Ingleby Mill Newsletter

September 2015

Welcome to the first newsletter of the new school year! I am delighted to say that our many new children have settled beautifully and are making the most of the adventures on offer each day. We have welcomed 51 children into Reception classes and they all look very grown up in their smart school uniforms! We have also welcomed 17 children into older year groups and they too have very quickly made new friends and settled in well. I would like to welcome the parents and carers of all of our new starters to our school family: we look forward to working with you to support your child on his/her learning journey. Name Changes Miss McGee became Mrs Wilson over the summer when she married. Miss Rutherford (who married some time ago now) has also decided to use her official name of Mrs Shaw. Collecting children at the end of the school day You should have received a letter in the first week of term asking for notification of which adult is collecting your child on which days. This is to ensure we can keep children safe. We will not allow children to leave with anybody under the age of 16 years (including siblings) nor with anybody about whom we havent been informed. If you are delayed for any reason, or somebody different is collecting your child at the end of the school day, please let us know in order that we can keep everybody safe. Children should be collected from their usual exit points unless you have made a prior arrangement with the school office. If your child is going home alone (our oldest children only), then the class teacher must be informed in writing of this arrangement. Im Worried about.. If you have any worries or concerns, please do not hesitate to speak to your childs class teacher. Appointments can be arranged via the school office or via the teaching assistants on the doors each morning. Mrs Meynell (Vulnerable Pupils Co-ordinator and Special Needs Leader) is also happy to discuss any concerns you may have about your childs emotional well - being and/or additional learning needs. As always, both Mrs Totty and/or Mrs Coverdale will be happy to meet with you should

you request an appointment. Please contact the school office on 01642 761985. We aim to meet with parents as soon as we possibly can to attempt to address the issues raised and to alleviate any concerns. Movement Around the School Site We are delighted that so many of our children (and parents) travel to school by cycle or scooter. In order to maintain a safe environment for everybody, we must insist that NOBODY rides them on the school grounds. Cyclists should dismount as they arrive at the school gates and should walk to the cycle/scooter sheds to store them before going on to the playground. We would also like to remind all parents to use the footpaths instead of walking on the car park to get to gates. We appreciate your support with this matter.

IMPS School Uniform Please ensure that you child comes to school dressed according to the schools uniform policy. Children should wear:

Navy sweatshirt/jumper/cardigan;

White polo shirt/shirt;

Grey trousers, shorts, skirt or pinafore;

Blue gingham dresses in warmer weather;

Black shoes (no trainers); We do not insist that sweatshirts/polo shirts carry the school logo and we try to keep the costs of our uniform as low as possible. We would ask that you support the school and your child in ensuring that the correct uniform is worn. The focus of our work this term is:

ensuring that children understand and follow the schools rules and routines;

ensuring that children know what they need to do to improve their learning in reading, writing and maths;

continuing to ensure that all teaching is good or better in every single lesson (it is already good we want to make it outstanding!);

continuing to ensure that all children make good progress in their learning, especially in maths;

ensuring that different groups of children e.g those with Special Educational Needs, those entitled to the Pupil Premium make good progress in all subjects.

Further information can be found over the page..

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Do you have a child with Special Educational

Needs/Disabilities? National changes came

into legislation from 1st September 2014

including a new Code of Practice. Support for

children with SEND has not changed

dramatically school still seeks to do all it can and all that is practicable to meet the needs

of all children: differentiated planning and

teaching are at the heart of our everyday

practice and this will not change. School buys

into a wide range of services to enable us to

support children with SEND including

Educational Psychology, Speech & Language

Therapy and Alliance Counselling. Members of

our staff have also undertaken extended study

for national qualifications in their own time.

You can find our SEND offer on the schools website at www.inglebymill.org.uk. The local

authoritys information about SEND can be found

at: www.stockton.gov.uk/children-and-young-

people/children-with-special-educational-

needs-sen

Further information can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/

send-guide-for-parents-and-carers or from the

Council for Disabled Childrens website on www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk

Parking

Oh my word! Parking since our return to school

has been as bad as ever with cars double and

even triple parked on the roundabout. This is

simply not acceptable and as well as being illegal,

it poses enormous risk to our children. The

police have been made aware of this because of

the risk to children. This is an accident waiting

to happen, and whilst we appreciate the

difficulties with parking, nothing is more

important than the safety of our children.

Please park safely and considerately.

After School Clubs/Out of School Learning Letters will be coming home in the next fortnight outlining the out of school learning opportunities on offer for children in different year groups. We will be

offering a ten week block for each activity and applications for places will be allocated after the deadline for return through names out of a hat with waiting lists being operated if demand exceeds the number of places available. Some of the activities are led by staff whilst others are led by external providers, all of whom have been vetted in accordance with safeguarding guidance. Assessments/National Tests National tests (some people refer to these as SATs) are changing to reflect the national curriculum which came into effect last year. In Y2 children will now be tested on spelling, grammar and punctuation as well as on their reading, writing & maths (arithmetic and reasoning). Their papers will be marked internally and will be used to support teachers ongoing assessments of how well children are performing against age related expectations. There are also changes to Y6 tests with mathematics in particular being very different (children will sit an arithmetic paper and reasoning papers and as in previous years, all calculations must be done on paper or mentally without the use of calculators). The Y6 tests will be sent away for marking and are marked online. No levels will be awarded for any child now the judgement is based on whether they meet a national standard based on age related expectations. We are expecting more information to be published by the Department for Education as the year progresses and once we have further information we will, of course, share it with you. National Curriculum Tests (sometimes known as SATs) for children in Y6 will take place during the week of 9th May. Children in Y2 will take their tests throughout May and the Y1 Phonics Screening checks will take place during the week of 13th June. No holidays will be authorised during this time. Communication In the next week or so your child will bring home a termly learning letter. In it you will find information about what your child will be learning this term, key dates for classes within the year group e.g.class assemblies and information about visits or visitors. This is just one of the ways in which we try to keep you updated about what is going on in school. Other methods include monthly newsletters like this one, Governors newsletters, individual letters about up and coming events, text messages, tweets and emails. Please make sure that you keep us up to date with your contact details (mobile numbers and e mail addresses) in order that you dont miss our texts/emails. You can follow us on Twitter @InglebyMill or find us at www.inglebymill.org.uk (our school website) where we regularly post updates and key information. If you have any suggestions about what you would like to see included, please let us know.