Dear Parents and Carers
The signs of spring and Easter are all around us. In the fields we can see new life beginning with the ‘greening up’ of the hedgerows, the yellow headed daffodils nodding in the breeze, not to mention the lambs leaping joyfully in the fields. And, I’m sure that many of us will indulge in a hot cross bun or two during the Easter weekend! If the weather is nice do take the opportunity to take your children out into the countryside and enjoy this celebration of new life emerging all around us.
SATs week:
Monday 8th May represents the start of the statutory tests at the end of Key Stage 2 in English and Maths. At the same time children in year 2 will also sit their end of Key Stage1 tests which forms one aspect of the overall judgements about attainment and progress for these pupils. This effectively means that we have one more week of this term and 2 weeks at the start of next term before the tests begin. During this time these groups of children will be working especially hard.
We want all children who are involved in these tests to have the very best opportunity to achieve what they are capable of. To do this we will continue to do revision work in school. Please can year 6 parents encourage their children to do the work that is offered to them at home as part of this preparation. It is also very important that all children, especially those sitting tests, get plenty of sleep and have opportunities to relax and enjoy their childhood too.
On-line Pupil Survey:
Last year 63 pupils, from years 4 to 6, took part in Gloucestershire’s Healthy Living and Learning survey. The results of this survey have now been analysed and issued to schools across the county. This is a detailed survey but it would seem appropriate to share a few of the highlights with you.
Importantly 94% of Blockley School children reported that they were ‘happy most of the time’ as compared to the county average of 82%. Also 90% of our children felt either ‘confident to extremely confident’ about their futures as compared to the county average of 79%. Equally 87% of our pupils surveyed did not worry about attending school as compared to 80% for the county average not worrying about school. Some 92% of the children surveyed felt that any bullying incidents were ‘well dealt with’. The county average for whether or not bullying incidents were ‘dealt with well’ was just 74%. In terms of safety 98% of Blockley pupils felt safe in school compared to the county average of 95%. I’m also very pleased to announce that 97% of the pupils surveyed in our school ate breakfast before attending school. The county average for this was 88%. It was pleasing to see that 94% of our pupils surveyed washed their hands after going to the toilet compared to 88% as the county average. However, only 75% of Blockley pupils surveyed remembered to wash their hands before eating a meal. The county average for this was only 66%. Clearly some work needs to be done around washing hands before eating!
Overall the health and wellbeing of our children, based on the survey results, makes for encouraging reading.
In Partnership with Parents and Carers
Below is a table showing the schedule of occasions when we communicate with parents regarding your children. Our communication has been via two main routes in the past, those being by reports (summary and annual) and parents ‘evenings’ (parent consultations, open afternoon and open mornings in class 1).
Through discussion with staff we would now like to add one additional opportunity for parents to come into school. This has now been timetabled in for Wednesday 26th April 2017. For this one morning, in term 5, we will be opening school to parents and their children, from 8.30 until 9.00am, to come in to class and have a look at your children’s books. This should be a lovely opportunity for children to share their school books with their parents and carer’s. To help reduce congestion can I ask that parents enter the school via one of your children’s external classroom doors. We look forward to seeing you all then.
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Term 1 |
Term 2 |
Term 3 |
Term 4 |
Term 5 |
Term 6 |
|
October Parents Evenings |
December Report Summary |
February Parents Evenings |
March Report Summary |
April New Book Look 26th April 8.30 – 9.00am |
July Annual Reports & Open afternoon afterwards |
KS1 Maths Parents Evening:
Thank you to all those who made the effort to attend our Key Stage 1 Maths Information Evening. The support you offer with your children’s learning is invaluable.
Dinosaurs in the Early Years!
EYFS and Key Stage 1 recently enjoyed a ‘dino experience!’ We were visited by two rangers and their life-like dinosaurs, Chip and Ronnie. The children enjoyed finding out new information, looking at fossils and artefacts and meeting the dinosaurs. Thank you to Friends of Blockley School for funding such a wonderful experience.
World Book Day:
On Thursday 2nd March Blockley School was full of Harry Potters, Mad Hatters, Horrid Henrys and other book characters…We were of course celebrating World Book Day!! We enjoyed dressing up, sharing our favourite books and taking part in some exciting English activities. We also used the experience to inspire some brilliant creative writing. Thank you so much to Parents and Carers for the support in helping your children to create their imaginative costumes!
In The Net:
On Friday 3rd March class 4 took a trip to St James and Ebrington to learn about how to stay safe online. It was an exciting performance which showed the dangers of a public social media presence. The children had a fun time and hopefully took away some important information to help them stay safe online.
Kingham Hill Secondary School Science Trip:
On Monday 13th March year 5’s from both Class 4 and 5 took a trip to Kingham Hill High School for a day full of exciting science practicals. Both children and staff were treated to a delicious lunch with the rest of the school before being shown their brilliant science labs. The children were split into different groups and completed different activities involving dissecting animal organs, burning different types of metal and making paper spinners.
Comic Relief
We all had a fun day wearing something ‘funny for money’. Thank you for your support with ‘funny outfits’. A fantastic £147.79 was raised for the charity.
Youth Speaks:
The annual Youth Speaks competition was held last week at the Baptist church in Chipping Campden. This year the children had to give a speech on “If I were……”. In total six schools, including Blockley, took part in the competition which is put on by the Rotary Club. Our two very well prepared representatives for this event was Amelie Cate and Oliver Gill. There was a very broad spectrum of topics chosen from; if I were a road sign to if I were a fruit bowl. Clearly all the children had done lots of research for their chosen speech. All the children did extremely well and it was difficult for the three judges to choose a winner. This year Blockley school was not the overall winner but we did come a very commendable second place with Amelie’s beautiful poem. I would like to say ‘well done’ to both Amelie and Oliver for working so hard and showing great confidence in speaking to a large audience.
Books for School;
If you are having a spring clean and find books your children no longer need then the school library would be grateful for donations of good quality, appropriate reading books for pupils from Year 1 upwards.
PE Kit:
Could all parents regularly check that their children’s PE bag is in school each week? We presently have a number of children who have no PE kit in school and we don’t have enough spare resources to kit them all out. It is really important that your child has the right clothing to fully participate in PE lessons.
Parking:
Some of you may have noticed that Blockley School staff has started to park adjacent to St George’s Hall. This is to allow parents to park safely on the side closest to the large grassy area. We have done this to try and make it as safe as possible for children and parents to exit their cars and walk safely towards the school on one side of the parking area only.
May I ask that parents and carer’s use all of the parking area and not to congest the entrance by parking in the first available spot. Please can everyone continue to use St George’s car park with the greatest of caution, as nobody wants to see anyone get hurt, least of all a child. Everyone’s continued careful driving is appreciated by all – thank you.
Parent Support Advisor (PSA):
Our PSA is Tracey Baker and she works directly with parents and carers to ensure the best possible outcomes for children by providing access to information for families. Tracey can help parents and carers by offering friendly, non-judgemental support for a range of issues such as: poor attendance, behaviour concerns, family issues such as bereavement, separation or lone parenting. Tracey is available most Thursday mornings in school. If you have not already spoken to her and would like to do so please make an appointment at the School Office.
Sharing Assemblies:
The next sharing assembly will be in Term 5, on Friday 12th May. This assembly will be put on by class 3. This will be followed by class 4 on Friday 26th May 2017.
Best wishes and kind regards
Mr Pudifoot
Headteacher
Church Chat
Please join us for the next Open Door service on Sunday. An all age service with breakfast! 9.30am—10:30am.
The children have all been to Blockley Church for Experience Easter this week. Each child had the opportunity to learn about Easter in a fun and interactive way.
Please join us on Easter Day for a church service at 9.30am followed by an Egg Hunt in the churchyard for children at 10.30am. The church notice board will display details of other services going on over Easter.
1st April – Forest Area Spring Clear Up (volunteers please!)
1st April – Frog Racing at 7:30pm CANCELLED DUE TO LACK OF TICKET SALES
Sunday 23rd April—Freestyle360 5/10k Run FOS providing coffee and cake
Quiz please look out for the latest Easter Quiz going home in pupils book bags. £1 entry fee—please enter by Friday 7th April