February 2012 newsletter

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends,

February already! I hope you enjoy reading our newsletter.

Firstly thank you to all of you for sending your children to school on a regular basis. Our attendance figures are looking so much better already and there has been a marked improvement on last year's data. It is really pleasing to see, and a huge relief to us in light of the new Ofsted standards which gives Attendance almost an entire section of its own. Thank you must also go to Mrs Redman, our Attendance Officer, who has worked tirelessly on this with obvious impact. Please do all you can to support her by continuing with this good work.

Also on the good news front, we have been contacted by Broadway House Dental Practice which has informed us that they are currently accepting new National Health patients. If you require any dental treatment or you have not registered your children with a dentist, why not give them a try?

Some dates for your diary:

The Playing for Success course begins for some Year 5 children who will already have been notified. LATE NEWS - CANCELLED DUE TO TUTOR SICKNESS

Tag rugby after school for those involved; letters will go out soon.

Morpurgo class assembly. 2.30pm Parents very welcome.

Welcome back to Tracy Bowring who has been on maternity leave for the last year.

Year 3 children to Reckleford for a transition activity, working with next years Year 2's.

Andrea Bowditch, one of our local community police officers, will be working with our Year 6 children on actions and consequences.

Our Year 6 pupils will be weighed today.

DKS assembly at 2.30pm

We break up today for a week's holiday and return to school on Monday 20^th February. MONDAY 20^th FEBRUARY IS NOT AN INSET DAY FOR US!!

We will be holding our usual Pancake day making and racing. Please send your child into school with an old frying pan if at all possible so they can take part in the races. They will be making pancakes with the staff during the day. If there are any parents who would like to come in and help that would be wonderful.

Paul Nugent, Somerset Director of Services, will be visiting South Somerset schools to speak with Headteachers, pupils and staff. Grass Royal is very proud to be hosting the event. Our children will be preparing lunch and showing people around our school.

This is also the day that the Upper School will be taking part in a Roman workshop as part of their topic work and the year 5/6 Tag Rugby team will be travelling to the grounds of the Ivel Barbarians for a match.

It is Shakespeare's class assembly at 2.30pm. All parents very welcome.

A future date for your diary is Friday 2^nd March which will be Strong's Class assembly again at 2.30pm.

Cross Country

A big well done goes to the following children who took part in the Cross Country competition at East Coker last week. Jasmine Miller was once again the star of the show gaining 4^th place but all of the other children did really, really well. They were:

Troy Weir	Zahronne Edgeworth	Megan Eke
Isabelle Potts	Uttam Magar	Holly Williams
Hope Greenslade	Kushal Magar	Holly Tucker
Kaylie Lavender	Ariadne Swain	Jacob Manley
Sohie Stadden	Jacob Stafford	Jasmine Miller
Henry Field	Millie Talbot	Cassidy Booth
Hannah Bailey	Holly Cutts	Reece Bishop
Thomas Bailey	Tyler Williams	Annabelle Doye
Morgan Russell

Can I remind you that if you would like your Year 4 child to go to Kilve Court this year we require a £25 deposit by February 10^th February. Children in receipt of FSM funding can use their pupil premium to pay for their trip. Please see Mrs Bradford in the office and she will organise that for you.

I know these are straightened times financially for people but would ask you to understand that it is the same for schools as well. We are all facing budget cuts and it will get harder and harder to provide the services we have with less money. To this end I would ask that you please ensure that you are paying for swimming regularly. Currently we are owed £707.00. I cannot afford to pay this amount year on year, yet it is a statutory requirement to provide swimming for your children. Thank you in anticipation for your cooperation with this.

We have a lovely group of parents working hard for us all as part of our PTA. If you feel you could spend a few hours occasionally giving them a hand, please see Sarah Jennings. They are happy to continue to provide Fruity Friday for the children but we sense that there are fewer children bringing in the required 30p for a bag of fruit and/or 20p for a juice.

It may be an opportune time for you to have a really good look at the contents of lunch boxes. Certainly on a Friday if they have had fruit and a drink that can take the place of fruit in a lunch box. However, what we are seeing is more and more chocolate bars being put in, with crisps, sometimes two packets. Why not look at making some savings and making more sandwiches? We have some very big, hungry children in school who would benefit from lots of healthy food in order to ensure a longer and healthier life. Dawn Stringer, who runs our LET'S GET COOKING project in school, is available and very happy to give advice on how to feed children cheaply and healthily. She also spends a lot of time working with the children so that they can learn how to feed themselves healthily. There is a family SEAL/LET's GET COOKING project on February 9^th February; you are very welcome to join us along with your child.

Can I remind you that school begins at 8.50am and the doors close at 9.05am. Any child arriving after that time will be classified as late and that will go on their records. We are finding that a group of children are being dropped off much too early in the mornings and are standing alone on the playground, unsupervised and getting very cold and wet. The doors open at 8.30 but it is not a requirement that the children are here by then. If it is cold and wet they are better staying at home a bit longer.

WANTED URGENTLY

A crossing patrol officer. You will all be aware that Mrs Woodford left at the end of the summer term and despite valiant efforts we have not been able to replace her. If you are interested in the post please see Mrs House at Pen Mill at the earliest opportunity. Some training is required.

SWIMMING and PE

Can you please make sure that your child is coming to school dressed ready for the day ahead. We have large numbers coming to school in trainers, nail varnish and tattoos, and ear rings that are not studs. Ear rings are a real pain in swimming and PE as not only are they potentially dangerous, but they can come out and get stuck in the filter of the pool. If this happens we will be responsible financially. In these difficult times of employment, it is really important that our children learn about dressing appropriately for the task ahead. Please help them with this.

Bad weather arrangements

In the event of heavy snow, please contact the school to find out whether we will be open or not. There will be a message on the answer phone and a message posted on the website - www.grassroyal.co.uk. Local radio will also keep you updated. A decision will be made as early as possible by myself and Mrs House. As we are a large school, if limited numbers of staff can get in to school we will open for the children of working parents only. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Please find attached to your newsletter copies of some documentation that, as three schools together, we have been working on for the last few months. As Heads of Pen Mill, Reckleford and Grass Royal schools we are totally committed towards working together for the benefit of your children. The work we have done already shows the impact this has had.

In September 2011, 66 children settled into our school with no difficulty at all and this was due in no small part to the work of the staff at our two feeder infant schools. This year, we have worked even harder to get that transition right and we are optimistic that most children from Pen Mill and Reckleford will join us in September 2012. Please spread the good word.

As you can see from the Attendance handout, it is a very big issue for all three schools and one that we are committed to improving. Thank you to all of you for the efforts you have made. All three schools have improved their percentages substantially already.

Diversity

As some of you will be aware we have held a Racial Diversity day in school this week. A local poet came and worked with the whole school on celebrating the differences between us all in terms of race, religion and culture. It appeared to be very successful but of course we won't know how successful until we can honestly say that, as a school and a local community, we live harmoniously together. We would be most grateful to you, our parents, for your help with this as the greatest education happens at home. As a nation we are multi cultural and part of the European Union so we should celebrate all the strengths that we can bring to our country.

It is always worth talking to the children, particularly the older ones, about the law. It is against the law to make racist, sexist and homophobic comments about people; the consequences of doing so are serious and our children must understand that.

As a follow on from this workshop the children in the Upper School will be taking part in a "Respect" workshop. Again, this is to help the small minority of children who think that it is alright to answer back and strop around when things don't go their way. If there are any parents who would like to come in and work alongside their children we are very happy to accommodate you.

Our half term ends with the children working alongside our Community Police on the issue of consequences. This is a government funded initiative being brought into schools in order to help children understand what happens when they do something seriously wrong.

I would be interested in hearing your views on the work we are doing alongside the children and whether you can see any difference in them. We all need to remember that we are preparing them for their place in the modern world, a world where people of all nationalities, sexes and sexual orientations work alongside each other harmoniously.

A harmonious environment

On the subject of harmony we are becoming increasingly worried about the "Gossip" which occasionally does the rounds from a small minority of pupils and parents. We are working very hard with the children on this, as it is not a good quality and certainly not one to encourage. What is happening is that a person starts off a story with no evidence that it is true and then it gathers momentum as it does the rounds.

Thankfully those children and parents who show good sense stop it before it becomes serious. Sometimes, however, damaging information is spread around. The children know that to say things about people is slander but to write them down is libel and both can be serious, especially as they get older. Thank you in anticipation for helping your child to understand this and thank you to all of you who already make sure that your children know these things.

It only leaves me to wish you a very happy half term with your children and we look forward to seeing you on the 20^th February when we all return to school.

Judith Barrett

Headteacher

Posted: Tuesday, February 7, 2012