Headteacher's Welcome


Welcome back from the February half-term!

We've had an action-packed start with trips to the Guild Hall for the Careers Festival, the Junior Citizen event, and a trip to Therfield School for the thrilling "We Will Rock You" performance.

Huge congratulations to our Year 5/6 cricket team who won their tournament and will now compete in the finals at Lord's Cricket Ground!

New developments:

Positive review:

This week, senior leaders from other schools visited West Ashtead Primary for our annual Challenge Partner Quality Assurance Review. We're pleased to report that the review was positive, and we look forward to sharing the full report with you soon.

Thank you for your ongoing support!



Sports Roundup

West Ashtead children have been very lucky over the last month to have lots of chances to try out many different sports.  

Children across the school have been participating in Cricket training sessions with  Chance to Shine cricket.  They have begun to learn how to bowl and throw the ball and some classes have had a go at a short game.  The children have greatly enjoyed this opportunity and are looking forward to the next sessions. 

Girls in Year 3 and 4 were excited to participate in football training with Chelsea Foundation coaches.  They learnt lots of skills and enjoyed the chance to try out a new sport.  They have another session next week and then the girls in Year 5 and 6 have three weeks of sessions.

Our Year 5 and 6 Cricketers have triumphed in a Sutton Indoor Tournament, in which they came first!  This means that they are going to play in finals at Lord's Cricket Ground next week!  Good luck to all involved. 

Six boys in Year 3 played in their first football tournament at Cheam Common Junior.  They were very excited to come 3rd overall and played very well.  Well done to Thomas for being a fabulous goalie and to Archie for scoring a goal. 

Some Year 4 and 5 girls were involved in a LEO Tag Rugby tournament. They played for the first time together and did really well overall. 

Our Year 5 and 6 children also participated in the Indoor Athletic Competition at The Ashcombe in Dorking.  The children tried hard and enjoyed themselves against some very strong competition.

Unfortunately the last Cross Country match was cancelled due to rain last week but there is another match next Friday 8th March. 




WhatsApp 

Class WhatsApp groups

Class WhatsApp groups are a very useful and efficient way of communicating. The aim of using WhatsApp is to send messages to the entire group, which are relevant to school e.g. reminders for events. 


The school neither sends nor monitors messages on WhatsApp. 


We would strongly suggest:


In school we have been learning ...

Golden Time

We have recently introduced Golden Time to the children.  Golden Time is a fantastic positive behaviour strategy.

Golden Time can help teachers and classes achieve their full potential by optimising positive behaviour management. When Golden Time is fully implemented, teachers tend to spend less time on behavioural issues and more time teaching. Golden Time is a whole school (or class) activity session to celebrate keeping the Golden Rules. Golden Time activities are special activities that the children have chosen to do. With a consequence for their actions, children learn about the difference between positive behaviour and keeping to the golden rules, and disruptive or unhelpful behaviour that stops everyone moving forward.   

Research tells us that the removal of a privilege or treat is the best sanction or consequence, and therefore along with a colourful visual warning system, minutes of Golden Time may be taken away for persistently breaking the Golden Rules.  The best thing is that children love  Golden Time activities – they understand the system, the system is fair, they adore Golden Time and everyone wins!  

FOWA in the News

Friends of West Ashtead Mini News Alert!

Exciting updates from the Friends of West Ashtead (FOWA)!


  New Junior Play Area Installed: After three years of fundraising efforts, we're thrilled to announce the installation of the new junior play area and climbing frame at the school! Thanks to your incredible support, a whopping £26,000 was raised to make this dream a reality. The juniors are overjoyed, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed through donations, event attendance, raffle ticket purchases, and more. 


 Fundraising Plans for 2024: Our fundraising planning for this year is in full swing! We're gearing up to co-fund fantastic school workshops aimed at enriching the children's education. Additionally, we're collaborating with Leo Academy and the students of West Ashtead Primary School to brainstorm exciting ideas for our next big fundraiser, focusing on enhancing playtime and outdoor learning.


  FOWA Leadership Transition: After three fulfilling years, our FOWA Chair, Jennifer Turner, will be stepping down at the end of the school year. We're on the lookout for individuals interested in taking on this rewarding volunteer role. Whether as a sole chair or as part of a co-chair team, this position offers the opportunity to lead our fundraising strategy, foster strong relationships with our school and parents, and join our dedicated FOWA trustee team alongside Treasurer James Balcombe and Vice-Chair Laura-Jane Fowler. Email us at fowachair@gmail.com if interested in finding out more!


  Upcoming FOWA Events: Save the dates for our upcoming events:


Stay tuned for more exciting news of these events soon! 


Team FOWA

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 

Please..........help your child:

Please..........help us:

Please..........help raise funds:

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.