Welcome to this week’s bulletin
A busy week in school. We have had the Safeguarding team in from Trust HQ doing their regular inspection and check-up. It’s all gone very well: all procedures are in place, as is all documentation and records; all adults have completed the full range of expected training (there’s a lot of it!) and annual refreshers, communication has been identified as a real strength, as has pupil voice and pastoral support. The fantastic behaviour and values of the children, an important part of Safeguarding, has also been noted.
Next week, we have the full-monty; what is called our Partnership Review. A full team from Trust HQ, including two trained Ofsted inspectors, looking at absolutely everything! It’s like Ofsted but there’s more of them, it lasts longer and it’s much more detailed and deep. We’ll let you know how it goes!
Firstly, a thank you from us. We know we nag about attendance a lot, so we ought to recognise it when it’s going really well. Attendance since we returned has been very, very good indeed, getting us and the children off to a great start. Thank you.
Another thank you – with a couple of notable, extremely reckless exceptions, both reported by us and some parents to the Police, parkling at drop off and home time has also been really considerate. The yellow lines and zig-zags have largely been respected, leaving the pavements and crossing much clearer and making it safer for everyone.
And another! Thanks for all the lovely feedback about the redevelopment of the playground. It has cost us a good chunk of money and getting it planned and completed involved a lot of extra work for some staff, including some of us being in for almost two weeks of the summer holiday. The children love it and we’re glad to hear that you do to!
Many of our Year 3 and 4 children have had a night under canvas down at Colwick Park this week. The weather could have been kinder but equally could have been worse! The children (and staff) have been amazing and the feedback from the providers of the outdoor activities – includinga camp-fire, kayaking and orienteering – has been absolutely glowing. We might look at moving this to May next year,not especially for the weather, but more so that it is not such a rush after we return in Septemeber, for staff and families. We have also realised that we ought to have sent out a reminder with the key information last week. We’d sent out the big downloadable information pack at the time of booking, but appreciate that another reminder might have been welcomed by some last week. Duly noted. Remember, we try our best – if we miss something, email, phone or ask/remind us directly – we’ll always try to help. https://parkdale-primary.co.uk/year-3-and-year-4-camps/
Clarification here of the policy for collection of children, most notably the age that siblings may collect/accompany young bnrothers and sisters. We’d considered relaxing this, as a few families had asked us to look into it, but have been strongly advised by our Trust and the published guidance of the NSPCC not to do so. The long and short of it is that nothing has changed! https://parkdale-primary.co.uk/collection-policy/
The new digital reading diaries – being trialled in Years 2, 5 and Reception – seem to be going well: https://parkdale-primary.co.uk/digital-reading-logs/ and https://parkdale-primary.co.uk/digital-reading-diary/
Pupil Wellbeing Survey: we’re following up on the end of year survey with a shorter, more focussed survey on wellbeing. We’re asking questions such as “Do you enjoy school?”, “Do you feel safe in school?”, “Do people treat you kindly?” and so on. We intend to pick up with all children exhibiting any negative feelings to see if there is anything we have missed or if there is anything further we can do to make them feel better. If your child is one of these, you’ll be notified. We’ll also let you know (via here) the outcomes more generally and if there is anything we need to change more widely.
Term Dates 2024-25: These are now confirmed: 2024-25 School holidays
For the attention of parents/carers of children attending Tuesday or Thurday Football training: https://parkdale-primary.co.uk/shin-pads/
For the attention of parents/carers of Year 6 re PE kit and the option to bring in a change of clothes on damp days: https://parkdale-primary.co.uk/y6-pe-kit/
A reminder that children are not permitted to wear earrings or studs for PE lessons for reasons of health and safety. We ask that they are removed and left at home of PE days. An alternative is that they are covered up with a sticking plaster, but that must be done either at home or by the child. We are not permitted to apply plasters other than by agreement for medical purposes.
Have a lovely weekend everyone – the weather looks set to be decent – and we’ll see you next week…