May 2006 Newsletter

Thank you!

..for supporting the work of the NSPCC in their FULL STOP campaign to create a safer future for children. The response from your children was fantastic and an amazing £2819.56 was raised.  The representative from the NSPCC was stunned by this response. It’s all credit to the caring nature of Hunter’s Bar families and I’m proud to pass on her heartfelt thanks.

Staff changes

We have recently said a fond goodbye to Karoline Rose and wish her well for her move out of the city. Dawn Harrison will cover as Y6 Teaching Assistant until a permanent appointment is made. We also say a fond farewell to Mrs Ismay at half term… we all wish her good luck for the birth of her first child and her new role as a mum. Miss Honess and Ms Bustamante will be teaching Y4SI until the end of this academic year.

Two new appointments have been made for September: Mrs Lynette Glossop, currently Deputy head at Woodthorpe, has been appointed as Deputy Headteacher and Helen Wyatt, currently an Acting Deputy head in a school in Derbyshire, has been appointed as Assistant headteacher. This is a new post identified as part of the staffing restructuring done by governors earlier this academic year.

Parent Governor Vacancy

We also wish to thank Sylvia Yates for the part she has played on the governing body. She has had to give up her role as a parent governor due to work commitments and this now leaves a vacancy. Governors meet at least termly and there is an expectation of involvement in other governor activities e.g. membership of at least one sub committee. Sub-committees are: Finance & Premises: Pupils & Community: Staffing and Curriculum

I urge you to consider this…. It can be a very rewarding role and I attach information of the process for those who are interested. 

Lost property!!

There seems to be an almost permanent collection of unclaimed clothing and children often don’t look for their belongings. We give the children opportunities to claim what’s theirs– but they don’t always seem to find anything that belongs to them! Monitors try as far as possible to get things back to the owner and if items were clearly marked with the child’s name that would help enormously.

Ian Parkin will arrange to put the lost property in the playground after school on fine days – if you see it out, please come to look through it.

Due to the difficulty in managing the lost property and the amount of space it takes up, we’re going to do a charity donation twice annually. We’ll issue a reminder each time, so you’ll have a chance to look before it goes.

Please help by labelling your child’s items.

Cards

As many parents and carers will be aware, collecting of the latest craze in cards has become a very popular pastime. However this is causing a number of problems in school. It has led to quarrels taking place as children argue over the ownership of particular cards. Also there have been incidents of cards going missing.  In order to prevent further upsetting incidents, I ask that the children do not bring these cards into school.

School Travel Award

Success!!..... It started with a small working party and great ideas from the School Council and together with the information from the questionnaires our School Travel Plan was created. It forms part of our desire to achieve the ‘Healthy Schools’ mark and the overall aim is to increase the number of children who walk to school - and for children who travel greater distances, for them to walk for more of the last part of their journey. This is just a small part of what we aim to do to reduce the congestion and difficult parking by the school at either end of the school day.  Of course we need your help with this and more information will be forthcoming as the plan starts to take shape.

Our first step was to receive the award with the knowledge that we are successful in obtaining the necessary funding to implement the plan. Two elected members of the School Council, Nadia Jackson, Y4 and Oliver Allen, Y5 joined me to collect the award from The Lord Mayor at a ceremony at the Town Hall this week.

H.S.A.  Garden Party 24th June 11:00 a.m. ‘til 1:00 p.m.

I hope to see many of you at The Garden party on June 24th. This is usually a very successful event that the children enjoy. It is a time for Y6 children to get involved and their contribution to the running of stalls etc.  never fails to amaze me

We are hoping that as many adult helpers can help out too – the more the easier! There is a sign-up board in the reception area so you can see what help is needed and sign up for something you may quite enjoy doing!

I’ll thank you all in anticipation.

Next meeting of the H.S.A. is on June 6th at 7:30 p.m. Please try to join us!

Off –site visits

In order to comply with Child Protection guidelines and recommendations and to ensure that every effort is made to safeguard our pupils we have been advised that any parent / carer who volunteers to accompany school visits (or similar activities) should have clearance from the Criminal Record Bureau (CRB). The alternative is that schools are required to carry out a risk assessment to identify how allowing no unsupervised access to children will be managed.

If you consider that at any time you might be willing to accompany a school visit (or similar activities) and you are willing to undergo CRB clearance procedures we would be most grateful if you would indicate this and return the slip at the end of the newsletter. We will then ensure that you receive the relevant forms and instructions for their completion.

We would like to point out how very much we value the assistance of parents / carers who make it possible for us to offer visits and other activities to the children and thank those of you who may be willing to take the time to complete the CRB forms. Safeguarding of the children is our paramount aim in all circumstances.

Holiday

Activities

It may be worth looking into: www.doit4real.co.uk The site has been recommended to me by a parent and offers holiday activities for children 11yrs+

A reminder of the remaining dates for the year

May

26th                     Last day of half term

Half Term holiday

June

5th                       INSET Day 5

6th                       Children return to school

July

10th                   Y5 Performance during this week

20th                   Y6 Leavers Assembly  a.m.

21st                   Y6 Leavers Assembly  a.m.

                                       Last day of term.

Next academic year:

Sept  2006                  

4th                          INSET Day 1

5th                          INSET Day 2

6th                         Children return to school

A further INSET day is planned for: 20th December 2006

Unfortunately no clear date is available for polling. Until this is established further INSET Days cannot be finalised.

Holiday

Activities

It may be worth looking into: www.doit4real.co.uk The site has been recommended to me by a parent and offers holiday activities for children 11yrs+