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Newsletters

March 2026

  • Newsletter ~ March Week Four

    Published 27/03/26

    Dear Families,

     

    Thank you to everyone who came along to our Easter celebrations.  We’ve had lots of fun today admiring the Easter bonnets as well as being amazed by the fabulous creations with the eggs.  Well done to all of our winners.

     

    Today we say goodbye and good luck to Mrs Hartley, who is leaving teaching after nearly 21 years.  We will all miss her so much and wish her all the best for the next chapter in her life.  There have certainly been a lot of emotional children and staff.  Lots of wonderful memories have been shared and I’m sure those of us that have worked closely with Mrs Hartley will hold onto the many special memories that we each have.

    Thank you to everyone who has sent in a lovely message.  I know that those kind words mean the world to her.

     

    After Easter, we’re thrilled to announce that Mrs Williams (Early Years Lead) will be our new Assistant Headteacher.  We’re sure she’s going to be as amazing at the role as she is as the Early Years Lead.

     

    Team Treat
    Scotland had their winning treat yesterday.  We played chocolate bingo, had lots of treats and there were some very lucky winners.

     

    Easter Egg hunt
    The children had an eggciting time hunting the Easter egg clues.  Some of the children were eggceptional at finding them and working out the clues.  All of our children won some chocolate.

     

    Small & Tall - opening hours
    For the summer term we will be trialling opening Small and Tall at 7:30am, in order to assist parents who need more time to get to work. Please do not ring the gate buzzer before this time as staff will be unable to open the gate until 7:30. We will monitor the need for this extra time and then make a final decision in the second half of the summer term.

     

    I wish you all a lovely Easter break and hope the sunshines for you all.

     

    Thank you as ever for your continued support.

    Take care and stay safe.

    Mrs Wilmer

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  • Newsletter ~ March Week Three

    Published 20/03/26

    Dear Families,

     

    Woodland Walk
    A sincere thank you to the families who joined Mr. Linley-Simon, our Academy Community Pioneer, for our Spring Woodland Walk this past Monday.

    Despite the unsettled weather, it was wonderful to see so many of our community members braving the rain to explore our local environment. The group spent the afternoon identifying the first signs of the changing season, demonstrating that a bit of mud and rain is no match for our school spirit!

    We are already looking forward to our Summer Woodland Walk. We are currently finalising a date for later in the term—one where we hope the sunshine will make an appearance!

     

    Year 4
    Yesterday, Year 4 pianists had the chance to show off their skills to the rest of their class as well as some of our visitors that I was showing around the school.  I was so proud of them and the visitors were in awe at just how super they were.   Everyone was so impressed that we couldn’t take our eyes off them.  Good luck to those children going to the music festival.

     

    Attendance
    Next week you will be receiving your child’s attendance report.  I’m pleased to say that the vast majority of children’s attendance has improved compared to last year - hitting the Government's targets as well as the Trust’s targets.  Each term, Mrs Dean and I have meetings with Staffordshire LA to go through attendance, especially the attendance of some children who are considered persistently absent.  This year we only have 6 children falling into this category, which is such a huge improvement.

    Thank you to everyone for supporting this and ensuring that if there is a problem with your child, report it to Mrs Dean straight away.

     

    Red Nose Day
    Thank you to everyone who has helped to raise money for this worthy cause.

    As you know, this money goes to so many children in need.  Our children have been learning about the charity and some of the fund raising activities going on such as Greg James’ bike ride, which Year 2 learnt about yesterday.

     

    Own clothes day in exchange for chocolate
    Monday is own clothes day.  We are asking children to bring in some chocolate ready for the Easter egg hunt on Friday.  As we are not having the bingo this year, the PTA have decided to still ask for the donations which can then be used as rewards for the egg hunt.

     

    Friday Easter celebrations
    Parents are invited in at 1:30pm to watch the Easter bonnet parade and to find out who has won this year’s decorated egg competition.  Make sure you’re ready to join in singing too!

     

    Team Treat
    The winning team will have their treat on Thursday 26th in the morning.  

     

    Lots of our families are celebrating Eid today - Eid Mubarak to you all.

     

    Have a lovely weekend everyone.

    Take care and stay safe.

    Mrs Wilmer

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  • Newsletter ~ March Week 2

    Published 13/03/26

    Dear Families,


     

    Some sad news ….
    After 12 years of teaching at Friarswood, Mrs Hartley has made the huge decision to retire from teaching.   She has accepted another job that will allow her more time with her family.  Mrs Hartley will be leaving at the end of this term.   Year 5 families will have received Mrs Hartley’s letter today.  It brought a tear to my eyes reading it as I’m sure it will with many of you. We wish her well on this new and exciting change in role and will miss her a great deal. 

    We will keep you up to date with the new teacher and will do our best to ensure a smooth transition for the children.


     

    Eco-conference
    On Tuesday,  Mrs Bebbington and Mr Linley-Simon (our Co-op Community Pioneer) took some of eco-warriers to Co-op Live to attend this year’s eco conference. They were joined by many other academies in our trust to take part in different activities all aimed at increasing awareness on how we can help to look after our planet.  To top this off they had a tour around the arena to find out just how eco friendly Co-op Live is, the children were very impressed! They are now going to plan and run a school assembly to share their findings to all of our children. #SucceedTogether 


     

    Sports 4 All
    On Wednesday, Miss Cooper and myself took some children to Newcastle college to take part in a varied range of unusual sports such as boccia, new age curling and archery.  The children had such a good time developing skills and competing against the other schools as well as themselves.  They all came back to school with a sense of achievement and the biggest smiles.  Well done to the group sof Year 4 and Year 5 children who went.


     

    Hall 
    You may have heard, the hall is now back in action.  We will be looking at rearranging any events after Easter.

     

    Arbor Parent portal
    Thankyou to everyone who has signed up to the parent portal. If you have still yet to do this please go to https://login.arbor.sc and click Forgot your password? to finish setting up your account. 

     

    Parents’ Evenings
    Thank you to everyone who came along to discuss their child’s learning and progress.  If you missed this, please contact your teacher to arrange a suitable time.

     

    Easter celebrations
    On Friday the 27th March, we will be holding our Easter celebrations.  There will be the annual Easter bonnet parade (bonnets to be made at home) for KS1 and Early Years.  For KS2, it’s egg decorating time.  Every year we have some incredible designs that all of the children and staff love to see.

    If you’d like to come and watch, we will be starting at 1:30pm.  

     

    Online Safety
    The Department for Education has launched a new website to support families and encourage regular conversations about what children and young people are seeing online, asking simple questions like “Who shared this?” and “Why?”

    The website has been designed based on the main concerns and needs raised by parents and carers and includes:

    Tips for parents’/carers’ conversations with their children

    Actions to support each stage of their child’s life

    Parental control information

    Signposting to other trusted resources from charities and third parties, where parents/carers can access other forms of support, like speaking to an expert.

    As part of the government consultation to prepare children for the future in an age of rapid technological change, they want to hear from parents and carers. The consultation will consider how children use digital technology as well as potential age restrictions on social media and other services such as gaming sites and AI chatbots, restrictions on addictive design features and risky functionalities, and better support for parents and families.

    Here is the link for you to have a look at the website.


     

    I wish all the Mums, Grandmothers and Mother figures out there a very happy Mother’s Day.   I hope the sun shines for you and you are looked after for the day.

     

    Thank you as always for your continued support.

     

    Have a lovely weekend everyone.

    Take care and stay safe.

    Mrs Wilmer

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  • Newsletter ~ March Week One

    Published 06/03/26

    Dear Families,

     

    School uniform concerns
    I am aware that some of you have concerns due to the recent Co-op Trust letter regarding uniforms.  Just to reassure you, if a child wants to wear skirts or dresses, they can do so.  If you have cardigans for your child, they can wear these too.

    The SMART uniform shop (Hassell St) does have a supply of logo’d jumpers, cardigans, T-shirts, PE sweatshirts and poloshirts.  If you feel that you can support this local business by buying new, then please do so. 

    We still have our uniform swap shop which is open every morning.  There are a lot of pre-loved uniforms there.

     

    Parentpay changes
    Over the next month, we will be introducing a parent portal on Arbor.  This will give you access to your child’s attendance, reports, permissions, payments and much more. Next week, you will receive an invite to sign up to the parent portal.  Please can you keep an eye on your Parentpay accounts.  Make sure that they are up-to-date and any outstanding payments settled.  Any balances will be transferred to Arbor payments.

    Key dates: 

    Sign up to Arbor parent portal - Monday 9th March

    Last payment date for Parentpay - Friday 27th March

    Arbor accepting payments - Wednesday 31st March

    Any concerns or issues, please email Mrs Dean with subject line: ARBOR


     

    Small & Tall
    Please can we ask you to make sure you let Small & Tall know if your child won’t be attending.  If it is less than 48 hours notice you will still be charged however we really need to know due to safeguarding reasons.  Mrs Mann spends a lot of time after school trying to locate children who are booked into Small & Tall only to find out that they’ve gone home.  This means an adult less with the children in the club.

    We know that plans change at the last minute so just a phone call or an email to let us know will be hugely appreciated.


    Upcoming events
    Please take a look at the upcoming events. A few things have changed with the closure of the school hall. We will keep you updated as soon as we know any more.
     

    Some online safety advice which may be helpful for you

    Online safety advice - For Parents - App Controls to Support Children

    Jenny is a mother with two teenage girls who feels the pressure of keeping up to date with online safety and new app settings. In this article and YouTube video Jenny shares how she uses app-level parental controls to manage social media use across her daughters' phones and tablets.

    Link: Using App Controls to Support Children.


     

    Have a lovely weekend everyone.

     

    Thank you as ever for your continued support.

     

    Take care and stay safe.

    Mrs Wilmer

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March 2026