Weekly Newsletter – Wednesday, 21 November 2018

Park Community School

Key Dates for 2017 - 2018
Mon 4th Sept and Tues 5th Sept / School closed for INSET days
Wed 6th Sept / Breakfast club starts at 7:45
Wed 6Sept / Term starts at 8:30. Gates close at 8:45. Finish at 3:15
Wed 6th Sept / Stay and Play starts
Mon 11th Sept / Clubs start
Thurs 14th Sept / Maths mathematics parent workshop at 5pm
Mon 18th Sept / Meet the Year Three teacher; Mr Collins at 5pm
Tues 19th Sept / Meet the Reception teacher; Ms Angus at 5pm
Wed 20th Sept / Meet the Year One teacher; Ms Hilinska at 5pm
Thurs 21st Sept / Meet the Year Two teacher; Ms Greenfield at 5pm
Fri 22nd Sept / Year One trip to Morden Hall Park for science trip
Tues 26th Sept / New Reception parents open morning at 9 - 10
Wed 27th Sept / Head’s vision – school priorities for the new year at 5pm
Tues 3rd Oct / Year Two trip to the Roald Dahl museum (back at 4pm)
Wed 4th Oct / Year Three trip to the Wimbledon Tennis Ground
Wed 4th Oct / Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative in school to work with Reception through to Year Two
Thurs 5th Oct / New Reception parents open morning at 9 – 10
Tues 10th Oct / Parents evening (early from 1:00 for Rec to Year One)
Wed 11th Oct / Individual class photos
Thurs 12th Oct / Parents evening (early from 1:00 for Years Two and Three)
Tues 17th Oct / New Reception parents open morning at 9 - 10

Reception Graduation

Reception graduation was a great success on Wednesday! Well done to Ms Hilinska and the EYFS staff for organising such a great event. The children are leaving Reception as confident, happy children who are more than ready for their next phase of learning. On behalf of all the parents and staff, we would like to say a massive thank you to Katie and Polly who made the brilliant reception gowns, sorted the balloons and made the event such a special, memorable one for the children. The gowns can be reused for the children next year. Thanks to all the other parents who helped and to those of you who brought food in for the children to share.

Ofsted report and end of year results

You will have read the recent Ofsted report, but if you have not, you will find a copy on our website. We were pleased with the outcome and what has been achieved this academic year. Please find the data outcomes that will be published by the DfE. The children have achieved impressive results this results this year, with improvements across the board compared to the previous academic year. We look forward to continued success next year.

Reception data:

Area / 1516 results / 1617 data / National average
At or above / above / At or above / above / At or above / above
Reading / 79% / 20% / 88% / 42% / (77%) / Not published
Writing / 72% / 14% / 88% / 42% / (73%)
Number / 72% / 21% / 88% / 42% / (79%)
GLD / 69% / 7% / 88% / 38% / (69%)

Phonics Year One Data:

1516 results / 1617 results / National average
81% / 90% / 81%

Year Two Data:

1617 results / National average
At or above / Above / At or above / Above
Reading / 78% / 43% / 74% / 24%
Writing / 61% / 26% / 65% / 13%
Maths / 74% / 35% / 63% / 23%

Summer Fair

We raised £922 last Saturday which was a splendid result! Thanks as ever to the brilliant PTFA, without whom none of the fun would have happened. We will keep you informed about how the money will be spent in the new school year.

Winning House

Well done to all children in St George’s who were the winners of the house competition! Great team work! St Andrew’s earnt 850 points, St David’s earnt 204, St Patrick’s earnt 788 and St George’s earnt 875.

Year One Trips

Year One have some fun trips organised next year, starting with a visit to Morden Hall Park, observing changes across the seasons. Later in the year, Year One also have a trip booked to the Natural History museum where they will listen to story tellers who will relay stories about animals in their habitats. Reception and Year Three also have some exciting trips planned and we will tell you more in the new year.

Pupil Premium Offer

I am delighted to say that the Governors have agreed to increase the offer that Pupil Premium (PP)children receive to one free Stay and Play session (as was the case this year) to also includes two other free clubs each week. This will ensure all children can enjoy and participate in a range of fun after school clubs. Breakfast club is also free every week for PP children.

Reading volunteers

If you are keen to volunteer next year, we are always looking for willing volunteers. Please let the office know if you need a DBS check so we can get you started ASAP.

Stay and Play, Breakfast Club and After School Clubs

From September Stay and Play is split into two session

  • Session One: end of day to 4:30 £6 (£4 siblings)
  • Session Two: 4:30 – 6:00 £6 (£4 siblings)
  • Session One and Two £10 (£6 siblings)
  • Late fee is £20 per 15 minutes late (6:00 is when charged).

Breakfast Club and Stay and Play will resume on the first day back (Wednesday 6th September). Please also remember that due to budget cuts, we are no longer able to provide snacks for Stay and Play, instead children have to bring in their own healthy snack. The other after school clubs will start during the second week. Please remember to sign up ASAP as places are limited.

Meet the teacher meetings

Please see the dates section above for times and dates when the Meet the Teacher sessions are running in September.

Sainsbury’s vouchers

We received 5888 vouchers which has amounted to a great deal of new sports equipment for the children to play with. Thanks for helping with this.

Reading Challenge

Please sign up at the Morden Library to partake in the Summer Reading Challenge if you have not already done so. Keep up the reading during the summer break. All the teachers will be sharing their favourite summer book with the children when they come back and we would love to hear from the children about which book they loved reading!

Year Two’s Roald Dahl trip

Ms Greenfield has organised a fabulous trip to the Roald Dahl museum for the Year Two children next October to link with the BFG visual literacy unit. The children will travel by coach to the Roald Dahl museum in Buckinghamshire. Just a pre-warning that the cost of the trip is £33 so if parents wish to pay a few pounds each week to stagger the cost that can be arranged. Please remember trips are free for PP children. The children will also be visiting the Florence Nightingale museum in the autumn to link with their history topic. Sounds like Year Two have an exciting year ahead!

Mathematics Mastery

We are delighted to be launching the Mathematics Mastery programme at Park in September. The programme will be running in Reception and Year One and it is an excellent scheme which will enable teachers to truly embed mathematic skills very effectively. Ms Hilinska will be leading mathematics across the school next year and she will be running a workshop where you can learn more next year. Please find a flyer attached which explains more about the scheme.

New play and lunch arrangements

From September, the Courtyard will be used for a calm play and reading space at break and lunch time. This will allow some children to choose a different type of play but it will also ensure that the playground spaces are less congested. We will review this arrangement after the first few weeks.

School day

As you will recall, the school times are changing in September. The gates will open at 8:30 for a soft start and the gates will close at 8:45. At the end of the day the children will be brought out from 3:15. Please remember that we finish at 3pm on a Friday.

Sports Day

The children enjoyed the Sports Day yesterday but it was a shame about the miserable rain! We did manage to get some races in, but next year we hope to have more, including a race for staff and parents! Thanks to those of you who came along to support the children on the day. The gold medals went to Massimo and Ameena in Reception, Max and Avalina in Year One and Dylan and Anaisha in Year Two.

Air Cadets Space

Work is starting soon in the air cadet’s space near the playground. We hope to be able to share the space with them around January.

100% attendance

Well done to the following children who attended school 100% of the time this year: Ladi, Angela, Aryan, Max, William Galloway and James. Well done also to Ms Greenfield, Ms Hilinska, Ms Trevedi and Mr. Shea who also didn’t miss a day of school! Great effort all of you!

Our overall school attendance this year is 96.05% and the percentage of persistent absentees (children who attend less than 90% of the time) was 7.06%. National average for whole school attendance is 96% and PA is 8% so we are above national in both categories. This is a significant improvement from the previous academic year; whole school attendance for 2015-16 was 93.6% and persistent absentees was at 15.4% which put us in the top 10% of the country for poor absence. I am glad that things have improved significantly in this regard. Please remember holidays taken out of term time cannot be authorised. Here is the attendance per year for this academic year: Reception class: 96.7%, Year One is 95.97% and Year Two is 95.26%.

Stars of the term

Well done to the following children for be awarded the Star of the Term award: from Reception: Mathilde, Nancy, Devon, Pantelis, Theana, Noori and Tommy. From Year One: Paetyn, Ryan and Jake. From Year Two: Ben, Aisha, Ashley and Rares. Miss Street’s special award went to Olivia, Ella and Ashley.