Making sure that we are doing the RIGHT things...
Newsletter 4
Thursday 14th October 2021
Dear Parents/ Carers,
School Evaluation activities- a key time of year…
This period of the school year is always very important. The children are settled into their new classes and the teaching team is ensuring that the needs of the children are being met. You may have noticed that some of the team are wearing their new fleeces- they were a bit too excited when they got them!
Our county advisor has visited the school as part of her evaluation of our performance and we are also completing our Pupil Progress Meetings that help us spotlight any areas where we need to improve or adapt our approaches. There is little doubt that the role of parents is so vital and we remain delighted with the partnership we have with the parent community. This has been evidenced by the return of the year 2 reading drive- each morning our capacity to support reading is enhanced massively with this initiative. Parent consultations also take place next week and we hope that EVERY child is able to be represented by their family- what with the impact of the school closures- this next year is so important for them to feel fully settled in school again.
There has been a further enhanced focus on how we support most vulnerable families. To hear our (experienced) county advisor regard our approaches and commitment to these children as ‘exemplary… and county leading’ is really pleasing and I am determined to maintain our standards here. Our efforts to ‘go that extra mile’ for families at Tudor is a key pledge of ours…
Pupil Progress meetings have been valuable. As well as targeting support, these meetings evidence how well teachers are performing. A key expectation for any teacher is to ‘know their pupils’- to hear how they are naturally able to adapt their approaches for groups and individuals is impressive. Some children have been more affected by the disruption of closures- we have a duty to respond and improve rather than use the missed learning as an ‘excuse’- after all, this is the children’s ONLY chance at an education. These years set the foundation for the future!
Attendance an Ofsted indicator for Behaviour - it’s about positive ENGAGEMENT!
I was very worried with our attendance recently. Two weeks ago, we only achieved 92% attendance for the week. If continued, not only would the children’s academic progress be severely affected, our school could find itself in a very difficult position. Whilst there are some minor ailments floating around at the moment, our attendance continues to be mostly impacted by a group of persistent absentees. Additional communication will obviously take place with such families but it was important to share with the whole school community about making appropriate decisions about absence. Symptoms of the common cold should NOT be enough to keep children off school. Also, issues such as scrapes on knees, headlice, blocked noses and so on should also mean that children CAN attend school. There is no doubt that there is heightened tension at the moment due to the ongoing COVID situation but the symptoms to look out for that are quite clear- a NEW and CONTINUOUS DRY cough, a temperature OVER 37.8 (not just a high temp) and/ or a loss of taste and smell. If your child experiences these symptoms they will then require a PCR test. Staff continue to test twice a week with lateral flow tests and all appropriate guidance (and related risk assessments) are being followed. Let’s get back to 97% attendance- interestingly we had 99.8% attendance this Monday when there were class photos!
Inclusion at Tudor Primary- a message from Miss Reading- our Leader for Inclusion
On Wednesday 20th October, Christina Phillips our Family Support Worker, is offering a telephone surgery for parents/carers of children at Tudor. If your family are currently experiencing difficulties with sleep, bedtimes, routines, boundaries, behaviour or any other aspect of family life, she can offer practical advice and guidance. To benefit from this support, please do contact me and I will arrange an appointment for you. To find out information about courses and support available to parents/carers in Dacorum please follow this link: http://www.dacorumdspl.org.uk/courses-for-parents-carers-and-professionals/ If your child has an individual support plan, you will soon be receiving a letter offering you an appointment to meet with your child's class teacher. Please do attend this meeting, it is your opportunity to share your views and agree on new individual targets for your child - it is so important we all work together! Finally, do not forget to add Friday 5th November, the date of the next 'Tudor Coffee Morning', to your diary.
Our continued commitment to Safeguarding pupils- the NSPCC visited this week and the children were able to hear about the importance of knowing what to do if they feel unsafe. Ask your children if they would know what to do if faced with different situations- a key part of our approaches in school is enabling them to make the right decisions and when they should seek support from others.
Parent Consultations NEXT week- As this newsletter has already mentioned, partnership between home and school should be an EXPECTATION for all our pupils and nearly 90% of families have now signed up for an online or face to face meeting. Let’s aim for 100%- reminders will be sent out…
Year 6 Adventurers- I will be joining the year 6 team next week on their trip to Condover Hall. We have the HIGHEST ever take up of spaces for a residential and the children are sure to have the greatest time. Do have a look at our twitter pages to see what the children (and staff!) get up to.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, resilience is a focus across schools and we must be mindful to make the right decisions- allowing children to strongly ‘influence’ what are decisions that parents have a duty to make is a slippery slope and, whilst they may be easier to make in the short term, they are likely to create longer term issues. This can relate to behaviour, attendance, joining in with extra learning opportunities and more. We ARE lucky to have the children we have at Tudor- let’s ALL do what we can to make sure they have the opportunity to reach their potential.
Follow our twitter link - https://twitter.com/TudorPrimaryHH- it shares a number of awesome things that your children experience each day. Our class blogs are also regularly updated- do visit them regularly. A recent news item on twitter was the super fundraising efforts of the ‘Tudor Awesome Foursome’- thanks to all those in the school community who donated to their charity…
It’s not long until our FOT Fireworks Spectacular on Friday 5th November- our last fireworks night was a great experience and there was a lot of positive feedback. Tickets on sale from this Friday (and on sale at Freewheel Friday). Thanks to everyone in our valued Friends of Tudor who make these extra ‘magical moments’ happen!
Let’s enjoy next week- Some rather cool (surprise) treats have been planned for the children…