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Byron Primary School

15 Jan 2010

Number 8 - 15th January 2010

Firstly a belated very Happy New Year to all our Byron families from the staff at Byron. We hope that you had an enjoyable Christmas.

Snow News
Thank you for all your patience and understanding during the last two weeks in the snowy weather. We always try as far as possible to keep the school open so that the children’s learning is not disrupted but we have to make sure that there are enough staff to look after the children safely, that the site is safe and that children and staff can travel to and from school safely. It is never an easy decision to make and we do appreciate that for many parents who live a distance away from school or who are balancing work or other commitments, it can be difficult not knowing if the school is going to be open.

If for any reason we have to close the school we will inform parents using our texting service and updated information will be put on our website www.byronprimary.co.uk . Please do make sure that we have a current mobile telephone or contact number for you so that you receive any messages sent. There are still several children for whom we do not have up to date telephone numbers.

Staff Changes
We would like to welcome Mrs de Villiers who will be teaching Year 1 this term and Mrs Liddle who will be in Year 2 for 4 days a week. I am sure that you will help us to make them both feel welcome at Byron.

Let’s Get Cooking! 
Byron has been accepted onto ‘Let’s Get Cooking’, an organisation which will help us to set up a cooking club.  Miss Downes (Healthy Schools Co-ordinator) is looking for a couple of parents who would be interested in running this club.  ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ training sessions are available and would need to be attended by those offering to help – please see Miss Downes for more information.

Class Assemblies
These are continuing this term at 2.45pm on a Friday. The dates are:
Friday 29th January.....Year 2
Friday 12th February.....Year 5
Friday 26th February.....Year 4
Friday 5th March.....Year 6
Friday 19th March.....Year 3
Friday 26th March.....Year 1

Parent Governor
We still have 2 vacancies for Parent Governors on our Governing Body. This role involves attending one Full Governing Body Meeting a term and up to 3 Committee meetings each term. If you would like to become involved in the school in this way please do come and see either Mrs Small or myself. We would be delighted to talk to you about it.

Parent Volunteers
We are always looking for people to help within the school whether it is with reading, outings, sharpening pencils, mounting work, tidying cupboards or anything else. If you have any available time and would be interested in helping out in school please come and see either Mrs Small or myself to find out more. We would really appreciate your involvement.

ParentPay
ParentPay is now the only way that children’s lunches can be paid for at Byron. We are unable to accept cash for lunches. If you missed the letters or have lost them please call into the school office. If you require a PayPoint card these need to be ordered and when they are used to pay in money the cash does take up to 3 days to credit the account. Even if your child rarely has a school lunch it would be a good idea to credit your child’s ParentPay account so that they are able to have a meal if they need to.

Healthy Eating and Parent Lunches
Parents are still 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 are noticing 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.

Attendance
The attendance for the last three weeks:

Class	Week ending January 8th	Week ending January 15th
Reception	73%	87.5%
Year 1	62.5%	93%
Year 2	77%	88%
Year 3	79%	95%
Year 4	78%	96%
Year 5	73%	92%
Year 6	83%	95%

Attendance has been very variable due to the snowy weather and the days when the school was closed are not included in the attendance figures. While we do appreciate that it can be difficult, the guidelines that we are given are that when the school is open, if you live within reasonable walking distance it is expected that your child will attend school.

‘In it to Win it’
Don’t forget our ‘In to Win it’ attendance related reward scheme. Every week each child who attends every day and arrives at school on time will have their name written on a special slip of paper. At the end of term all the slips of paper will be put into a draw for two special prizes – one for the child and one for the parent! There are 12 weeks this term so if your child has attended every day for 12 weeks they will have 12 slips of paper in the draw. Remember you have to be In it to Win it!

Clubs
We have a variety of clubs running again this term. Many of these have been organised by Mr Madden.
Monday after school – Multi-skills Y1 and Y2
Monday after school – Art Club
Tuesday after school – Fit Club (Y3-6) letter to follow
Wednesday lunchtime – Chess Club
Wednesday after school – Football Squad (Y5-6)
Thursday after school – Football Club (Y2-6)
Thursday after school – Basketball Club (Y5-6)

If you require information about any of these clubs please do ask at the school office or see Mr Madden.

E Safety at Byron

This is a new update that will feature on alternate school newsletters and is intended to keep all parents and carers informed of all the important information and links we receive about how to keep the children safe when they are using computers.

Thank you very much for all the replies to the e-safety questionnaires for parents and children that were completed last term. There was a very pleasing response (70% of parents and children answered) and it became apparent that major issues for us at Byron are:

8% of replies were positive to the question “Have you ever lied about your age so you can visit a website?”

75% of the children stated that they did not know how to protect their identity on a website.

50% of the children stated that they do talk to people on the internet.

18% of the children said they had received messages from people that they did not know.

50% of the children stated that they knew what an “unsafe” website would look like.

This has given us a really good starting point for tackling the problem and has helped us to plan how we can help the children that we work with to keep themselves safe when using computers. If it was not possible for you to attend the e-safety parent talk held in November and you would like additional information about this issue please do contact me at school as it will be absolutely no problem at all to give you copies of leaflets that were distributed.

If you are new to Byron, can you please also make sure that you and your child have signed the internet safety documents so that your child is able to take part fully in all computer activities at school.

JANUARY E SAFETY TIPS FOR PARENTS
If you have worries about keeping your child safe when they are using computers we would like to direct you to two very useful websites for parents:
1) www.direct.gov.uk and then doing a search on “internet safety”
2) www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents

Both these websites have an abundance of useful information and helpful contact details if you are concerned about how to prevent your child from becoming involved in problems to do with internet safety either now or in the future.
AnneMarie Sayers – ICT Subject Leader

PLEASE REMEMBER INSET DAY MONDAY 1ST FEBRUARY

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.

Clare Wingrave