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2006 / 07 Number 01 . September 8th
2006
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to school. I hope you have all enjoyed the
summer break although it does seem to have flown by. We are looking forward to
another happy and action packed year for our school community in which we can
continue to build on our recent successes in all areas of school life.
A Special Welcome to …..
All
those children new to the
school, and their families, in our reception classes and throughout the school. We hope you will all be very happy and enjoy
learning at Oldfield Park Infants’ School.
Mr Joe Mitchell who
has joined us as caretaker. We look forward to having Joe as part of our team although he may not be around very much
during the school day itself.
Parent Buddies
This
is an idea suggested on one of the parent questionnaires so we’re going to give
it a go ! The idea is that parents who know the school and its routines well,
offer to be buddies to support new families, in particular those that join us
after the normal reception induction period. We have four new families who have
joined us in Years 1 and 2 and I have tried to introduce them to one or two
others in their classes. If you feel that you could be a buddy to a new family
now or in the future please let me know. Ideally it would be good to have some
buddy families in each class.
Entering
School In the Mornings ……….
As its slightly different as
children change Year Group here is a reminder
Red Class, Purple Class and Yellow Class should
enter through the side door by Mrs Claridge’s office. Parents may leave by the
same door.
Blue Class, Orange Class and
Green Class should enter through the
blue doors by the canteen. Please use the hall as a corridor in
the mornings as the I.C.T. Suite will often be set up ready for teaching.
Please leave by the same doors as it eases congestion and saves too many people
passing through the library.
Tea Party Afternoons
There will be a Tea
Party for each class this term when you will be given a chance to meet your
child’s class teacher over a cup of tea. During this time the teacher will be
able to give you more information about those school routines you may not be so
sure about, the curriculum the children will be following, ways you can support
your child and other details the teacher feels you may need to know. The dates
and times for these Tea Parties are as follows :
Blue Class Thursday 21st September 2.30pm
to 3pm
Orange Class Monday 25th September 2.30pm
to 3pm
Purple
Class Wednesday
27th September 2.30pm to 3pm
Yellow Class Thursday 28th September 2.30pm
to 3pm
Red Class Wednesday 11th
October 2.30pm
to 3pm
Green Class Thursday 12th October 2.30pm
to 3pm
Please do your best
to attend.
In Service
Days
We held two very successful In Service days for staff on
Monday and Tuesday of this week.
On Monday we looked at our strengths and needs as a school
with a view to writing our School Development Plan for 2006 / 2007. Thank you
for all your responses to our parental questionnaire. These were used to help
us reflect on how we are doing as a school and identify areas for further
improvement.
On Tuesday we explored the idea of being a successful
learner and how we talk with the children about their learning. Look out for a
display about this in the entrance corridor soon. This will take the form of a
colourful jigsaw which we will also be introducing in every class.
SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of
Learning)
This year we will be strengthening our approach to personal and social education through the use of SEAL, a resource which helps us to further encourage children to develop their social emotional and behavioural skills. SEAL explores a different whole school theme each term and all children will be involved. Our assembly topics, behaviour targets and some of our rewards will be linked to the scheme. I thought that parents might find it useful to know what these are. The behaviour targets will be displayed weekly by the entrances and you might like to discuss these with your child. From time to time the class teachers may send home some activities linked to the theme for you to try together.
This term’s theme is New Beginnings :-
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Week beginning |
Assembly Theme |
Behaviour
Target |
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11th September |
New Beginnings introduction |
Make someone feel welcome in our school. |
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18th September |
Doing
something brave Overcoming feelings of anxiety |
Do something brave. Try something new. |
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25th September |
Feeling cross and calming down |
When you feel cross try to calm down |
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2nd October |
Sorting out problems |
Find out how to use the problem solving process. |
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9th October |
Harvest |
Remember
to say please and thank you |
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16th October |
End of theme week : time to reflect on our learning |
Use only kind words when you talk to each other. |
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Anti Bullying Policy
As
promised last term our new Anti Bullying policy is attached together with a
‘Don’t Bully Me’ leaflet for your child. This policy was written by a team of
parents, governors and staff.
Food in School Working Group
As part of our work towards
maintaining Healthy School’s Status we need to look at the whole issue of food
and nutrition in school including the promotion of healthy lunch boxes.
Following the success of the Anti Bullying group it was felt that this was
another area where broad representation from the whole school community would
be beneficial. If you would like to be involved please let Mrs Claridge know.
We will probably meet on Friday afternoons from 2.00 to 3.00pm about twice per
term. For those of you who have already expressed an interest we will have our
first meeting on Friday 22nd September.
Before School
Breakfast / Sports Club
We are still looking for a few more children to join on each day in order to start this club. There is a letter attached for reception parents. All other parents should have received a letter earlier this week. Please respond as soon as possible so that we can open the club for those who need it as soon as possible.
School Dinners
The menus for this term are attached . Please keep these in a safe place so that you can refer to them. Remember that lots of changes have continued to take place to make the meals much healthier. The cost is £1.70 per day to be paid in advance on Mondays. Please send money in to the class teacher in a named envelope clearly stating on which days dinners are required.
Lunchtime
Supervisors
We have a great team of ‘dinner ladies’ and have had a ‘dinner man’ in the past. Occasionally we need someone to stand in at short notice when someone is ill or unable to come in for some other reason. If you would be interested in helping in this role please let us know. The hours are 11.55am to 1.05pm.
Park and
Stride
We
have an arrangement with the Co-op in Shaftesbury Avenue which enables parents
to use their car park and then walk the rest of the distance to school. If you
want to use this facility you do need a special ticket to display which is
available from the school office.
On
a point of safety the Co-op
have contacted us this week to ask that you park at the ‘top end’ by the black
gates which is out of the way of their delivery lorries.
WOW (Walk on Wednesday) is back !
We
want to continue to encourage walking to school wherever possible so ‘Walk On
Wednesday’ will start again next week. If you would be willing to help give out
stickers on the railway path at the top of Dorset Street please let us know.
Several of our sticker stickers have moved on to the junior school or have
other commitments this year. A leaflet for new parents is attached.
After School Activities
Year 2 French starts on Wednesday September 13th
and is taught by Gill Gimson.
Year 1
French is on Tuesdays with a proposed starting date of September 19th
and is taught by Maria Antonio (Maria got married in the holidays)
The clubs run from
the end of school until 3.40 pm, when your child will be brought out to the
main front door for you to collect from the
playground.
If your child is in
year 1 or 2 and wants to join for the first time please complete the form at
the end of the newsletter.
The first Y1 session
is a ‘taster’ session so that children can see if they enjoy the lesson and the
cost is £42 for a 12 week course.
Other Clubs
We are currently finalising
other opportunities for After School Activities such as sport and will let you
know what will be offered as soon as possible.
Dates for the Term.
We will be working on
these in our staff meeting on Monday and endeavour to prepare a list for you to
have at the end of next week.
Finally a few health
and safety reminders for the beginning of the new school year.
Each of these issues helps maintain a healthy, safe
environment for your children.
J There is a ‘No Smoking Policy’ on
all school premises including the outside areas and the playground. We also
request a voluntary no smoking zone close to the school gates.
J No dogs are allowed on school
premises, including the playground.
J To avoid accidents before and after
school please do not let your child play football, or ride bikes , scooters etc
in the playground. Please follow our scooter code of conduct.
J The timber trail may not be used
before or after school by anyone.
J Children should not wear jewellery
to school. Children with pierced ears may wear studs. No ‘hooped’ earrings of
any size please.
J In all cases of sickness and / or
diahorrea children must be kept at home for at least 24 hours after the last
symptoms. Please make sure we have up to date emergency contact numbers for
your child.
J Please be very vigilant in relation
to road safety in the area around the school. The small cul-de-sac can get very
crowded.
Scooters
/ Bicycles : Code of Conduct
Please follow these few simple rules so that our scooter scheme
works for everyone
J
No
scooting and cycling may take place on the playground at any time.
J
Scooters
and cycles must be stood up against the canteen wall only.
J
Scooters
may not be stored beyond the sheds.
Whilst I know that many of you encourage your child to be
independent in putting ‘vehicles’ behind the canteen this really must be
done with parental supervision. It is not an area that can be seen from a
distance and I do need to be sure that there is safe access to the canteen for
Mandy, her staff and deliveries. We do not have the time to police scootering
so do rely on everyone to play their part and enforce the rules with their own
children.
We are hoping that our scooter and bike racks will arrive very
soon.
Yours sincerely,
Jo Claridge
Headteacher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
La Jolie Ronde French Lessons. (Years 1 and 2 only)
I would like my child to participate in After School French lessons.
Name of child :-
Class :-
Signed …………………………………
parent / carer