Message from the Principal:

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this week’s newsletter. As always, we

have lots to share with you as it’s been an extremely busy fortnight. Can I start with a

huge thank you for helping us to raise £384 for Children in Need, and for contributing

to the £485 currently in our Asda Cashpot. Your support with both is very much

appreciated.

We are now entering the extremely busy end of term period with lots of events

packed in for the children. Can I just draw your attention to the learning showcases

where the children will again perform an assembly and share their books/learning

with you. Those dates are as follows:

Friday 13 th December 9.15 Year 3

Monday 16 th December 9.15 Year 4

Tuesday 17 th December 9.15 Year 5

Wednesday 18th December 9.15 Year 6

Please can you confirm your attendance on Arbor. There is no charge but due to

space we need to limit to a maximum of 2 adults per child.

Can I also remind all families that children must be booked on to attend Breakfast

Club each morning. This facility is available for all children but for safeguarding

reasons we have to know who we are expecting to attend each day, and we have

had a number of children just turning up. If you have any queries about how to book

then our office staff will be happy to support with this. We also have a cut off time of

8.20 if children are wanting to eat, as food is packed away after this time.

Thank you everyone, please enjoy reading what the children have been up to, and

have a lovely weekend.

S Sargent

Principal

Good attendance and punctuality are vital for success at school, and to establish positive life habits that are necessary for future success. Through regular attendance pupils can build relationships and develop strong social groups. 

At WBJS, we aim to keep you up to date with your child's attendance figures. These can be viewed on your child's Arbor app. We also share attendance figures at parents evenings, on our termly summary reports sent home to parents or you may receive a reminder letter for attendance if your child's attendance is below 97%.

If your child’s attendance drops below 90%, this means they have missed 10% of their learning which is equal to half a day every week. Children below 90% are considered to be a Persistent Absentee and the following procedures will take place: 

1. Attendance concern letters sent to parents to make you aware that your child’s absence has dropped below expected levels. Your child's attendance will then be informally monitored for the next 4 weeks.

2. If there is no or little improvement in attendance then you will be invited to a school attendance meeting (SAP) to see what support you may need as a family to help improve your child’s attendance. This will be held with Mrs Newell and our EWO from Attendance Matters, Leander Swinthorpe. Our SAP targets run for 4 weeks following this initial meeting.

3. If there is no or little improvement in attendance then a further meeting will be held with our governor attendance team (GAP). Here we will be able to offer any further support necessary to support your child's attendance.

 5. If there continues to be no or little improvement in attendance then the next stage would be a Notice to improve, where a referral to North East Lincolnshire council may result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued or court proceedings. 

All of the above shall be monitored over a 3 year period from September 2024 (unlike previous monitoring which was conducted on a yearly basis).

 General Information

• Please do not ride bikes and scooters on the school grounds, this is for children and adults. This is for the safety of our children, thank you. 

• Please note, electric scooters are not allowed on the school site due to health and safety regulations and not having the facilities to store them in school.

• Please do not bring pets onto the school site due to health and safety regulations.

PE kit MUST be brought to school on your child's PE days,

Year 3 and Year 5 will have PE Tuesday and Thursday

Year 4 and Year 6 will have PE Monday and Wednesday

WBJS Newsround from the Pupil Governors

Barcroft Stars

Please can we remind all parents that children are required to read 3 times a week at home and their reading record is expected in school every day. There are a small number of children who only bring their book bags to school on Thursdays when our weekly reads are counted. Without them, the children cannot read their home reading book with staff in school and they cannot quiz and change their books regularly. We try to encourage the children to organise their bookbag in preparation for future responsibilities.

Thank you for your support with this.

Shoebox Appeal - community

This year our school has been taking part in supporting the Grimsby shoe box appeal to help those less fortunate. Grimsby shoeboxes are a small local charity who coordinate donations into shoe boxes to needy children and families around the world. They also support people in the North East Lincolnshire community.

Mrs Bowden and Mrs Culyer took 3 pupils along with all the generous donations (THANK YOU) to visit the Ice house on Wednesday 27th November to support making up the boxes which will be flying over to children in Eastern Europe in time for Christmas. 

THANK YOU  to PC Mickleburgh who visited our school on Tuesday 26th November to deliver an assembly to our year 5/6 cohort on knife crime as part of the national knife crime campaign as well as County Lines Input as it marked the national week of action. 

Thank You

Thank you to all of our parents who attended our SEND/Safeguarding coffee morning on Wednesday 20th November. It was a great success and gave parents the opportunity to discuss queries with professionals and school staff.

Parent voice:

'I found the SEND/pastoral coffee morning very informative and it was really useful. I found being able to talk to members of staff face to face very vaulable.'

'It was good to talk to people who can help and the webinar was very informative.'

'I have found it useful and has made me re-think the approachs used at home.'

Waiting Times - Specialist Assessments: ASD & AD/HD

The Neurodevelopmental Service team are working hard to address the waiting times but there has been a 79% increase in acceptance rate from 2023-2024 to 2024-2025.

• The current waiting time for an ASD assessment is approximately just under 1 year

• ASD pathway wait was reduced by 20 weeks with support from private provider (targeting 109 CYP, repeating arrangements with a further 50 CYP shortly)

• The current waiting time for an AD/HD assessment is approximately 1 year & 32 weeks

• AD/HD pathway wait has reduced by 20 weeks in the last 3 months

• The Service continues to respond to increased demand and has plans in place to reduce the length of wait

Tips for Christmas for autistic people and their families

Christmas is a time of joy and celebration, but it can be difficult for some autistic children/young people and adults.

The National Autistic Society, with help a range of people with lived experience have compiled a list of autism-friendly tips for the festive period. With good planning and clear communication, hopefully these tips will help you all to have an enjoyable Christmas.

I know that Christmas can be quite overwhelming and stressful for our son, so we have regularly visited this site before the festive period for many years! We found and still use some of the useful and helpful tips.

You’ll find advice, support and tips on:

• Preparing

• Schedules

• Decorations

• Presents

Please click on the link for more details: Tips for Christmas

Kind regards,

Rachel Asher 

SENDCo

School dinner menu

Community events and information