School Update 22.11.19

A message from the Headteacher…

Dear Parents/Carers,

Well, it’s been another very busy week and there are more busy weeks to come building up to Christmas.

We have lots to celebrate this week:  

Year 4 and 5 children went to a special authors event and, having seen three authors, are buzzing about reading, which is fantastic.

Over the past few weeks, children have been designing baubles for a competition involving lots of schools in North Yorkshire.  There were some fantastic designs and it was very difficult to choose but ten children’s designs have gone through. I am sure the children have told you if their bauble was chosen but I will also be contacting parents of those who won to let them know.  Fingers crossed one of the baubles will be chosen as the overall winner!

Thank you to all those parents who attended our parents evenings this week and for completing our parent questionnaires.  We have had some very positive feedback and some areas that have concerned parents. Thank you for your honesty, it is so important to get your honest feedback so we can act on it. 

Communication has come up as a concern for some parents, with some parents struggling to access the website and ParentHub.  We still have some parents who have not signed up to ParentHub and will contact those parents directly to help them set up so they do not miss any vital information.  If you are struggling to sign up or get information through from the website, ParentHub or ParentPay or you know someone who is, please let the office know and they will do their best to rectify the issues.  To make sure everyone gets information, we will also publish as many things as we can on both the website and ParentHub.

Parking outside school has also been raised and, although we regularly ask parents not to park on the double yellow lines and zig zags, parents are still parking there, compromising the safety of our children.  Please could parents not park in these areas, across people’s driveways or in places that make it unsafe for children coming to and leaving school before (including dropping off for breakfast club). We know there is limited parking outside school but people can park near the village hall and walk down.  We are regularly in contact with the police, who are monitoring the situation and will be handing out fines for those parked illegally (double yellow lines, zig zags or parked dangerously). The local council are also looking into the situation. We will be working further with the police to alleviate the problem so please help us by parking safely.  We have a safety week coming up and will also be having a ‘walk to school’ week in the new year. Please help us and if you can walk to school, or park further away and walk, we would be grateful if you could do so.

Next Friday (29th November) we have an open afternoon and hope you can join us for our creative curriculum afternoon.  If you are free, please come and join our learning from 1.30pm.

Christmas is certainly on its way and children are practising for our up and coming Early Years/Key Stage 1 Nativity in school on Thursday 12th December (at 2pm and 6pm) and Key Stage 2 Carol Concert in church on the 5th December (at 6pm).  Those wishing to come will have to book tickets for both events via our booking app.  Due to health and safety, we will not be able to accept anyone who has not booked a ticket.  If you have a child in school who has a sibling in our Early Years/Key Stage 1 performance, they can come along and we will put on a Christmas DVD/ have Christmas activities in a classroom so you can attend the performance.  Key Stage 2 children will have already seen the nativity during school time.

Our ‘Friends of Brotherton and Byram’ are also running a Christmas Secret Room again this year on Tuesday 3rd December.  Presents cost £2 and children can buy for parents, grandparents and siblings. If you would like your child to buy a present, please would you send money in on the day with a list (if you feel this is necessary) of people your child would like to buy for.  

Thank you so much for all your donations today for the Christmas Fair (3.15-5pm Friday 6th December).  Everyone is welcome to the fair so we hope you can come.  Father Christmas should be coming too for the children to visit.  

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Mrs Fletcher 

What’s happening next week…

Wednesday 27th November – is the New Starter Meeting for any children that will be joining Esk class in January. This is at 4.00pm

Friday 29th November – Please come along and join us for our Open Afternoon from 1.30pm. You can join in our learning of the Creative Curriculum. Pop in and spend as long as you would like seeing what we are learning in school, and see our Art exhibition. Please feel free to invite and bring along any parents with young children who may be interested in joining our school to share what we are doing.

Attendance Update…

Ouse got an amazing 100% this week – well done Ouse!

Our school target is 97%

This week our attendance was 95.51%

Nidd – 91.6%

Aire – 96.25%

Ouse – 100%

Derwent – 94.62%

Foss – 96.25%

Calder – 95.63%

Humber – 96.36%