Diary Dates

Term Dates

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have all enjoyed an amazing first week back with the children. We have made the most of the beautiful weather and enjoyed extended time outside in the shade and in our outdoor classroom which has been a lovely way to start the year.

The atmosphere across the school has been extremely calm with all children keen to immerse themselves in the learning opportunities. Children have spent time getting to know one another in their classes and their familiar adults. Our whole school assemblies have focussed on expectations, embedding routines, ambition and our vision for the children. We want the very best for our children and it is important that they know this. In assemblies we all enjoyed the books 'Oh the Places You Will Go' by Dr Seuss and 'It's Your World Now' by Barry Falls to discuss our ambition for the children and future aspirations. Today we listened to the story 'The Bear and the Piano' to begin thinking about our Value for this half term, 'Friendship' and 'Caring'. The children learnt how the Bear's friends showed that they cared for him and were proud of him and how not being with your friends all the time doesn't stop them from being your friend. The children will continue to explore this value with teachers throughout the half term.

This newsletter contains details of our parental involvement and communication dates for the year. We recognise the importance of working with you and sharing your child's academic achievements; this will show you when these opportunities occur throughout the year as well as opportunities for you, our parents and carers, to be involved in specific training so that you can understand how best to support your child at home.

If you are new to the school and do not already follow us on our social media channels then please look us up. We regularly share photos of whole school news and 'magic moments' where we use trips, visitors and hands-on experiences to enrich the learning and expose our children to the wider world.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend with your children after their first week, they are ready for a rest already! Enjoy the last of the summer with family time if you are able to and I will see you all next week.

Mrs Romina Lang

Headteacher

Congratulations Mrs True

We send huge congratulations to Miss Stevens on her marriage during the summer holidays. She will now be known as Mrs True in school.

Staff News

We are delighted to welcome Mr Wildman (Cover Supervisor) and Mrs Foskett (Trainee Teacher) to the Lark Rise team.

Homework

Homework for all children will start from next week - further details will be sent out in due course. In the meantime, we hope the children can rest over the weekend after a busy first week back to school. They should of course be reading every day and can log onto Numbots or TTRockstars to practise their times tables if they already have their usernames and passwords.

Google Classroom

We have now moved the children over into their classes for Google Classroom. You will have received an email notification to join the new class, please could you confirm this as soon as possible so your child can access their learning in class next week.

School Photos

The school photographer will be in school on Wednesday 13th September to take individual and sibling photos of all children from Reception to Year 6. Please ensure that your child(ren) is in full school uniform on this day (if your child has PE on a Wednesday, they should come into school in their uniform and bring their PE kit to change into once their photograph has been taken).

The photographer will be in school again on Tuesday 19th September to take photos of the children in the Nursery.

PE Days

Please see below for a reminder of the PE for your child for this academic year.

Swimming for children in LKS2 (Macaws, Peacocks & Red Kites) will start on Tuesday 12th September.

Data Collection Sheets

You should by now have received a data collection sheet which details the information we have about your child on our school information management system. Please ensure that you check the details carefully, make any necessary corrections and return to the school office by Monday 11th September. Should there be any changes to these details over the course of the year, please notify us accordingly as it is imperative we have up to date contact details in the event of an emergency. A reminder that we need at least 3 emergency contacts for your child(ren).

Parental Contributions

We will once again be requesting (via Parentmail) the annual parental contribution of £8 per child. This contribution covers annual insurance, science, art & design technology costs. Thank you in advance for your prompt payment.

School Meals

A reminder that for children in Years 3 to 6, all school meals need to be ordered and paid for in advance via Parentmail.

Class Assemblies

The class assemblies to which parents/carers are invited have been added to the school calendar which can be accessed via the Diary Dates tab at the top of the newsletter.

The assemblies planned for the Autumn term are:

Eagles : Friday 6th October

Hawks : Friday 13th October

Falcons : Friday 24th November

Holidays in Term Time

As you are aware we are unable to authorise holidays during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. It is particularly important that children are NOT taken out of school during the months of May and June when national testing is undertaken.

Sports Competitions

We are really excited to be taking part in this year's inter-school sports competitions. There will be a number of events throughout the year and different children will be chosen over the course of the year to take part in events as appropriate.

Term Dates 2023/2024

Autumn Term

Tuesday 5th September to Wednesday 20th December 2023

Half Term: week commencing 23rd October.

Training Day : Monday 30th October

Spring Term

Thursday 4th January to Thursday 28th March 2024

Training Day: Wednesday 3rd January 2024

Half Term: week commencing 19th February

Summer Term

Tuesday 16th April to Friday 19th July 2024

Training Day : Monday 15th April 2024

Half Term: week commencing 27th May

School Uniform

May we remind you that children should be wearing the correct school uniform (including plain grey, black or white socks). We have seen a variety of brightly coloured and branded sports socks appearing on both PE and non-PE days which are not part of our uniform. PE t-shirts should also be plain (dark blue or white) and tracksuits should be plain navy or black (not any other colours eg grey).

Any hair accessories should be small (no large bows) and any earrings should be small studs which need to be removed or taped by yourselves at home if your child cannot do so themselves for PE days.

Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Parking

A reminder that the school car park is for staff use ONLY with the exception of disabled drivers (whereby use will be agreed with Mrs Lang). Please also park with consideration to our neighbours when parking in the vicinity of the school (this includes not parking over neighbours' drives) and keeping the top of the cul-de-sac as clear as possible where our new UKS2 exit is. Thank you in advance for your support

Toilet & Kitchen Roll Tubes

Key Stage One would be pleased to receive any empty toilet or kitchen roll tubes for an activity they will be doing in the next couple of weeks. Please send them into school with your child.

Free School Meals - Pupil Premium

As you will be aware, all children in Reception, Years 1 and 2 receive a free school meal under the Government's "Universal Infant Free School Meals" initiative. However, some children will also qualify for Income/Benefit Related free school meals due to their personal circumstances. Whilst this does not affect your child's receipt of a free meal, if you are registered for free school meals via Central Beds Council, the school will receive additional funding. This funding is known as Pupil Premium and brings in up to an additional £1320 per child that is registered.

We can use the extra funding in any way we choose to improve the quality of our children's education. This could include intervention and support for individual and small groups, additional training for staff and financial support for parents for educational visits and after school provision.

If you think you may be eligible, please visit the following www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/info/53/benefits/4/free_school_meals/3 and apply accordingly on the Central Beds Council website. If you apply and find out that you are eligible for the extra funding, please contact the school office when you receive notification that your child qualifies for Free School Meals. Whatever the outcome of your application (whether you qualify or not) it will not affect any other benefits that you may receive.

Book Donations

From time to time we receive donations of childrens' books for which we are extremely grateful. However our libraries are now well stocked with lots of the popular titles we frequently get donated. Therefore if do you have books you would like to donate, please hang onto them until we do a book swap later in the year. Many thanks.

Opportunities for Parental Involvement

2023-2024

Children’s progress

Autumn 1

12.10.23, 3.45pm-7.00pm Learning Review Meetings (Class Teacher)

End of half term : Year 4 Multiplication check mock results