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Kidsgrove Primary School
Empowering Learners...Growing Minds
Welcome back to our AWESOME Acorn School
Happy September Everyone!
It was lovely to welcome the pupils back into school yesterday for the Autumn Term. Smiles were flowing and our children were running and skipping with excitement. Walking around the school they seem eager to learn and glad to be back. The staff at Kidsgrove Primary are very mindful that some of the pupils may have felt anxious or a little worried about coming back to school and I would like to reassure you that we will give our pupils the time to talk and to support them so that they feel happy and safe in school at all times.
Our School Vision
This academic year promises to be an exciting one, as we continue our positive transformation. The school is un-recognisable from 12 months ago. We feel extremely proud of our school community, including the positive relationships with you as parents. Our digital strategy will be launched throughout September, and all pupils will be issued with I Pads. Next week, our focus will be on providing online safety learning and training pupils to use the iPad sensibly and safely before they are sent home. Every classroom has had a new TV / interactive screens installed over the summer, and we have created a digital hub at the front of the school. Pupils will have opportunities to enhance their learning by using green screens, robots, podcasting, Virtual reality headsets etc. We will be focusing all of our fundraising for the Autumn Term and potentially the Spring term to buy our school a digital radio station so we can spread news and music across the community. We hope you support us in our mission. We will also be launching our school platform for communication called Firefly. This will be fully operational by October Half Term.
Uniform
Pupils look extremely smart in their uniforms. We believe uniform is an important way of ensuring that children feel that they belong to their school community and learn to take pride in their appearance. Don’t forget to put names on everything! The following are PE days:
• Thursday Key Stage 2
• Friday Key Stage 1
PE Kits will not be required in school. We ask that pupils attend school in PE Kits on the day of their lesson.
Our PE uniform is as follows:
• White round-neck T Shirt
• Black shorts or leggings / jogging bottoms
• Black pumps or trainers
On PE days pupils must wear their school jumper.
In the Early Years, physical development will vary through the week so children need to bring in a PE bag, clearly labelled, so they can change into their kits when needed.
The School Day
From September, doors open for all children at 8.40am. Formal learning will commence by 8.45am, so all children need to be in and ready for the exciting day ahead. Doors will close promptly at 9am. Pupils will not arrive via the main office, unless late. A late mark will be given to pupils who arrive after 9am and attendance daily is compulsory for all pupils. A polite reminder holidays are not permitted in the school term. Holidays and persistent late arrivals can result in local authority fines.
Pupils in EYFS will finish the school day at;
3.15-3.20pm Nursery pupils
3.20-3.25pm Reception pupils
3.30pm for Year 1 - 6 pupils
Healthy Eating and Dinners
We are a healthy eating school and ask that you send your child/ren with a he healthy snack for breaktime (year 3 – 6) and early years and key stage 1 will receive fruit.
For Year 3 - 6. Could you send your child/ren with a water bottle. Please do not sent pupils with fizzy drinks. As a school we promote the links between health, behaviour and achievement; it is about creating healthy and happy children and young people, who do better in learning and in life. Children and young people in Healthy Schools tell us that they feel healthier, happier and safer.
We are serving hot school lunches. In addition, you can purchase a sandwich lunch from the kitchen. This consists of a sandwich (cheese, tuna or ham), vegetable crudité, a piece of fruit and a biscuit). Please pay Dinners (£2.30 per day) on Monday Mornings via ParentPay for the week as normal. Arrears will not be able to be carried over. Therefore if 1 week is not paid the service will be stopped the week after.
Children in Reception and Key One will continue to receive universal free school meals.
Woodlands Wrap-around care Woodland Club.
This year we are really pleased to offer wraparound care. Breakfast club (£2.50) and after school club (£3.50) will open from 7.30- 9.00am in September and after school 3.30 – 5pm.
We believe it is important to offer this provision to our families to support working families, emergencies or to offer enrichment opportunities for pupils. We will also be linking with external clubs to offer high quality sports and social activities for pupils. The school is focused on being in the heart of the community, offering bespoke opportunities.
After school club will be based around themes- changed termly to represent innovative ideas to support the curriculum we offer in our school.
• Monday – Creative Art and Design
• Tuesday – Digital Warriors - Animation
• Wednesday – Whole School Project – Remembrance Day Development
• Thursday – EYFS/KS1 Multi-skills PE and KS2 tabletop games
•Friday – EYFS / KS1 Tabletop games and KS2 Sport
To book places for woodlands club please email the school office the week before unless an emergency occurs which of course we will always support. office@kidsgroveprimary.shaw-education.org.uk Please pay via ParentPay as we are a cashless school, and you will be invoiced. If arrears occur, the ability to attend wrap around will be stopped.
Curriculum Information
At Kidsgrove Primary School we believe that each child should receive a high standard of education that is broad, challenging, exciting and encourages creative thinking. We will be offering the children many internal guest speakers, experience days and trips linked to the subjects they are learning about. This is to allow your children to make connections and inspire their thinking.
Trips this term will be
Y1 – Local trips in the community – No cost
Y2/3 – Samuel Pepys into School / Ford Green Hall – More info to follow
Y3/4 – Stone Age Experience Day – More information to follow
Y5/6 – Hanley Museum for War Memorabilia, Remembrance Cenotaph, War Horse – National Theatre Streaming. Whole School –
Parliament Week 1st – 7 th November – with a trip for the elected members to the House of Parliament with Johnathan Gullis.
From this September, the pupils will also be having specialist music teaching and we will be launching our school band – with some instrumental teaching for parents to opt into for their children.
Reading
Reading is a key life skill which enables children to express themselves, communicate with others and access other areas of the curriculum. Reading books, planners and Bug Club log on details will be sent home next week. It is our expectations that all children read a minimum of 5 times per week. We will be monitoring this daily.
The reason we have focused so highly again this academic year on reading is
- Vocabulary learnt from reading leads to academic success. The more words you know… the brighter you are.
- A love for reading is important – to inspire and raise aspirations of pupils.
- Reading links to all areas of the curriculum. If children are not fluent readers; they will not understand the meaning of subjects and potentially could miss out on life changing opportunities.
Reading books will be categorised into 3 aspects.
- Children will have access to a book that is matched to their current reading age and phonics ability. These will be changed 1-2 x per week, dependant on how well they are doing and the length of the texts.
- They will also have an online fluency bug club account. These will have 5 books allocated those practices reading at a stage below their ability. This is to encourage confidence in reading and fluency. We will also focus on comprehension and understanding of the text. Fluency is the school priority.
- A love for Reading book – Non-fiction, fiction, poetry, a joke book or more. The choice is given to the pupils. This might need adult help to support them reading.
Support our school
On Saturday 11th September we will opening our doors to every parent of the school and the community of Kidsgrove. We invite every parent to come and see their children’s classroom, explore the digital opportunities, and speak to your class teacher. Food and drink will be on offer and lots more. We will have sport activities for the children to participate in. You could even pop and look at the secondary school who will also have a range of exciting activities taking place.
If you need to talk or discuss anything with us, we are always available. We will be out and about every morning and after school or ring or email the school office to make an appointment.
We also have the contact us on the school website that comes immediately to Myself and Mrs Johnson. Remember that you can dojo your child’s class teacher too.
Mrs Joanne Knowles, Executive Headteacher, jo.knowles@shaw-education.org.uk
Mrs Emma Johnson, Head of School, ebroookes@kidsgroveprimary.shaw-education.org.uk