Dear Parents / Carers,
Coats
Please can I ask that you send your child in with a waterproof coat. We try to get outside as much as possible as the children love a run around at playtimes. After lots of hard work, they need it too.
Attendance at school
As you all know, attendance at school is vital to ensure your child learns as much as possible so that they are prepared for the next stage of their life, whether this is moving to another year group in our school or moving onto another school.
Children who have regular time off school, fall behind with their learning very quickly which not only impacts on their academic learning but can negatively impact on their social skills and their behaviour as they recognise that their friends can do it and they struggle.
We want all children to achieve their best. To do this, they need to be in school and ready to learn.
If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance, please contact myself or Mrs Dean.
If we have any concerns about your child’s attendance, we will make an appointment so that we can discuss ways forward.
Swimming
Swimming starts next week for Years 3 and 5. We have got a lot of excited children and a few very nervous children too. Please try not to worry. We have many years experience of teaching swimming, supporting nervous children to make those first steps. It won’t be long before they’re swimming independently and having lots of fun.
National Fitness Day
On Wednesday, 20th September, all children need to come to school in their PE kits so that we can all take part in fitness activities throughout the day.
Small & Tall Holiday Club
Unfortunately, due to low numbers of children during the holidays, we will be closing the Small & Tall club during all school holidays. We’re aware that some of you rely on this club but due to financial implications we are unable to continue. We’re very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Have a lovely weekend everyone
Take care and stay safe
Mrs Wilmer
Dear Parents & Carers,
Welcome back everyone! I’ve managed to chat to many of you this week. It’s been lovely catching up with you.
The children have been a delight this week. I’ve been around the classes many times this week and the children have been focused on their learning activities and showing off their hard work to the staff. They’ve had so much fun playing on the fields with their friends.
On Wednesday, all of the children watched the NSPCC assemblies about ‘Speak out Stay safe’. Throughout the weeks and months, all of our children are taught about staying safe both in school and out of school. They learn about listening to each other and about the importance of telling a trusted adult if they’re unhappy about anything. This isn’t just about people they may meet face to face but what they may see online and whilst they’re out and about.
Our designated safeguarding lead (DSL) is Mrs Hartley who is based in the Year 2 classroom. I am the deputy designated safeguarding lead (DDSL). If you need to speak to us at anytime about an issue, please email us or call the school. You can also use the ‘report a concern’ button on the website.
bev.hartley@coopacademies.co.uk
lindsey.wilmer@coopacademies.co.uk
01782 470401
If there is an urgent safeguarding matter please contact the following:
Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board: 0300 111 8007
Police: 999 if a child is in immediate risk
PTA
We will soon be organising a PTA meeting for any parent interested in helping to support fundraising ideas and activities for the school. This is for new parents as well as parents already at the school. The more the merrier!
Mrs Hartley will be in touch soon via Dojo.
Mrs Ratcliffe
Mrs Ratcliffe has decided to leave her post as a teaching assistant to move onto a different career path. Mrs Ratcliffe will be missed by so many. We wish her well for the future.
INSET dates (staff training so school and Small & Tall will be closed)
6.11.23
22.12.23
3.6.24
22.7.24
I hope you all have a lovely weekend. I know we have some shattered children in school today, so you may have a peaceful weekend!
Take care and stay safe
Mrs Wilmer
Dear Parents/Carers,
It’s certainly been an eventful school year with so much to celebrate including a really positive Ofsted inspection and achieving the Quality Mark in Career’s Related Learning. All year, the children have been learning about skills needed for various careers along with learning about a wide range of careers too. We will continue with this next year as this really has helped to raise aspirations as well as helping the children to think about and recognise their own talents and skills.
Today we say goodbye to our Year 6 children, many of whom have been with us for 7 or 8 years. We have watched them grow, develop and flourish into the amazing people they are today. They take with them a wealth of knowledge and understanding not just academic but social and personal too. We wish them continued success on their learning journey throughout high school and beyond. They certainly have the foundations to achieve all of their dreams.
As well as saying goodbye to the Year 6 children we also have to say goodbye to some of their families who have been part of the school for many years. Thank you for your support over the years. Without this support, the children wouldn’t have become who they are and we wouldn’t have had such lovely relationships and enjoyed so many successful events together.
We say goodbye to Mrs Mahmud and Mrs O’Hara who have been our supply teachers in Year 2 and Year 3. Thank you to them for supporting the children, helping them continue with their learning and becoming part of the Friarswood family.
I have some good news to share, Mrs Rafferty had a baby boy at the weekend. He looks beautiful! We can’t wait to meet him.
This week the children have been learning about where they will be coming into school from September onwards. They will be coming in by the library door and they’ll go to the Year 3 classroom by themselves. They are very excited about this. I’ll be on duty as usual so if parents are unsure, follow your child or just come over to me. The children definitely know what to do and where to go.
Safeguarding
A reminder of what to do should you have concerns about a child over the holidays.
If a child’s life is at immediate risk, call 999 immediately.
If there is a potential risk of harm to a child, call Staffordshire Children’s Support and Advice Service as soon as possible on this number 0300 111 8007
Thank you to everyone from the staff for the many cards with such lovely words in and for the gifts. It’s so thoughtful of you – thank you.
I wish you all a fantastic summer holiday. I hope the weather improves!
I look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Tuesday 5th September (remember 8:45 for early years and 8:40 – 8:50 for KS1 & 2).
Take care and stay safe.
Mrs Wilmer and the Friarswood Team
Our Key Stage 2 classes have all taken part in this year’s summer show which was a much loved performance of Mary Poppins. They were just brilliant! In fact they were practically perfect in every way! The singing was fantastic by all as was the acting. You could tell that they loved the stage! A huge well done to our confident juniors for a fabulous show that we all have enjoyed watching! Also a massive thank you to our staff who have been so dedicated to get this year’s summer show as wonderful as it was, and another big thank you to our parents who have supported this with costumes and coming along to watch. What a great way to celebrate the summer term. #SucceedTogether #BeYourselfAlways
I have to start our newsletter with an enormous amount of praise and congratulations to our KS2 children and team. Their performances of Mary Poppins have been incredible. Such amazing acting and singing from everyone. The confidence and bravery of the children who stood on the stage and acted out their parts, some of whom had many, many lines, was outstanding.
From the fabulous voice of Layla-Rose to the clear cockney tones of Emma and Thomas; all of the children really gave their all.
A huge thank you to the staff who have spent hours and hours getting the props ready, leading rehearsals, going through lines with children, practising the singing and organising all of the music. They really have done us all proud.
A huge thank you to the parents who got the children kitted out with such amazing outfits.
What a success!
Well done to our Year 6 children who achieved lots of success in their SATs. They worked so hard, not just this year but throughout their time at Friarswood. To all the parents who have supported and to all of the staff who have taught these children – a massive thank you for helping them to achieve so much, not just academically but personally and socially too. What a superstar class!
The summer holidays are just around the corner and we know that this can be a particularly challenging time for some families who may already be struggling.
With this in mind, if at all possible we would like to invite our pupils and staff to donate items which we will deliver to The Alice Charity Food Pantry, these donations can then be used to support families in our local community through a tricky time over the six week break. Donations can be sent into school from Monday 17th July to Friday 21st July 2023. There will be food donation drop off boxes on the entrances and exits of our school or donations can be handed in by the children to their class teachers. Thank you for ay support you can offer with this.
If you find that you need help for your family during the holidays, The Alice Charity is there for everybody and they can support without a referral. If you’d like further information, contact; info@alicecharity.org or call 01782 614838
We had our Summer Fayre on Friday. We were very lucky with the lovely weather and we had lots of families come and join us! There was so much going on like the bouncy inflatables, sumo wrestling, a soccer shoot out, hook and duck, a coconut shy, lucky dips and not to forget everyone’s favourite, the bottle and teddy tombola! We had live music, an ice cream van, pizza, a food van, cakes, sweets and so much more! Everything was very popular and it seemed to be a very busy event with many happy faces. We would like to say a big thank you to the PTA and everyone else who helped to make this the success that it was and thank you to everyone who came along to spend the evening with us. #SucceedTogether
Last Friday, Years 5 and 6 had such an exciting day at Keele University. They took part in a range of activities in the science labs including using microscopes to look at daphnia and shrimp. They made and tested rocket cars. Looked to see what was actually in owl pellets – some children loved finding the skulls and bones of the owl’s tea! And they learnt about animal and flower cells. We even had the chance to look at 3 week old bats which had fallen from the tree. One of the scientists is qualified to look after the baby bats until they can be returned back to their roost so we were really lucky for this rare opportunity.
Last Friday we had a really exciting afternoon. We welcomed visitors into school for our Career’s Fair with Years 5 and 6. The children had the opportunity to ask lots of questions to a range of people. They found out about the skills needed for the different jobs, what qualifications you need and they learnt about how passion is so important to make a career successful.
We then had the Year 6 ‘Fiver Challenge’ stalls. Year 6 had the opportunity to create their own mini business. They were given £5 and then had to come up with their own business idea. They had to create their idea, market their idea and then sell it. All of the groups were successful. They all made a profit, some made a great deal of profit.
It was so good to see their success.
Thank you to Miss Coleman and all of the parents that supported this valuable project. It’s definitely one we will do again next year.
Thank you so much to everyone for taking part in this event. It’s so important that our children learn about the many different people in our society and know how to show kindness to all. We have many families that make up our wonderful school. Taking part in this Pride event has helped to strengthen our Friarswood family.
Well done to the gala children. We won plenty of races, which was so exciting. We had some tough competition this year, with other schools having county swimmers in their teams. Overall we can 2nd! What a super effort from Emma, Ezra, Vlad, Ruben, Imogen, Florence, Anna, Mila, Jack and Isla.
Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th are the last days of swimming this year. Our children have made so much improvement with their swimming skills. They have learnt about many water safety issues too. It’s been a pleasure to watch the children have so much fun and progress so much. Well done to all of the children who have taken part.
Small & Tall will be closed on Monday 4th September due to staff training. They are still taking bookings for the Summer holidays. It is open Tues-Thursday for the first 4 weeks of the holidays. Please email fria.small&tall@coopacademies.co.uk if you need a place.
Midshires/Kitchen are having an American themed menu for 4th July next week. Waffles and ice-cream are also available for dessert as well as the Key lime jelly.
PTA – Bring a bottle
Thank you to everyone who has supported today. The Summer Fair looks like it’s going to be such an exciting event. The PTA are busy working on all of the last minute arrangements. Without their enthusiasm and commitment, our children wouldn’t receive all of the extra treats as school budgets just can’t afford them anymore. Thank you in advance for your support.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Take care and stay safe
Mrs Wilmer
Please report any absences on the first day of the absence to Mrs Dean on 01782 470401 (please leave a message if I am not in the office) or email angela.dean@coopacademies.co.uk .
If your child has sickness/diarrhoea they do require 48hours symptom free before they come back to school.
Co-op Ways of Being
Be yourself always
Succeed together
Do what matters most
Show you care
Our Year 5 and 6 children had a fantastic opportunity to take part in our very own careers fair on Friday afternoon. This was a great chance to see what kind of jobs there are to aspire to. The children showed a great interest in many career paths and asked a lot of questions to find out more! This was the first careers event we have held and it was such a success! We can’t wait to hold the next event, it was amazing to see the children light up with the thought of the many choices that they could take in their adult lives. A huge thank you to everyone who came in to school to inspire the next generation. #SucceedTogether #BeYourselfAlways
On Wednesday 5th July, we will be having our ‘move-up’ morning. Children will come into school as normal, they will have their register then will move to their new class to meet their new teacher ready for September. Below is a list of staffing for September:
Nursery – Mrs Tagg & Miss Goodwin
Reception – Mrs Williams & Mrs Rushton
Year 1 – Mrs Elkin (Monday, Tuesday & alternate Wednesdays), Mrs Harris (alternate Wednesdays, Thursday & Friday) & Mrs Bebbington
Year 2 – Mrs Hartley & Mrs Ratcliffe
Year 3 – Mrs Dickens (our new teacher and SENDCo)
Year 4 – Miss Davies (covering Mrs Rafferty’s maternity leave for the whole year)
Year 5 – Miss Coleman
Year 6 – Mrs Sharman
Mrs Shaw, Mrs Oliver and Dr Fletcher are the TAs who will support across KS2
Mrs Hughes is our cover supervisor, so will teach in most of the classes at various times of the week.
What a lovely week it’s been. It was great to see so many Dads in school yesterday for the Father’s Day lunch. Thank you for all of your comments, I’ve passed them to the kitchen staff.
