Year 4, “pupils should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the x12 multiplication tables”. We would like to en- courage pupils with this task, so we are going to reward pupils who master their tables with a certificate of achievement. We will be introducing regular “tables quizzes” to class lessons and also ‘homework activities’ to reinforce the skills of tables. We ask for your support to ensure that tables homework (like reading) is always completed. Page 3 Newsletter No 36— December 2014 PSHE ‘Rights Respecting School Award’ (RRSA) As mentioned earlier the school is now working towards the RRSA. We expect this process to take up to three years. The first stage is ‘ROC’ (Recognition of Commitment) which we have now applied for. 1. WHAT IS THE RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOL AWARD? UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA) recognises achievement in putting the Convention at the heart of a school’s ethos. The RRSA standards cover four key areas: * Leading and managing a rights-respecting school. * Teaching and learning about the Convention. * Creating and maintaining a rights-respecting ethos. * Empowering children and young people to become active citizens and learners. The Award scheme is an effective way of inspiring and supporting schools who want to pro vide children, young people and the wider school community with a rights-respecting guide to living. 2. WHAT IS THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD? The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the rights of every person under 18 and how those rights should be met. It is an international statement of the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. The UN General Assembly adopted the Con vention on 20 November 1989 and it was ratified by the United Kingdom in 1991. UNICEF is the only organisation (other than the UN itself) whose name appears in the Con vention. The principles and values of the Convention underpin all our work. In January we will undertake our 9th annual ‘Citizenship Fortnight’ working with Hambrough and Tudor Primary Schools on a joint theme of ‘Rights and Values’. Work will look at the UNCRC (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) and British Values. Other News Breakfast Club We had hoped to start our ‘Breakfast Club’ by now. Unfortunately, we are still in the process of arranging funding to subsidise the cost. Please do register your interest in this club with Mrs Poonai. Breakfast club will run from 8.00am to 8.50am each day. Pupils eligible for ‘Free School Meals’ will be offered a free place. Other places will be charged at 80 pence a day (£4.00 a week). If you pay for a whole term in advance this will be reduced to £3.00 a week. We will initially offer a total of 20 places on a ‘first come, first served basis’. For breakfast, pupils will be able to choose from a selection of toasts, cereals, fruits, yoghurts, juices etc. Page 4 Newsletter No 36— December 2014 Staffing We say farewell to Miss Starr who is leaving the school to take up a senior leader- ship role as a deputy head teacher at a school in Harrow. We wish her the very best for this role. Mrs Poonai will take over the role as class teacher in Year 3 until the end of the school year. She will be assisted by Mrs Jassi (Support Teacher) and Mrs Ahmed (Teaching Assistant). We also say farewell to Mrs Wurth who has been on maternity leave. She has decided that she would like to spend more time with her young son. Miss Prescott will now continue as teacher in ’Dolphin Class’ until July. We have welcomed Miss Saunders to the team in Early Years where she has joined as an apprentice. Universal School Meals (KS1 & Reception) Since the beginning of this school year all pupils in Recep- tion, Year 1 and Year 2 have been able to enjoy a school dinner each day. We have had a good take up rate for this. I would encourage all remaining pupils to take a school dinner each day. Reception Places (for September 2015) Sep- From September 2015 we will have a total of 60 places available for pupils at Beaconsfield Primary. Applications for admission to Reception must be made by 15th January 2015. If you have any friends/relatives at other nurseries you may wish to encourage them to apply for a reception school place at Beaconsfield to take advantage of our increased admission number. Nursery Places We currently have two (2) vacancies for the afternoon nursery session (12.30-3.30pm). Please enquire at the school office.