Congratulations on your first full week in Reception!

Dear Reception,

We are so incredibly proud of you all for completing your very first full week in Reception. Throughout the week, we have seen you striving to follow our school rules, sharing with your friends, using kind words, playing beautifully, making the grown ups smile and laugh, taking on new challenges, learning new routines and brightening up our classrooms. We are so excited for our year ahead with you all! We are so lucky to have you in our classes.

This week you have been busy bees, so make sure you have a good rest, but lots of fun too this weekend.

We can’t wait to see you on Monday!

Love from all the teachers in Reception :)

Safeguarding, Health & Safety Governor Involvement

The Health & Safety Governors met this week and began the meeting with an escorted tour of our SEND provision rooms. Mr McFarland explained the purpose of each room and the different resources available within these learning environments.

Following the tour, governors reviewed the new Use of Reasonable Force policy, along with the accompanying reporting documentation. They then considered the Local Authority Safeguarding Audit Report and discussed the next steps arising from its recommendations.

The RoSPA playground report was subsequently analysed, and discussions were held regarding site manager cover while the current postholder is absent on health grounds.

Governors also enjoyed carrying out a ‘spot check’ with a randomly selected member of staff. This time, the focus was on the Pastoral Manager, Mrs Byrne-Corbett. Governors were highly impressed with her knowledge and understanding when responding to some challenging questions posed by the Lead DSL.

Governors went on to approve several key policies before concluding the meeting by analysing the Summary Report prepared by the school’s SIP.

Reception to Year 6 Stay and Share a Story – Wednesday 23rd September 2026

We are really looking forward to welcoming you to our Stay and Share a story session on Wednesday 23rd September at 2:45pm.

Please enter your child’s classroom through their usual drop-off/pick-up route:

Reception, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5 – enter via the playground classroom doors

Year 1 and Miss Curtis’ class – enter via the decking area

Mr Jackson’s class – enter via the stairs by the Visitor Car Park

Playground gates will open at 2:45pm.

Due to limited space, we can only accommodate one parent/carer per child. Please confirm your attendance through ParentPay, so staff know how many parents to expect.

For this event, the children will remain in their classrooms. If you have more than one child in school, you will be able to move between classrooms and spend time with each of them individually. The event is free to attend.

We look forward to seeing you, and the children are excited to share a story with you

Newdale Team

 

Read, Write Inc Filming School Consent – KS1

Dear Parents and Carers,

For over four years, Newdale Primary School has successfully embedded the Read Write Inc. phonics programme across the school. We are delighted to share that, this year, Newdale has been selected to become a Read Write Inc. filming school.

As many of you will be aware, your children receive QR codes which enable them to access additional phonics videos at home. These videos are provided by Read Write Inc. through an online platform and are designed to support children’s learning at home. There are also videos on this platform that are used for professional development for all staff to ensure that phonics provision remains consistent and of a high quality.

Throughout this academic year, selected children will have the opportunity to participate in the filming of phonics videos. These videos will form part of the Read Write Inc. online platform and may be used to support children and teachers in schools across the country.

We are particularly proud that Newdale has been recognised by the Ruth Miskin Read Write Inc. team for the high quality of our phonics teaching and provision. Being selected as a filming school is a wonderful achievement and reflects the commitment of our staff and pupils to developing strong phonics knowledge and reading skills.

The children will be bringing home a parental consent form, which provides further information about the filming project and the activities in which children may be invited to participate.

We kindly ask that you read the information carefully, complete the consent form and return it to school by Monday 14 September 2026.

Thank you for your continued support in helping us to develop our children’s reading and phonics skills.

Yours sincerely,

Newdale Team

 

Reception Baseline Assessments

Reception_baseline_assessment_information_for_parents

We are really pleased with how well everyone has settled in at school! Everyone is working so hard already.

At the beginning of Reception, as we get to know your child, we will be carrying out an assessment with them, to ensure we recognise their strengths and areas we can help them develop over the year. These assessments are informal, play-based and carried out 1:1 with us. We look at a range of activities, including Speaking and Listening, Literacy and Maths skills using lovely resources such as toy bears, pictures, cards and shapes.

We wanted to ensure you are aware of these assessments that are expected to be carried out in the first six weeks of term (which happen in every school nationwide as a government initiative ) and may also like to read the information booklet attached from the Standards and Testing agency.

Reception PE – Wednesday and Friday

The children are very excited for their first PE lesson in Reception tomorrow. A reminder our PE days are Wednesdays and Fridays.

The children come to school dressed in their PE kit for the day. They need their navy tops and jumpers, as well as their navy or black joggers or shorts. Please ensure the children are wearing their trainers too.

Mr Bryant, our wonderful Crossbar coach, is very excited to meet our Reception classes tomorrow!

A brilliant first week for Reception!

A brilliant first week for Reception!

You completed your very first week of school Reception and we couldn’t be prouder!  ⭐️
You have all been a pleasure to get to know this week and we are looking forward to welcoming you for full days next week. Don’t forget you can have your free school dinner starting on Monday.
We sent home your child’s first Home/ School communication book today so please take a look for some new messages inside, along with a school storybook to share with you over the weekend. Please use this communication book to record when your child reads at home and also to share any important messages with us as we will check the books daily so do please bring in everyday.
The decorated Learning Journey covers we have received so far look wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to complete.

Thank you for the family photos emailed in so far. They look great and the children have enjoyed spotting you on our class displays. If you haven’t sent a family photo in yet, then please can you send one in to add to our display. We will print them in school so it just needs to be emailed in.
We hope you have a very well-earned rest over the weekend and look forward to seeing you again on Monday.

The Reception Team.

 

Site Manager Update

Dear Parents/Carers,

I would like to let you know that our much-loved Site Manager, Mr Thomas, will be spending some time away from Newdale while he undergoes some medical treatment and attends a number of appointments.

Mr Thomas is hoping to return to school as soon as he is able, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him back when the time is right.

In the meantime, arrangements have been put in place to ensure the smooth running of the site, and members of our current staff team will continue to be on gate duty each morning and afternoon.

I am sure you will join me in sending Mr Thomas our very best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Kind regards,

Miss Cook

Headteacher