Welcome to Bulletin #39

Here we are again. I’m writing this introduction in the midst of a very busy End of Year Celebration, the re-branded Open Afternoon. It has been great to see so many people in school and to have a chat with so many. I’ve enjoyed some lovely praise and some helpful, constructive criticism! What is apparent is that everyone knows we do our best; we’re not perfect but we try very, very hard in challenging circumstances and overall we have a school here that is the envy of most. And that’s down to the children, if you’re reading this, that’s most likely your children! All credit to them.

Thanks to all who attended the Fair, widely hailed as our best ever. It certainly raised the most most ever, approaching £3,000 at the last count. This all goes towards extras for the children, not covered in our actual budget. There was a fantastic community atmosphere. Well done to the Friends of Parkdale for the organisation and hard work.

Shortly before the fair, I’d had a very interesting meeting with our local MP, Michael Payne, about the crisis in school funding and the particular challenges we face here at Parkdale. As we keep shouting, your children are not being funded equitably with other children, even those in similar schools nearby. We’re scraping by and papering over the cracks. You can read more about that in the feature below. He is very empathetic, promises to take our case higher and comes across as a very passionate advocate for our neighbourhood and for state education.

Next week, we’re onto children’s reports (Friday),  the parents’ annual survey, Year 6 are on their residential, Year 1 are off to Crich and the cycle of Sports Days starts. Our Year 5 cricket team have the county finals to play in. Oh, and Year 6’s SAT results land on Tuesday – everything crossed for that.

Onto the bulletin…

Mr H

The start of transition week – we move into new classes!

Year 6 Leavers’ Assembly