Fitbits in school

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are having quite a few issues with fit bits that children are bringing in from home. Over the last week before half term and already this week we have had a constant stream of emails with staff trying to support children in finding missing watches. We do not want to ban children from wearing watches in school but it is important that the team spend the time they have on teaching and learning rather than finding lost property. We cannot take responsibility for items such as this in school and it maybe worth considering that (especially the younger children) leave them to wear at home or over the weekends and holidays.

Many thanks,

Miss Cook

Headteacher

After school clubs for after half term

The after school clubs are now live on Parentpay for after half term. The clubs are as follows;

Monday- Year 3-6 Football and Year 4&5 Dance

Tuesday- Year 1&2 Football, Year 1-6 Gymnastics and Mrs Goodwin’s hockey club

Wednesday- Year 1-6 Basketball

Thursday- Year 1-6 Girls Football and Year 3&4 Performing Arts

Friday- Year 1-6 Dodgeball

Year 3 Update- 02.02.2022

Dear Parents/Carers of children in Year 3,

We are so appreciative of the patience parents have shown as we navigate through a very difficult time for our school with Covid and staffing.

The pressures are ongoing and we are trying so hard to ensure what we do has the least impact on your children.

We are going to gradually begin the process of merging the 3 classes into 2 as follows –

Miss McCullagh is thankfully now back and has plotted in a series of mornings/afternoons this week for the children to work with their new classmates and for some, new teacher.

Mr McFarland will be working across both classes at this time to ensure they settle in brilliantly.

Next week, the children will spend full time in their new classes. Now that they have started their transition sessions, the pupils in Mr McFarland’s class will receive a note in their diaries to let you know which class they will be in from Monday 7th February. This will inform you who their new teacher/ teaching assistant will be, as well as where to drop them off and collect from.

I am very confident in the abilities of the Year 3 team and know this process will run smoothly.

Thanks again for your understanding.

Miss Cook

Headteacher

Message from Miss Cook

27.1.22

Rising Covid cases

Dear Parents/Carers of children in Year 3,

We have got one member of staff and 8 children who are off having tested positive for Covid in this year group.

We are desperately trying to protect everyone and preserve the workforce so that we do not have to move any year groups to online learning, which of course is tricky for children, staff and for working parents.

As numbers are increasing in your child’s year group, we are asking you to please carry out lateral flow tests on a daily basis please for the short term.

We cannot insist this happens at this stage, as we have not reached the threshold for positive cases yet.  We hope you understand we would rather put in measures to prevent this from happening.

At this time we will trust you have carried out the test and only sent your child in if they are testing negative.

Many thanks for your support at this time, we absolutely know it is tricky for everyone.

Miss Cook

Headteacher

Newdale Primary School and Nursery

P.E Reminder

Just a reminder that for P.E. children need plain black or navy shorts or jogging bottoms or plain black or navy leggings (no logos) and a plain, white t-shirt. They also need trainers and a navy blue / black jumper / fleece for outside P.E.

This term, P.E. for Year 3 will take place on a Monday and Wednesday.

Kind regards,

The Year 3 Team.

Year 3 Update- 17.01.2022

Dear Parents/Carers,

Most schools across the country are dealing with significant absence of staff due to covid. We are in the same situation but have further challenges with staff absence linked to other reasons that have recently come to light.

We do not like to use supply teachers as we would prefer to use Newdale adults who are familiar to the children and also familiar with the systems and expectations we have in place.

We have looked really carefully at staffing structures and have had to make the difficult decision to merge Year 3 back into 2 classes from February half term.

Staff are already working hard on which children will join Miss McCullagh and which will join Mrs Pablos and Mrs Poole. Please rest assured that this team will ensure the children continue to thrive for the remainder of their time in Year 3.

Kind regards,

Miss Cook

Headteacher

Year 3 – Home learning tasks if isolating

Please see below for ideas for your child’s home learning should they receive a positive covid test result and feel well enough to continue learning at home. Please note that online lessons are not running as teachers will be teaching lessons in the classroom to the rest of the class. If your child is isolating at home, please use the tasks below as a guide for their home learning tasks.

-Complete their weekly spellings. Games such as Pictionary, scribble draw and roll and spell are fun ways to practice. These can be found on our year-group page.

-Access Times Table Rock Stars and Bug Club daily.

-Play Hit the Button daily – can they beat their score? https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

(All of these login details can be found in the back of your child’s reading diary)

-Complete activities on BBC Bitesize https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary

-Create a fact file about Africa. This should include a title page, interesting facts, where it is and the different animals that live there.

-Can you sketch some African animals?

Use the links below to help you;

https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/africa-facts.html

https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/earth/continents/africa/

Thank you,

The Year 3 Team.

Year 3 update 07.01.2022

Dear Parents/Carers of children in Year 3,

We have been delighted in the amount of progress your children have made this year so far.

We have announced today that Miss Clay in Year 6 is going on maternity leave after half term.

Due to our current staffing structure, Mr McFarland will be moving up into Year 6 for the rest of the year.

As a result of this necessary move, Mrs Bishton will be delivering Literacy and Numeracy in Mr McFarland’s class up until Easter, supported by one of our highly experienced HLTA team.

We always planned on merging the classes back together for the summer term, in readiness for them moving up as two classes into Year 4.

Please rest assured that the transitions with staff have been very carefully thought out and as always, we have the best interests of your children at heart.

Regards,

Miss Cook

Headteacher

After school clubs this half term

The following after school clubs are now live on Parentpay for this half term. All clubs start next week w/b 10th January unless stated.

Monday- KS1 Football

Year 3 Cartoon drawing club

Year 4 Dance club (starting on 17th January)

Tuesday- KS2 Football

Wednesday- Year 1 – 6 Basketball

Thursday- Year 1 – 6 Girls Football

Year 5 Drama club

Friday- Year 5 Dodgeball