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Byron Primary School

11 Sep 2009

Number 1 - 11th September 2009

Welcome!

We would like to welcome you all back to a new school year at Byron. We hope you all enjoyed the summer break and have returned refreshed and rested after your holidays. We are all very excited about the new school year and are very much looking forward to working with you and your children.

We hope that it is a really good year for everyone at Byron.

Staff Changes
We would like to welcome to Byron Mr Madden who will be teaching Year 5 and Mrs Liddle who will be teaching Year 2. I am sure that you will all help to make them feel very welcome in the Byron Community.

Premises news
As you can see the windows have been replaced!!! We are pleased with the work that has been done and the new windows and doors make the school look very smart. Unfortunately we are not so happy with the work that has been carried out on the ramp to the front of the building and some of this is now going to be redone over the next few weeks. The canopy will be installed at half term. Hopefully the end result will be an attractive, improved and more accessible main entrance to the school.

We have also had other work carried out over the holiday. There are some new railings in the playground and the Reception play area has had a face lift with brilliant new play equipment and safety surface. I would like to thank Steve Warr our Site Manager for being very patient while all the works were being carried out as it has been a very long, time consuming process……..

School Uniform
We have been delighted with the uptake of the new blue school jumper and have now had to re-order more stock! We all feel that the new blue looks very smart and the majority of children are keen to wear it. Please do make sure that the jumpers do not go missing by clearly labelling all uniform with your child’s name. I would also like to remind you that your child needs PE kit in school to take part in PE lessons. We have an expectation that children wear the correct Byron PE kit and children will not be able to participate if they do not have the correct clothing in school. We will be keeping some clean spare kit for children to wear if they do not have Byron kit in school.

Class Assemblies
We are continuing with class assemblies this year and parents are invited to come and join us for assembly and see what their children have been doing in class. The assemblies take place fortnightly at 2.45pm on a Friday.

The dates for this term are:
Friday 2nd October.....Year 6
Friday 10th October.....Year 1   
Friday 16th October.....Year 5
Friday 6th November.....Year 3
Friday 20th November.....Year 2
Friday 4th December.....Year 4

European Day of Languages
Saturday 26th September is the European Day of Languages and to celebrate this day we are holding an assembly on Monday 28th September where children in Key Stage 2 will be sharing some of the work that they do in French. The assembly will take place at 10.30am and we would like to invite parents to join us for this occasion.

To further acknowledge the many cultures and backgrounds that our Byron children originate from, we are intending to display in the main hall the flags that represent the countries that our children, parents and grandparents come from. We will be asking the children if they have any close relatives from other countries so that we can make sure that we have all the representative flags available. Please could you talk to your child about this and let them know about any family links that they may have with other countries.

Family Reading Afternoons
In one of our areas for development for this year, we will be working on encouraging reading development. To help us with this we will be introducing half termly Reading Afternoons where parents will be invited into school to read and share books with their children in the class. These will take place at 2.30pm. The provisional dates for this year are:
Thursday 22nd October
Tuesday 8th December
Thursday 11th February
Thursday 4th March (World Book Day)
Thursday 6th May
Friday 9th July

If you would like further information about this please contact Mrs Moussaoui our Literacy Co-ordinator.

Healthy Eating and Parent Lunches
Please do encourage your child to try a Healthy school meal. Our dinners are cooked on site and cost £2.00. Your child is still able to opt for school dinners on a daily basis.

Once again parents are invited to join us for school lunch every Wednesday. Just call the school office to let us know you are coming. The adult lunches cost £3.00.

Please remember that snacks at playtime must be fruit only. We noticed that a few non-fruit items have crept back into school. We are a Healthy School and have committed to encouraging healthy eating with our children. Fresh fruit snacks are available from Mandy at playtime for 30p and bowls of salad at lunchtime for 40p.  Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have fruit daily at playtime as part of the Government scheme.

Attendance
We were very pleased with the improvement in attendance last year but we still do need to continue with our work on improving attendance.

It is really important that your child attends school and regular attendance is vital if your child is to progress with their learning. You can support your child by ensuring that they attend school everyday and that they arrive punctually and prepared for the school day. Please contact the school whenever your child is unable to attend school.

Please do not take holidays during term time. Requests for absence for holidays will be considered individually in relation to particular family circumstances and with regard to prior attendance rates. At Byron we monitor attendance regularly and work closely with our Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) to ensure that children attend school regularly. If we feel that a child’s attendance is giving cause for concern we will contact you and alert you to this fact. If this continues you will be invited to a meeting with our EWO to discuss the situation.

If you would like a copy of our Attendance Policy please do ask at the school office.

Byron Rewards
At Byron we feel that it is extremely important to reward and praise children for the good things that they do whether it is making a really good effort or producing a lovely piece of work. Children (and adults!) respond well to praise and like to know when they have done something well. Every week we have a Golden Book Assembly where children who have done something special during the week get mentioned in assembly and receive a sticker. We also have Good News Letters where every week each class teacher will nominate a few children to receive this special award for doing something extra special during the week. The child receives a certificate and a letter will also be sent home to their parents to inform of this award.

After-school Clubs
After school clubs will be starting over the next few weeks and you will be informed very soon.

Lost Property
We have loads and loads of lost property! This will be on display in the Infant hall from Monday 14th September until Friday 18th September. Please do come and see if you can find those lost jumpers, shoes, towels, socks………… After this date we will be donating the unclaimed clothing to charity.

Contact Details
Over the next couple of weeks we will be sending out by post the current contact details that we hold for your child. When you receive these please check the information and return the form to school as soon as possible. It is important that we have current information at all times as there have been times where we have been unable to contact a parent in an emergency.  Should you change your address and/or telephone number, please inform the office as soon as possible.

Parents Evenings
Dates for your diary - these will be held on Wednesday 14th October 6-8pm and Thursday 15th October 3.30-6pm.

Suggestions Box and Feedback
We have a suggestions box in the reception area outside the school office and would welcome positive input and ideas from you or your children (anonymous or attributed!) for matters relating to the school or school activities. 
We have also included a tear off slip at the bottom of this newsletter if you would like to make any comments or suggestions for Byron. Please return these to the school office.

If you have any problems or queries about anything to do with your child please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or to come in and see either Mrs Small or myself.


Clare Wingrave