Welcome back to school after what I hope has been an enjoyable summer break. We have been busy at school over the summer with the hall having been painted and an extensive new water pipe system installed, the main benefit of which being that all classes now have mains drinking water and all toilets have warm water for hand washing. Mr Davies, our caretaker, has worked incredibly hard over the summer and I would like to thank him for getting the school ready for the pupils this week despite all the interruptions and mess!
New class names
As I explained to the children this week, one of the problems with a long summer break is that it gives plenty of time for Mrs Dabill and I to hatch new ideas and plans for the school. One of the smaller changes we are going to make is with regard to the class names. One of the issues that has been raised with me by parents is that they are sometimes confused by what we mean when we refer to the classes. For example a child could be referred to being in Year 1, Class 2 or Venus Class. The fault of this lies completely with us at school because we do not consistently refer to one thing or the other.
I have always felt that the use of planets to name the classes was a little random and didn’t really fit with the rural nature of the school. Having successfully renamed our House Teams last year after apple varieties we would like to follow a similar theme by renaming our classes after trees. Therefore the classes are now called:
- WILLOW (Pupils in Year R, their first year of school)
- BEECH (Pupils in Years 1 and 2)
- MAPLE (Pupils in Years 3 and 4)
- OAK (Pupils in Years 5 and 6)
We also have an additional room next to Mrs Tilley’s office, which used to be called The Observatory; we are renaming this room ‘The Orchard’.
We will NOT refer to the classes as anything but these names, and will only refer to the year group your child is in when necessary. I hope in the long run this will help with any confusion; these names certainly feel a more natural fit for the environment we sit in.
Homework
Each year we review our homework provision and when we looked at it over the summer we thought that some of what we provide and ask for needed rationalising. Your child’s class teacher will offer more specific guidance on exactly what pupils can do for homework, but a typical weekly diet for a pupil in Year 4 might look like this:
- Daily reading, including completing reading challenges
- Times tables practice
- Spelling practice
- Mathletics
We’ve decided that this is probably enough on a regular basis so there will be no additional sheets sent home except where we provide them for individual pupils. There will however be the occasional longer homework project, but these will be less frequent than in the past. What I really want out of homework is its use as a vehicle for the regular practice of core skills
Shakespeare Schools Festival
Oak Class will be rehearsing and then presenting MACBETH at the Lights theatre later this term. For any of you with older children in Years 7 or 8 who took part in the last festival, you will recall the performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a huge success. We want this year’s play to be even bigger and better, so if you think you have any skills that you can offer to help us achieve our goal then please let Mrs Dabill know. It’s quite a big project for the class because the play is not an add-on – it’s an integral part of their language learning this term.
House Captains
Our new House Captains for this year are:
Spartan: Charley & Jonty
Discovery: Leah & Oliver W
Empire: George & Bella
We have chosen three vice-captains from Year 4 so that we have representatives in both Oak class and Maple Class and to make things easier when we organise intra-school competitions, the first of which will be intra-house netball towards the end of this half term.
Appleshaw Church
Many of you will know that Canon Ian Tomlinson is very unwell and has been unable to spend the time in our school over the last 18 months or so that he would have liked. Rev. Sandra Williams has taken over some of Ian’s responsibilities and I am pleased to say that she will be able to join us for Whole School Worship each Wednesday morning this term. Sandra was able to spend a morning with us towards the end of last time and some of you will have met her at our Easter and end of year church services in the last few months. We will be having our Harvest and Christmas services at church later this term. I will confirm the dates with Rev. Sandra in due course.
I was thankful to have been at home and able to attend Ian’s Desert Island Discs evening at Appleshaw Church recently, where he was interviewed by Bruce Parker and we listened to some of his favourite music; some other members of the school community were also able to attend and is was great to see him in such good form. Radio 4 was always on in my house growing up and for me Desert Island Discs brings back memories of the Sunday roast cooking in the oven whilst my mum slaved over a hot stove and my brothers and I were cajoled into laying the table and clearing the decks of pots and pans. In our busy lives we don’t often have much time for reflection, but this special evening reminded me of the importance of looking back to help inform what’s ahead.
Boys and Learning
I think I shared in my last newsletter that I wanted to initiate a wider discussion about boys and their learning. To facilitate this I would like to invite all parents, but especially those of you with boys to a workshop on Monday 17th October at 6pm. The purpose of the workshop will be to present you with some of the issues around attainment and progress at this school and to place that within the wider national picture and to provide a forum for discussing ways forward. I hope it will be of interest and use to both parents and the school.
Parking
I had an email during the summer from the Health and Safety Officer at Randall Parker Foods, a section of which I include below:
“At Randall Parker Foods we have a protocol of Near Miss reporting, whereby employees and all visitors to our site have a responsibility for raising anything that they believe could be a near miss/hazard/accident waiting to happen.
Upon reviewing these we have had a number of reports of concerns from lorry drivers about the approach to our premises past the school, the hazard being the amount of cars that are parked here during school drop off and pick up times.”
Please park considerately and with due care and attention to safety at the beginning and end of each day. My advice is to park on the hill up as far as the school if you can but if there are no spaces there to then use Randall Parker’s car park and walk to school using the gate at the bottom. Do not walk out of their main entrance and down the hill and please refrain from parking any further up the hill than the school.
Clearly there have been some concerns, certainly enough to feel that it was worth reporting and I would be deeply upset, as we all would, if any member of our school community came to harm because they hadn’t parked considerately. I understand that the gate hasn’t been open the last couple of days; I have contacted Randall Parker and they are looking into this for us.
Holidays during term time
You will be aware that the regulations regarding absence from school during term time have been challenged by a parent on the Isle of Wight and his action has prompted some changes in the guidance that is presented to schools. The case has now gone to the Supreme Court and will take some months to be heard. If you are planning on taking your child out of school, you will still need to complete a holiday form, available from the school office. I can still only ‘authorise’ holidays under exceptional circumstances. Attendance at this school is high; last year the attendance rate was over 98% which is very good.
PTA
There are one or two PTA events this half term which you are encouraged to take part in. On Friday 16th September from 9-10am they are running a meet and greet coffee morning to welcome our new parents to the school. There will be a further opportunity to welcome new parents and find out about the PTA after school on Friday 23rd from 3-4pm when coffee, cake and possible ice-creams will be on offer! Their Annual General Meeting is on Thursday 29th at 7.30pm in the school; all parents are invited to attend.
Pupil Illness/Appointments
We always need to know why pupils are not in school. If your child is ill then please contact the school office at the earliest opportunity giving the reason. An answerphone message is fine but please give us more information than just saying that they are poorly. If your child has sickness and diarrhoea then they should not return to school until 48 hours have elapsed since the last bout of illness.
Please do not leave messages with the member of staff on duty at the gate in the morning; we will inevitably forget and important information may not get passed on. Messages should go via the office.
Breakfast Club will be continuing as normal this year. Mrs Salusbury has kindly agreed to take on the responsibility of running it which frees up a bit of Mrs Tilley’s time in the mornings.
Logs
We had some tree damage to one of our big oaks recently but as a result we now have lots of logs to dispose of; if you’d like some for your woodburners then please enquire at the office!
Contact and Medical Information
Mrs Tilley will be asking for you to check that they emergency contact details that we hold about your child are up to date soon. Please check the details, especially the phone numbers we hold so that we have the correct details at school.
Allergies
We have a child at school with an allergy to nuts. Please do not send in nuts or peanut butter sandwiches with packed lunches. Thanks for your cooperation.
Stand Up To Cancer
https://www.standuptocancer.org.uk/
We will be having a non-uniform day on the last Thursday of half term in support of the charity day – Stand Up To Cancer (which is actually the next day but we have a day closure that day). We will combine this with the usual coffee morning and cake sale that we do each September for MacMillan Cancer Support. I will provide more details nearer the time.
Some reminders:
- Children should be wearing our school uniform including appropriate footwear (no fashion shoes please), no extreme hairstyles and no jewellery (except small stud earrings but must be removed or taped over for PE). Polo shirts should be tucked in. Pupils may wear watches.
- Please ensure that pupils have the correct PE kit in school at all times.
- Please do not park in the staff car park. Any spare places are reserved for pupils with illness or disabilities. Also please walk around the path at the end of the school day rather than across the car park.
- All children should have a pair of wellington boots or outdoor shoes in school so that they can use the field more often during inclement weather.
- If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the school and class blogs – it is an easy way to keep in touch with what’s going on in class and school. It is also where you will find information about the topics and other areas of study that your child will be learning about this term. Here are the links:
- https://appleshawschool.edublogs.org (School)
- http://appleshawclass4.edublogs.org (Oak)
- http://appleshawclass3.edublogs.org (Maple)
- http://appleshawclass2.edublogs.org (Beech)
- http://appleshawclass1.edublogs.org (Willow)
We welcome help from parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends. Please get in touch if you would like to make a contribution to our school. There are many ways you can help. You will have to complete a DBS clearance, which Mrs Tilley can explain and help you with.
Can I take this opportunity to remind you that if you have a concern, however small, about your child to please speak to your child’s teacher in the first instance? Staff are usually available for a quick chat after school, but if you need more time to talk then please make an appointment via the school office. Mrs Dabill, Deputy Headteacher and Mrs Simmonds, Special Educational Needs Coordinator are also important points of contact in school. Mrs Simmonds will be working on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday this term.