Welcome to DSJ Weekly!
We are nearly there - and I'm sure our families can't wait for the big day on Monday! 🎅
It's been a lovely, busy term at Dodworth St John's. My first term as Head here has been a bit of a whirlwind, but thankfully I've had wonderful people around me to make it special. Not least the children. I feel like I say it all the time, but it bears repeating: they really are a delightful bunch. They are kind, polite, and always smiling. I am particularly thankful for that at this time of year. It is an exceptionally busy time of year in schools and it does make a real difference.
I'd like to say a personal thank you to all of our families. Starting at a new school, particularly as a Head, is a bit of a daunting challenge, but you have made me feel very welcome and for that I am so grateful. As I said early on in my time here, schools work best when working together with families for the benefit of children, and I feel that we are certainly off to a good start in that respect!
We are really looking forward to the new year in school. On that first week back, I will be launching our Ready, Respectful, Safe behaviour initiative, and I'm really excited to see the children embrace this as they have the Dodworth Pledge. My aim is that all children can speak confidently about what it means to be well-behaved and what it means to attend Dodworth St John's; it's a special place, and we want children to be proud of attending their school!
Speaking of behaviour, I'd just like to say how much the children have impressed me over the last couple of weeks. Christmas is a very unstructured and exciting time for children, but to say they have taken it in their stride is an understatement. This was demonstrated really well at the Church this week as we attended our Christingle service. We had a great turnout and, as I said on the day, this demonstrates what a wonderful community we have here.
All that remains for me to say is that I hope all of our families have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for your continuing support, and we will see you when we return on the 8th January!
Mr Smith
I am blown away with how our community has come together over the festive period and given so generously at the various events we've had going on.
Thank you to our PTA who have worked ever so hard to make events such as the Christmas Fayre and Tuck Shop happen. Thank you as well to Mrs Barber and Mrs Nash for organising and attending our choir event earlier in the week. I know that the residents of Water Royd home were absolutely enchanted by their visitors.
I am pleased to announce that over the festive period, we raised:
£753 at our Christmas Fayre
£92 from our Tuck Shop last week
£67 from our choir collection earlier in the week!
Amazing amounts that will make a real difference to our children. Again, I'm blown away by the generosity you have demonstrated - thank you.
We have seen an improvement in our attendance figures recently, which is great to see. Consistent attendance at school is the biggest thing that can be done to improve the life chances of any child. While things like illness cannot be avoided, we really do appreciate this, so thank you to all of our families!
Thank you again for all your generous donations to school via our Amazon Wishlist. The children have really, really appreciated having lovely equipment to play with at play times and at other times of the day.
The wishlist can be found here. Thank you again.
On our first Monday back, we will be introducing the new behaviour initiative called Ready, Respectful, Safe. The aim of this is to ensure that we have a visible and easy-to-remember means of reminding children (and for them to remind themselves!) of the expected behaviours in school. Along with this, we will update our behaviour policy to reflect this approach.
Similar to the Dodworth Pledge, the posters below will be popping up in and around school in the near future:
As a part of this, we will be sending out postcards in the mail to children who have consistently demonstrated the Ready, Respectful, Safe way, or who have gone above and beyond. If you see one of the following in and amongst your mail, it means your child has really stood out to us for their behaviour:
Please see Mrs Wood's termly SEN newsletter below:
Please see the new school menu below. Images best viewed in landscape mode on mobile devices
Our remaining INSET days for this year will take place on:
Monday 19th February
Monday 22nd July