WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

SANDIWAY PRIMARY
SCHOOL
Number 5

Autumn Term 2015

www.sandiway.cheshire.sch.uk

Wednesday 7th October 2015

admin@sandiway.cheshire.sch.uk

01606 883298

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Friday 16th October

Governor Day

Year 1 have been checking structural theories from the story of

The Three Little Pigs...which house really is the easiest to
build and which will last the longest when the Wolf comes
along with his hung and pung...

News from the week

I am constantly amazed with the
variety that my job gives me - with the
cliche of every day being dierent
very true. I regularly go from talking
about lunch time food to examining
the progress of children in their work
to making sure our school is safe to
helping someone when they feel
poorly or are missing their mum.
Of course, many hours are also spent
ensuring that the school is a highly
successful place for all our learners
and constantly tweaking and changing
how we operate to ensure that this is
done to the best of our abilities.
Many of the jobs I do involve the
school governors, working at a
strategic level. This involves meeting
with governors and occasionally
ocers from the Local Authority to
make decisions about school
finances, the building, stang and the
development of the school through
our annual plan. It also involves
ensuring that we are meeting our

statutory duties which Ofsted will

make judgements about on behalf of
the Government.
We have one parent governor
position available on the governing
body if you feel that you are able to
join the dedicated group of governors
to support me in making the school
an even better place to learn. On
behalf of the governors, I would like
to thank Antonia Kirkby for the time
she has given the school. As one of
the parent governors, she has now
decided to step down as a governor
and make space for another
volunteer.
Would you like to help and be a
parent governor? Do you feel that
you have skills that we need - we are
particularly looking for skills in
finance, legal and HR. A letter will
shortly be sent home asking for
nominations. Thank you.

This is a day where the school

governors will be spending the day
in school as a means to support
their strategic role in the running of
the school. The focus for the day
will be around English and
mathematics. They will also focus
on how the school will move
forward in the assessing of children
since the Government has removed
the use of levels and a new national
curriculum is now more embedded
in the school.

Friday 16th October

Year 6 Charity Day
The Year 6 have been busy
preparing for an afternoon and
evening for themselves and their
parents, where they will be raising
money to support St Lukes
Hospice.

Thursday 22nd
October
English Information Evening
for Reception and KS1
Parents
More information coming very
soon...

An easy way to support the

school
Please visit
www.easyfundraising.org.uk/
causes/sandiwaypta/ and make
your purchases at a very wide
range of online retailers. the school
will receive a small amount of
money with each purchase at no
additional cost to you!

School updates
Chess
Mrs Pam Fleming (mum to Cameron
and Matthew) has kindly come
forward to oer the children an
opportunity to join a chess club.
Initially, children from Years 5 and 6
are invited to attend. This will be
held on Fridays in November (6th,
13th and 20th) from 3.20pm until
4,00pm. Children need to have a
basic understanding of chess. If your
child is
interested,
please give
your name
in at the
school
oce (or
email/call)
and we will
add your
name to the list. Depending on
interest, this club may then carry on
in the New Year or be oered to
other children.
If you are interested in oering any
other clubs for the children, we are
always happy to speak to you!

school, but feels that now is also

the time for her to begin her
retirement.

Football
On Monday, two teams of girls
from year 5 and 6 took part in a
girls' football tournament at
Weaverham. The girls have only
been training together for three
weeks and taking two teams meant
that all 14 girls had to play every
match. The girls, as always,
showed great team spirit and
fought hard in every single game.
In the end one team came sixth
and the other came fourth, but they
came away with smiles on their
faces and their heads held high.
Mrs Dimbylow

Kitchen Sta
Last week, we said a fond farewell to
Mrs Jeanette Lea who was one of
our Kitchen Assistants who has now
started her retirement.

Instead of having an afternoon break for ten minutes

each day that was for the whole school, I gave the
responsibility to class teachers to decide if a break
was needed. Teachers have used this opportunity in a
number of ways:
most classes have continued to have a break time
in the afternoons most of the days in the week
all classes continue to have opportunities for a
toilet break in the afternoons

I am sure by now that you have

received your Christmas Card
order form with a lovely piece of
art work attached. Again, this year
the children have worked very
hard to produce a design which
they hope you will be proud to
send as a card. Please ensure that
all orders are in school before the
end of FRIDAY 9th OCTOBER.
The PTA will then collate these
and get the orders sent o for you.
Shortly, Tempest photos (11th
November, from 8.30am) will be
taking individual and family photos
which should be returned to you
before the Christmas holidays - I
know that many parents like to
send photos to relatives at
Christmas time.
Also this year, the PTA are working
with the school sta to create ttowels with small pictures of all
the children and sta in the
school. The PTA will be creating
two towels: Reception/Year 1/Year
2 and Years 3-6 so that all the
childrens pictures fit on.
We hope you enjoy the option of
buying these items for yourselves
and know that you will also be
supporting the PTA and school
fund.

We will also be wishing Mrs Evans

well as she finishes working at our
school at the end of October. Mrs
Evans will be sadly missed by the

Break time updates

I reported in the first newsletter of the year that we
would be making some changes to the break time in
the afternoon. I know that some parents have been
concerned about the changes. I wanted to take this
opportunity to explain how this has gone during the
first part of the year.

ing

is
Fundra

some classes have taken advantage of the good

weather and have had additional short playtimes
or additional time spent in PE lessons
the Reception and KS1 classes have continued to
have their fruit snacks in the afternoon
some classes have worked through the afternoon,
especially on art and science projects
the School Council have met and discussed the
changes that have happened and understand that
they are still getting an afternoon break, but just
that it is managed dierently.
many classes have enjoyed extra playtimes by
earning the time by rising to the challenge of the
weekly school theme (teamwork, leadership,
honesty have been some of them so far).
we have been able to ensure that we are meeting
the curriculum requirements for PE, music, French
and RE.