October 22 Newsletter

 Newsletter October 2022 

Thank you for a fantastic turnout for your attendance at Progress Evenings with your child’s teacher – we always aim for 100% contact, and we are currently at 95%. If you have not yet been able to meet with your child’s teacher, please contact the school office on 01302 852200, so they can assist you. The feedback we have received to date has been very positive about being able to choose your preferred time for your appointments on our School Spider App – thank you again for your support.

Our children in year 6 are currently having a wonderful time on their residential at Kingswood. The teamwork, perseverance and resilience that the children have displayed have been a real credit to parents and school alike; memories have been made to last a lifetime! We have already made a provisional booking for next year for our current year 5s too.

School Council Elections

Our school council elections have now taken place and I am pleased to announce that the following children are now representing their classes in our school. We look forward to hearing our student voice to make our school even better!

Eco Councillors                                             Enterprise Councillors

Year 1          Phoebe M and Evan H                Year 1          Ophelia W and Lucas S

Year 2         Heidi G and Mahan K                  Year 2         Ruby C and Jack J

Year 3         Thomas C and Jessica C            Year 3         Oliver S and Robin K

Year 4         Charlotte M and Jacob M            Year 4          Ava G and Harry G

Year 5         Filip C and Phoebe T                  Year 5       Samuel H and Ellie-Rose L

Year 6       Ethan D and Joshua B                  Year 6         Holly H and Max F

Sports Councillors                                     Reading Ambassadors

Year 1          Ellie M and Josie T                    Year 2         Aliysa E and Ada W

Year 2         Ava Grace H and Jack O            Year 3         Piper M and Erica R

Year 3         Dexter R and Alfie K                   Year 4         Freya J and Frank B

Year 4         Charles K and Henry A               Year 5         Abbie H and Ellie B

Year 5         Travis W and Noah R                 Year 6         Evie K and Aaron D

Year 6       Oliver H and Rubee G

Attendance & Punctuality

As I shared in our last newsletter, we have identified attendance as one of our main school improvement priorities, as our attendance rates last year were lower when compared to previous years.

This year we are continuing to aim for our target of 97%+ attendance for every child, and we need the support of all our parents and school community to do this. We are committed to ensuring that every child wants to come to school every day, and we provide encouragement and support to children and their families to achieve our aim.

The table below shows the attendance figures for each class so for this half-term.

A special well done to classes 2ASh, 2ASp, 5KG, 6HA and 6HR/NB, who all have a half-termly attendance of 97% and above as we end this half-term – I look forward to seeing which classes will be catching them up by the end of the autumn term in December?

We continue to work closely with the Local Authority to improve the attendance of all pupils and we now have an Education Welfare Officer allocated to our school who will assist us in meeting our target for all children having the highest attendance possible.

Where attendance is of concern, we will contact you as parents and carers to identify and discuss any issues which may be hindering your child’s attendance and then work together to support your child to improve their attendance. Our Education Welfare Officer may be invited to meetings with parents and carers held in our school and conduct home visits, as required.

Please could we ask that wherever possible, medical and dental appointments should be arranged out of school hours; where this is not possible, we need to see either an appointment card or receive a letter containing the appropriate details. Our aim is to have no children absent without authorisation, and we rely on your help and co-operation to achieve this.

Free School Meal Vouchers- Update

We have been informed by the Local Authority that they will not be asking schools to provide food vouchers for the school holidays. Instead, the council will be awarding a single payment for food and energy to all Doncaster households on Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Universal Credit (housing element), Free School Meals and/or Pension Credit based on household composition.

The link below provides more detail on the payments.

https://doncaster.moderngov.co.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=20924&optionId=0

Many parents, whose children are currently eligible for means-tested Free School Meals and still receiving one of the benefits listed above, will automatically get this payment and will not need to do anything. The council will begin to send out the payments in the next couple of weeks.

There will also be an application form for other people to apply if they think they are eligible. The application form is still being finalised and the webpage will be updated, along with communications about this in due course – if we hear anymore we will forward this to you asap.

Anti-Bullying Week

Anti-Bullying Week is being held after the half-term break from 14^th to 18^th November 2022 and the theme for this year is Reach Out. On Monday 14^th November, we will be launching Anti-Bullying Week with Odd Socks Day, where we are inviting all children and adults to wear odd socks to celebrate what makes us all unique. We can’t wait to see how unique we all are.  

Children in Need

This year’s theme for Children in Need, on Friday 18^th November, is ‘Together, We can.’ We will be fundraising by inviting all children and adults to attend school in their own choice of clothing, rather than wearing our uniform on Friday 18^th November. We are planning to use a free donation page again, like we used for Comic Relief last year, in addition to accepting cash donations for this wonderful cause – more details to follow.

Lost Property

It was great to see lost property being returned to its rightful owners on Parent Progress Evening, but please could I remind everyone to label your child’s clothing and other belongings, particularly water bottles and lunch boxes, so that we can return items efficiently if any are misplaced.

Staffing Update

This week we say a temporary goodbye to Mrs Wright, one of our fabulous support staff in FS2, as she embarks on the start of her maternity leave. I am sure you will all join me in sending her our very best wishes and share the excitement in hearing about her new baby news.

 Please remember that this half term is for just 1 week

from the end of school on Friday 21^st October

until 8.50am on Monday 31st October 2022.

 Have a great half term break – have fun and stay safe!

Mrs Train

Warmsworth Primary School  - Diary Dates Updated October 2022