We hope that you enjoyed the half term break and we are hopefully looking forward to the lighter days and warmer weather that this half term usually brings.

Parents Evenings

It was fantastic to see so many of you at the recent parents’ evenings. Please do remember that if you have a question or query about your child’s learning or time in school then you can contact us at any time. The staff in the school office will be happy to arrange a telephone conversation or meeting.

World Book Day

We will be celebrating World Book Day on Friday 3^rd March. This year we will be sharing and enjoying our favourite bedtime stories. With this in mind and to get us fully in the spirit, we will be having a pyjama day. Along with your child’s favourite PJs please make sure that they also have sensible footwear and will be warm enough as we will still be outside at break and lunch time. Further details will be shared in a separate letter.

Our book shop will be open after school this Friday (24^th February) in the school hall and also on Monday 6^th March for Infant and Tuesday 7th March for Junior children to be able to exchange their World Book Day tokens.

Industrial Action

The next planned date for industrial action by the NEU teaching Union is Thursday 2^nd March. We are confident that we will be able to keep the school open on this day for all children.

As things stand at the moment, it is likely that the school will close for some or all year groups on Wednesday 15^th and Thursday 16^th March due to the industrial action. Please make provisional arrangements for your children to be at home on these days. If for any reason the industrial action does not go ahead or circumstances change, we will inform you at the earliest opportunity.

For those parents who are critical workers and have no other alternative arrangements we will endeavour to provide cover for your children on Wednesday 15^th and Thursday 16^th March. This will not be their usual curriculum or classwork, it will be activity based sessions. If spaces have to be prioritised due to staffing levels and health and safety, priority will be given to those working in front line positions for health, social care, education and key public services. To request a place, a google form will available from Tuesday 7^th March which needs to be completed by going to the school website, click the parents tab and select online forms, or go to the notice board section, also on the school website. This form must be completed by midday on Friday 10^th March. Please only request a space if it is absolutely essential.

We will provide Breakfast Club and Kids Club after school as usual for the children of critical workers who attend routinely and these places should be booked in the usual way through Magic Booking. Online learning resources can be accessed on the children’s section of the school website or children may wish to use Education City during this day.

 Safeguarding

You will have seen that following a Local Authority review, we have changed the exit buttons on the pedestrian gates to an intercom system in order to make the school site even more secure for the children. At the present time, the main school gate exit intercom connects directly to the school and the Sure Start gate exit intercom connects directly only to the nursery. We are waiting for this to be corrected so that you will be able to select the school or nursery at each gate. We hope that this will be rectified very soon and in the meantime your patience is much appreciated.

Farewell

It is with sadness that we will be saying farewell to Jane Taylor our Home School Link Worker. Jane has supported children and families for 15 years as part of our Warren Park family and she will be very greatly missed. I am sure that you will join me in sending her our very best wishes for the future. Miss Danielle Read will be taking over the role of supporting good attendance and our Inclusion team will continue to support families with any Early Help referrals. Please contact Mrs Lofting in the first with any queries.

Cleaner Vacancy

We have a vacancy to join our cleaning team. This involves 2 hours a day between 4 – 6pm during term time with 2 additional weeks during the summer holiday. If you are interested in this post then please contact the school office.

Water bottles

Please make sure that your child brings in a water bottle to school every day. It is really important that the children remain well hydrated. We are happy for them to refill their bottles if needed but we are not able to provide water bottles for the children.

Dates

On Friday March 17^th we will be supporting the Red Nose Day appeal by wearing anything red. Donations to support this charity will be collected in class and at the school office.

We will be having an Infant (4pm – 5pm) and Junior (5.15pm – 6.30pm) school disco on Thursday 23^rd March. Further information will follow shortly.

With very best wishes,

Elizabeth Cooper

The children have made a fabulous start to 2023, settling back into school routines and their learning superbly.

Parents’ Evening

We are very much looking forward to seeing you at the Parents’ Evening sessions next Tuesday and Thursday. These are very important meetings as this is an opportunity for us to share your child’s achievements so far and how we can work together to ensure that they get the very best out of all of the opportunities that lie ahead this year. If you haven’t already made an appointment, I would urge you to do so by logging on to: www.parents-booking.co.uk/warrenpark

You can access the letter previously sent with all of the details about how to make an appointment on the school website or call the school office and they will be more than happy to help you book an appointment.

Join our Governing Body

Our Governing Body will be sending out an advertisement for a new parent governor. It is a fantastic way to get involved in the life of the school and to make a difference for our wonderful children and amazing staff team. If you are interested, please look out for the advert and come and have a chat with some of our existing governors at the Parents’ Evening. They will be happy to talk about the role and answer any questions that you may have. Please don’t let child care be a barrier as we will provide a free Kids Club place for attendance at governing body meetings.

Speech and Language

The way that we will be working with our Speech and Language Therapist, Sarah James, will be changing. In future she will be coming to work with us on a half termly basis to assess children and recommend programmes that our team will implement. We will continue to provide high quality support and intervention for any children with speech and language needs.

Industrial Action by the National Education Union (NEU)

The National Education Union have voted to take strike action on the following days:

Wednesday 1^st February

Thursday 2^nd March

Wednesday 15^th March and Thursday 16^th March.

It is likely that some or all classes will be closed on these days. We would advise that you make plans for these days and we will confirm school arrangements as soon as we are able to do so in an additional letter.

Art Competition

Very well done to everyone who entered the Art competition. The quality of the entries was incredibly high and the judges had the almost impossible task of choosing the winners. We hope that their prizes will inspire them to follow their artistic talent and enjoy becoming artists!

Attendance

The government introduced new attendance guidance for schools for this academic year to ensure that children are in school as much as possible following the pandemic disruption. We were delighted to be able to give out our gold, silver and bronze certificates to all of those children who have had fantastic attendance during the autumn term, many with 100%, which is brilliant! We have many rewards in school which are given out weekly for individual and whole class attendance as well as for the least lateness. Thank you so much for supporting us with attendance and punctuality because there is a very strong link between both academic success and happiness when at school for those who demonstrate high attendance and good punctuality.

We analyse individual attendance regularly and the government require us to put in place supportive measures for any child who has poor attendance. Our Home School Link Worker, Mrs Taylor, or your child’s teachers will get in contact if your child’s attendance falls below an acceptable level to find out how we can help. We want to help in any way that we can in order that any formal legal action can be avoided. By working together, we want to make sure that your child has the very best education possible during their time at Warren Park.

Ventilation in classrooms

I would like to reassure parents that we follow DfE advice regarding good ventilation in schools. This is managed very carefully during cold weather to ensure that classrooms remain warm and comfortable for the children to work in. During the pandemic the DfE issued all schools with CO2 monitors. This simply measures the CO2 that we all breathe into the air. It helps to signal if some fresh air through open windows may be needed and schools are expected to take a common sense approach to this. During cold spells this may mean that teachers open the windows to allow fresh air into the classrooms during break and lunch times. The guidance was originally issued to prevent Covid from spreading within the atmosphere. There is no issue or additional risk at school with ventilation and our approach is no different than it has been for a number of years.

Clubs

Please remember to look at our clubs list on the school website and sign your child up via the magic booking system. If you have any problems with this, please call the school office and they will be happy to help.

On the parents’ evenings, as well as being able to talk to governors, Mrs Lofting and I will be available in the main reception area if you have any queries or just fancy coming to say hello and have a cup of tea. We look forward to seeing you next week.

With very best wishes,

Elizabeth Cooper

As we approach the festive period, we are looking forward to seeing you at the Christmas concerts and fair. Last week we all enjoyed the Key Stage 1 and 2 Christmas lunches which are made so special by our wonderful kitchen and lunchtime teams. The hall was beautifully decorated and lunch with all the trimmings was enjoyed by the children and staff alike. It was also fantastic to be able to welcome the children back to our Christmas disco where they had lots of fun with their friends.

The children are very excited about sharing their singing with you at the Christmas concerts this week. Entrance will be by the side door near the library and the gates will open 15 minutes before the performance is due to start. The book shop will be available after each performance, providing an opportunity to find some great Christmas presents – all books are £1.50.

We would like to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has contributed to our Christmas Fair. We hope that you will be able to join us after school on Thursday as we will have stalls, face painting, a raffle (lots of prizes including £100 and £50 cash) and we are hoping to be joined by a very special guest in our grotto!

Friday will be a non-uniform day for the children.

We are very aware that the school community is anxious about Group A Streptococuss (GAS) infections. We will continue to share any further information that we receive but please do be reassured that we are being very vigilant in school and will inform you at the first sign of your child displaying any symptoms.

On behalf of all the staff at Warren Park Primary, I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing the children after the Christmas holiday on Tuesday 3^rd January 2023.

Elizabeth Cooper

We are fast approaching the festive season which is always a very busy and wonderful time at Warren Park. I have included the key dates for you again, with the addition of some Christmas party dates and also some other important organisation information.

Children in Need

This Friday (18^th November) we will have a pyjama day in school to support the BBC Children in Need appeal. The children can wear their pyjamas to school as well as embrace all things spotty. As they will still go outside for break and lunch time, it is really important that they are warm and have sensible footwear. All donations to the appeal will be very gratefully received.

Book and uniform shop

We will have our book and pre-loved uniform shop open in the school hall this Friday (18^th November) at 3.15 pm. This is the perfect opportunity to pick up some books for Christmas presents at the very reasonable price of £1.50. Pre-loved school uniform is available with items starting at 50p. Please do make sure that you have cash for this event.

Donations of pre-loved uniform are always very gratefully received. Please send items in with your children or drop them off at the school office.

Online Safety workshops

You will have received a letter from the COSMIC team regarding the Online Safety workshop drop-ins for parents. These sessions are for parents who might have some concerns about their child’s online gaming, need some help with setting up parental locks on digital devices or have any questions about games or apps that your children might play.

Lee Haywood is an online safety expert with a wealth of knowledge and expertise, he will be running all 3 sessions. Year groups will have Online Safety lessons with Lee during their COSMIC time.

The parent sessions will be in the school hall and we have allocated parents different days depending on the year group of your child. However, if you have children in several year groups then please just choose any day.

Monday 21^st November – Year R, Year 1 & Year 2       8:45 -9:30

Wednesday 23^rd November- Year 3 & Year 4                8:45-9:30

Thursday 24^th November – Year 5 & Year 6                  8:45- 9:30

The COSMIC team will also be available in person to discuss any other topics that are covered within in your child’s COSMIC sessions.

We asked for completed reply slips be returned to the school office by Wednesday 16^th November however, we will still accept them until 9.30 am on Thursday 17^th November (in the event that you do not have a reply slip, please phone the school office).

Inset days

On Friday 25^th November 2022 school will be closed for the children.

On Friday 23^rd and Monday 26^th June 2023 school will be closed for the children. (If these dates are secondary school transition days for Year 6 pupils, they will be expected to attend their new school)

Breakfast Club

Thank you to everyone who has attended Breakfast Club and for helping us to make a successful transition over to online booking. As we have previously indicated and in order to ensure that we can maintain offering the club, the governing body has made the decision that from January 3rd 2023 we will be charging £1.00 per child per day. Below are dates on which booking will open for the following half term. From December 7^th any bookings made for 2023 will include online payment for the club – no cash payments will be accepted.

Bookings for the following half term will open on:

Wednesday 7^th December at 5pm for Spring 1

Wednesday 1^st February at 5pm for Spring 2

Wednesday 22^nd March at 5pm for Summer 1

Wednesday 17^th May at 5pm for Summer 2

Wednesday 12^th June at 5pm for Autumn 1

We ask that you only use this service if it is absolutely required. Credits to the account for breakfast club will only be issued if a child is unwell and does not attend school. Bookings and cancellations can be made up until 24 hours before – 7.30am the day before the booking.

Christmas dates

Year teams will send out additional information where required:

Wednesday 7^th December      Year R, 1 and 2 Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper Day

Thursday 8^th December          Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper Day

Thursday 8^th December          Christmas disco for Year R, 1 and 2     4.00 – 5pm

Thursday 8^th December          Christmas disco for Year 3, 4, 5 and 6  5.15 – 6.30pm

Tuesday 13^th December         Christmas concerts: Infants 10 am / Juniors 2 pm

Wednesday 14^th December    Christmas concerts: Juniors 10 am / Infants 2 pm

Thursday 15^th December         Year R, 1 and 2 Christmas parties (party clothes worn to school)

Thursday 15^th December        Year 3 and 4 Christmas parties (party clothes not needed)

Thursday 15^th December        Christmas Fair 3.30pm

Friday 16^th December              Year 6 Christmas reward treat / Year 5 Christmas party

Friday 16^th December             Whole school – non-uniform / Christmas jumpers

Please note the change to the Christmas Disco timings as we have now decided to separate the infants and juniors into two different sessions. Tickets will be £1.00 (cash only) and we ask that children bring no more than £1.50 for drinks and sweets. All children must be collected by an adult from the school hall. Further information coming soon in a letter / reply slip.

A separate communication will be sent out soon regarding the ordering of Christmas lunches.

We will not be asking children to bring in food for the Christmas parties as we will provide treats in school.

We will have a post box for the children to post Christmas cards from Monday 5^th December – please ensure that cards have the full name of the recipient and their year group.

We are really pleased to be holding our traditional Christmas Fair on Thursday 15^th December from 3.30 – 5.00 pm in the school hall and we are hoping that you will be able to come along for some Christmas fun! We are asking for donations of bric-a-brac, toys, games, books and any other items that you may have as well as sweets, chocolates and biscuits for our Chocolate Tombola. Children will be rewarded with extra stamps on their Cheeky Charlie cards for their donations. If you know of any businesses who would be willing to donate a raffle prize, we would love to hear from them. Many thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the fair.

The staff at Warren Park would like to share our belief that Christmas is for the children and to this end, although we appreciate the kind gifts that are often given, we draw as much pleasure from knowing that your children are your most important priority this Christmas. Therefore, we ask that you don’t buy presents but share any messages you may have for the staff in a card or in person as your words are more valuable to us than anything else.

Parents’ Evenings

This year our Parents’ Evening appointments will take place on Tuesday 24^th January and Thursday 26^th January 2023 between 3.30 – 6.30pm. These meetings will be in person and will be booked using the online booking system. Further details of how to do this will be sent in a letter on our return after the Christmas holiday. Please also remember that your child’s teacher is happy to speak to you at any time so do not hesitate to make an appointment via the school office for an in person or telephone conversation.

We are really looking forward to seeing you over the festive season and celebrating together once again!

With very best wishes,

Elizabeth Cooper

Breakfast Club

Just a reminder that from Monday 7^th November 2022 breakfast club spaces will need to be booked via the Magicbooking system. In order that we can staff and resource this provision so that it can remain an enjoyable way to start the school day for your children, we will be limiting breakfast club to 120 places. We ask that you only use this service if it is absolutely required. The booking system is already open for this half term. If you have any difficulties booking then please do contact the office and they will be happy to assist you. We ask that you only book the sessions that you know your child will need. If a child does not turn up for 3 booked sessions and attends school, we will reserve the right to withdraw attendance at breakfast club. Bookings and cancellations can be made up until 24 hours before – 7.30am the day before the booking.

We are trialling the organisation of this booking system this term and will keep you updated of any changes that we may need to make. For now, our breakfast club remains free but due to the high costs that we are currently facing this is something that the governing body are reviewing for January 2023.

Poppy appeal

We are pleased to be supporting The Royal British Legion once again this year with their poppy appeal. We will be selling poppies in school for a donation as well as a number of additional items such as wrist bands which are priced between 50p and £1.00.

Thank you

Thank you so much for ensuring that your children have been in school ready for our new starting time of 8.45am. The register is taken almost straight away so that lessons can begin promptly. Arrival after this time must be through the school office and will be recorded as late. Since the loss of learning due to the pandemic, the government expects schools to monitor and challenge lateness. Thank you for working with us to make sure that your child/ren get the very best out of their time at school by being on time every day.

Children in Need

On Friday 18^th November we will have a pyjama day in school to support the BBC Children in Need appeal. The children can wear their pyjamas to school as well as embrace all things spotty. As they will still go outside for break and lunch time, it is really important that they are warm and have sensible footwear. All donations to the appeal will be very gratefully received.

Christmas dates

We will provide further information about Christmas activities later in the term but here are some important dates for your diary:

Wednesday 7^th December              Year R, 1 and 2 Christmas Lunch

Thursday 8^th December                  Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 Christmas Lunch

Thursday 8^th December                  Christmas Disco 4.30 – 6pm

Tuesday 13^th December               Christmas Concerts: Infants am / Juniors pm

Wednesday 14^th December            Christmas Concerts: Juniors am / Infants pm

Thursday 15^th December                Christmas Fair 3.30pm

We will have a post box for the children to post Christmas cards from Monday 5^th December – please ensure that cards have the full name of the recipient and their year group.

Safeguarding

Please can we ask for your ongoing support in keeping our site as safe as possible for the children especially at the beginning and end of the day. The gates are released at 8.40am and 3.05pm. At the beginning and end of the day we minimise traffic movement on our site and we kindly ask that you do not come on to the site before these times or release gates from inside to allow early access. Many children attend breakfast club in the morning and classes will still be engaged in PE or COSMIC activities outside until 3.05pm; we have a safeguarding duty of care to protect the children by minimising unsupervised adults on site. Please also ensure that you enter the school grounds via the pedestrian gates and not the vehicle access gates. Many thanks for your ongoing support with this.

Inset days

On Friday 25^th November 2022 school will be closed for the children.

On Friday 23^rd and Monday 26^th June 2023 school will be closed for the children. (If these dates are secondary school transition days for Year 6 pupils, they will be expected to attend their new school)

With very best wishes,

Elizabeth Cooper