Every School Day Really Does Count

As we are half way through the school year I have been monitoring attendance. Good attendance is absolutely essential if children are to make the best of all the learning opportunities in their primary years.

The Department for Education (DFE) expects schools to have an average of at least 96%. The DFE categorises anyone with attendance at under 90% as persistent absentees and periodically alerts the school with regards to these individual children.

• The school's overall attendance for the year is 95%. Any inspection would not categorise our school's attendance as being good. We hope that by the end of the Summer term we will be at least 96%.
• 158 school days have been lost due to family holidays.
• 233 occasions of lateness have been recorded since September.

The parents of all children who are currently considered to be "persistent absentees" or in danger of falling into that category, for whatever the reason,  will receive a letter from Mrs Baker. This is for information only and does not require a response. However, it should help some families to make wiser decisions e.g when planning family holidays. Hopefully, by the end of the school year, both attendance and punctuality of individuals will improve to reduce absentee rates. Please note that school starts at 8.55am and children should not be late except in the most exceptional circumstances.

Karen Langtree Workshops

Years 5 and 6 had a very productive day working with the school's Patron of Reading Karen Langtree. Every time I wandered into the hall or their classrooms, the children were completely immersed in their work. Using her latest book as the inspiration for the day, the children created:

• their own characters;
• a group song with Karen finding phrases to fit the tune and to rhyme with the previous sentence;
• a song for their own characters;
• a script for a play .

The day was jam packed with sparks coming from their pens as they jotted down all their wonderful ideas.

"I think our song was catchy and our day with Karen was fun doing the song. I enjoyed everything. I wish it could happen every day." Charlie Yr 5

"I enjoyed Karen's visit. I liked the games at the beginning and the song we did with her but my favourite bit was listening to her new book 'Knights of the Wobbly Table'." Adam Yr 5

World Book Day Link

There are some great ideas on worldbookday.com

Focus on History

On Monday 8th February I will be with Mr. Howe on a course looking at  how we can make our learning in history even better. We hope to return to school with lots of exciting ideas.

Year 6 are at Beamish Museum on Wednesday studying life in Victorian times, particularly researching how poor people lived. The weather promises to be dry and chilly but it's always an idea to be prepared for all eventualities so wrap up to be warm and comfortable with sensible shoes. On arrival children will be given Victorian costume to wear so we cannot wait to see the photographs!

Children will need a packed lunch and no more than £5 may be taken for the gift shop.

Film Club- On Monday the children in Film Club will be enjoying the musical "Oliver". Parents should refer to Mrs Tough's letter for timings as it's an epic of a film but very, very good!

Cycling in Yr 5

Mark O'Keefe, known in school as Dr. Bike, will be working with Year 5 on Monday 8th February. The coaching sessions, sponsored by Sustrans, will hopefully lead to a much longer bike ride later in the year.

Special Awards Evening

We are all looking forward to our Special Awards Evening on Thursday. With fascinating speakers, family activities delicious little snacks and the children themselves, it promises to be a very entertaining event.