SANDIWAY PRIMARY SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER
NUMBER 1 / AUTUMN TERM 2014 / WEDNESDAY 3RD SPTEMBER 2014
WELCOME BACK
I hope you have all had a wonderful summer and
that the children feel refreshed and ready for the
new school year. It was lovely to welcome the
children back yesterday - we were greeted with
lots of lovely smiling faces. The children have
already made a great start to the new year and
have very quickly settled into their new classes
with their
new
teachers. A
special
welcome to
all the
children
who are
new to the
school in
Reception
and to their parents. We also welcome new children
into other year groups.
We would also like to welcome new staff to the
school:
Mrs Clare Forsyth (Year 1 teacher), Mrs Jayne
Byrne (temporary Year 1 teaching assistant), Mrs
Margaret Ashbrook (midday assistant), Mrs
Katherine Robinson (midday assistant), Mrs Heidi
Davies (midday assistant), Mrs Kayleigh Matthias
(Year 1 and Year 2 teacher) and Miss Tanina
Cordaro (teaching assistant in Year 5).
START AND END TIMES
Can I take this opportunity to remind parents of
the arrangements for the beginning and end of the
school day: the bell rings at 8.45am at which time,
we will welcome the children into school through
the EYFS/KS1 and KS2 entrances. We cannot
accept responsibility for children before this time,
therefore they should be supervised until the bell
rings.
The school doors and gates are secured at 9.00am.
If you arrive after this time, you will need to enter
the school by the front door and sign the Late
Book by the school office. The office staff will
supervise your children to class.
The school day ends at 3.10pm for the Infants
(Reception and KS1) and 3.20pm for the Juniors
(KS2). The teachers will hand over your children at
these times. If you are late getting to school for
any reason, please contact the school as soon as
possible so that we can make arrangements to look
after your children and to let them know you will be
late; it can be distressing for children when their
parents are not there at the end of the day with no
reason available to tell them.
Similarly, if you know that someone different is
collecting your child, please let us know as soon as
possible, ideally before lunchtime, so that teachers
know who will be collecting.
Please use the Parish Car Park, or the Village Hall
Car Park, avoiding causing congestion by parking too
near the crossroads or blocking our neighbours
drive ways. It is an offense to park your car on the
pavement and can cause pedestrians problems,
especially if pushing buggies, etc.
COMMUNICATION
The morning drop offs and afternoon collections
are good opportunities to pass on very quick
messages to the staff (either to class teachers or
the teaching
assistants). If you
require a longer time
with the staff or if
your message is more
personal/
confidential, I
respectfully ask that
you make an appointment to have this conversation.
It is important that the school staff are available
for the whole class at these times and longer
conversations can impact into the learning that
takes place.
I am available most mornings and after school if
you wish to speak to me about anything - positive or
negative! I find that issues are best discussed at an early stage before allowing them to build - longer
appointments can be made by contacting the school office or emailing me directly:
(head@sandiway.cheshire.sch.uk). I appreciate that it is hard for some parents to make contact with
school due to work commitments. Staff (including myself) are happy to have telephone appointments or
email conversations, if these are deemed to be appropriate.
I write a regular newsletter (each Wednesday), which I urge you to read. I
try to ensure that you are updated with school events and upcoming dates
that you may need to be aware of. This letter (as well as any attachments)
is emailed each week and paper copies are always available from the school
office and can be put in book bags upon request.
UNIFORM
Thank you for sending the children into school looking so smart. I know it is
a big job making sure that the children have all the necessary uniform. Mrs Forster in the school office
is on hand to help you with any uniform queries and for ordering of new items. We keep a small stock of
uniform which you may be able to take away and ordering is usually turned round in a couple of weeks.
Please make sure that all items are clearly labelled and that these labels are regularly checked after
repeated washing, etc.
Can I remind you that the children should not be wearing school fleeces in school, these should be
saved for outside use. Instead, children need to wear a school sweatshirt or cardigan.
ROUND TOWER REBUILD
Cheshire West and Chester Council have recently announced that
the Round Tower will be rebuilt following the damage that occurred
to it recently. This tower is obviously very important to the
community and especially to us as it forms our school logo. The
reason for raising this with you is that we expect the traffic to
build up in the area of the rebuilding. It may be a good idea to avoid
this area, if possible, or certainly allow extra time to get to school
and get away from school. I anticipate an increase in traffic in our
local roads around school as drivers try to divert around any
problems.
LEAVE OF ABSENCE REQUESTS
As you will be aware, the government actively discourages absence
during term time. Schools have a legal duty to inform the Local Authority where children are taken out
of school during the term and to record these absences as unauthorised, unless exceptional
circumstances apply. The Local Authority also has a duty to enforce a fine, if criteria are met. A
number of parents have already been through this process. I ask that you try to avoid these
unauthorised absences by refraining from taking your children out of school during the term time.
Please talk to me if you have any queries or questions regarding leave of absence. If you do require a
leave of absence, forms are available from the school office.
CLUBS
I am delighted that we have clubs on offer for the children this term. I sent a letter out before the
holidays detailing the clubs on offer and this is attached again to the newsletter email. Please send the
slip back to school by the end of the week so that we can get our clubs organised. Places are allocated
on a first-come, first-served basis and we will let you know if any clubs become full. All clubs start
next week.
UNIVERSAL INFANT FREE SCHOOL MEALS
As you will be aware from my previous newsletters and the national news, universal infant free school
meals started this week. The vast majority of our infant children have taken up the offer and are
enjoying the meals in school. In addition, Cheshire West
and Chester have changed the menus and we have an
exciting four-week menu offering nutritionally
balanced meals for the children. Almost all of the food
is made from scratch, including homemade bread each
day.
For children in KS2, these meals still offer excellent
value for money at 2.15 per day and I would
encourage as many children to have a school lunch at
school. Due to changes in legislation, processed meat is only allowed to be served a specific number of
times over the week. If bacon is served as part of a meal, we will not be offering bacon sandwiches in
school that week. It is looking like they will be offered on a fortnightly basis. I will let you know how
this will work as the weeks progress. As you will have seen in the news, the universal infant free
school meals initiative does present a logistical difficultly for schools. Please bear with us as we get
used to the increased numbers, as well as the changes in the menus.
I would like to offer you the chance to have a school lunch with the children again this year. I will let
you know the dates for these Parent Lunches as soon as possible.
MEET THE TEACHER EVENINGS
I would like to invite you into school next Tuesday (9th) to meet your childrens new teachers. We
will hold two meetings, each lasting half an hour: one starting at 3.30pm and the next at 4.00pm.
The teachers will repeat the meeting which allows you to go to one
class and then the next, if you have two children in the school. At
the meeting, we will share with you the topics for the term/year,
expectations around homework, ways to communicate with
teachers, PE/swimming days and you will have the opportunity to
ask any questions. Children are welcome to attend the meetings
with you.
CLASSROOM REFURBISHMENT
I am delighted with the refurbishment that has been completed in Year 2, 3 and Year 4 classrooms;
they all look fantastic and have given a real boost to the school as a whole. Hopefully you will
appreciate the differences when you next visit. My thanks go to all the teachers, all of which have
given time in the summer holidays to make their classrooms look amazing for the beginning of the
school year. I feel very proud already with the amount of work that has gone into the year.
RECEPTION AREA
I respectfully ask that children dont play in the childrens Reception area at the beginning of the day.
Mrs Atkinson and Mrs Fryer set the area up for activities before the school day starts and would
appreciate that the area is not played in to keep it ready for the childrens learning.
PTA
Members of the PTA would like to invite you to Walk to school for the next three Wednesdays. This
is a lovely chance for children and parents to meet up and chat as you walk to school. Please meet at
the Village Hall car park at 8.25am on Wednesday 10th, 17th and 24th. Mette Miller will be there
to meet you.
There will be a family Rounders evening on Friday 19th September from 5.30pm. Please bring a
picnic and the PTA will be serving drinks from a bar for you to purchase. There is no charge for this
event - it is hoped that families can come along and have some friendly matches of rounders. It is
expected that this will finish around 7.00pm - lets hope that we get a lovely evening of sunshine!
We will be hosting a Macmillans Coffee morning in school on Friday 26th September. Last year this
was a fantastic success with the hall full of parents and friends chatting, sharing coffee and cakes -
lets try and build on this again and raise money for an excellent cause. We will be asking for any
donations of cakes (bought or homemade) nearer the time. Thank you in advance for your support.
SCHOOL CURRICULUM
You will have heard that schools will be using a new national curriculum from September for the vast
majority of children (Year 2 and Year 6 will still be following aspects of the older curriculum that is
linked to the statutory assessments at the end of the year).
The staff have been working hard over the past year to be prepared for the changes to the
curriculum. This training will continue as the year progresses. One important aspect of the curriculum
is the teaching of a foreign language throughout KS2. We will start our teaching of French next week
with all children from Year 1 upwards having a weekly French lesson. This will be led by Mrs Miller (a
specialist language teacher) and will be supported by other teachers and teaching assistants.
SCHOOL WEBSITE
Despite an upgrade from the old website to the one that was in place last year, I am very aware that
parents found the website very difficult to navigate through and to communicate with teachers. I will
be in the position of being able to
launch a new website from a different
company in the very near future
(hopefully within the next week, when
I have added a little more information
to it). This website is also mobile
phone friendly, converting to a cut
down version when you access it
through your phone. I really hope that you will find this easier to manage and find information from.
Please bear with me as I add further content over the next few weeks. Any feedback, as always, is
welcome.
Communication to teachers will now be directly to a new email address which teachers will be issuing
at the meetings next week.
DATES FOR THE TERM
I will be in a position to confirm the dates for the term in the next newsletter when I have confirmed
them with the staff. We have lots of exciting things on offer again this year.
I am looking forward to catching up with you all as the year progresses.
Best wishes,
Mr Chris Priddey
Headteacher