Great Coates Primary School Newsletter

Friday 7th February

Newsletter

Message from Miss Deans

Today's newsletter is filled with information about events we have had and events that are coming up so please look carefully at the dates below and add them to your diaries.

I would like to draw parents attention to World Book Day which we are celebrating on Friday7th March and inviting pupils to come to school dressed as someone who inspires them. This could be anyone inspirational e.g. a family member, favourite author, character, singer, actor, nurse, firefighter, sports person. Pupils can also bring a book to school about their inspiration. The school ambassadors will judging a competition for the best teacher costume and we will be taking part in a competition to design the best book voucher.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe weekend.

Miss Deans

Vice Principal

Diary Dates

Reading

Please encourage your child to read three times a week at home. This is a homework expectation of the school. We have rewards for children who read 3 times a week or more. The table below shows the percentage of children who have read three times last week in each class.

Very well done to Mrs Leahy's class who have all read three times last week!

News

World Book Day

Book Fair

The book fair visited the school last week and there were some great books for sale. Thank you to all the parents who supported the book fair which has raised £414 for the school to purchase new books.

Bikeability

On 27th and 28th January, Year 5 took partn in Bikeability. The children learned about road safety and went out onto the streets to take their cycling profficiency tests. Well done Year 5!

Labrats - Renewable Energy Workshop

On 29th January, the Year 5 and 6 children took part in a workshop run by RWE Energy and Labrats. The children investigated how wind energy powers electrical items and best conditions for wind energy. Click below to see a video of the children at the workshop.

https://x.com/year5GCP/status/1884616757970690268/video/3

Barclays Coding and Money Sense Workshops

On 21st January, Key Stage 2 children took part in the Barclays Schools Roadshow, Coding and Money Workshops. The children used coding to make a character move and complete tasks and worked in teams to crack a code.

The leader of the workshop said, "We were lucky enough to spend the day with Key stage 2 at Great Coates Academy. The engagement from the students and teachers was some of the best we’ve seen and the questions and curiosity was fantastic. " Well done Key Stage 2.

Year 5 Swimming Success

Earlier this term Year 5 took part in swimming lessons at John Whitgift Acadamy. We are proud to say that 85% of pupils in Year 5 are able to swim 25m or more. This is the highest percentage of children meeting this standard that we have ever had!

Boccia Finals

On Tuesday 11th February, our Boccia team will be taking part in the regional finals of the inter school tournament. We wish the team the best of luck.

Parent Engagement Workshops

This term we have already seen Parent Engagement Workshops for Miss Baxter and Miss Woolliss's class and Mr Baxter's class. We are looking forward to seeing parents for the following workshops. Nursery on Wednesday 5th March and Mrs Wood's class on 2nd April. Parents and Grandparents are welcome to come along and join in with a fun learning experience with your child. Doors open at 2pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Visit from Levi Giles

On 15th January, we were very pleased to have a visit from parent and local sporting hero, Levi Giles and Josh Grantham, his sponsor from EC Surfacing. They spoke to the children about how Levi worked his way up in boxing to become Commonwealth Silver Medalist. They inspired the pupils, speaking about how sport and exercise can help people in life. We would like to thank Levi for coming and wish him all the best with his future career.

Internet Safety Day 11th March

On 11th March, the school will be learning about using the internet safely for the day. We look forward to the activities on the day.

For more information about using Safer Internet Day please follow the link. https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2025

Internet Safety

Follow this link for safety tips when setting up devices for children.

https://www.internetmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Internet-Matters-Set-Up-Safe-Checklist-Mar-2023.pdf

Community

Communication with school

If you wish to speak to a member of staff, or pass on information, you can contact the school by telephone on 01472 808608. Our school email address is :- gcaenquiries@harbourlearningtrust.com .

This email address is monitored constantly, every day and enquiries on this address will be dealt with promptly. Please do not use any other Harbour Learning Trust email to contact school as this will not be picked up by school promptly. You can also speak to staff on the school gates or on the doors. You can also use the messaging system on Class Dojo, but bear in mind that, as teachers are teaching all day, they may not read Class Dojo until the end of the school day, or the next day, therefore important messages need to be sent to the School Office on the above email address.

We pride ourselves on the safe and friendly atmosphere in and around our school. Parents who are aggressive or abusive will be asked to leave and the police called if necessary.

School website: - https://gca.harbourlearningtrust.com/

Attendance

Thank you to all of our children and parents for supporting our attendance policies so far this year.

Please note these are our attendance systems which are in line with government policies and other schools in the area. You must contact the school every day your child is absent from school. If school has not been notified of an absence, you will receive a text message initially to allow you time to contact the school. If no contact has been made, a safety and well-being check will be made. A calling card will be left at the family home if no response is received. On day three of any absence a visit will be made by our pastoral team to your house. Every child must be spoken to or seen each week by a member of Great Coates staff. On some occassions where children are persistently absent (attendance below 90%) we will complete home visits on day one of an absence. Click on the link for more information about the government guidelines.

School attendance and absenceYou can be prosecuted if your child has unauthorised absence from school - truancy, help with getting your child to school, and legal action to enforce school attendance

Follow Harold, our attendance mascot at https://twitter.com/HaroldHERO to find out all about attendance at Great Coates.

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN LEARNING THIS WEEK?

What have we been learning this week?

Please keep up to date with what the children have been learning with Twitter. The teachers share the pupils' learning so that you are kept informed. There are some marvellous achievements celebrated on our Twitter pages that the children are very rightly proud of.

https://twitter.com/PrimaryGreat

https://twitter.com/gcpfs1

https://twitter.com/GCPFS2

https://twitter.com/GcpYear1

https://twitter.com/GCPYEAR2

https://x.com/Year3L

https://x.com/GCP_Y5and6

https://twitter.com/HaroldHERO

https://twitter.com/SydandBridge

https://twitter.com/GCPreading