Newsletter
13th January 2023
Principal's Message:
This term has got off to a great start and it's been wonderful to see the children following the Christmas break.
I recently wrote to parents and carers in regard to the academy's new strapline. In case you missed it, the most popular strapline was;
"Learning today for life tomorrow."
I also shared that we are going to be increasing opportunities for parents/carers to engage with the school. Senior leaders will be holding short, half an hour “Coffee and Conversation” sessions on a Friday, twice a term. The date and topic of conversation for these will be shared in our weekly newsletters so please do look out for these as there may be something of interest. The purpose of these sessions are to share information in an informal way and answer any questions that you may have pertaining to the topic. The first one, which is taking place next week on Friday 20th January at 2.30pm, will be on attendance.
We held our first parental forum on Thursday 12th January at 2.00pm. Sadly, there wasn't a lot of uptake to this and so it would be helpful to know how we can better engage our parental community in these types of opportunity. The presentation that was going to be shared at the forum is below.
You will have noticed that there has been some progress with the installation of our electronic gates. We are really excited that these will be up and running in the imminent future. We will send out further communication when the gates are fully operational so that you know what to expect.
We are aware that a number of a families are experiencing increasing financial strain as a result of rising energy bills. Please reach out to the academy if you are in need of support as there may be things we can do to help or at least point you in the direction of support. You may wish to consider applying for your child to be in receipt of free school meals, and can check eligibility for this via the link below:
https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/free-school-meals
We do suggest that you give serious consideration to this as we also receive additional funding per eligible child that we can use to subsidise school trips and uniform.
The bottom line is, however, you are definitely not alone and we are here to help so please do reach out.
Have a lovely weekend.
Miss Brading
Office Reminders:
A polite reminder to ensure that your child only attends one block of each extra curricular club over the course of an academic year. The administration time that is involved in checking this each term, and removing any duplicate bookings for children that have attended a club previously, is vast and unnecessary.
The academy office continues to received numerous requests from parents and carers asking for permission to book their child into a club they have already attended because there are spaces showing. We kindly ask that this is not done - spaces can then be kept free for other children to have the opportunity to join a club, even if this is partway through a term. Duplicate bookings will continue to be removed so that all pupils have a chance to attend as many clubs throughout the year as possible.
An exception to the above is Homework Club which children can currently attend over the course of any number of consecutive terms. Should this change, you will of course be notified.
Thank you to those parents and carers that do observe the procedures around the booking of clubs for one term/block only, this is appreciated.
Contacting the class teachers:
If you have concerns that you would like to raise with the academy, please do so via the school office email address on contactus@langleyparkprimaryacademy.org.uk and it will be directed to the relevant members of staff.
Whole School Attendance:
98.40%
Weekly Class Attendance Award:
Discovery
99.44%
Key Dates:
Tuesday 17th January SEND Coffee Morning, 9.30am-11.00am
Thursday 19th January National School Census Day
Thursday 19th January PTA AGM at 2.30pm
Friday 20th January Young Voices at O2 Arena
Friday 20th January Year R/Year 6 NCMP Screening
Friday 20th January 'Coffee and Conversation' at 2.30pm
Tuesday 24th January Parent Phonics Session, Seedlings Nursery at 2.30pm
Thursday 26th January Parent Phonics Session, Apollo and Discovery Classes at 9.00am
Friday 27th January Maidstone Lights Up Festival
Please note that these are confirmed dates but should we need to change any due to unforeseen circumstances, we will communicate this with you with as much notice as possible.
National Online Safety Guide
After Christmas, when a number of children will inevitably have a new phone, console or device, keeping your people safe and protected online is more important than ever. Many parents and carers often find themselves struggling to set up and familiarise themselves with the latest technology and therefore, at times, may have no idea what their children are doing online and/or who they may be talking to.
One of the best ways to keep children safe online is simply to have open dialogue with them about the activities they are doing online. Having open conversations without judgement about the online world your child is engaged in will help to ensure that they feel confident talking to you about what they are doing.
Please consider sharing the below guide with your child in order that they know how to protect themselves online. There is never a bad time to reinforce the importance of continued internet safety, whether on a new device or not.
