January 2007 .PLEASE KEEP THESE DATES FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE Wednesday 3rd Jan Friday 30th March Monday 12th Feb Friday16th Feb Monday 16th April Friday 20th July Monday 28th May Friday 1st June Monday 7th May Monday 3rd Sep Wednesday 20th Dec Monday 22nd Oct Friday 26th Oct School finishes for half term at 3.15pm on Friday 9th February
Spring term 2007 Half term Summer term 2007 Half term May Day Autumn term 2007 Half term Inset days 2007 Thursday 3rd May
Letter from the Head Teacher Dear Parents /Carers It doesn‘t feel like I‘ve been here for only a few weeks! The time has flown by. So much has happened and with trying to get to know everyone, the day disappears fast. May I start by saying how proud you should be of your child(ren) at Knotty Ash. They have welcomed me into ‗the family‘ with their enthusiasm, warmth and affection. They are a credit to your love and support you give them. I place great emphasis on the ‗partnership‘ between school and home. We will be introducing various family learning and parenting courses and I really hope you will be able to attend some of them. With the pace of change in today‘s and tomorrow‘s education, it is essential that parents and carers are well informed. Your contribution to the educational well being must not be underestimated. More information to follow! I intend to write to you on a monthly basis (end of month) in response to previous requests from parents/cares, who prefer shorter, more regular newsletters. Being available As many of you have seen, I intend to be in the infant playground before and after school. If any of you want to have a chat, please do! I don‘t want parents to feel worried. ―Quick hide...it‘s him!‖ Meeting parents and chatting allows me to ‗keep in touch‘. As a parent myself I feel its important that is there is an issue you need to speak to me about then its easier to address it sooner before it grows. Car park Some parents were pleasantly surprised one morning to find myself, Mr. Johnston and Miss Craven all greeting the children and parents at the top gate.
Unfortunately, the main reason was to act as a deterrent to stop people using the car park as a drop off point. I have been informed that parents are clear on this and most of you observe and respect this decision. The car park is to be only used for taxis and minibuses for our deaf children. Occasionally there are some exception circumstances, whereby a child has a particular issue. It was quite disheartening when, one morning, whilst standing in the rain, I saw a mum with a double buggy walking her children to school. At the same time another parent used the car park to drop their child. I spoke to them and they said sorry. If we all stick to rules, it makes the school a safer place. Emergency Contact Numbers As a parent who changed his mobile phone number over the Christmas period, may I remind all parents /carers that if you are in any doubt whether we have accurate emergency contact details PLEASE check with the office. In the case of an emergency we want to be able to contact the right person as soon as possible. If our information is not up to date we cannot contact you. Christmas Shoe Box Appeal With your invaluable support, the children always make an extraordinary effort in supporting this most worthwhile of causes. This year was no exception, with the school collecting a magnificent 108 shoeboxes which were distributed across various eastern European countries this Christmas to much needy children. Thank you, thank you! Christmas Production The children and staff worked very hard to present three shows for you at Christmas. Those lucky enough to attend once again witnessed the magical delight of watching their children enjoy performing for the whole school. As a result of your kind ticket donations, £245 was raised, which, in traditional fashion, will be used to support our adopted child (Muhammad Yusuf) in paying for his schooling in Indonesia. Year 6 Football Tournament Knotty Ash football team took part in the second round of the schools football tournament. We played 4 games but unfortunately did not make it to the next round. Well done for getting through to the second round. Card Creation You will have received a letter from Mrs Cartwright following the cancellation of a visit by Mr John Townley who makes greetings cards with the children. We are trying to reschedule this venture for a time in the future, but any child who didn‘t originally pay £1 and would still like to take the cards home following their involvement should send their money in an envelope to the school office.
SATs The tests for Year 6 children this year will take place during the week 14th—18th May. Children in Year 3 Year 4 and Year 5 will hold their own internal tests the following week, 21st—28th May. Throughout the entire month of May Year 2 children will be tested at various stages. Can you ensure that your child attends school at this very important time. The tests play a crucial role in informing us your child‘s progress. Christmas Card Competition Each festive season, we send out special Christmas cards to friends of Knotty Ash School. These are always designed and made by pupils in a competition organised by Mrs Cartwright. The winners of this year‘s competition were; Katie, Diasy, Lauren, Conner, Max, Sam, Nicole, Saskia, Wallis, Lewis, Tom and Jack Charity Fundraising Before Christmas , Mrs Cartwright sold soft toys from St John‘s Hospice to children in the Juniors. We raised a super total of £ 120 for them. Also, we all wore our pyjamas and slippers (and brought our favourite bedtime bears!) for Children in Need. It was a fabulous day, full of fun and laughter, which raised a grand total of £350 A HUGE THANK YOU from Mrs Cartwright to all our families for supporting both these charity fund raisers. School uniform Particularly in Reception and Key stage 1 we are experiencing increasing difficulties of lost property and children going home with the incorrect red fleece. Can we please ask you to help by ensuring all of your child‘s uniform, kit and equipment are labelled with their name. There is a large collection of lost property still in school. If you are missing anything, please contact the school office who will be delighted to help you try and recover missing items. Can we please ask you to help by ensuring all of your child‘s uniform, kit and equipment are labelled
Toys in school Although children wish to bring a variety of toys to school to ―show‖ or to play with, we advise against this. Firstly there is always a danger the item may become damaged or lost, and secondly, school has so many resources anyway that there is physically no way to accommodate this. We ask that all children please refrain from bringing additional play items to school. Fit for Life Regular exercise is very important in staying fit and healthy. We continue to promote a number of in school opportunities and out of school clubs for children to enjoy. So far this term we have had a number of specialist come and deliver sporting activities during school to the children. Children in Y5 and Y6 recently enjoyed some excellent football coaching from Steve Johnson, ‗Everton in the Community‘ officer. The children responded very well and enjoyed the experience. Meanwhile, children in Reception and Y1 are enjoying a programme of dance with Becky West, a Sportslinx dance specialist. The first of five sessions began with a recreation of High school Musical – great fun! Reception and Nursery also benefited from a motor skills development session presented by Katherine Jones from leisure Services Updated School Web Site In the very near future we will re-launch the school website under a new domain. It will cover the more familiar items as before, yet we would like to hear from you with ideas for new content. In order to provide the best possible service tell us what you would like to access to: e.g. hyperlinks to children‘s websites to support curriculum, access to hyperlinks to provide parental advice, school policies. Whatever your thoughts, please let us know. Extended School The Government are very keen on how schools contribute to their communities and how we can support the ‗whole child‘, as well as parents and carers. This can take the shape of a variety of activities, clubs and community led initiatives. This is in line with the Government‘s ‗Every Child Matters‘ agenda. More information to follow. To be able to successfully match provision to the needs of the community, it is essential we don‘t offer activities which duplicate those already on offer elsewhere. We have previously asked you to supply us with details of clubs your children attend and activities on offer outside of school. Once again we are asking for your support in building up a clear picture of what is available in order to compile a
comprehensive directory. We would be grateful if you could supply us with details of music, dance , sport, art , drama, Rainbows, Brownie, Guides, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts link clubs etc. within a short travelling distance of the L14 postcode. Activities and clubs could include other Community projects, Health and Social care related activities. The activities can be in term time and holiday periods. We will publish the directory for you all and then examine how we can extend our provision. Helping Your Child to Read On Friday 9th February we would like to invite parents /carers into school to demonstrate and discuss how to help your child read their home-reading books. It will be an informal session from 9.15am to 10-15 am. Please indicate if you wish to come on the reply slip below. We hope you and your child will gain enormously from this opportunity