Weekly Newsletter 19th april 2024

Welcome to West Meadows Weekly!

I wanted to start this week by celebrating our attendance in school which has shown real improvement since our return from Easter, especially this week. One of our greatest barriers to our children achieving their full potential is poor attendance and as each school day is so busy and full of learning, every day really does count. Each week we celebrate the class who gets the best attendance and they receive a reward, such as extra playtime. We also celebrate our children who achieve 100% attendance each term by awarding Bronze, Silver and Gold badges. Our children who achieved 100% last term will receive their bronze badge in assembly next week while those who have 100% for the year so far will get their Silver badge! Look out on Twitter for celebrations of those children with super attendance next week.

Parent Forum:

Thank you to those parents who attended the first of our parent forums. We would love more parents to be able to join our next meeting in Summer 2 on Monday 17th June at 2pm. At our first meeting we discussed a range of issues including special mention and reading rewards, communication with parents and packed lunch policy. After each meeting we will send out via email the areas discussed and any agreed actions from the meeting.

Reading Awards:

At West Meadows, we are passionate about ensuring that all of our children leave us being fluent and confident readers. Children should read at home regularly and have their reading record signed by a parent/carer. Each week we celebrate a Star Reader from each class in our Special Mentions assembly. This could be someone who has improved how much they are reading at home; someone who has produced great work in a reading lesson; someone who has shown improvement in their reading; or someone who has confidently read to the class or a group with fluency and expression. To help parents and carers understand why we award the reading certificate each week, we are changing our certificate to give the reasons for their achievement. Thank you to the Parent Forum for this suggestion!

Dogs' Trust Workshop:

The Dogs’ Trust will be coming into school on Monday 29th April to carry out workshops with children throughout the day. These workshops will teach children all about how to treat dogs and be safe around them within the community. They will not be bringing any dogs into school on the day – except some cuddly ones!

Headlice:

We continue to have a number of cases of headlice in school. Can we please ask all parents to ensure that they regularly check and comb their children’s hair. Thank you for your support.

Relationships and Sex Education:

In the summer term we deliver the Relationships and Sex Education part of our curriculum. Parents of Year 6 pupils should receive a letter explaining what will be taught in this year group. For all other year groups, you can take a look at our RSE policy on the school website which explains what it taught in each year group. If you do have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to myself or your class teacher.

Adult Digital Learning Session:

On Monday 22nd April at 9am - 10am we will be hosting a digital skills session for parents and carers on ‘How To Keep Your Children Safe Online’. Please come and join us. We look forward to seeing you there. You can now sign up for this under clubs in the arbor app.

Sports Days:

Sports Days this year will be at the following dates and times. If it does rain and the event has to be cancelled we will endeavor to move it to the following week at the same time and date. Parents and family are welcome to come and cheer the children along.

Tuesday 2nd July - F2 at 1:30pm

Wednesday 3rd July - Y1/2 at 9:30am and Y3/4 at 1:30pm

Thursday 4th July - Y5/6 at 1:30pm

Friday 5th July - Nursery at 10:30am

Thinking Differently Course:

Thinking Differently Course is for parents and carers for children with identified social communication and interaction needs.. A diagnosis of autism is not required. Please speak to Miss Jobling to get Melanie Booth's email address to secure a place. An additional course has been added and is running on Tuesday 18th June 9.30-12 noon via Teams.

Attendance Matters!

Every Friday we will celebrate our children’s achievements, both in school and at home, including their attendance in school. Good attendance is vital for your child’s education and means they can make the most of all aspects of school life. We really need your support this year to raise our attendance. If you need any help or support please come and see Mrs Maree. You can see your own child’s attendance for the year and the last 4 weeks on the Arbor App. An attendance of 97% or above is considered to be good attendance.

Last Week's Attendance:

F1 AM (incl 30 hours): 93.5%

F2: 94.8%

Year 1: 94.1%

Year 2: 96.7%

Year 3: 98.1%

Year 4: 96.3%

Year 5: 94%

Year 6: 96.3%

Congratulations to this week's winners, Year 3 !

Diary Dates:

22nd April - Adult Digital Learning Session 9am, Community Room

26th April - Treat Tuck Shop

29th April - Dogs Trust workshops

2nd May - F2 Eye Tests in school

6th May - Bank Holiday Monday

13th May - Year 6 SATS week

13th May - Mental Health Awareness Week. Including Virtual Assembly

20th May - Endangered Species Theme Day

22nd May - Year 4 Drama Workshop (Road Safety)

24th May - Break up for Spring Bank

20th June - Drama Festival Performance – The Academy Theatre