Amalgamation - update

Most of you will now be aware that the proposed amalgamation has now been confirmed and that there are now specific tasks which we need complete in order for the process to be finalised. The fist of these was to appoint the headteacher. I am pleased to confirm that my position as headteacher was approved by the governing body last week. I am looking forward to the new challenges and want to assure you of my total commitment to developing a school where high expectations and standards are the 'norm' for both children and staff.

On Monday 19th March the Governing Body at the Infant School will be meeting to approve the new school name and the new proposed staffing structure. You will have seen that each child who will be present in September has been given a chance to design the school's new logo. This will be judged by the staff and children from both schools and will be used for the new school uniform. The staffing structure proposed has been developed to enable quality first teaching as the driving force and main priority across the school. The proposed model will support both teachers and children to be the best that they can be.

The new school is set to open on September 5th 2018 as we are planning 2 INSET days at the beginning of the new academic year to ensure that everyone and everything is fully prepared to welcome you all to the new primary school. Therefore you all have a few extra days at the end of the summer holiday to make the most of.

Parking

I am sure that 99% of our parents and carers park and drive in a courteous manner. However, the 1% that does not is causing great distress to our neighbours and endangering lives. I do not have any power to monitor parking, but have recently reported cars to the police via their number plates. I do not enjoy doing this as it reduces the time that I have to spend on my actual job of trying to raise educational standards across our two schools. Therefore can I please repeat my request that everyone parks and drives respectfully so that our neighbours are happy and our children are safe.

Monitoring of Standards across the school

The school has been recently visited by our Standards and Effectiveness Partner Mrs Sharon Jones and I have included some of her comments from her visit:

Action: Enhance writing opportunities in outdoor provision for Reception

A 'writing shed' has been set up outside with the appropriate resources to support the development of writing. A larger shed has been ordered and will be located near the large chalk boards to encourage children to write on different surfaces using a range of media.

A visit to the Reception classrooms confirmed that a number of learning opportunities are being carefully planned o support the development of fine motor skills. Activities such as threading a range of subjects and cutting were available. The 'creation stations' had writing materials readily available so that pupils could write about what they planned to make or how they created their models etc.

Adults scaffold the play alongside the children on Fridays, modelling how the children could make best use of each learning opportunity in the following week. This also provides an opportunity for quality interactions and also provides the opportunity for the adults to model language and the use of specific vocabulary.

Action: Ensure expectations are consistent across classes re non-negotiables (Yr1)

Changes have been made to staffing within Y1 - Hedgehog Class by drawing on he expertise of existing teachers. A new teacher will be joining the school team in April. Leaders have clear plans in place to ensure consistency in expectation and the quality of teaching.

Action:Consider marking with a specific focus in mind. (All)

Scrutiny of pupil books demonstrated that all teachers were marking with a spelling focus in mind as requested. Spelling were noted in the margin and pupils would copy these into their word log. There are always used when pupils are writing. Staff reported that pupils are reminded to use their word log when writing ensuring that words previously spelt incorrectly are then transferred correctly into their writing.

The English subject leader (Miss Tuck) has worked effectively with staff to implement actions as a result of the writing review in November. An in-depth analysis if work sampling and the monitoring of planning have been carried out in Year 2.

Books from across the school demonstrate that pupils are being given many opportunities to write for a clear purpose in a range of styles. Stamina writing was evident in all books with some years groups producing significant pieces of writing which have been completed over a number of sessions. Cross curricular writing is clearly having a positive impact on pupils interest and engagement with writing.

We are pleased to be able to share our progress with you as well as to offer you reassurance that despite the recent staffing changes in Year 1, the school has a clear direction of what is required to support the children from this point onwards.

During the spring term the infants and junior staff have already begun to work more closely together and we are looking forward to continuing this in the summer term. The junior school is saying farewell to Miss Purdy and to smooth the transition Mrs Faircloth will now be sharing her dedicated leadership time across both schools to support the provision for children with special education needs. To secure high quality teaching from Sept 2018 we will also be busy working on the restructure and recruiting highly effective class teachers to further develop outcomes for our children.

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs Trudi Sammons

Headteacher