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Happy New Year !
Welcome back and a very Happy New Year to you all!
I hope that you have all had a 'restful' holiday over Christmas and the New Year (seems like a long time ago?) and that you are ready for a new term. The children have settled back into their routines well and learning is off to a great start in 2024!
This newsletter is the same format as the previous newsletters, but we are going to revert to a PDF for the dates list and will email it separately. This is easier for us to manage, easier for you to read and also means you can print it to view at home if you wish to.
Great Park Academy News
The work on site for GPA has now started. The school building will be directly behind us, on the other side of our field and the access to the site is through our site. This was known before we were built, but it was originally anticipated that GPA would be built before us.
We have worked with Galliford Try, the constructors of GPA, to ensure that the building process causes as little disruption as possible to Havannah First and we will continue to liaise with GPA and Galliford Try throughout the process. We outlined some of the impact in our last newsletter. The gates will be managed during the building process and personnel will be on site from the end of January to manage access and traffic on site. We are also erecting a fence between our pavement and the internal road. This will be temporary fencing to begin with and will be replaced with a permanent timber fence during the Easter holiday. There will be no site traffic allowed through our site at drop off and pick up times and large traffic at other times will be closely managed when on site. There is also a wheel wash to be installed on the GPA site to minimise the muck and mud on our own internal road.
We have asked for the on site traffic management to begin ASAP and at the very latest this will be in pace at the end of the month.
Please remember that we will not be allowing parents and carers to park in the bus turn/hammerhead part of our site during the works and starting before the end of the month. This will minimise spaces available so please use the Park and Ride if you can.
I know that many of you are very excited to see the start of the new school after such long delays and uncertainty. Many of our children will be the future pupils of GPA and we know that they too will be very interested and excited to see the school grow before their eyes! We also have a representative from Galliford Try coming into school soon to talk to the children about the building project.
School Safety Zone and Parking
Since moving to our new site, we have liaised with Northumbria Police and other partners to try and make the area around our school safer and we have informed all parents and carers that they should park safely and in line with the restrictions, with an emphasis on the School Safety Zone. The SSZ is the area immediately around schools where there are double yellow lines, yellow zig zags and other signage/markings which have been designed to reduce the risk of an accident. SSZs are statutory for every school and are there to protect our children.
Last week, when the police were present on Primrose Lane, the area was much safer for our children and was how it should be every day. Please use the Park and Ride, walk, scoot or cycle to school if you can. If you are parking in nearby streets, please do this in line with restrictions and without blocking drives or access for residents. We spend a lot of our valuable time talking to residents who ring school to complain about parking.
Thank you for your support - and huge thanks to the parents and carers who travel sustainably, who park safely, who drive safely and who think of the needs and safety of the school family and the local community every time they make a journey to or from the site.
Lost Property
Thanks to everyone who managed to claim some lost property this week. Anything which we have left over is now going to the pre-loved uniform stock or to charity.
Please label EVERYTHING! Mrs Whatnell has the superpower of reuniting lost items with rightful owners - especially when things are labelled!
A New Era for our PTFA
We are looking for a new PTFA committee.
This is an opportunity for parents and carers to shape a new PTFA for our school community. We have emailed you a separate letter and some information. Please get in touch if you interested - without a committee, the PTFA events and all of the fundraising will not be able to continue...
Thank you to our current committee who have done a great job for several years and raised money which has benefited every child in school. The information which we have emailed shows the money raised and the expenditure this year. There will be more information in the annual accounts at the AGM and this will be later published on the website.
Please read the information which we have emailed - and most importantly, please get involved if you can!
School Council Update
The School Council has been really busy already his year. Their latest initiative has been to introduce games to the learning pods at playtime. Other children can join in at playtime if they are interested. This is very helpful for children who might feel that the yard is a bit too fast and busy or those who love to play quieter games with their friends!
What a great idea - thank you School Council!
Age Ratings and Games
We know how difficult it can be to stop our children from playing the online and electronic games which their friends are playing. However, you should be aware that every day, we see the negative impact in school when children play games which are designed for older children and which have a higher age rating. This includes talking about violence, mimicking games which inevitably lead to someone being hurt, threatening others with language and actions from games and using inappropriate language. Mostly, this comes from playing games with a 12 or 13 rating, such as Fortnite. Please think carefully about which games your children are playing, look at the recommended age ratings and support us in keeping our children safe.
We have sent out information several times about age ratings and managing children's online and gaming time. The link below explains what the different age ratings mean. We regularly talk to the children about this in school and it is a significant part of our computing curriculum. Please ask us if you need support or further advice. Thank you.
Frosty Mornings!
Please be aware that on frosty and snowy days, the path around the car park and to the side of school are gritted, but there could be areas on site which are slippy underfoot. We don't have the capacity to grit all of the car park so please be careful when stepping out of your vehicle and making your way to the path.
We do have a gritting Policy which is on the website and this explains where we grit/clear ice/snow snow in different weather scenarios.
Please take care!
January 2024 Gallery
We have been so busy and had so much fun already this year...