Newsletter
Friday 11th September 2009
Your Governing Body - a word from the Chair
Hello and welcome back! I trust that you have all had a good long summer break and are eager to get back to school. Welcome to all of our new pupils including of course the two new reception classes. I hope that your time at Oakley Vale Primary School is enjoyable and successful.
Over the coming weeks the Governors look forward to bringing you updates regarding our work and the development of the school. In the meantime if you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to see me or any governor or contact me in writing through the school office.
Mark Gilding
Chair of Governors
On behalf of the Governing Body.
Welcome Back
Welcome to the beginning of a new school year. The school is already buzzing with activity as the new school year begins and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new reception children and all who have joined Oakley Vale at the start of term. I would also like to welcome two new members of staff to our school family - Miss Mummery is teaching our new Year 1 class – 'The Moles' and Mrs Rose is teaching our Year 4 class alongside Mrs Rutherford-Bate.
Friends of Oakley Vale Primary
The Friends of the school have lots of ideas for the year ahead - all families and staff members are automatically members of the Friends of Oakley Vale Primary School and we would also like to welcome members of the wider community who wish to support the work of the school. The first meeting of this academic year will be here at school on the evening of Wednesday 30th September starting at 19:30 – Pizza included!!
Friends Dates for your Diary:
September
- Wednesday 23rd - Coffee morning (first day both reception classes are in together)
- Thursday 24th - Yr 5 and 6 quiz after school
October
- Friday 2nd - Quiz Night
- Friday 16th - Family Disco
November
- Saturday - 7th Dads 'n' lads (or ladettes) afternoon
- Saturday 14th - Book Fair
- Friday 20th - Quiz
December
- Saturday 6th - CHRISTMAS FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!
- Saturday 12th - Family Quiz
Home-School Diaries
Every child should have a home-school diary which travels between home and school each day. The diary is a key means of communication between home and school and will be checked by teachers each day. Children will be encouraged to record their home/school reading and any wider 'interesting' activities they undertake outside of school. It is not the expectation that children will read with a parent every night (although this is to be encouraged), entries can share reading, experiences, and activities etc. that the children undertake outside of school but the diary is expected to be in school every day.
Helping in school
Thank you to those parents who are already coming into school to help. There are a range of activities that really benefit from helpful and enthusiastic parental support; these range from general help in classrooms to supporting individual children with reading and groups with practical activities such as painting, scientific investigation and cooking. If you are able to commit some of your time regularly to come into school please contact the school office and your details will be passed onto class teachers. Likewise if you have a particular interest or skill and would like to become involved in supporting after-school clubs please contact the school office.
Uniform
It was lovely to see all of the children resplendent in their uniform this week – they all looked very smart. We have a new on-line ordering system in place this year so we will not be holding a large stock in school. The online process takes a couple of weeks and should make purchasing uniform items simpler and more convenient for families. Details of the ordering system can be requested from the school office or by following the link below:
School Wear For Less Web SitePlease, please, please name everything! – Thank you.
Test Week and Holidays.
The end of Key Stage tests for children in Year 6 will take place from Monday 10th May to Friday 14th May 2010. During this week all children in school will undertake their annual progress tests - I would ask all parents not to book holidays during this week. I have also already received a number of requests from families for holidays during term time. This is hugely disruptive and is very detrimental to the children's learning and progress. I will still give due consideration to requests for leave during term time but it is unlikely that such requests will receive approval from school. This will result in unauthorised absences from school which will be recorded on the children's end of year reports which are held in their permanent records and reported to the Local Authority. Our Educational Welfare Officer, who monitors attendance, will contact directly the parents of children with high absences.
The Coffee Stop.
Mornings can be a bit of a rush so why not take 5 and pop into the 'Coffee Stop' for a coffee and a chat. Damien and Maggie Carr can be found in the community room (next to the main entrance) from 08:30 to 09:30 every weekday – come along, everyone welcome.
Mums & Tots.
Mums & Tots is up and running again this term and has moved from Monday afternoons to Wednesday mornings. The Little Acorns Toddlers Group operates from 09:30 to 11:30 and all pre-schoolers are most welcome. If you would like further information please see Mrs MacDonald.
Can you help?
Shoe Aid for Africa: This year our school is taking part in Shoe Aid for Africa. Shoe Aid for Africa is a programme initiated and run by the shoe-care company Kiwi. We are asking children and their families to collect as many pairs of good-quality, second hand shoes as they can and then bring them into school and drop them in the collection box. Kiwi will then collect the shoes, sort them and distribute them to children in Africa who really need them.
We are looking for the following types of shoes:
- Sports shoes and football boots
- Children's school shoes
- Practical, everyday shoes (all adult shoes are welcome).
The shoes you donate will need to stand up to all kinds of rough and tumble, so wellies, boots or high heels aren't practical.
Collection week will be Monday 5th to Friday 9th October.
Gardening Club: Mrs Street has taken over leading our outside growing and gardening activities this year and needs your help! If you have any of the following and would like to donate them to school please speak to Mrs Street via the school office or just bring them in – packets of seeds, 2 litre plastic bottles, empty egg boxes, plastic bottle tops, empty jam jars, any spare gardening books or seed catalogues and any bricks/slates/large stones – all donations will be gratefully received.
Start of Year Reminders.
Hygiene and water bottles: In light of the expected seasonal flu period and the added concerns regarding swine flu this year we have instigated additional hygiene measures here in school. All classes have their own hand gel and anti-bacterial soap, extra attention will be given to reminding the children about effective basic hygiene and children will not be able to borrow our plastic cups for drinks during the day. Each child is expected to have a suitable water bottle with them in school which can be topped up at our water coolers. These bottles must be named and will travel to and from school each day to be cleaned and re-filled. These measures should help to reduce the risk of transference between children throughout the school. School bottles are available from the school office for £1.50 each. We are also organising our cleaning team to enable a 'roving cleaner' to be working within the school each afternoon to ensure that surfaces and handles etc. are kept as clean as possible. Your help and encouragement would be much appreciated by reinforcing simple hand washing and the use of tissues at home with your children. If your child is ill please keep them off school until they are fit to return. Any absence due to illness must be reported to the school office promptly.
P.E. Kit: All of the children are expected to have suitable P.E. kit in school every day. With the usual shorts and t-shirts children in Key Stage 2 (Juniors) should also have a tracksuit, trainers and a light waterproof jacket for outdoor P.E. If for any reason your child is unable to participate in P.E. lessons a note must be sent to their class teacher – this can be done in the children's home-school diaries.
Cycling to school: All children are encouraged to cycle to school and we are now investigating off and on road cycle training for our older children later this year. There are some simple requirements for children who cycle which are as follows: helmets must be worn (high visibility jackets/vests are encouraged); bikes must be in good working order; a suitable lock used to secure bikes to the school's cycle racks and children must not cycle (or scoot) within the school grounds.
Smoking and dogs: The entirety of the school buildings and grounds are non-smoking, this includes the staff car park and the pupil drop off point on Lyveden Way. Dogs are also not permitted onto the school site with the exception of guide dogs. I would also ask that dog owners are considerate to others around the school gates and keep their animals away from the paths and from other children.
After-school Clubs: This week staff have been discussing the lunchtime and after-school clubs that they would like to run. A separate letter will make its way home soon giving details of the clubs on offer, when they will run and who is able to attend.
Road Safety
We are lucky to have the local police on hand this week and this year they should be making several visits each week at the start and end of the school day. They have asked that I pass on a couple of reminders to everyone regarding traffic:
- Parking in the drop off bays off Lyveden Way. These bays are solely for quick drop off of children not for parking. Cars that are parked in the bays and left while parents walked into the school playgrounds cause difficulties for other road users and compromise the safety of children crossing Lyveden Way.
- Accessing the drop off bays. The police have asked that parents only access the bays from the Lyveden Way side (not from the roundabout with Cheltenham Road). Again there were a couple of dangerous manoeuvres this week that compromised the safety of the children. If coming from the Cheltenham road end please pass the bays and pedestrian crossing turn, at the next roundabout and return to access the bays without having to turn across the traffic. The police have been speaking to drivers and taking details and from next week will be enforcing the no u-turn rule.
Thank you for your help with these issues, I am sure that with your help we can make best use of the drop off bays and ensure that all of the children are as safe as possible on their journeys to and from school. It was great to see so many families walking to school this week and to see so many bikes in the cycle racks.
Library opening
Lots of work has been undertaken in the library over the summer and we have been fortunate to have been able to increase our stocks following the closure of a local private school in July. The library will be open for families on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 15:30 to 16:00 starting on Monday 21st September.
Ordering Hot Dinners
Our ordering system for hot dinners remains unchanged from last year. All orders and payment must be received by the school office by 09:00 on Tuesday mornings a week in advance. Orders can again be placed for the whole term and payments should be sealed in an envelope with the child's name and class clearly noted on the front.
Dates for your diary
- Monday 14th September
- Year 6 Residential week at Caythorpe Court, Lincolshire.
- Tom Bonner Soccer School starts for Year 1 & Year 2 (15:45-16:35).
- Swimming starts for the Foxes in Year 4.
- Tuesday 15th September – Mr Reed's Year 5 & 6 Football Club.
- Wednesday 15th September – Tom Bonner Soccer School starts for Year 3 & 4 (15:45-16:35).
- Tuesday 22nd September – Year 2, Owls, visit to Hallaton Village.
- Friday 25th September – McMillan Coffee Morning.
- Thursday 1st October – Harvest Festival, led by Year 3 & 4.
- Week commencing Monday 12th October – School wide Africa theme week.
- Wednesday 14th (evening) & Thursday 15th October (afternoon and evening) Foundation Stage parent consultation meetings (provisional).
- Thursday 22nd October – African Art Celebration - open afternoon and Year 2 assembly.
- Tuesday 3rd & Wednesday 4th November – Parent consultation evenings for Year 1 to Year 6.
- Thursday 19th November – Reading information evening for parents (provisional).
- Friday 27th November – Year 6 class assembly.
- Week commenting Monday 7th December – School wide Christmas around the world week.
- Week commencing Monday 14th December – School Nativity led by Year 1 & 2.
A Smashing Start
As my final note I am very happy to be able to report to you all that your children have made a brilliant start to the new school year. They have been polite, helpful and considerate to each other and to the school staff – well done to everyone for a really good beginning this year.
M.Deane-Hall
Headteacher
Please note that the school grounds will be open from 08:30 for pupils to arrive, classrooms from 08:40 and that school starts promptly at 08:50 and that parents are not permitted to use the staff car park to drop off or collect their children.
