Headteacher's Welcome

Happy New Year and a warm welcome from me as your new principal. I am very excited to be taking up the position and look forward to working with you all over the coming days, weeks, and months.  I have been greeted enthusiastically by all of the pupils and they have been eager to share their learning and news from home as I have been getting to know them. Our Stars of the Week have so far earned certificates for attributes such as 'being an excellent role model', 'sharpening focus in lessons', and 'being dedicated learners',  I'm sure you agree, a positive start to 2024! 


You will notice that we have moved some things around within the newsletter, please take some time to explore the different areas for news about your child's learning, sporting events, and important messages.  


Year 6 had a brilliant 'homefront' day to learn more about what life was like for Britain during wartime and they looked great in their costumes, thank you to parents for supporting the teachers with this, please see the Year 6 page for pictures and more details.  Our Cloud Champions also had the opportunity to visit BETT, they had a great day representing West Ashtead Primary on the Google stand as well as trying out new and innovative products.  


Thank you also to the parents who attended the 'Welcome Assembly' on Thursday - it was great to meet some of you and for me to be able to share my vision with the school community.  Please do remember that my door is always open for feedback, conversations and questions so that we can continue to develop a strong partnership to make West Ashtead Primary School the best that it can be! 



Sports Roundup

Congratulations to our girls U11 football team on their win against The Greville Primary School!  A fantastic result and a great start to the 2024 season.

A big congratulations to our Panathlon team who achieved 1st place in the Surrey Primary Panathlon - an excellent achievement! 

In school we have been learning ...

Celebrations

We have recently introduced the 144 Time Table Club to the pupils - the aim is to answer as many multiplication questions as they can within 5 minutes.  If they manage to achieve all 144 questions, the pupils will be presented with a certificate and a badge.  There are different colour badges for the children to collect and these can be worn with pride on our school uniform. 


Well done to the pupils who have already achieved their place in the 144 Club! 

FOWA in the News

 

2024 fundraising also got off to an amazing start through a partnership with our very own Clare at Mole Valley Mulch. Clare collected 68 used Christmas trees (on her birthday, no less) made them into mulch and donated 30% of the fee to FOWA. We are very grateful to Clare for the £204!


This week we have seen the beginnings of the new KS2 Play Frame.  Work is well underway in getting this constructed and we know that the KS2 pupils are eager to begin exploring!


Are you interested in a career at LEO?

Teaching Assistant Vacancies 

We have a number of Teaching Assistant roles available across the LEO Academy Trust, including at West Ashtead Primary - a full job description can be found on the LEO vacancy page (link below) or please arrange a meeting with the Principal to find out more!


https://www.leoacademytrust.co.uk/662/staff-vacancies 

SCHOOL CALENDAR 

SCHOOL FUND

As a state school, our budget from the Surrey Local Authority is calculated on a ‘per pupil’ basis and, in inflation adjusted terms, has not risen commensurately with our costs for several years.  Despite considerable efforts by the school’s staff to rigorously control costs while maintaining high standards of educational quality, costs have risen. 

We are establishing a voluntary contribution fund to advance the education of pupils at West Ashtead Primary Academy by the provision of resources, equipment, teaching and facilities for education in addition to those provided out of public funds.  The voluntary contributions are essential if our school is to maintain its current standards and provision.  Our intention is that the fund has a specific focus, this year it is technology and specifically raising funds to upgrade our interactive boards. 

Request - what are we asking of you? 

Contributing to the fund is voluntary.  We’re aware that many families already contribute generously to the school through supporting the Friends’ initiatives.  This is an invaluable source of funding for us that has financed some fantastic additional resources for the pupils, such as iPads, our library, STEAM room and classroom resources.  We also know that not all parents are able to attend and support the Friends’ events and may wish to support the School in other ways. 

We are suggesting a donation of £50 annually per family.  You may wish to contribute less or more, annually or monthly.  Every contribution will go towards us being able to invest in additional technology to enhance our children's learning.  Parents can pay for School Fund online via our Arbor payment system,  go to Accounts - School Fund - Top Up Account.

We would like to thank you for your support. 

LEO LOTTERY

Help raise funds for the LEO Foundation by joining our lottery.

This year, funds raised by the LEO Foundation supported our LEO PRIDE Awards in EYFS, our ECB All Stars Cricket Development Centre for Year 2 pupils, Mandarin lessons for Year 5 pupils and our Year 6 Junior Citizenship Programme.

Your support is greatly appreciated and we wish you good luck!

To purchase a ticket please click here.

HELP US / SOCIAL MEDIA 

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Social Media 

To be kept up-to-date with all of the exciting activities, learning and events that the children are participating in please follow @WestAshtead and @LEOacademies on Twitter, @west.ashtead.primary.school on Instagram and WestAshteadPrimarySchool on Facebook. 

Our social media platforms are used when the KS2 children are away on residential trips - seeing how much fun the children are having makes missing them not quite so bad, the children definitely do not look like they are missing home!

Please note that we only share photos of children who have photo permission and we only ever use their first name.  Also, we do not keep the photos that we share so if you see a photo of your child that you would like you can save these onto your own device by clicking on the 3 dots on the photo and selecting save.   Also if you see a post that interests you, please can we ask you to share/retweet.

If you would like your child to be included in our social media posts, please ensure that you have consented to social media.  If you are unsure please look at your child's profile on the Arbor app and contact the school office if you wish to make a change.