Stay & Share – Wednesday 22nd April

We would like to invite you to our Stay and Share session on Wednesday 22nd April 2026 at 2:45pm.

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

Reception, Year 2, Year 3, Year 5 and Year 6 – enter via the playground classroom doors

Year 1 and Mrs Everall’s class – enter via the decking area

Mr Stubbs’ 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.

Please book your place via ParentPay, the event is free to attend. Places to be booked by the end of day Tuesday 21st April. 

We look forward to seeing you, and the children are excited to share their learning with you!

 

Donations to school fund

As a school, we are committed to ensuring that all our children continue to have a variety of opportunities to engage through a wide range of trips, visits and visitors. We believe that these experiences help to provide meaningful learning opportunities, as well as support children with their personal development.

As many of you may already be aware, as a school we subsidise our school visits using our own funds as well as money raised from school events. Although our budgets are certainly becoming tighter, we still appreciate that the cost of living has caused many families to also have financial concerns. Where we can, we will continue to contribute towards school trips so that parents are still not paying the full cost. However, our levels of subsidy simply cannot remain as high as they have always been in the past due to budget constraints.

We have a had number of parents who have asked if they could contribute extra amounts towards trips to support those in our school community who may be struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis. If you would like to do this,  please contribute via ParentPay. Every penny will go towards the trip costs.

We thankyou for your ongoing support.

Message from Miss Cook

Incident Update

Dear Parents and Carers,

I want to express my sincere thanks to the children for remaining as calm as possible and for following adult instructions so well today. I am also incredibly grateful to so many members of our local community who rushed forward to support us as we navigated a very difficult situation.

The teams at Newdale moved straight into emergency mode, acted calmly, and followed our procedures to the letter. The emergency services were outstanding and undoubtedly prevented the situation from becoming far more serious. We are extremely thankful for their swift and professional response.

At this stage, we are unsure whether Rock Road will be open tomorrow. Please consider alternative routes, including Brookes Avenue, and think about parking slightly further away and walking in if necessary.

To support this, we will operate a late register system tomorrow. There is no need for families to rush, as access routes may be limited. Children can arrive any time up until 10am without late marks being recorded.

We will be carrying out reassuring circle times and debriefs with the children, and we would appreciate your support in talking to them at home about the fact that school is safe and that we are very much looking forward to welcoming them back tomorrow.

It is never pleasant to have to put emergency policies and procedures into real-life action, but it is reassuring—for us and, we hope, for you as parents—that everything ran smoothly throughout the event.

Thank you so much for your support and for trusting us with your children.

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.

Miss Cook

Headteacher

 

Garden Volunteer

Newdale Primary School- Garden Volunteer Opportunity – 🌱

We’re looking for a friendly and reliable volunteer to help look after our small school garden between 1-2 hrs a week.

🪴 Tasks include:

  • Planting, weeding & watering
  • General garden upkeep
  • Helping keep the space safe and enjoyable for our pupils

This is a great opportunity to support our school community and work alongside staff and children. 🌼

Enhanced DBS check required

📧 Interested? Get in touch for more details by emailing Newdale.primary@taw.org.uk

Curriculum Governor Involvement

The Curriculum Governors met on 24th March. They spent time speaking with KS2 girls about Life Learning and were heartened to hear that pupils feel safe in school and have a strong sense of belonging at Newdale. Governors then heard an update from the ‘Stronger Foundations’ Associate Governor, who reported on policy developments and monitoring carried out this term.

They also worked with the Maths Lead, talking to KS2 pupils about their maths learning, and were pleased to see clear progress over time. Governors are keen to follow how the focus on ‘STEM Sentences’ develops over the summer term.

They were further reassured by feedback from recent external monitoring undertaken by the School Improvement Partner and two Partnership Heads. All external visitors recognised the calm, respectful learning environments across the school and the strong drive to support inclusion.

Finance and Personnel Governors Involvement

Governors who are part of the Finance and Personnel Committee met on 23 March 2026. They spent considerable time analysing the staff wellbeing audit results and identifying any actions required in response to the findings. Governors were very pleased to note that both teaching and support staff feel happy and safe working at Newdale.

The committee reviewed the draft staffing structure for the next academic year and agreed that the inclusion agenda should drive staffing decisions. Governors also approved a budget of £3–£5k to support the development of the newly established SEND provision for the coming year.

Easter Raffle

This year’s Easter Raffle is now live on ParentPay.

Tickets are £1 each and must be purchased via ParentPay. Please ensure you buy all tickets you would like as only one transaction can be made.

The raffle will close on Tuesday 24th March at midday and the lucky winners will be drawn on Wednesday 25th March.

Good Luck everyone!