Pupil Planners

Front Street Community Primary SchoolFront Street Whickham Newcastle upon Tyne NE16 4AD Tel (0191) 4335677 HJ Gladstone Tel (0191) 4335673 Nursery Headteacher www.frontstreetprimary.co.uk 27 September 2013

Dear Parents New Build Three building contractors have now been shortlisted as part of the Priority School Building Program. The contractors now design and plan our new school and share these designs with us in December. A further rigorous short listing then takes place so that one building firm win the contract to build our new school. This is very exciting and I will continue to share information with you.

Pupil Planners Your child should now have received a pupil planner. This is a useful communication tool for home reading books, homework and any correspondence. I hope you will find it of benefit.

Harvest Festival As you know it is our Harvest Festival on Monday 30th September. Helpers are welcome. Could children bring their food donation in a carrier bag please as they will be walking along to church with it. As previously said, Father Barry would welcome a 10p donation for his collection plate. Thank you.

Teachers’ Strike As you will be aware from the media, the teaching unions will be taking industrial action on Thursday 17th October. The action (a one day strike) will result in class or whole school closures across the country. The decision to close the school or send pupils home is never taken lightly, but in this instance, where staff have elected to take lawful industrial action, I will have no choice but to take appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety and wellbeing of all pupils. We are aware that class/school closures inconvenience parents/carers and so I am writing to give you advance notice of the likely impact of the action on this school. IF the action goes ahead school MAY be closed to pupils. I will inform you if school will be closed as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Bike It School have been invited to become involved in an exciting project called Bike It. This is funded through Sustrans and there are many activities planned. The first is on Monday which is a ‘Doctor Bike’ day where children can bring ‘poorly’ bikes into school and Doctor Bike will fix them! The next date for your diary is Monday 7th October where parents and children whole come to school on a bike or scooter will receive a complimentary breakfast. PLEASE SEE ATTACHED LETTER FOR INFORMATION AND REPLY SLIPS FOR BREAKFAST. Parents Evening Please complete the attached slip in order for an appointment to be made for the Parents evenings on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th October (Reception – Year 6). This will be an opportunity for parents to discuss progress with their child’s class teacher, set targets for the coming term and look through children’s literacy and numeracy books. You will also be able to view your child’s conduct sheet which I introduced 2 years ago. This documents any behaviour incidents that occur. For the majority of children there is nothing written on their conduct sheet. In order to accommodate all parents, it will be necessary to restrict appointments to 10minutes duration. Please indicate your preferred time slot on the reply slip and the class teacher will allocate a day and time. We will endeavour to arrange appointments as requested but as you will appreciate this may not be possible in all cases.

Book Fair Next Monday to Thursday the book fair will be in the school hall. Children/parents can purchase books before school, at lunch time and after school.

Year 6 Buddies A group of Year 6 pupils have been appointed as Reading Buddies and Playground Buddies after they had applied in writing for this ‘job’. They are awaiting training from the Local Authority. They have been issued with ‘Buddy Hoodies’ which they are wearing with pride. Well Done to Cora, Abbie, Reece, Carter, Kian, Simi, Isabel, Jenny, Sam, Jack, Stephanie, Kate, Michael, Harriet, James, Ola, Faye, Olivia, Abbie, Aaliyha, Leah, Shelley, Katie, Hannah, Daniel, Olivia, Demi, Leonie, Holly, Robert, Emily, Jenni, Alisha, Daniel, Lucy.

MacMillan Coffee Morning Thank you for all your support at this morning’s coffee morning. Well Done to Friends of Front Street for organising.

Flu Vaccinations Wednesday 20th November, children should have brought an NHS information letter.

Nursery Next Friday 4th October, parents are invited to come to Nursery 10 minutes early at the end of the morning and afternoon session to listen to the children’s harvest Song.

Reception Could reception children collect signs of autumn such as leaves, conkers, twigs and pine cones. Thank you for a great response to the first week of sharing the ‘My World’ books. We will continue to share these books on a weekly basis. Year 5-6 A text message was sent a couple of weeks ago to say that Father Barry had just confirmed that the Christmas play for Year 5 & 6 would take place on Monday 9th December at 9.30am in St Mary’s Church

Year 5 Please ensure your child remembers their swimming kit on Thursdays. They are also allowed to bring in a piece of fruit for after their lesson.

Reminders Please ensure we have up to date contact numbers for your child.

If anyone has any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

HJ Gladstone Headteacher ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………

Reply Slip – Parent’s Meeting

Child’s Name………………………………………………… Class …………

Please choose the preferred time slot below.

Monday  Tuesday 

Before 4.30pm  After 4.30pm 