Cherry Orchard Primary Academy Newsletter

May 2021 - Issue 11

Principal's Welcome

"With the last term fast approaching, we very much look forward to COVID restrictions being eased a little more. It has been a difficult year, but the pupils at COPA have coped with all the changes in routine and the return to school admirably. Next week is assessment week which is an opportunity for teachers to see what children have learnt and how much progress has been made. Following this, teachers will then be able to plan next steps and change support, if necessary. You will be kept informed if your child is taking part in small group interventions via the parent contact book or by letter.

I look forward to welcoming you all back to the school again for our Sports Day later in term 6, if the plan to lift social distancing restrictions remains viable."

Julie Forsythe - Principal

Virtual Parent Consultations

Overall initial feedback from parents and staff has been very positive about the new school system called School Cloud which was used to host parent consultations this term. It would be great to capture your positive comments and consider areas of development for the future. Although Cedar and Chestnut classes have yet to complete their parent meetings, - as these are scheduled for Wednesday 19 May - we would be grateful, once all the parents consultations conclude, if you could take the time to complete and return a short survey to make us aware of your experience. This will be sent out at the end of Term 5 by email. Parents of Chestnut & Cedar, if you are experiencing any difficulty booking using the School Cloud system, please contact the office for assistance.

School News & Updates

School Attendance & Leave of Absence

With school attendance becoming compulsory again, where there is a worry over attendance, parent notifications of concern will resume at the end of this term for compulsory school aged children. This has not been activated during the current pandemic. As a Trust, 100% attendance is expected for every child, every term, but we acknowledge that there will inevitably be illness during the course of the year. However, where attendance is less than 95%, parents will be notified by letter - in line with the Academy's attendance policy - and this will be monitored the next term in expectation of improvement.

Reminder to new parents / parents of children in EYFS moving into KS1

Please be advised that leave of absence during term time will not be authorised, except in the most exceptional of circumstances. In this instance, leave of absence must be approved in advance by the Principal and will be dependent on the individual circumstances. The Principal must receive your request in writing in plenty of time to consider the circumstances, otherwise a fixed penalty charge of £120 per parent per child will apply - reduced to £60 for early payment. Please see our full policy arrangements for attendance. Find out more about our term time holidays.

KS1/KS2 Interventions

Current interventions will cease at the end of Term 5 but additional interventions with a different focus may commence in Term 6 . If your child is involved in these interventions, you will receive a separate communication giving full details of when these will take place.

Birthday Celebrations

Please can we remind parents of our preference for encouraging children to bring in a book to share for their class to share on their birthday instead of 'goodie bags' of sweets/stationary or a birthday cake. This is because of the number of allergies we need to be mindful of, as well as the pressure on families that may not be able to provide similar items. A book that is meaningful or features a different culture or religion is particularly welcome as we try to build up a diverse library collection.

Allergens Reminder

Please can we remind parents that we have a NO NUTS policy at COPA. This includes food items containing nuts such as hazelnut yogurts, nutella spread or praline contained products. We have several children who are allergic to nuts and this could prove life threatening to them.

Pre-loved School Uniform

We are aware that our School Uniform is costly and we are looking at additional providers for the new academic year; in the meantime, we have lots of good qualify jumpers, cardigans, book bags and other items of uniform that have been donated, either because they have been outgrown or because pupils have moved away from the school. We will be having a pre-loved school uniform sale every afternoon after school in the last week of term. Donations of £1 - £5 will be put towards resources for our enrichment afternoon on 14 July. Please remember to label all items.

Look out for these on the playground at pick up time w/c 24 May.

Reception Nursery Main Gate

Several parents have asked about opening the main large gate on the Nursery side of the building to allow better flow for parents. Although this was initially facilitated during the earlier stages of the pandemic, it has been difficult to staff and as restrictions begin to lift, we are satisfied this does not impact too much on social distancing. However, this will continue to be monitored.

Sad Farewell

This term we say a sad farewell and a massive thank-you to our music teacher, Mrs. Stroud who has been instrumental in bringing our music curriculum up to such a high standard . The children have responded warmly to her teaching and she has also been instrumental in arranging our many musical productions over the years. We wish her well with her new ventures.

Warm Welcome

Miss Bashford will be joining us in September, as our new specialist music teacher and she will be offering music and choir clubs from September onwards. She has been in school for several visits familiarising herself with the school and children. ahead of joining the team in the new academic year.

We also welcome Miss Duke to the Reception team who will be the new Juniper class teacher. She has also been getting to know the children and is ready to take up a new challenge with Juniper class.

Sports Day

On Thursday 24 June we plan to hold our 2021 Sports Day on the new school field (weather dependent)

EYFS/KS1 will take place in the morning and KS2 will be in the afternoon. Although we cannot guarantee parents will be able to join us in person for this event, we will be watching the Government announcement on the 21 June in the hope that all legal limits on social distancing restrictions will be lifted by then. Otherwise we are looking at 'live streaming' all the action from the Balcony overlooking the field.

Full details will follow but children will be required to wear their House colours if possible and earn points for their Team. Houses are Ashford, Ebbsfleet, St. Pancras and Stratford. House colour T Shirts and school caps are available online from Brigade.

connecting links reflecting in the water

COPA Reflection & Connection Festival

Further to our recent email, plans are underway for our Festival of Reflection and Connection following the COVID-19 pandemic.

School will close early between 1:30 & 2:00 pm, depending on year group staggered finish times. Further details will follow once these have been finalised.

This is to allow for a Trust Wide afternoon for staff to reflect on the challenges of the past year and allow them to reconnect as a Trust Community, where socially distanced bubbles have meant no face to face collaborative working.

At COPA we aim to include the children in our efforts to reconnect as a whole school and to reestablish our school community, as the restrictions of the past 18 months hopefully become a thing of the past.

We are planning a morning of enrichment activities for children and a picnic lunch box with ice cream on the school field, with a a music and dancing finale. Once these plans have been finalised, we will update parents but this is just to give plenty of notice for early school closure.

Woodland Area Edible Garden

You may have noticed some building and ground work activity in the Woodland Area of the school grounds. We are excited about the new wooden planters that have been installed - ready for planting up with fruits and vegetables - although in reality this is likely to be ongoing task as we continue to plant for the seasons.

"It would be great to have some parents/grandparents involved with this process to help with organising, planting, seeding and watering with the children. If you would like to volunteer some times, please get in touch with the office in the first instance"

Next Tuesday (18 May), work will begin on the erection of the Rotunda Building which will help to develop the outside learning environment even further. It is anticipated, this will take two weeks to build and it will sit between the edible garden and amphitheater and be a multiple purpose undercover space for physical activity, arts, music and of course the outdoor garden space. We aim to start using it by Term 6.

Primary Years Programme IB Learner Profiles

Monday Assembly on IB Learner Profile

Every Monday, teachers introduce the particular quality from the IB Learner Profile that we are considering for that week. Currently these assemblies are being recorded and shown in class as we cannot have the children altogether in the hall. As they are being recorded at the moment, we thought it would be nice to share these with parents so they could understand and discuss with their children at home. The assemblies will be available to view every Monday afternoon via your child's Google Classroom.

IB Theme for w/e 14 May

A poster advertising the IB Balanced attribute

IB Theme for w/c 17 May

A poster advertising the Inquirers IB Attribute

National Online Safety

We are now a fully certified NOS School!

If parents have not yet signed up yet for a National Online Safety account please do so by clicking on our unique school link here. You will be able to access up to date online safety information and watch a range of informative webinars. You will also be able to find out all of the important safety information regarding apps like TikTok as well as teaching your child to look out for 'fake news' and other important, topical current events.

Remember always encourage your child to play in a shared family space, where you can supervise their activity as this is the best way to ensure their safety.

Signpost for Parents - What Parents need to know about Roblox

Setting Parental Controls

COPA celebrate reading success

Well done to all the following children who have read for the most amount of minutes this week!

Congratulations to you all!

Year 1 - Aidan

Year 2 - Roman

Year 3 - Jaqueline

Year 4 - Jeremy

Year 5 - Aston

A photo of Olive Dining Staff with their company poster

Menu Change / Census Day Menu

You will see that there are some minor changes to the menus for the remainder of this academic year. This has arisen from meetings between school staff and Olive Dining - our outside caterers - to determine our children's likes and dislikes and make adjustments where necessary. Please see adjusted Summer Menus Week 1, Week 2 & Week 3.

On Thursday 20 May, there is a change to the menu; American Census Day menu will replace the menu advertised on that day.

Extended Schools Links

Please use the links below to register for Extended Schools Provisions. These booking links will all close on Monday 17 May for processing and invoicing.

Last opportunity to register below.

Download our ESP Booklet here

Term 6 Extended School News

Registration for ASP/BC

Registration for Term 6 closes on Monday 17 May for processing and there will be no ad-hoc or late bookings throughout Term 6. Confirmation for your booked sessions will be by receipt of your invoices, which will be sent out w/c 17 May; payment will be required 14 days from the receipt of your invoice. Registrations have now closed and parents should have received confirmation of their place with the receipt of an invoice for payment. Please double check your junk mail if you have not received your invoice and let Cherry Finance or Extended Schools know if you have not received one.

After School Activity Clubs

We have resumed our large selection of Activity Clubs for Term 6 and guidelines now allow for up to 25 outside and 15 inside. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis but we hope with the wider choice , there will be options available for everyone who wants a place.

Please note pick up for all Activity Clubs will be at different times due to the staggered finish times via the main school playground side gate or the Reception/Nursery side where staff will bring children out at pick up time. Please be prompt to collect; EYFS @ 3:30, KS1 @ 4:15 and KS2 @ 4:30.

September Term 1 2021/22 Advance Notice Registration

Registration for September Term 1 will be open from 14 June until Friday 9 July, when it will close for processing and invoicing in the last week of term. Please be aware there may be a slight increase in fees from September 2021 onwards.

SLY Moves Street Dancing Club

Please contact SLY Moves Dance Club directly with any Street Dancing queries. COPA are not involved with payments and bookings for this club; we are just providing the facilities, so please do not send in money or booking forms. You should have received a booking form and letter directly from SLY Dance Club via your child. Again, parents collecting at normal school times, please be mindful this activity will be operating on the patio and far playground, as well as on the EYFS side. of the building in Term 6. Pick up times will be in line with all other Activity Clubs.

Reminders

Only one adult please to drop off / pick up in the school playground
No dogs to come on to the playground
Bikes / scooters should be wheeled from the school gate - not ridden
Face Masks / Social distancing should be maintained at all times
Please do not park in the disabled bays if you do not display a blue badge

A collection of different coloured ribbons

Calendar dates for your Diary

T5 Golden Afternoon Thursday 27 May

Term 5 End Friday 28th May

Half Term Monday 31st May - Friday 4th June

Term 6 Start Monday 7th June

Sports Day Thursday 24 June

LAT Reflection & Collection Wednesday 14 July (Early Close @ 1:30)

Term 6 End Tuesday 20 July (Early Close @ 1.:30)

Click the icon to join

Cherry Orchard Facebook Group!

Join the Cherry Orchard family on Facebook and keep up to date with latest news, events and information quickly.

Page updated

Report abuse