West Town Lane Academywtl.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/newsletter... · We are pleased to...
Transcript of West Town Lane Academywtl.academy/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/newsletter... · We are pleased to...
West Town Lane Academy WHERE LEARNING IS AN ADVENTURE
Welcome Welcome back to the new academic year and one of some
significance for us as our cohort of 90 children has reached
Year 6! This means we are now completely full, including our
wonderful new Ladybirds class, with almost 700 children in the
school.
We are pleased to welcome a few new staff- Mrs. Gillett is
joining the nursery team, Miss Chandler in Reception, Mr.
MacLeod in Year 1, Miss Coombes in Year 2 and Miss
Matthews in Year 3. We also have a number of new lunchtime
and facilities staff to complement the teaching team. Take a
look at the website wtl.academy for more information on our
staff and the variety of roles they undertake.
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Clubs
A list of clubs will be coming out next week, including a return of our Streetdance club and new clubs such as ‘Newsround’.
Wrap Around
Please go to the website to book places in the Breakfast or After School clubs as we do have spaces. The ‘drop in’ breakfast club is still available for children in Keystage 2 from 8.30, and for parents to grab a coffee or bacon roll!
Vacancies
We have two vacancies currently- one as a play worker in our Breakfast and After School Club, the other on our lunchtime team. Please see the office for details and an application form.
Free School Meals All children in Early Years, Years 1 & 2 are automatically
eligible for a school dinner at no charge each day. This is part
of the ‘universal free school meals’ scheme.
However, some families are entitled to Free School Meals due
to low income/ on receipt of certain benefits. It is really
important you check your entitlement, as it then also entitles
your child to additional tuition in school, assistance with costs
for clubs or trips, music lessons and so forth. Check your
eligibility here:
https://efsm.bristol.gov.uk
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WHERE LEARNING IS AN ADVENTURE SEPTEMBER 2017
Uniform
The majority of children are in excellent uniform on their return to school. Please make sure they
wear correct uniform each day (with their name in it) including black shoes or trainers. Children
are allowed to wear stud earrings and a watch, but no other items of jewellery please. Our PE kit
is a white T Shirt and black or navy shorts (children should have tracksuit or outer layer for winter).
Holidays
Our attendance has improved incredibly over the past few years, with the
majority of our children in school for over 96% of the time. However, we
continue to have families taking holidays during term time or
disappearing for periods of unexplained absence (and often then
returning with a suntan). May we politely remind you that holidays are not
permitted within term time, and that other suspicious periods of absence will result in an
investigation and possible penalty notice.
Caremonkey
Approximately 75% of families are now registered with Caremonkey (new Early Years parents will
receive an email in the next couple of weeks to register). This is an important system for us as it
holds all the medical records for children but is also the method of communicating information
about trips and visits. Please register or see the office for help (we know there were a few
problems setting it up!).
Don’t forget we are on Facebook- we have an open page which will
advertise events and generic information (no photos) and a closed group
with lots of photographs from school. You need to be ‘authorised’ to join and there are a couple
of questions to answer regarding your link to the school, but it really does show you what is going
on.
EYFS outdoor area
The Early Years outdoor space is not a ‘cut through’ for families in the morning as the area is set
up with learning activities for children, so please use the various gates around the perimeter to
get to the playground or use the path adjacent to the field. We appreciate families with a child in
Year 1 AND Year 2 may be slightly late as it takes time to walk round, but otherwise the older
children can walk straight to class if you need to drop off at Year 1. Early Years parents should use
the rear playground to wait before dropping off at the EYFS gate.
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WHERE LEARNING IS AN ADVENTURE SEPTEMBER 2017
Dates
September 11th – Swimming begins for Year 6 12th- Y6 Information Meeting 14th- Y1 Information Meeting 18th- Y3 Information Meeting 19th- Y5 Information Meeting 21st- Y2 Information Meeting 28th- Y4 Information Meeting 29th- Coffee Morning
Information Meetings
We are holding meetings for all year groups starting at 3.30pm (see above for dates) so that you
know what is going on in your child’s class and the expectations for the year ahead. The teachers will
also be handing out booklets for each year with all the key dates as in our last questionnaire you said
this was something we could do better at! Please try to attend if you can, but otherwise we will get
the booklets to you after the meetings so you have the necessary information.
Menu
The school menu will continue until the October half term break. Copies are being given out to the
Early Years classes, but a copy of the menu can also be found on the website. The food is all
prepared on site by a great team of people using predominantly local suppliers, well worth £2.25.
Walking home
Some of our older children have permission to walk home on their own from their parent/ carer. Now
that we started a new year you may have changed your mind about whether your child is able to
leave school without an adult being present. A short permission request will be sent out by
Caremonkey by the end of the week to families with children in Year 3 and above which will require
you to simply say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to allowing your child to leave school on their own. Any child without a
specific permission will not be allowed to leave and you will need to arrange an adult to collect them.
Macmillan Coffee Morning
We will be holding a coffee morning on 29th September in the Discovery Rooms in aid of Macmillan.
Our coffee mornings are usually very well attended, raising money for charity but
also giving you the opportunity to talk to staff. We sometimes ask for donations of
cakes, but on this occasion the school staff will supply them.
October 3rd- Reception Information Meeting 2.30pm 9th- Y5 Architecture Workshop 9th- 3D visit ‘We the Curious’ 10th- Parent’s Evening 3.30-6.30 11th- 3H visit ‘We the Curious’ 11th- Parent’s Evening 3.30-5.30 12th- 4B class assembly 13th- 3M visit ‘We the Curious’ 13th- 4C class assembly 18th- Break up