Being the best we can be for ourselves and God’s world Newsletter No. 12 22 nd June 2017 Dear Parents As you know we had the Ofsted inspectors in school on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. We will be able to let you know the outcome of the inspection as soon as the report has been quality assured and we will publish a copy of the report on our website for your information. I just wanted you to know that you should be very proud of your children; on the two hottest days of the year so far they were polite, friendly and welcoming to the inspection team. Thank you to all of you who were so encouraging to staff; lots of the staff let me know all the kind and supportive things so many of you said; they really appreciated your kindness at what is a very stressful time in a school. We are looking forward to welcoming you to our Summer Fair and hope that many of you will sign up for parents’ evenings which are running over 2 weeks from the 3rd July. Collective Worship Reminder Phase 1 New Arrangements of Celebration of Learning Collective Worship in Phase 1 We are making some changes to the way that we run Celebration Collective worship for Phase 1 this half-term as we want to give parents and carers additional opportunities to spend time with your child’s class teacher and to be even more informed about what goes on in the classroom. This half-term we are going to trial a shorter collective worship where children will share one of their favourite songs with you and a few pieces of writing or some pictures before we give out the headteacher’s awards. Later that day, at 2.30pm, you will be invited into your child’s class to see ‘Learning in Action’ with your child and then will have the opportunity to talk to your child’s class teacher about ways in which you can support your child’s learning at home. The first 15 minutes will be spent in the classroom and the rest of the time will be spent in the well-being room with your child’s teacher. At the end of the term we will be asking for your feedback about this new approach and will use it to inform future plans.
Governor Visits Week Feedback Governors at St. Martin’s are all involved in monitoring how the school is developing and improving, and they together work with the staff to make sure our school is the best it can be. Each Spring, a Governors Visits Week is held and governors come into school and explore the area of school improvement they are responsible for monitoring. These areas include Effectiveness of Leadership and Management, Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare, Outcomes for Pupils and Early Years Provision. The week is a great opportunity for governors to talk to staff and children about successes, challenges and plans for future work. Here are some of the comments made by governors after their visits this year: “Being a Governor for another Federation, I have some experience of teaching and learning in other schools. On 16th March, I was involved in a school improvement visit along with two other governors from St. Martin’s. I was very impressed with the high level of teaching and learning that I saw in evidence throughout the morning spent in every phase within the school. The children’s attitude and willingness to learn and take their part in the lessons, whatever their ability, was very exciting to see. I would like to thank the teaching staff and children for a lovely and inspiring morning which demonstrated the whole school ethos and enabling each child to be the best they can be within St. Martin’s.” Mark Maries (Associate Member with our Governing Board) “We enjoyed watching the children using the Play Pod resources over the lunchtime period. Children were engaged in imaginative play and developing their own creative ideas. This involved working cooperatively with their friends. The range of resources also meant there was plenty of opportunity for physically active play”. Sheena Wright “We were particularly impressed with how well the mealtime assistants encouraged the children with their play without taking the lead, and how helpful older pupils were in tidying away at the end of lunchtime” Declan McGowan Rev. Nevard, whose remit was to explore evidence of the Christian ethos within our school, took these photos of items which particularly interested her during her visit:
1. Difficult Questions
2. A place to post successes and challenges
3. The Quiet Corner
4. Ways to stretch our abilities
Donations Request We are wondering if anyone would be kind enough to donate and of the following Items to the School:
Parents Evenings – Early July Parents Evenings will be held over 2 weeks beginning the 3rd July - this is to allow for teachers who are involved in the trip to France, etc
Sports Day – 29th June
Sports Day is planned for 29th June 2017 with a provisional backup date of 30th June 2017 (weather dependent).
We hope to see lots of you there.
Last Day of Term – 25th July
French Residential - 5th & 6th July Year 6 French Residential Coach leaving St Martins at 4:45am on Wednesday 5th July. Return time on Thursday 6th (evening) to be confirmed
Year 4 Residential – 19th -21st July
Year 4 Heatree Residential
Phase 3 Summer Performance – 20th & 21st July Years 5 and 6 Summer Performance of Hoodwinked in the School hall at 2pm
Year 6 leavers Assembly – 25th July at 9am
Summer Fair
Friday 23rd June 2017
3pm – 5pm: Summer Fair
5pm - 6pm: BBQ and bar
6pm – 7pm: Choir and staff
band
7pm - 8pm: Family disco
Game
s
BBQ Stall
s
Sweets and
treats Live musi
c
Raffle
Bouncy
Castle
Friday 23rd June 2017 3pm-6pm Summer Fayre and BBQ and Bar 6pm – 7pm Choir & Staff Band 7pm – 9pm Family Disco
FREEYoung Chefs
Cookery and Craft Courses Duringthisyear’sSummerholidays,forthethirdsuccessiveyearandwithfundingsupport
Course 1: 24th to 28th July at St Sidwell’s Centre Course 2: 31st July to 4th August at Cranbrook Academy Course 3: 7th to 11th August at St Sidwell’s Centre
Charlie Deborah Carine Jacqueline Lovelock Furbear Equeter Isaacs
John Rebecca Ashleigh Emily Taylor Boyle Goodyear Libby
Merryn Pollard
It would be fantastic if a parent with a child in the current year 5 would like to volunteer to be a parent rep as we do not have any reps with a child in that year and we would like to be as representative as possible.
Please contact us to share any ideas/aspirations for the school, ask school-
related questions, or voice constructive feedback that you would like us to raise at the
next “Parent Voice” meeting.
FREE Training & Refresher Course
HOW TO USE A COMMUNITY DEFIBRILLATOR
Hosted by Cranbrook Town Council
~ on: Tuesday 27th June (7- 9pm)
~ at: St Martin’s C. of E. Primary School, Younghayes Road, Cranbrook, Exeter EX5 7DT (in the school hall)
~ for: any age & level of fitness
~ content: managing an unconscious casualty, how to recognise a cardiac
arrest and carry out CPR, safe use of the defibrillator (AED) and an opportunity to practise
The training will be delivered by Justin Sharples of the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWAST). SWAST work with
Cranbrook Town Council to provide the Community Publicly Accessible Defibrillator.
Please let us know if you would like to attend by emailing [email protected]
or calling 01404 51455
AttendanceandAbsenceReporting
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