Dear Parents and Carers,
another busy and happy week at Kenton. We have so much to be thankful for. I have been bowled over this week by some amazing transformations in learning attitudes. Miss Phippen appears to have worked a miracle in Oak Class and I have had an absolute procession coming to see me proudly holding fabulous writing work – we couldn’t be prouder. We have also loved seeing some previously reluctant readers suddenly falling in love with books – that’s one reason why we’ve decided to set up a Reading Challenge – see below for details.
Before we get to the main newsletter can I just say a couple of thank yous. A huge thank you to the people who have brought in dressing up clothes, toys and equipment to add to the Nursery and Reception provision. It really is very, very much appreciated.
Thank you to everyone who has been being so cheery on the gate in the morning and at pick up – even in the nasty weather we’ve been having. It gives me a welcome boost every morning.
Thanks, most of all the the brilliant team here at Kenton. Mrs Best has settled in so quickly and has learned constantly – she’s an absolute powerhouse. Thanks to Mr Keirle who quietly does a million jobs without ever complaining and cares so deeply about the school and the pupils, thanks to Miss Phippen who is working miracles in her class, thanks to Phil Boulton who works incredibly hard keeping this palace clean for us. There isn’t space to mention every last person – I’ll do a few more next week – but take it from me, we are very lucky to have the team that we do have here at Kenton Primary.
Nursery Job Here at Kenton Primary
We are expanding our Nursery provision at Kenton Primary to five days a week. This is a very exciting development for us but we need someone who will work with us on Monday and Friday to make it happen. This person needs a level three qualification relevant to the job. IF you know anyone at all who might be able to help – whether it’s doing the job themself or passing it on to someone who might be able to – can you please pass this job ad onto them. The sooner we employ someone for these two days, the sooner we can expand our provision so do feel free to put the advert on any local networks that you have access to.
Reading Challenge
Your children will, we hope, have come home on Thursday excited to tell you about our reading challenge. We have popped in our order for new books using the funds the children and the KSPA raised last term through the Readathon. The shelves will be positively groaning with new books very soon so now is a good time to get the school fizzing with reading!
Accelerated Reader, our system for tracking and incentivising children’s progress in reading, sets each child a score for the term. We’re going to organise a ‘Reading Party’ to occur in the last week before half term. Every child who reaches their reading target will be invited to the party. For younger children who are not yet on the Accelerated Reader pathway (for example, if they are still on the phonics programme) we will set and track their target through the reading record. We hope this will encourage everyone to enjoy plenty of reading and look forward to some fun at the end of the half term.
The target scores we have set are very, very achievable. Every child should be able to reach their score and come to the party. But if you could help them on their way by making sure that you don’t miss out the all important reading at home, then that will be a big boost.
Ordering Meals through Arbor
Mrs Best and the class teachers implore you to please order your child’s school meals through Arbor. It is a waste of time taking orders child by child at the start of the day and delays us calling the order through to the kitchen at Kenn. Even if your child has a packed lunch every day, please enter it on the system or we will have to check them. If you aren’t sure how to enter your child’s choices into the system, ask Mrs Best for help. She’ll help you figure it out!
Lockdown Drill
We had a Lockdown Drill at Kenton Primary this Tuesday. That sounds alarming for all sorts of reasons so I thought I should let you know what it entailed and what it meant to the children.
When we talk about ‘Lockdown’, once people realise we aren’t referring to the 2021 pandemic, they often jump straight to the worst possible scenario of an armed intruder. In fact, there’s a whole lot of reasons why we might need to lock down the school – by which we simply mean making sure all staff and children are secure inside their classrooms. For example, a reason for locking down a school which is much more common than an armed intruder is a significant fire in the vicinity with drifting smoke. We wouldn’t want the children to breathe in the smoke so we would keep them securely in the classrooms with windows and doors closed and the air con set to recirculate rather than draw in air – that’s an example of us using our lockdown procedure. Another common cause might be an unknown, possibly dangerous dog getting into our grounds – we would want that sorted out before we let any of the children come near it so we would use our lockdown procedure for that.
On Tuesday, we used a scenario that really happened to a good friend of mine who works in a school near Oxford. A stag in a state of excitement got into the school grounds and saw it’s reflection in the windows of the school. Taking its reflection for another stag it went around attacking its reflection in the windows causing a lot of noise and excitement. The school used its lockdown procedure to ensure that the children were safely inside their classrooms, well away from any windows which could break, quiet so as to avoid scaring or upsetting the poor stag further. Actually, this happened at drop off in the morning so a number of parents ended up being locked down in the school along with the pupils! The school remained locked down until the police and officers from the RSPCA attended the scene, tranquilised the stag and removed him to some less troublesome location.
I told the children this story on Monday and explained that we would be pretending that was happening and exactly what they needed to do to play their part. We will practice this again soon. Although, of course, we hope that we never need to use this protocol in ‘real life’, it’s very reassuring to know that we have it established and, should it ever be needed, we can keep our staff and pupils safe.
Wreathmaking Workshop – THANK YOU!!
A huge thank you to Gemma, Hugo and Mabel’s mum, who ran a very successful wreathmaking workshop for parents and carers before Christmas. I know how much people enjoyed that workshop and was disappointed not to be able to attend it myself. The workshop raised well over three hundred pounds which is just amazing and represents a real boost to KSPA funds.
Parking
Another call from our neighbours asking if, please, people could try to park in a way that doesn’t block or obscure driveways. This particular resident said that while people weren’t actually blocking his access, they were parking so close to the drive that he was anxious about reversing out as he could not see up or down the road and was worried there might be an oncoming car or, worse, a child. As much as possible – can we please park away from East Town Lane and keep residents parking clear.
The Biscuit Questionnaire
We had an all time low turn out of just four entries for the Biscuit Questionnaire this week. I don’t know if it’s the time of day I put the newsletter out or the way I formatted it but it does worry me that we could be sharing important information through the newsletter and it just isn’t getting through. As we don’t have read receipts on our email system, as silly as it seems, the biscuit questionnaire is one of the very few insights I have into how many people do actually see the newsletter.
Last week I asked about your wishes for 2025. I’m going to let that questionnaire stay up for another week and see if I can pick up a few more entries before I pick a winner.
For inspiration – here’s the four lovely entries that I have so far!
What do you wish for in 2025?
- Calm and togetherness!
- Exploring new places in UK and worldwide
- For us as a family to feel happy, settled and supportive of one another. And to support our local community in any way that we can. The dolphin inn pub is a good place to start!
- For a government that puts children first and truly respects the hard work of teachers.
Dates for Your Diary
February 13th
Please make sure that Friday February 13th is in your diaries as an inset day. The school will be closed to all pupils and staff will be working off site. As it’s an ‘odd day’, I worry some families might not have noted it. I suggest that those of you who use the various WhatsApp groups make sure everyone has note of the date or we shall see sad families finding no one at home when they rock up in the morning!