Headteacher Newsletter Issue 20
FORTNIGHTLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE 20: 21.7.22
This is the final letter of the term and once again I would like to thank all members of the school community for their support and hard work, which has resulted in another successful year for Clavering Primary School. It has been a unique year with COVID outbreaks and an OFSTED inspection but we all rose to the challenge, which just proves what a special place Clavering Primary School is.
The Year 6 are to be congratulated on their SATs results (details below). After reading all the reports, it would appear that all the children have progressed well across the school and have enjoyed their learning. We are very proud of them all.
We wish Year 6 well as they leave to attend their secondary schools in September. We thoroughly enjoyed watching their play, which was part of their Leavers’ Assembly. We wish them all every success for the future. A special thank you to our Heads of School and Sport Ambassadors. They have been an asset to the school.
Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to Mrs Docking who has been working in the kitchen for 36 years!! She will now enjoy a well-earned retirement. We wish her well and would like to thank her for all her hard work and the lovely school dinners over the years. Ms O’Brien will be the new Deputy Catering Manager.
Mr Dyce will be reducing his role in the school from September to running clubs rather than teaching PE. Mr Snelling will pick up all the sport coaching sessions. We would like to thank Mr Dyce for all his hard work and support over the years.
We would also like to thank Mrs Gates for teaching class 4 for two days a week this term. We have thoroughly enjoyed having her on the team and look forward to working with her on a supply basis in the future.
We are excited to announce that Ms Crosby will be our new Deputy Headteacher from September as Mrs Hall reduces her role in the school. We would like to thank Mrs Hall for all her hard work in this role.
Miss Morton will have a Senior role within our Senior Leadership Team from September. We are looking forward to working with her.
Year 5 visit Harlow Outdoors Centre
Year 5 had an amazing day recently at Harlow Outdoors. Please click on the link to our Friday Focus for details and photographs
http://www.clavering.essex.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/15-07-22-Friday-Focus-5-6.pdf
Year 6 visit Norfolk – residential
Year 6 had a brilliant time during the residential trip to Norfolk. Please click on the link to our Friday Focus for details and photographs
http://www.clavering.essex.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/15-07-22-Friday-Focus-5-6.pdf
| Piano Concert
Clavering Primary School held a piano concert last week. 28 children overcame their nerves and performed to their parents. We would like to say a huge well done to all the children who performed so brilliantly. We are very proud of them and they were fantastic ‘Resileroos’. A special well done to Isaac, Year 1 and Martha, Year 6, for being the ‘Pianists of the term’.
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Year One Family Forest School
Last week in Class 1 we enjoyed our final forest school of the year. We started off playing in dens, climbing trees, playing with the ropes, and finding insects and newts! We were then joined by lots of our parents for a picnic as we missed out on our parents’ picnic in Reception! Everyone enjoyed the shade of the forest and we got to show our grown-ups what we like to get up to when we’re there! It was a really lovely morning and great that so many grown-ups could join us!
Friends of Clavering Disco and a thank you
Thank you to the Friends of Clavering for organising and running a fantastic summer disco last week. The children clearly had a great time.
A huge thank you to the Friends of Clavering for all their hard work this year. The committee have worked extremely hard to raise money despite COVID. We have raised £6,000. This is an excellent amount. This year FOC have supported our Author visit , Wider Opportunities music and IT equipment.
A big thank you to Anna and Tracy for chairing the committee. Tracy will be leaving the committee at the end of term and so will Dom Crabb our Treasurer. Thank you to both of them for their hard work and support over the years.
Clavering Primary School achieve the Gold Sportsmark for another year.
We are delighted to announce that Clavering Primary School, have achieved the School Games GOLD LEVEL Mark Award for the 2021/22 academic year.
The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward and recognise school’s engagement (provision and uptake) in the School Games against a national benchmark and to celebrate keeping young people active, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success. We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.
As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.
A special thanks to Mrs Tokeley for leading this.
Tray Day
Thank you to all the parents who attended Tray Day recently. We hope you found the event informative and that you enjoyed looking at the work your child has produced this year. We are sorry we had to cancel Parent Consultations due to the extreme heat this week.
Reports
Your child’s annual school report was distributed last week. This is in addition to the new Interim Report that was circulated earlier in the year. I hope you found them useful and an informative summary of your child’s progress during the current academic year, as well as information as to how they are performing against the national expectations.
2022 KS2 SATs Results
This year the process has been a challenge with the DFE and The Standards and Testing Agency losing two of our papers and some having to be returned, by us, to be checked. We are still waiting the outcome of these issues.
However, we would like to congratulate Year 6 for their SATs results. We are pleased with the results. We have exceeded national and Essex expectations for another year.
Progress measures are to be released in due course, by the government and we are yet to hear what the higher achievement threshold is. Outlined below are the test results taken during SATs week and the Teacher Assessment grade for the whole year.
In summary (1 child equates to approximately 4%.) –
Mathematics: Test 81% (71% national). Teacher Assessment 85%
Reading: Test 85 % (national 72%). Teacher Assessment 92%
Grammar Punctuation and Spelling: GPS test 89% (national 78%).
Writing (teacher assessment) 89% (national 69%) There isn’t a test for writing.
We are particularly pleased with our potential Greater Depth scores. Greater Depth is a much higher level than the National Expected. If the Threshold is the same as previous years, we attained: Reading 38%, Writing 27%, GPS 38 % and Mathematics 19%.
School Day From September
There is a document called the white paper, which the Department for Education has just published. In this it lays out the minimum time that schools should be open for children from September 2023. In response, we will be starting at the same time- 8:50am (gate opens at 8.40) but we will all finish at 3:20 pm rather than 3:15pm.
Dinner money
From September we will be increasing the cost of the school dinners from £2.20 to £2.35 per day. We appreciate the challenge of managing household budgets and have kept the increase to the lowest possible rate. We have managed to keep our rate flat for 5 years but due to the rising costs around us we are finding it difficult to balance our catering budget. If we don’t increase the daily amount, we will not be able to provide the depth and quality of our wonderful menu. This increase is at the lower end of the current average cost per school meal that is recommended, which is between £2.30 to £2.50 per day. It is expected that this average cost will also rise due to inflation, which means our increase will remain at the lower end of the range.
Attendance
The school’s attendance is the lowest it has been since my time at the school. It is below 95%. The school target is 96%. I know that there are still issues with COVID but I do think that our mind set has changed over the last two years. Whereas before the pandemic the children would have come in- even when they were not 100%. We have all got a little paranoid about disease and seem to be missing school more readily. You were all amazing in the pandemic with your support of the school and the way that you kept uninfected siblings off school. However, we need to get back to the way it was before and only miss school if the children are really ill or have been actually sick. If they have been sick, then it is 48 hours from the time of sickness.
We also have a lot of holidays at the moment. We cannot authorise holidays. There is also a real chance that you will be fined. It is £120 per pupil, per parent. So if you take two children on holiday it could cost you £480. The fines are nothing to do with the school and all the money goes to Essex County Council.
Classes for September 2022
We would like to welcome Mrs Ullmann to the team, who will be a new member of the teaching staff from September. Mrs Lipscomb will also be teaching year 6, one day a week, alongside Mrs Hall. Mr Snelling will be taking over all the PE PPA sessions as Mr Dyce will just be in school for after school clubs from September.
| Year group | Class teacher | Learning Support Assistant |
| Reception | Mrs Course | Mrs Berrett |
| Class One (Year One)
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Mrs Tokeley | Mrs Abrahams
Mrs Neal PPA Ms Crosby and Mr Snelling |
| Class Two (Year Two)
|
Miss Morton | Mrs Bond
Mrs Neal PPA Ms Crosby and Mr Snelling |
| Class Three (Year Three)
|
Miss Hagger | Mrs Neal
Mrs Pemberton PPA Ms Crosby and Mr Snelling |
| Class Four (Year Four)
|
Miss Ullmann | Mrs Abrahams
Mrs Elliston PPA Ms Crosby and Mr Snelling |
| Class Five (Year Five)
|
Mrs Rudkin and Mrs Camp | Mrs Abrahams
Mrs Elliston PPA Ms Crosby and Mr Snelling |
| Class Six (Year Six)
|
Mrs Hall and Mrs Lipscomb | Mrs Martin
PPA Ms Crosby and Mr Snelling |
The children spent time with their new teacher today as part of our class swap.
Essex Wellbeing Service – ‘In Your Area’
The Essex Wellbeing Service has a handy search function called ‘In Your Area’, which allows you to enter your location to view local services in either a list or map format. This page also includes ‘Live Well, Link Well’, which can help to find and connect to well-known support organisations across the county, such as United in Kind Coaches, HeadsUp and access to virtual support plus much more. They have asked us to share this information with staff and families.
Notice for Parents of Children in Year 3 from September 2022
Free School Meals
Automatic entitlement to a free school meal finishes at the end of Year 2 and only children from low income families are eligible from Year 3.
Free School Meals Funding
You can register for Free Schools Meals Funding if you meet the criteria below.
If you have a child in Key Stage One and are receiving the free meal, which is part of the universal offer, you could be missing out on this additional funding for the school, which will support your child with their learning, if you meet the criteria below. You have to apply for this funding. If you think you meet the criteria below then please follow the guidance below and contact the school office.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
21st July Last day of term
1st September INSET day – school closed to pupils
2nd September INSET day – school closed to pupils
5th September Autumn term begins
ACHIEVEMENTS
STAR OF THE WEEK
Week ending July 8th
Reception Scarlett – for super work about odd and even numbers
Year One Astrid – for super effort making her storybook with great illustration
Year Two Alastair – for fantastic effort to learn our cheerleading routine in a day and fitting in so well with our class
Year Three Danny – for brilliant writing around The Iron Man by Ted Hughes
Year Four Toby – for excellent effort with his writing using a range of sentences
Year Five Matilda – for her excellent independent weaving skills
Year Six Olivia M – for getting top marks in her GPS SATs test
Week ending July 15th
Reception Lunetta – for her wonderful enthusiasm
Year One Delilah – for being a really lovely member of class 1 and always trying her best
Year Two Kitty – for always having a positive attitude and a smile on her face
Year Three Ruby –for her positive attitude and kind and helpful nature
Year Four Theo – for excellent understanding of sound in our Science work
Year Five Hadley – for her wonderful enthusiasm towards learning, particularly writing
Year Six Class 6 – for being a great, polite and fun group on our mini break to Norfolk Lakes
HEADTEACHER’S AWARD
For children who have achieved their personal best:
Reception
Jude – great progress in writing
Eva – outstanding effort in reading, writing and maths
Year One
Archie – great improvement in reading and writing
Jaxon – excellent improvement in writing
Year Two
Esmee – fantastic effort and improvement in all areas.
Benjamin – a great improvement in his writing
Year Three
Maya – always having a positive attitude to learning and making consistent progress across the year.
Carrie – working hard in all aspects of the curriculum and making progress with spelling and content of writing.
Year Four
Matilda- great improvement to handwriting and composition.
Rio – great work and improvement in the composition and content of her writing
Year Five
Brian – bringing good world knowledge to the classroom, giving clear and detailed explanations of concepts and terminology
Kayleigh – for her great focus and positive attitude towards learning
Year Six
Chloe P – for rising to the challenge and learning all her lines for Alice In Wonderland.
Woody – for all his enthusiasm for and knowledge in Science this year.
IT DIDN’T GO UNNOTICED’ AWARD
Harry (6) – for being a caring friend to others at all times
Cartoon Attitude Learning Awards
We have our super-hero learning behaviours, which the children created in their house groups during friendship week last year. This term the children worked hard on engagement, championed by “Engagemonk”. Two children from each class were nominated for a special award and will enjoy a hot chocolate treat with Miss Allsop.
Reception: Annabelle and Nell
Class 1: Fraser and Caleb
Class 2: Alfie and Hattie
Class 3: Ollie and Poppy
Class 4: Luna and Toby
Class 5: George and Emma
Class 6: Will and Beau
KITCHEN AWARD
Each week the kitchen team present an award to the class or individual for good manners –
Brian – for perfect manners
Clubs Autumn Term 2022
All clubs will start the week beginning 12th September 2022
| Monday | |
| Football Club | Year 5 & 6 3.20 – 4.20 |
| Tennis Club | Year 1-6 3.20 – 4.20 |
| Drama Club STING | Year 1-6 3.20 – 4.20 |
| Tuesday | |
| Fitness Club | Year 1 & 2 3.20 – 4.20 |
| Wednesday | |
| Football club | Year 3 & 4 3.20 – 4.20 |
| Fitness club | Year 4 – 6 3.20 – 4.20 |
| Molton Wonky Glass Fusing workshop
Further information to follow |
Year 1 & 2 3.20 – 4.20 |
| Netball club | Date TBC |
| Thursday | |
| Football club | Year 1 & 2 3.20 – 4.20 |
| Relax Kids (Day TBC) | Year 1 – 3 3.20 – 4.20 |
Music Lessons
Mrs Thomas will continue with piano lessons, starting the week commencing 12th September.
Swimming
Swimming lessons will commence on Monday 12th for Year Year 3.
Healthy and Safety notice regarding the wearing of earrings during PE
Just as a reminder, The Primary Code states that all jewellery is to be removed for PE lessons and taping over earrings is not allowed. This means that if pupils cannot take their earrings out they will have to sit out of PE until a time that they can be removed. Schools have to comply with this guidance.
If your child is about to have their ears pierced it is advisable for it to take place over the summer so that the earrings can be removed for PE ready for the start of the Autumn term.
If you have any questions at any time, please feel free to make an appointment.
Thank you for all your support this year and we wish you a happy and healthy Summer.
Rosalind Allsop
Headteacher
