Aston Lodge Primary School

Headteacher Round Up

Welcome to this week's Round-Up and Happy Friday!

I hope you’ve all had a brilliant week. It’s been another wonderfully busy one here at Aston Lodge, packed full of rich learning, exciting trips, and a good dose of Halloween fun!

I’ve spent time this week reviewing our science books and popping into lessons across the school, and I have been hugely impressed by the standard of work on display. It’s been fantastic to track the progression in our pupils' scientific understanding—from looking at human life cycles and development higher up the school, right through to the foundation stage engaging with their wonderful (and wonderfully messy!) theme of 'disastrous pumpkin soup'.

Our Year 4/5 children had an absolute treat this week with their visit to the York Chocolate Story. They had a thoroughly enjoyable day, listened brilliantly, and participated enthusiastically throughout. Most importantly, their behaviour was exemplary from start to finish—they were a total credit to our school. We're all very excited to see how they bring this sweet learning back into the classroom over the coming weeks.

Year 4/5 have also been putting their collaboration skills to the test during a fantastic team-building challenge, which they threw themselves into with great energy. Beyond that, preparations are officially underway across all year groups for next month’s Art Exhibition, and the children have already made a brilliant start on their pieces.

A huge thank you must go to our dedicated staff for their hard work and commitment in organising our Halloween discos. The children had an absolute blast! All funds raised from the discos—as well as the delicious Year 4/5 cake sale—will be going directly towards developing our outdoor environment. A giant thank you to all the parents who kindly donated baked goods and to everyone who came along to support the sale by buying a treat or two.

It was also wonderful to see so many of you join us for our very first Reading Breakfast of the year! It was a lovely, relaxed start to the morning, and we hope you enjoyed sharing a book and a bite to eat as much as we did.

Thank you, as always, for your continued warmth and support. I hope you all have a lovely, relaxing and half-term week.

Don't forget the importance of handwashing

With the onset of winter viruses that a number of staff and children have succumbed to, I'd like to take the opportunity to remind everyone about the importance of regular handwashing to reduce the spread. We also continue to have hand sanitiser in the classroom and will be regularly reminding children to sanitise to keep those germs at bay!
Thank you for your support with this.

Attendance

As we continue into the school year and are having to begin to deal with some nasty viruses and seasonal ailments, we want to take this opportunity to highlight the vital role of consistently good attendance at school.

We know deciding whether to keep a child home when they’re under the weather can be tricky! If your child feels well enough after taking medicine, we encourage you to send them in. Our staff keep a very close eye on all the children throughout the day, and if your child isn't up to participating, we will always call you right away. We just want to make sure they don't miss out on important learning and fun with their friends unless it's truly necessary

Being in school means your child stays connected with their peers, is engaged in their learning and on track to reach their full potential. The table below shows the impact thatmissing school can have on your child’s education:

This week

We were back to a disappointing week again this week as our overall school attendance dipped to 89.4%. Hopefully this will begin to pick up again after half term, when everyone has had the chance to recharge their batteries and return to school 'fighting fit'.

The final figures this week are as follows:

FS2: 75% Year1: 92.7% Year 2: 95.9% Year 3: 88.3% Year 4: 79.9% Year 5: 83.6% Year 6: 91.7%

Well done to all those 'green' classes who have continued to show improvements from last week.

Christmas Fair Meeting

Don't forget to join us at 9:00am on 4th November to help us plan for the Christmas fair. Of course we'll have hot drinks and a biscuit or two to enjoy while we share ideas!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Staff Awards

We're incredibly proud that 10 of our staff have appeared on the 'long list' for this year's staff awards. This is testament to the great team with have who work incredibly hard, show genuine care and support and go over and above on a regular basis to ensure we provide the very best opportunities for our children.

A massive 'well done' to everyone and a personal 'thank you' from me for the work everyone has done over the past couple of months.

100 word challenge

If we hear the children using these words, see them in their writing or spotting them in their reading books, they will receive Dojos!

Next weeks words are:

KS1: atmosphere

KS2: co-operation, create, cultural

Dates for your Diary - Autumn 2

Back to School

Tuesday 3rd November, 8:45

Experience Remembrance (in church)

EYFS, Y1 and Y2 - Wednesday 4th November am

Y3,4,5,6 - Thursday 5th November am

Interfaith Week

Week of 9th November

Armistice Assembly

11:00am Wednesday 11th November

Y4,5,6 Climbing wall visit

Friday 13th November

Children in Need

Friday 13th November

Anti-Bullying Week

Week of 16th November

Phonics Rapid Catch up Workshop for parents

15:30, Monday 16th November

TT Rockstars Day

Tuesday 17th November

Y6 Anne Frank Workshop

Thursday 19th November

Art Exhibition

2:30, Thursday 19th November and from 8:30 Friday 20th November

Y6 Cake Sale

3:15 Thursday 19th November

Parents' Anti-bullying workshop/coffee morning

9:00, Friday 20th November

SEND Pupils' Parents Evening

15:30-17:30, Wednesday 25th November

Touring Pantomime - Aladdin

9:30-11:00, Thursday 26th November

Autumn Term School Debate

Thursday 26th November

EYFS Stay and Play

14:15-15:15, Thursday 26th November

Winter Fair

Friday 27th November

Bluebell Wood Elf Dash

Tuesday 1st December

Experience Christmas (in church)

EYFS, Y1 am, Wednesday 2nd December

Y3,4,5,6 am Thursday 3rd December

Parents 'Open Book' and Headteacher 'drop in'

15:15-17:00, Wednesday 2nd December

Rocksteady end of term concert

14:30, Friday 4th December

Y5 Bikeability

7th and 8th December

FS2, Y1, Y2 Nativity

9:45-10:45,

1:15-2:15 on Tuesday 8th December

EYFS Open Day

16:00-17:00, Tuesday 8th December

Y2 Trip to Conisborough Castle

Thursday 10th December

KS2 Christmas Performance

9:30-10:30

2:00-3:00 Friday 11th December

Polar Express Day

Tuesday 15th December

End of Term Awards and Carols

14:00, Wednesday 16th December

Christmas Church Service (Pupils only)

9:30am, Thursday 17th December

Early Finish for Christmas