Issue 16 - Friday 21st February 2020
Headteacher's Welcome
Dear Parents and Carers
It's been an incredibly long and busy half term for our Parkfielders and we finished this term with a fabulous Poetry morning today. All classes wrote and then performed a poem in a special assembly for the rest of the school to observe and there was some great work. You can see some pictures and videos from the assembly on our Twitter feed.
Yesterday we held our half termly Parkfield Character Award ceremony where ten children were nominated by an adult for demonstrating the characteristic of being 'Dedicated'. Congratulations to all nominated and a special well done to Henry and Amelia who were our two winners.
Have a wonderful half term and I look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday 2nd March at 8.45am.
Mr Kemp
WORLD BOOK DAY
The first Thursday back after half term is World Book day.... Please do not spend any money on a costume. We are not dressing up for World Book Day. It is normal school uniform. We are going to be focusing on our 'love of reading' so we are instead asking for every child to bring in two books - old or new - that they will swap on that day. It's going to be a fun packed day with a range of wonderful activities that the children will love! Thank you always for your support!
BAMFORD HOUSE - NON-UNIFORM REWARD - FRIDAY 6th MARCH
Congratulations to the Bamford house (Yellow) who earned the most house points this half term. Their reward, as agreed with the Y6 house captains, will be a non-uniform day for all members of the Bamford house the first Friday back after half term. (6th March)
CHOIR SUCCESS
Huge congratulations to our choir who came in 2nd place at the recent music festival that took place at Rochdale Town Hall. The choir sounded wonderful on the day and performed in front of hundreds of other people. Thanks to Mrs Astley for her hard work and effort in ensuring our choir were able to compete on such a stage.
STAFFING
After successfully recovering from his organ donation, Mr Barnes returned back to Parkfield this week. It was great to see him back and he's enjoyed a week working alongside Mr Hellon in Y6 so that after half term he can get straight into SATS practice with our Y6's! Fortunately, we won't be losing Mr Hellon as he will move into Y3 for the remainder of this term.
LEARNING LOGS
Thanks for all your support in completing Learning Logs with your children over the past term. There were some incredibly creative dinosaur eggs, solar systems and houses on display - proving what hard working and dedicated families we have at Parkfield! Look out for Learning Logs with new activities after half term.
CLUBS
A reminder that the current after school clubs will continue after half term up until Easter.
NEW STYLE READING BOOKS
A reminder that if your child is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2, you many notice over the next couple of weeks your child bringing home different styles of reading books. These are part of a new reading scheme we have recently purchased to further develop our teaching of reading and phonics at Parkfield. More information will follow as we fully implement the new scheme but for now you can have a look at the Read, Write, Inc website for more information. https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
WEBSITE
Please visit our website regularly as it has lots of useful information about the school. It's also regularly updated and includes information about our curriculum, previous presentations for parents, e-safety information and links to school policies.
LOVE OF READING
Please continue to read the books brought home by your child so that they can complete their book marks! Many of our children across the school have already moved onto bronze level by reading 8 books. We've even had a couple make it to silver already!
SCHOOL TRIPS
A number of trips have been planned over the coming months and there are some great opportunities for our Parkfielders. You may have recieved an email with payment information and trip details. Clicking on this link will send you to a page on our curriculum plan which details the experiences we have planned for all year groups. We understand that trips can be expensive, particularly for families with more than one child. However, we do try to spread out the trips for each class and give plenty of time for parents to pay.
SECRET READER - REMINDER
Thanks to the parents and grandparents that have already given up their time and come into school and read. A reminder for anyone interested that we have introduced a new and exciting initiative called 'Secret Reader'. This is where an adult comes into the class for the last 15 minutes of the day and reads a book to the children. However, the children won't know who is coming in and what is being read until the adult arrives. The secret reader maybe a teacher, older pupil, ex-pupil or a family member from someone in that class. If you're interested please click here to suggest which days would suit you best and the class teacher or office will contact you.
CLUBS
The Tech Team Club and Craft Club are cancelled on the first Tuesday back. We apologise for any inconvenience - this is due to staff training.
VACANCIES AT PARKFIELD
If you're interested in joining the Parkfield team as either a part time caretaker or an admin apprentice please find details on the links.
⏰ Attendance and Punctuality
Arriving on time for school is important as late arrivals are disruptive for the class and can be a cause of distress for the child who is late.
Children can also miss important information during registration including the plan for the day.
- Doors open at 8.45am and close at 8.50am
At this time of year, thoughts may turn to booking a summer holiday. Absence during term time will not be authorised and it is very important that parents and carers understand that children with unauthorised absences, including holidays, and unexplained absences are at risk of receiving a Fixed Penalty Notice from Rochdale Council which would be a cost of £60 for each child's parent.
We need to work together to ensure that our children receive their educational entitlement that they deserve.
⚠️ Health and Safety
- Please do not park in front of the school gates at any time. This week we have a had a few complaints because people are parking and the road is being blocked. This is unsafe for both our children and parents.
PTA News
The PTA are working hard to organise events to raise funds for the pupils of Parkfield.
The up and coming events that need your support are:
- The valentines disco's was a great success, everyone had fun (including staff). We raised £530.83 which is fantastic!
- Forfeit Day (Donate an Easter Egg) Friday March 27th.
- Family Easter Bingo in the evening. The first session will be 3.30 to 5.30. There will be soft drinks and hot dogs available, fun family bingo and games. The cost is £5.00 for a family of 5. The second session will be at 6.30 to 8.30pm. There will be drinks and food available, fun family bingo and games. The cost again is £5.00 for a family of 5. We are trying to accommodate more families by having 2 sessions.
- This year we are going to try and have a Summer Family Fun Day on Saturday 4th July. This will be instead of our usual Summer fair after school. More details will follow.
- We would like to do a family sponsored '3 Park Challenge'. This will be held on Saturday 6th June. We are inviting the whole family to join us starting with a 1 mile walk at Heaton Park, moving on to Chadderton Park for another 1 mile walk and finishing at Queens Park for the final 1 mile walk. We would like your child to enter our create the poster competition to advertise this event in around the school.
Thank you for your continual support, we are promoting fun family events that will raise money for the pupils of Parkfield.
Our current balance is £4011.39
🍴 School Dinners🍴
- Please let the school office know as soon as possible if your child is changing from school meals to packed lunches and vice versa.
- In line with local authority guidance, the price of school meals has increased to £2.20 each day, £11 per week for KS2 children. All monies will be collected using 'School Gateway'. Please note, if school meals are 2 weeks in arrears you will be asked to provide a packed lunch.
- The school provides healthy and nutritious school meals that are cooked onsite. The contents of each school meal is in line with Healthy Eating Guidelines which is a requirement for all schools.
- All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM), irrespective of family income and family circumstances. If your circumstances change in future and you then receive benefits, you will need to apply for a Free School Meal (FSM). The number of children entitled to a FSM affects the funding we receive as a school. Therefore, we kindly ask all parents that believe they may be entitled, to apply for FSM. These forms can be collected from the school office or downloaded online from http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/schools_and_children/free_school_meals.aspx
🔗 Useful Links 🔗
Find out about how our curriculum is structured and the objectives children learn in each year group and subject.
A range of activities are set each half term related to the learning taking place in the classroom.
Payments for dinners, trips and other activities can be made online using the School Gateway.
Would you like the opportunity to win £25,000 each week and support the school? If so, please join the Parkfield school lottery where one person from our school is guaranteed a prize each week. A percentage of the money raised goes towards school funds.
🔔 Reminders 🔔
✅ Please read as much as possible with your child. Just 10 minutes a day can make a huge difference.
✅ There is a spelling test each Friday for Y1-6 and new spellings to be learnt are also given out on a Friday.
✅ Library days: Mon – 5/6, Tues – 3/4, Weds – 1/2, Thurs – R.
✅ Mathletics tasks are set online each week to consolidate and extend learning.
✅ ‘Plain black’ shoes or trainers with no other colours on them
✅ Information about school uniform can be found on the school website here.
✅ All after school clubs finish at 4pm. Please let us know if your child doesn’t want to continue as we usually have long waiting lists.
✅ School water bottles are available for £1 from the school office. No other water bottle is allowed.
✅ All equipment is provided by school. Please don’t send pens, pencils, pencil cases…etc.
✅ Remember to check your emails, we like to send plenty!