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News and Letters

April 2024

  • Newsletter ~ April Week Four

    Published 26/04/24

    Dear families,

     

    We’ve been sent this link from the Early Education & Childcare Data Officer.  If you have a moment, please can you complete. 

    I am currently running a parents survey which is aimed at parents of early years children and those expecting a baby.

    As part of the sufficiency duty we are required to engage with parents to find out their experiences of childcare and what they need in future. This is particularly important at this time with the new entitlements coming in and we know that providers are struggling mainly due to funding rates and difficulties with staffing needs.

    Please could you share the below links with your parents and any other groups as appropriate so that we can get as wide a range of views as possible. The survey closes on the 12th May 2024. Once the results are analysed I will share the results with you.

    https://letstalk.staffordshire.gov.uk/embeds/projects/24643/survey-tools/34940

    https://shorturl.at/LUW18

    Year 4 Basketball competition  🏀🏅
    Yesterday, I took some of our Year 4 children to take part in a basketball competition against Co-op Academy Clarice Cliff and Co-op Academy Glebe.  We went to Co-op Academy Stoke, who host many PE tournaments for our KS2 children.

    The Year 4 children who went were split into two teams.  They played so well, showing great sportsmanship and resilience.  One of our teams came first and one of our teams came third.  A HUGE well done to Alice, Marcie, Alec, Peggy, Seth, Ben, Ronnie, Freddie, Charlie and Billy.  What superstars! They were so proud of themselves and were awarded amazing medals.  

     

    New parents / New children

    Over the next few weeks, you will see that we are advertising Friarswood in the local area.  The area itself had a low birth rate for children entering Reception in September.  This in turn impacts funding.  Many schools in the area have low numbers so we are not alone.

    The website has a link at the top where people can book a time to come and look around the school.  Please can I ask that you share this with family and friends.  Lots of you already share our wonderful stories and experiences which in turn has increased our pupil numbers.  Thank you for this.

     

    Pupil surveys    📋
    We’ve had the results of the pupil surveys, which are overwhelmingly positive.  It’s great to see the pupils showing such mature ways to describe what they enjoy about the school, what they appreciate and what they’d like to improve, which fortunately was very little.  We will start to work with the children on this and we’ll keep you informed too.

     

    Leaflet for families with older children

    I was sent this leaflet with some tips to support children leaving school / college.  You may find it useful. 

    Hopefully we’ll start to see some sunnier weather soon.  I know the children are desperate to go on the fields to play.  At the moment, they are extremely boggy which is why the tractors haven’t come to cut them.  The last we want is for a tractor to sink in the field!  Please can you bear this in mind with regards to sports days in a few weeks.  We’re keeping everything crossed that the weather improves so we can go on the fields.  If we need to cancel, we will try to do this with as much notice as possible.

     

    Have a lovely weekend everyone.

    Take care and stay safe.

    Mrs Wilmer

     

    Upcoming dates

     

    May Day

    6.5.24

     

    KS2 SATs

    13.5.24

    All week

    Early Years Sports 

    KS1 Sports

    22.5.24

    22.5.24

    9:15am

    1:30pm

    KS2 Sports

    23.5.24

    1:30pm

    May Half Term

    27.5.24

    All week

    INSET - children not in school

    Small & Tall closed

    3.6.24

    All day

    Father’s Day Lunch

    13.6.24

     

    Career’s Week

    17.6.24

    All week

    Read More
  • Newsletter - April Week Three

    Published 18/04/24

    Dear Families,

    In the next few weeks, you’ll see us advertising our school and early years places in the local community and just outside the local area.  Birth rates are low in the area which means that we have low numbers for our early years classes in September.  

    If you can help with advertising our school in any way, please get in touch as we really would like more people to know about what a great place it is.

     

    Mrs Rafferty
    As you will know, Mrs Rafferty is back from her maternity leave and is busy supporting writing and phonics across the school.  She will be with us for just this term as she will be back on maternity leave from the summer.  Miss Smith will continue to cover her maternity leave in Year 4 for this year and next year.

     

    Parent / Child survey
    We’ve had the results of the surveys through and they are overwhelmingly positive.  Thank you so much for this.  The leadership team will be going through the comments section over the next few weeks.  From this, we will put an action plan together and let you know what we’ll be doing to continue to keep Friarswood the brilliant school it is.

     

    Safeguarding

    We are sent a lot of communication from Staffordshire Safeguarding Board regarding County Lines due to our local area being close to the M6 junction.  Below you can find out more about this.  All children can be at risk of this, so please do take a moment to read.

    For Parents - What is County Lines?

    Grooming is often associated with sexual grooming, but as we all know the process of grooming can be used for a multitude of crimes where children and young people can be exploited.

    Internet Matters have put together a really useful guide for parents explaining county lines, how children are targeted, how children may be vulnerable and some resources/support.

     You can find the guide HERE.

     

    Have a wonderful weekend.

    Take care and stay safe.

    Mrs Wilmer

    Read More
  • Newsletter - April Week 2

    Published 12/04/24

    Dear Parents / Carers,

    Welcome back to the summer term.  It’s been so good being back and seeing everyone.  Thank you for all of the lovely well wishes.  My phased return is for another couple of weeks then I’ll be back full time.

    This week I’ve been going into the classrooms and catching up with the children, which has been lovely.  I’m so impressed with how much progress they’ve made since the last time I looked in their books.  I’m also amazed at how much some of them have shot up!

     

    Swimming
    Next week, Years 3 and 5 start back swimming.  

    The swimming gala is at the end of June, so part way through the term, some of the lessons will be dedicated to those Yr 5 & 6  children who would like to take part in this.  I’ll send you more details closer to the time.

     

    RSHE (relationships, sex and health education)
    Next half term, the RSHE curriculum will focus on growth and change.  The lessons focus on the body and in KS2 they begin to help children to understand puberty at an age appropriate level.  You can find more information about this in the policy on the website.  If you do have any concerns, feel free to contact your class teacher or Ms Cooper who is the RSHE lead.

     

    Useful online safety tips for parents 

    Follow the link for useful tips on keeping your child safe online  https://parentsafe.lgfl.net/  
     

    PTA
    I’d just like to say a big thank you to the PTA for all of their fundraising activities which they’ve planned.  I’ve spoken to some of the children and the staff about how successful they all were.  So thank you to the PTA members and everyone who supported these events.

     

    Have a lovely weekend.  Let’s hope it’s dry!

    Take care and stay safe

    Mrs Wilmer

    Read More

April 2024