Headteacher: Louise C Easton BA Hons Friday Newsletter 9th September 2016

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope all of our families enjoyed a happy summer and are looking forward to another busy and successful year at Clover Hill. I would like to extend a special warm welcome to our new reception children and their families; I truly hope that the next 7 years are a happy and rewarding time for you. I know by working together, we will have the greatest experience and the happiest outcomes!

We have enjoyed a fabulous start to the new academic year, the children have settled very well into their new classes and I have received so many positive comments from the staff. The children at Clover Hill are magnificent ambassadors for our school. I would like to welcome Mr Joab to our hardworking staff team. He is our Year 3 teacher, covering Mrs Eglington’s maternity leave.

Behaviour and Expectations: Rights and Responsibilities

We are extremely proud to state that behaviour at Clover Hill is exemplary. We all work extremely hard to ensure that at Clover Hill every child is: happy, safe and treated with respect. Everyone involved in the school has the responsibility to ensure this happens: pupils, staff, and parents. When pupils are having a negative impact on safety, happiness, learning or respect, then we follow a very clear behaviour policy with pupils and parents.

Home school agreement

I have enclosed a home school agreement for you to read, agree, sign and return. I would be grateful if you would take a few minutes to discuss the 3 sections of this form with your child and ask them to sign up to their promises. I feel it is extremely important to agree and share our expectations – school, parents, pupils, so we can maximise the learning and enjoyment for everyone at Clover Hill.

Meet the teacher afternoon: Monday 19th September – 3.20pm

Once all the children have been dismissed at home time, parents are welcome to visit their child’s classroom and talk to the class teacher. This is a great opportunity to find out how your child has settled into their new year group and a chance to ask any questions about routines and expectations. You should all have received a welcome letter from your class teacher explaining routines/expectations, homework arrangements, what your child will be taught this term and how you can support and help.

General dates for the term- more dates and more details will be sent home as the term develops

3/10/16: Maths workshop for parents. An opportunity to see how maths is taught across the different year groups 5pm - 6pm

18/10/16: Harvest celebrations with Father Barry (pupil assembly only)

21/11/16 and 22/11/16: Parent Consultation evenings

Charity Work

This term we would like to support: Tiny Lives, which supports the neonatal unit at the RVI. We will set up a fund raising event and the children will find out more about the wonderful work this charity does transforming lives in our local community.

School meals

We are operating our new 2016-2017 menu based on a 3 week programme. Menus were sent home in July and there is also a copy on our school website so please plan choices with your child in advance. School lunches for children in Reception/Y1/Y2 are completely free. However if you feel you would have triggered the normal free school meals anyway due to low family income please would you speak to the school office. Just by completing a simple form you might be eligible to have additional funding paid to the school for your child’s education.

Reception parents will also be invited to join their child for school lunch later in the term.

Dinner Money: KS2 Dinner money must be paid for in advance every Monday morning (it should not be sent in throughout the week.) The office need to complete all paperwork in time for our money security collection. Please appreciate; our school budget does not have the capacity to allow parents to accrue debts. The cost of a school meal is £2.00 per day; this can be paid weekly or on a termly basis. Cheques are preferred and should be made payable to GMBC.

General Reminders

Name labels: Please can we insist that all school uniform and PE kit is labelled. We had lots of lost property last year and want to ease the problem as much as possible.

PE Kit: Please will parents ensure their child has a full PE kit which is kept in school and sent home every holiday.

School Bags: Cloakrooms can get very congested so please can we recommend that children only bring small bags to school. Clover Hill Book bags and P.E. can be purchased from the school office.

Uniform: Please can I remind parents that our school uniform policy is extremely important and needs to be followed.

To avoid upset and embarrassment please can I highlight the following common issues:

  • No jewellery is permitted except for a watch. Please note that earrings- including studs are not allowed in school. Nail varnish is not to be worn
  • Hair styles- must be appropriate for young school pupils. We cannot accept tram lines, unusual haircuts and spiked or mohicantype styles.
  • Pupils must wear sensible black school shoes.

No nuts should be brought into school- eg peanut butter sandwiches or hazelnut cookies for packed lunches etc due to some of our children having significant allergies.

Parking: Parking bays in the car park, please keep free for staff use only.

Holidays in term time: I would like to remind all of our families that due to the legislation that came into force September 2013, I am not allowed to authorise annual family holidays. Parent work commitments cannot be highlighted as an exceptional/once in a school lifetime justification. Although I fully appreciate the difficulties many of our parents have getting school holidays and the associated inflated costs, I am simply not allowed to authorise on these grounds. If the request for a leave of absence is refused and the absence is recorded as unauthorised, the matter may be referred to the Local Authority. It is vital that parents are fully aware of the possibility of a Penalty Notice being issued and failure to pay could lead to prosecution in Magistrates Court.

From September 2015, the national persistent absentee category threshold changed from 85% to 90%. Therefore, any child who is off school for more than 10% in a school year (illness, medical appointments, leave of absence for any reason) will be categorised as a persistent absentee. If this happens, formal letters have to be sent out informing parents that their child is being monitored within this category of concern. I know our parents would like to prevent this from happening and will help us by monitoring their child’s absence closely; obviously genuine illness is unavoidable. Please find school term dates attached for 2016-2018

Safeguarding

Everyone at Clover Hill has the responsibility not to share photographs of our children via social media such as Facebook. Please be mindful that some parents have not given their permission to have their child’s photograph taken at school events.

Parent Governor Vacancy

A parent governor vacancy has arisen on our governing body.

The governing body is responsible for both the conduct of the school and for promoting high standards. The governing body carries out its role by setting the vision for the school and then ensuring that the school works efficiently and effectively towards achieving its vision. It does this by building a thorough knowledge of the school and its community, by both supporting and constructively challenging the school, and by ensuring accountability and compliance. The governing body of the school is made up of parent governors, staff governors, local authority governors and co-opted governors. Governors need not be experts in the field of education. What they do need is an interest in the school and in the welfare of our children and the time and willingness to get involved. The skills you have can be very useful to the governing body. Governors need to be able to build relationships with a range of people, be able to work as part of a team, be able to question, and to make connections between different types of information and to commit to regular after school meetings (usually about 2- 3 per term) Please contact me by Monday 19th September if you would like to be considered for the vacancy.

I hope your child has had a fabulous first week back at school. I am really looking forward to the term ahead. We have lots of excellent activities planned, building on the successes we have achieved so far.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns or matters you would like to discuss, I am more than happy to help in whatever way I can.

Best wishes and have a lovely weekend.

Louise C Easton

Head Teacher