Cherry Orchard Primary Academy Newsletter
July 2021 - Issue 12
Principal's Welcome
The final summer term is racing by and we are rapidly approaching the holidays. Lots of things are going on in school including our sports day a few weeks ago, I hope you managed to have a look at some photos of the event on your child's Google classroom or via Tapestry (for year R and nursery). Next week we have our festival of reconnection and reflection on Wednesday with lots of exciting activities during the morning for children to take part in and then on Thursday and Friday our transition days when children will spend some time in their new classrooms with their new teacher. These transition days are really valuable in giving children an opportunity to meet their new adults and ask any questions they might have, so they can go off and enjoy their summer holiday. It is therefore really important that children are in school to attend these days next week.
Julie Forsythe - Principal
Transition Week - w/b 12 July
Transition days for ALL pupils will be on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 July, where all students will have the opportunity to visit their new classes and meet their new class teachers and teaching assistants. This year, due to covid restrictions, pupils should arrive at their normal year group start time and they will then be taken by their existing class teacher up to their new classrooms to spend the day getting to know any new classroom routines and rules. Additional visits for our vulnerable students will take place across the school prior to this on either Monday 12, Tuesday 13 or Wednesday 14, when their existing class teacher will accompany them to meet their new class teacher and visit their new classes, so that they are fully prepared for the first transition day on Thursday 15. Transition booklets will be available for all SEN pupils moving into another class if required prepared by either the SEN Lead Teacher or the SENCO.
Pupils will return to their current classes for the last two days of term 19 and 20 July to say goodbye to their class teachers and for Golden Afternoon celebrations
School News & Updates
Reminder to ALL parents
Please be advised that any leave of absence during term time will not be authorised, except in the most exceptional of circumstances. In this instance, leave of absence must be approved in advance by the Principal and will be dependent on the individual circumstances. The Principal must receive your request in writing in plenty of time to consider the circumstances, otherwise a fixed penalty charge of £120 per parent per child will apply - reduced to £60 for early payment. Please see our full policy arrangements for attendance. Find out more about our term time holidays.
Process for complaints and grievances
Inevitably from time to time, you may have a concern about your child in school. The correct procedure for parents who have a concern or issue is to initially take this up with your child's class teacher, who is the best placed adult to answer your questions. You should place a written comment in the class parent contact book via their Google Classroom, which will then be answered in a timely manner by the class teacher, once they have read and taken any actions necessary. If after giving the teacher the opportunity to resolve your issue, you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you can raise this with Mrs. Williams - our Family Liaison Officer directly - or email the office outlining your concern. This will then be forwarded to the relevant adult to deal with your concern and hopefully resolve it over the phone or by arranging a meeting, if necessary. This adult may be the SENCO, if it is SEN related, or the FLO if is a pastoral or emotional wellbeing concern or - if you feel there is some miscommunication with the school.
If you feel the SENCO or FLO have not resolved your concerns satisfactorily, you can then request a meeting via the school office with one of the Assistant Principals & Key Stage Leads or the Principal, but please allow time for this to be investigated before they respond. If you have followed all the appropriate procedures and you are still unsatisfied with the outcome or resolution, you are than able to make an official complaint to the Trust by following this link.
Parent Governor Vacancy
COPA currently have a vacancy for a Parent Governor to fill on their board, The work of a parent governor is vital to the effectiveness of the overall board, but you do not have to be an expert on education to be a school governor. If you are interested in finding out more about this role or wish to stand, please read this letter, complete the nomination form and return to the office no later than Monday 19 July. If you require a printed nomination form, please contact the office.
KS1/KS2 Interventions
These will finish at the end of this term in their current format. We will be evaluating the impact these have had on academic progress and if needed will reassign children in September once the children have settled into their new classes.
Ebbsfleet Academy Workshops
The Trust has agreed to fund the Saturday Workshops for Year 5 moving into Year 6 in September and for Year 4 moving into Year 5 later in the year. This means your child could now attend completely free of charge on Saturday mornings. If you have not already done so, please sign up on this link.
Packed Lunches
Just a reminder that packed lunches should be healthy - no sweets or excessive chocolate should be provided or fizzy drinks. An ideal packed lunch should contain a sandwich, wrap or roll, a cake or biscuit, piece or fruit and/or a yoghurt. Any grapes should be cut up as these are a potential choking hazard for little ones!
Music Teacher
Miss Bashford will be joining us in September, as our new specialist music teacher and she will be offering music lessons and choir clubs on Mondays and Wednesdays from September onwards . She has been in school for several visits familiarising herself with the school and children. ahead of joining the team in the new academic year.
Sad Farewell
At the end of this term, we say a sad farewell to our Sports Lead - Mr. Barnard - as he takes up a new post in Essex. We wish him good luck in his new venture and in 2021/22 PE across the school will be lead by a PE Team who will build upon the good work, by developing school sports teams to compete in inter-school competitions when allowed.
Sports Day
Last Thursday, our 2021 Sport's Day competitions took place both at COPA and at our neighbouring Ebbsfleet Academy, where we were made most welcome by the new Sports and Leadership Team.
Photos from the day both at COPA and Ebbsfleet Academy are up on the Google Classroom for all to see and medals were awarded to the fastest boy and girl in each year group.
Points from all the day's competition were accumulated to provide a House Team winner - and the results were as follows:
1st Team Ashford
2nd Team Stratford
3rd Team Ebbsfleet
4th Team St. Pancras
Well done to everyone who took part!
COPA Reflection & Connection Festival
Plans have been finalised for our Festival of Reflection and Connection on July 14th - we have lots of surprises in store for the children ranging from sporting and crafting activities as well as a very special visit from an outside provider, which we hope will provide much excitement and pleasure for the children. You will receive further communication about what to wear, bring and an outline plan of the day nearer the time - but please be advised there will be no charge to parents for these activities - this is being financed by the school as a thank-you to our students for being part of our school community.
We had hoped that restrictions would have been lifted in time for the school to reconnect as a whole - but this will now operate in year group bubbles but will be largely outside (weather permitting).
Please remember that the school will close early between 1:30 & 2:00 pm, depending on staggered year group pick up times and that a picnic lunch will replace usual school meals on that day. Further details will follow by letter once these have been finalised.
Ice Cream Sales
There will be an ice cream van on site on Tuesday 13th July selling ice creams after school - so please bring along your pennies if you want to buy one!
COPA PTA
Our PTA have also recently promised to fund a fifth trim trail element with funds from a successful sponsorship alignment with the Co-op - where a percentage of your shopping has helped to contribute towards a fundraising donation. So a big thank-you to all our parents and hopefully our children will benefit from some interesting and healthy woodland activities in the coming months.
Outdoor Learning Environment
Cherry Orchard is excited to introduce our new Outdoor Learning Classroom to the children within the next couple of weeks.
Our spectacular wooden, round building from Rotunda was completed this week after a surprisingly quick build time and is part of a much bigger project that has largely been funded by a generous grant from our local Ebbsfleet Development Corporation. The outdoor learning classroom has internet access, a glass atrium and plenty of opportunities to ‘let the outside in’ with its bifolding doors and large window area.
It will complement the outdoor learning environment that has already been developed to provide edible garden planters and an educational opportunity for the children to learn about planting edible fruits and vegetables in the Autumn. In keeping with the ‘healthy living’ aspect of the project, outdoor activity stations such as trim trails and climbing walls will feature around the woodland area and building to provide the children with some fun and adventurous activities to keep them fit and healthy. This part of the project is due to be installed in September.
The outdoor classroom will provide much needed space to deliver Forest School activities for EYFS, as well as opportunities for dance, music, gardening and art lessons - to be enjoyed in a completely independent and peaceful setting, away from the main school building. In addition it will complement the current playground by providing alternative playtime activities with a live woven wicker tunnel and trim trail equipment. COPA has plans to augment this project with another smaller wooden satellite station to provide storage, toilet and washroom facilities, as well as a small kitchen allowing us to incorporate cooking activities at a later stage.
Primary Years Programme IB Learner Profiles
Monday Assembly on IB Learner Profile
Every Monday, teachers introduce the particular quality from the IB Learner Profile that we are considering for that week. Currently these assemblies are being recorded and shown in class as we cannot have the children altogether in the hall. As they are being recorded at the moment, we thought it would be nice to share these with parents so they could understand and discuss with their children at home. The assemblies will be available to view every Monday afternoon via your child's Google Classroom.
IB Theme for w/e 2 July - Reflective
IB Theme for w/c 5 July - Caring
National Online Safety
We are now a fully certified NOS School!
If parents have not yet signed up yet for a National Online Safety account please do so by clicking on our unique school link here. You will be able to access up to date online safety information and watch a range of informative webinars. You will also be able to find out all of the important safety information regarding apps like TikTok as well as teaching your child to look out for 'fake news' and other important, topical current events.
Remember always encourage your child to play in a shared family space, where you can supervise their activity as this is the best way to ensure their safety.
COPA celebrate reading success
Well done to all the following children who have read for the most amount of minutes this week!
Congratulations to you all!
Year 1 - Aiden
Year 2 - Daniella A
Year 3 - Jaqueline
Year 4 - Libby
Year 5 - Nicholas
Class Newsletters
For our new parents, here is a reminder that the class newsletters are posted directly onto the Class sites, which can be accessed via the our classes link. Here you will find all the information about what you child is currently learning as well as photos of sports day and each class has a newsletter tab showing newsletters from Terms 1 - 6. Term 6 is out now.
For Nursery and Reception, newsletters are posted on the class pages.
Celebrating COPA Student success outside of the Academy
Arjun Bhattiprolu - Badminton
At COPA, we are immensely proud of Arjun in Bonsai Class, who has been training hard in over the last couple of years and has worked with incredible resilience to keep fit - even during the pandemic. His hardwork has paid off, Arjun has been selected to be part of the Kent Badminton U12 Squad.
They had their first friendly with Essex last week where Arjun won both his doubles and mixed doubles matches. A huge well done to him from all at COPA and we hope he goes on to achieve great things in his chosen sport!
Arjun's next goal is to prepare for the 'U11 England Nationals' which will be held next year.
We wish him all the best in his efforts to achieve his goal!
Extended Schools Links
Please use the links below to register for Extended Schools Provisions. These booking links will all close on Friday 16 July for processing and invoicing.
Term 1 Extended School News
Registration for ASP/BC
Registration for Term 1 is now open and will close on Friday 16 July for processing; no ad-hoc or late bookings after this date will be accepted. Confirmation for your booked sessions will be by receipt of your invoices, which will be sent out w/c 19 July; payment will be required 14 days from the receipt of your invoice, which will be your confirmation of a place. Please double check your junk mail or spam folder if you do not receive your invoice and let Cherry Finance or Extended Schools know in plenty of time to rectify in the last two days of term.
After School Activity Clubs
Activity Clubs for Term 1 will accommodate up to 25 students outside and 15 inside and be allocated on a first come, first served basis but we hope with the wider choice, there will be opportunities for everyone who wants a place. Activity Clubs will not run until the first full week of term i.e. w/c Monday 6 September.
Please note pick up for all Activity Clubs will continue to be at different times due to the staggered finish times via the main school playground side gate, where staff will bring children out at pick up time. Please be prompt to collect; KS1 @ 4:15 pm and KS2 @ 4:30 pm.
September Term 1 2021/22
There will be a slight increase in fees from September 2021 onwards. EYFS Clubs and Extended Schools Provision will not commence until Term 2, once our new little ones have settled in. Registration for EYFS pupils will be released in September 2021 once they start a full time timetable.
SLY Moves Street Dancing Club
Please contact SLY Moves Dance Club directly with any Street Dancing queries. COPA are not involved with payments and bookings for this club; we are just providing the facilities, so please do not send in money or booking forms to school. You will receive a booking form and letter directly from SLY Dance Club via your child. Again, parents collecting at normal school times, please be mindful this activity will be operating on the patio and far playground,. Pick up times will be in line with all other Activity Clubs and there will be no EYFS Dance Club until T2.
Reminders
Early closure on 14 July following our Festival Celebrations from 1:15 pm onwards
Early closure on last day of term - 20 July @ 1:30 pm
Nursery finish at 12:00 pm on 20 July following their beach themed event
Parent Governor Vacancy - nomination forms available from the office
Calendar dates for your Diary
Transition Week w/b 12 July (Vulnerable Students)
Transition Days Thursday 15 and Friday 16 July
Ice Cream Truck Tuesday 13th July after school
Reflection & Connection Festival Wednesday 14 July (Early Close 1:30 - 2:00 pm)
Golden Afternoon Monday 19th July
Term 6 End Tuesday 20 July (Early Close @1:30 pm)
Term 1 Start Wednesday 1st September
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