Newsletters

Newsletters 2024-2025  no. 1   13/09/2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Firstly, can I thank you for your patience over the last few days. As I’m sure you can appreciate it has been a little bit of a whirlwind trying to get to know everyone and the way the school works. I have been amazed at how quickly the children have adapted to some of the changes that have taken place already!

 

Though I want to give myself some more time to get to know the school, there are some changes that we have already made to ensure we hit the ground running at the start of the term. These have been from either talking to the staff or from the parents who have already been into the school.

 

Newsletters

This is the new style newsletter that will be sent out regularly and added to the school website. However, they will not be done on a weekly basis. Newsletters will be sent out as and when needed so please make notes of any dates or events that you need.

New Timetable for the day

I have asked the staff to get five, one-hour lessons into the day rather than four as we think this will have the biggest impact on the children’s learning. Therefore, the timetable for the school day from now on will be as follows:

8.40-8.50 Gates open and children go straight into class – register is taken

8.50-9.50 Lesson 1

9.50-10.50 Lesson 2

10.50-11.05 Break

11.05-12.05 Lesson 3

12.05-1.05 Lunch

1.05-2.05 Lesson 4

2.05-3.05 Lesson 5

3.05-3.25 Assemblies

We have spent this week making sure everything works and the timings are right for the children and staff.

Reading mornings

I have decided to stop reading mornings as this seemed to be having little impact on the children’s progress and we will be replacing them with a half-termly parent session. These sessions will concentrate on supporting parents in how they can support their children at home or share work we have done in the classes.

However, if some parents would like to support children with their reading across the school, could you let the school office know, we will use this to help specific children.

Opening the gates

Each morning there will still be a member of staff who will open the gates, but this will be shared amongst all the staff. Once we have the rota we will share that with parents so you know the day you may be able to catch your class teacher.

Class Dojo

Can we ask if you wish to let your class teacher know anything that you do this through the class dojo system? Staff will not be responding to e-mails from parents. If you do wish to send an e-mail can you do so through the school office e-mail and then it will be sent to the appropriate staff member.

Pupil Planner

Obviously, we still would like you to read with your child every night and record this in the pupil planner. Staff will check this once a week.

Some of the diary dates are now wrong in the book so please use the diary dates in this newsletter or we will update the diary on the website as and when things change.

Curriculum Newsletter

Hopefully, you have all received your curriculum newsletter which will give you an idea of the learning that will take place in each year group.

Changes to Year 2 and 3

After talking to the staff in these classes, and reviewing the budget, we believe it is the right thing to do to split the classes back to individual year groups and not mix the children. This has been feedback also from parents and we agree with some of the points made. Though we cannot guarantee this in the long term, we felt it important to make the change now to have the biggest impact on the children over the year. We will communicate how and when this will happen when we have everything in place ready to go.

Web site

Some of the information on the web site will still be out of date and I am working to bring it up to speed. Please be patient with me as this is a little lower on the list of importance at the moment.

Timetables

Obviously we want to share the weekly timetables with parents but with the changes in the structure of the day this will take a little longer to get to you. They will hopefully be with you by Friday 20th September.

Rapid recovery plan

The governors are working hard to focus on the key areas to improve the school into the future. As part of this, a plan has been written to focus the school on its onward journey. The two key priorities in the plan are:

  • Improving outcomes that children achieve at KS2
  • Creating the foundation for a longer term sustainable structure for the school

The governors still value all the wonderful things that are going on at the school and we will continue to celebrate these. I will be giving you an update in each of the newsletters about the work that has happened around these two focuses.

Lunches

I wanted to thank all the staff who have been involved in providing lunches for the children this term. It has been wonderful to see the children taking responsibility for making their own sandwiches!

If you are interested in your child having school lunches please don’t hesitate to contact the school office.

Homework

The school will no longer be sending homework home due to the changes to the school day. There is very little evidence that this has an impact on a child’s learning progress.

What staff want parents to concentrate on is listening to their child read every day, times tables (TT rock stars) and doing the spellings we send home. Please also look at places you could visit that support the work that is happening across the curriculum.

If we do feel there is some extra work a child can do at home to support their learning we will contact you on an individual basis.

Attendance

Some parents may not be aware that the guidance for schools around attendance changed on the 19th August 2024. A separate letter will be sent out outlining the changes. Please come and talk to us if you need more explanation as the regulations have become less flexible in what a school can do to agree absence into the coming year.

Diary Dates

Below are the most up-to-date diary dates for the term. Please ignore the ones in the pupil planner and we will make sure the website has the most up-to-date diary. As you can imagine a school diary changes all the time and we will keep you updated with any changes or additions to the calendar.

I look forward to getting to know more about the school and the community in the coming months.

Kind Regards

 

Miss Morris 

DEANSHANGER PRIMARY SCHOOL

AUTUMN TERM 2024

September

______________________________________________________________________

Week 3

Mon 16

Tues 17 - Film club in the school hall 3.45-5.10pm (Y3-6)

Wed 18 PTA meeting 6.30pm

Thur 19

Fri 20

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Week 4

Yr 6 residential at Adventure 4 You (Monday to Thursday)

Mon 23

Tues 24

Wed 25

Thurs 26 Year 6 Residential – children return to school at 1pm

Fri 27 MacMillan Coffee Morning 8.30-9.00am – at front of school during drop off

________________________________________________________________________

Week 5

Mon 30 Year 1-6 Parents/ Carers Meetings 3.30-7.00pm

October

Tues 1 Year 1-6 Parents/ Carers Meetings 3.30-5.00pm

Wed 2

Thurs 3 Individual/ Sibling photos

Autumn Census Day

Fri 4

__________________________________________________________________________

Week 6

Mon 7

Swimming Pool on site until 25 October – sessions start for year groups and clubs after school

Tue 8

Wed 9

Thurs 10

Fri 11

____________________________________________________________________________

Week 7

Mon 14 Swimming Pool on site until 25 October

Open Book afternoon 3.30-4.00pm

Tue 15

Wed 16

Thurs 17

Fri 18

______________________________________________________________________

Week 8

Mon 21 Improvement Plan Review with Parents 5.30pm

Swimming Pool on site until 25 October

Tues 22

Wed 23

Thurs 24 Whole School Sunflower Assembly

Fri 25

______________________________________________________________________

Half Term

________________________________________________________________________

Week 9

November

Mon 4

Tues 5

Wed 6

Thurs 7

Fri 8

Sun 10 Remembrance community event in the village.

____________________________________________________________

Week 10

Anti-bullying week

Monday to Thursday- Bikeability L1 and L2 for Years 5 & 6

Mon 11

Tues 12

Wed 13

Thurs 14

Fri 15 Children in Need – Charity Dress up Day

______________________________________________________________________

Week 11

Mon 18

Tues 19 Local Academy Committee (Governors) 6.00pm

Wed 20

Thurs 21 Bikeability L1 & 2 for Years 3 and 4 (one day only)

Fri 22 Spelling Bee – Families of participants invited

______________________________________________________________________

Week 12

Mon 25

Tues 26

Wed 27

Thurs 28

Fri 29

________________________________________________________________________

Week 13

December

Mon 2

Tues 3

Wed 4

Thurs 5

Fri 6

______________________________________________________________________

Week 14

Inter year group competitions for Years 3 to 6 (outside games)

Mon 9

Tues 10 Reception and Year 1 Christmas Event/ Nativity for Parents/ Carers

Wed 11

Thurs 12 Years 2 and 3 Christmas Event for Parents/ Carers

Fri 13

______________________________________________________________________________

Week 15

Mon 16 Christmas Lunch for all year groups

Tues 17 Years 4 to 6 Christmas Event for Parents/ Carers potentially at Holy Trinity Church (TBC)

Wed 18

Thur 19

Fri 20 End of Term 3.30pm

Reception are in full time from today ie, 8.45am - 3.25pm
8:45am – 3:25pm
16
September
Film Club for Y3-6 in the hall
3:30pm – 5:10pm
17
September
PTA AGM Meeting @6.30PM in the school studio
6:30pm – 7:30pm
18
September
Year 6 residential trip starts
All Day
23
September
Year 6 return from the residential trip
All Day
26
September
Donations for MacMillan Coffee morning can be dropped off at school
All Day
26
September
MacMillan Coffee Morning (outside the front of the school)
8:30am – 9:00am
27
September