Newsletter
28th April 2023
Principal's Message:
This week we finished our schedule of Coffee and Conversations for each year group. For those who attended the relevant sessions, they found these useful and informative; we are also grateful for their engagement.
We will now resume the original schedule of Coffee and Conversations on a less frequent basis. These will have a more general topic. The next one will be on Friday 5th May, 09:30-10:00, and the topic will be uniform. We are well aware that the cost of living is putting increasing strains on family and we are keen to do as much as we can to help with the situation. This has led us to review our current uniform policy and the cost implications. With this in mind we would welcome the view of parents and carers about this.
On the subject of uniform, teachers have noticed, increasingly, quite significant breaches of our uniform policy. This is both for the academy uniform and the PE uniform. Please ensure that you are familiar with our uniform policy, which is on our website, to avoid surprises should your child be challenged in the event that their uniform is not correct. The significant challenge is with PE uniforms. This should consist of simply a plain, round necked white t-shirt, plain navy jogging bottoms/plain navy shorts and plain navy tracksuit top. A lot of children, particularly in the older year groups, are simply wearing their own clothes to school which has never been the agreement. We want them to get into good habits now in order to prepare them for secondary school whereby the sanctions for uniform breaches are far more severe.
Thank you for working with us on this matter.
Office Reminders:
Office staff are noticing that the number of phone calls home to parents and carers chasing the reason for a child's absence is reducing. This is a huge help and means that staff are more available for other matters, so thank you for this. An increasing number of parents/carers are using the text facility to report absences which is fantastic. The number to use to do this is 07860 054453 but please do remember to use this for reporting your child's absence only. Any texts received relating to other matters cannot be responded to.
A reminder that, if a reason for your child's absence is not communicated to the academy office, the absence will always be recorded as unauthorised. It is also worth noting that staff are unable to go back and change attendance marks if, further down the line, a parent or carer does provide an explanation for an absence.
Charity Tuesday
Next Tuesday, 2nd May, Madison in Melrose Class will be holding a stall outside in the carpark area to raise money for a hearing charity - the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). This is a cause close to Madison's heart as there is a hereditary hearing impairment in her family and she has therefore chosen to try and raise money for RNID as part of this term's Charity Tuesday.
Madison is going to be selling pom pom hedgehogs that she has made herself at home. She has been making as many of these as possible in recent weeks, in two different sizes and a huge range of colours! Her stall will be outside in the morning at drop off time (weather depending) and then, should she have any left, again at the end of the academy day. Madison will be selling these for £1.50/£2.00 depending on the size chosen. If you are unable to be at the school but would like to purchase a pom pom hedgehog in support of fundraising for RNID, Madison will be happy to take additional orders. You can request a hedgehog by emailing the academy office.
Please support Madison in her efforts to raise funds for RNID, who are aware of her attempt to fundraise for the charity and are consequently featuring her in the next edition of their own RNID newsletter too! Thank you for your anticipated support.
Contacting the class teachers:
If you have concerns that you would like to raise with the academy, please do so via the office email address which is contactus@langleyparkprimaryacademy.org.uk. Upon receipt, your email will be directed to the relevant member(s) of staff.
We respectfully ask that you address any concerns or issues with your child's class teacher in the first instance. If it remains unresolved then your concern will then be escalated to Mrs McRobb, Vice Principal. In the unlikely event that it continues to remain unresolved, it will be escalated to Miss Brading at that point.
We are also aware that some parents continue to email staff directly. In the event that this happens, staff have been asked to forward your email to the aforementioned email address to resume communication via the correct channels.
Whole School Attendance:
96.07%
Weekly Class Attendance Award:
Jubilee
99%
Key Dates:
Monday 1st May Bank holiday, academy closed
Tuesday 2nd May Year 2 Special Agent Training (SATs!) start
Tuesday 2nd May Charity Tuesday (please see more information above)
Wednesday 3rd May Year 3 Trip to Dover Museum
Monday 8th May Bank holiday, academy closed
Tuesday 9th May SEND Coffee Morning, 9.30am-11.00am
Monday 15th May Nursery Walk to Aldi and Costa (all week)
Wednesday 24th May Nursery Stay and Play Session, 2.30pm
Thursday 25th May Reception Trip to Leeds Castle
Friday 26th May Last day of Term 5
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
Ofcom's annual 'Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes' report provides a comprehensive picture of how young people used and interacted with the internet in the preceding year. It is a fascinating snapshot of what games and apps young people are currently favouring, how long they spend online and how tastes change at certain ages.
Whilst some of Ofcom's latest findings will probably not come as much of a surprise (with YouTube being by far the most popular platform among under 18's, for instance), other conclusions may raise an eyebrow or two. The below guide presents some of the report's most eye-catching facts and figures in an accessible infographic format, in particular some statistics and trends demonstrating the most popular platforms for young people and the proportion of children in each age group who play games online.
