31st March 2010
Newsletter No: 12
Dear Parents/Carers,

As we come to the end of my first term here, I would like to thank you all for your support and feedback. It has been a pleasure to make such a big move and I am so looking forward to achieving many of our shared goals by working together with you. I think it is an appropriate time to celebrate some of the school’s achievements thus far:

The good behaviour of our pupils
An active PTA
A committed Governing Body
A staff team that is always willing to go the extra mile
Improved attendance, although there is a way to go
Playground developments
A warm and welcoming ethos
Excellent relationships between adults and between adults and children
The setting up of the school library with support from parents and governors
The purchasing of a Reading Scheme for the school.
The launch of our school website
The weekly newsletter, which we have had positive feedback on
The ongoing varied opportunities offered to out children both within the school day and outside school hours
The work of the creative partnership
Committed parent volunteers

Over the coming terms and years, I will continue to provide feedback on all aspects of developments at the school.

The key priorities for the next year are:
To launch the New Reading Scheme
To consult parents on the revised Behaviour and Discipline Policy
To extend the writing skills of our pupils
To work towards achieving school awards, including ‘Investors in People, Basic Skills Quality Mark, Healthy Schools’ etc.
To further develop the school community to bring together all families
To develop the children’s use of ICT as a tool for learning and communication

Easter Event 29th March 3.30-5pm We had a fantastic response to this event and have raised over £1000! The children had a great time not only having their faces painted, but also enjoying the entertainers. I would very much like to take this opportunity to thank all committee members and parents, who gave up their precious time to support the event. Without their help we would not have managed to get everything done.

The next major event will be in the summer term – The Summer fair – 10th July.

Dinner Money Arrears If you have received a letter indicating that you owe for dinners, please clear your debt by the end of the day tomorrow or provide a packed lunch for your child until the debt has been paid.

Year 6 Residential Trip Following the meeting arranged and feedback from parents, we have decided that there will not be a residential trip this year. Instead, we will organise day trips for our Year 6 children.

Dance Festival Well done to all the children who represented the school at the recent Dance Festival. The performance was of a very high standard and we are very proud of them all. Our very own Cranbrook Dancers are:-

Cleo Williams
Y4 Yellow
Caitlin McNulty
Y4 Yellow
Sana Ferron
Y4 Yellow
Sumiyah Mannon
Y4 Blue
India Williams
Y4 Yellow
Dominika Jarzynska
Y5 Red
Alizeh Moin
Y4 Blue
Eman Ali
Y4 Blue
Aminah Butt
Y4 Yellow
Francesca Vevere
Y5 Red
Meenakshee Sungalee
Y4 Yellow
Piriyanga Vinothan
Y5 Red
Aisha Islam
Y4 Blue



Staffing Update Sadly we will be saying ‘farewell’ to Lynn Carleton, who has been the interim deputy head teacher for 2 days each week this term. During her short time here, Lynn has achieved a huge amount and has gained the respect of staff, parent s and governors. She returns to her full-time job as deputy head teacher at Manford Primary School after Easter. I am sure you would all want to join me in wishing her well and thanking her for her support this term.

Helen Radmore will continue as interim deputy head teacher next term and will be here full-time. The governors have started the process of appointing 2 full-time deputy head teachers for September 2010.

Wishing you all a restful, enjoyable and safe Easter Break!

Yours faithfully

Jas Leverton
Head teacher
Dates for your diary:
Last day of this term 1st April
Easter holiday 2nd-18th April
School re-opens for the summer term 19th April
Bank holiday 3rd May
Staff training day school closed 28th May
Half term break 29th-6th June
School re-opens 7th June
Summer Fair 10th July
Last day of the school year 23rd July
Staff training days 2nd & 3rd September
School re-opens for pupils 6th September

Newsletter 10 - 24th March 2010

Dear Parents/Carers,

Albert Hall Choral Festival Last Wednesday 17th our Year 5&6 pupils represented the school at this fantastic event. They joined 1800 children from Redbridge to create a choir, putting on a magical performance for their families, friends and school staff. As head teacher I felt so proud of their contribution and exemplary behaviour. Well done to the following:
Hira Ali Barbra Alieno Salma Badawy Kristina Denicuk
Harrish Theyaparan Alisha Khan Hafsah Mustafa
Mithuya Uthayakumar Kizzi Silas-Teyssier
Zameera Zubair Waqar Ahmed Elisha Ghaloo Shoptak Haider Dominika Jarzynska
Iqra Hussain Deep Patel Smaran Thirunagari

I would also like to thank the teachers, who gave up their time to accompany the children till 11.30pm – Clare Hall, Megan Lytle and Ruth Williams.

An Easy Way to Raise Money for the School

Do you shop online? Do you use Amazon, EBay, Early Learning Centre, Marks and Spencer, Play.com and many other internet stores!

The Giving Machine gets donations for the school every time you shop on-line and it costs you NOTHING!
In fact, The Giving Machine regularly offers exclusive deals for its users.

If you want to earn money for Cranbrook Primary School every time you shop online at the best internet stores go to
www.thegivingmachine.co.uk

Register as a giver and select Cranbrook Primary School as your chosen organisation.
Whenever you want to shop online go to The Giving Machine and click through to your favourite store from there.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Easter Event 29th March 3.30-5pm, As you know we have arranged for 2 entertainers to provide a fun magic/disco type session for 200 children in the main hall (Reception, Yr 1&2), and 100 pupils in the small hall (Yrs 3-6). The places are all booked for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. We do have a few places still available for Years 3-6. Arrangements are as follows:

For £5, children who have already been paid for are able to come to school in non-uniform, have their face painted, enjoy the entertainer and have a snack and drink!
If children are not staying for the entertainer they can still pay £1 to come to school in non-uniform and have their face painted.
Parents whose children are going to the entertainer sessions do need to collect their child by 5pm, giving you an some extra time to yourself as we will make sure that the children are taken to the relevant hall.

The money raised will go towards developing the playground to make it an exciting place for children’s use at playtimes. We have already raised over £2000 towards this project!

Short PTA Meeting on Friday 26th March at 9.15am This has been arranged for those parents who are helping with the face painting.

After School Clubs Cancelled 29th March In order to allow children to participate in the Easter Event, all clubs have been cancelled for 29th March. We will endeavour to provide an alternative session for the club, so that children get the number of sessions they have paid for. However, if this is not possible, money for the missing session will be reimbursed.

Dates for your diary:
Last day of this term 1st April
Easter holiday 2nd-18th April
School re-opens for the summer term 19th April
Bank holiday 3rd May
Staff training day 28th May
Half term break 29th-6th June
School re-opens 7th June
Summer Fair 10th July
Last day of the school year 23rd July
Staff training days 2nd & 3rd September
School re-opens for pupils 6th September

Newsletter 9 - 18 March 2010

18 March 2010
Newsletter No: 9

Dear Parents/Carers,

Last week ended with a fantastic turnout for the PTA meeting when we were able to plan the Easter Event. Earlier this week you will have received a letter outlining the details for 29th March 3.30-5pm, when we have arranged for 2 entertainers to provide a fun magic/disco type session for 200 children in the main hall (Reception, Yr 1&2), and 100 pupils in the small hall (Yrs 3-6).

As indicated in the letter, for £5, children will be able to come to school in non-uniform, have their face painted, enjoy the entertainer and have a snack and drink! However, as spaces are limited due to health and safety reasons, places will have to be booked on a first come first served basis by Friday 19th March. If children are too late to attend, they can still pay £1 to come to school in non-uniform and have their face painted.

The money raised will go towards developing the playground to make it an exciting place for children’s use at playtimes. We have already raised over £2000 towards this project!

PTA Meeting On Friday 19th March at 9.30am there will be another PTA meeting to select a chair, vice chair, treasurer, secretary and committee members for the PTA. All parents are invited to attend. The meeting will take place in the staffroom, and you are welcome to come along and have a cup of coffee before the meeting starts.

After School Clubs Cancelled 29th March In order to allow all children to participate in the Easter Event, all clubs have been cancelled for 29th March. We will endeavour to provide an alternative session for the club, so that children get the number of sessions they have paid for. However, if this is not possible, money for the missing session will be reimbursed.

Dinner Arrears I am disappointed to learn that in spite of regular reminders via letters and phone calls, some parents have not been forthcoming in clearing their dinner money arrears. This means their children have had lunches that have not been paid for!

Whilst I have written to these parents to invite them in to meet with me and discuss any difficulties they may be experiencing, I am very concerned that there has been no effort made by them to address the issue or to attend the meetings. I would therefore make the situation absolutely clear – Public money is not given to the school to feed your children! Please ensure you clear your debt. You know who you are!

Yr 6 Residential Trip Meeting Year 6 parents, please remember that a meeting has been arranged for 3.30pm tomorrow to provide you with information on the provisional booking we have made for Glasbury, an outdoor pursuits centre. The trip is booked to take place after SATS when children in Year 6 will have the opportunity to go away for 1 whole week! Please make every effort to attend. Children can also come along to the meeting.

Attendance/Punctuality and Leave of Absence Requests I continue to be concerned with the low attendance for the school and the great number of parents, who think it is acceptable to turn up late for school every day! I would emphasise to these parents that their lack of effort in getting their child/ren to school on time is having a negative impact on not only their own child’s progress, but also that of others, as the teacher keeps having to stop to work with the late arrivals.

Please also note that even if you write a long letter explaining why you want a long holiday abroad or want to visit family, I will not be authorising your child’s absence from school and you do risk his/her place at school. As the school is now full, with few families leaving the school, it is unlikely that a child who loses their place, will be re-allocated. There are 13 weeks of the school year when holidays can be taken when the school is closed. These should be used for such occasions.

Arts Week During the last week of this term Safiyyah Ikram, our Art coordinator, has organised a number of activities to celebrate the children’s artistic skills and to put them to good use in creating pieces for art that can be displayed across the school. We will be organising an exhibition early next term to invite parents to come and view the outcomes. More to follow in next week’s letter…………….

Parent Volunteers Please note, we have been inundated with the number of requests from parents. Unfortunately we cannot accommodate everyone because of the sheer magnitude of numbers. Please don’t be offended if we cannot help on this occasion.

Parking Please do not park on the yellow lines or enter through the no entry sign in the car park, as this is illegal and you are likely get a penalty notice of £40. I would also clarify that the vehicle from the Redbridge Traffic Department that regularly visits this site, is not taking photographs of people, but of number plates. If you break the law, you will get fined. So, don’t do it!

Finally………….I would like to finish by thanking the large majority of parents, who take their child’s safety seriously and show support for the school’s policies and practices, because they acknowledge that they are for the benefit of their child. Remember, together we can achieve more!

Dates for your diary:
Last day of this term 1st April
Easter holiday 2nd-18th April
School re-opens for the summer term 19th April
Bank holiday 3rd May
Staff training day 28th May
Half term break 29th-6th June
School re-opens 7th June
Last day of the school year 23rd July
Staff training days 2nd & 3rd September
School re-opens for pupils 6th September

Newsletter No:8

11th March 2010
Newsletter No: 8

Dear Parents/Carers,

PTA Meeting Following the PTA meeting which took place yesterday, I am able to report the following:
Approximately £2000 has been raised by the sponsored silence, which will be used to enhance the playground areas for the children’s use, with seating and climbing apparatus. This is a great achievement and those who supported the event should be applauded.
The next event is to be held on Monday 29th March after school – Easter Fair 3:30 – 5:15pm. More details will follow in next week’s newsletter.
A sub-committee meeting will take place on Friday 12th March in the staffroom to organise the details of the Easter Fair and to allocate tasks.
The next meeting of the PTA will take place on Friday 19th March at 9:30am to vote for officer positions including election of Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. All parents are invited to attend and to put themselves forward. Those present will participate in the vote.

Parent Volunteers Having gone through the huge number of letters from parents volunteering to support the school on a regular basis, I would like to clarify the fact that whilst I am very keen to accept this support, under safeguarding requirements, I am not able to accept any volunteers without a clear CRB check. Therefore, I would ask those of you who are still interested to come to the school office to collect an application form for a CRB and provide all the necessary evidence. As this process can take up to a few months, it is unlikely that we will go ahead with using volunteers regularly until next term.

However, if you are only helping with a ‘one-off’ activity, we can go ahead with arrangements. This would include helping with trips or occasional activities. In particular, we are currently looking for parents who can help us with the following skills:
Balloon sculpting/entertaining children for PTA events.
Curtain making for the new hall, so that we don’t have to spend thousands of pounds out of the school’s budget for the main hall.
Brick laying for establishing flower beds for children to plant things on a regular basis.

If you have the time to share these skills for the benefit of the school, please let me know via the school office.

Book Week We had a fantastic week ending with the non-uniform day on Friday. Not only was great fun had by all, but we also raised £1000 from the commission of the Book Fair! The money will be used to purchase more books for the school library.

Parents Coffee Mornings The turnout at yesterday’s coffee morning was very disappointing – only 2 parents came! It would be really good to see more parents at this informal get-together, as it benefits not only the parents, but also your children.
2:30pm Friday 12th March Tea/Coffee afternoon for parents of Nursery and Reception children.

Colour Strings Concert About 20 of our Year 2 pupils represented the school last Saturday by taking part in a musical concert. The concert was a celebration of the achievements of pupils who benefited from the ‘Sheena Booth Trust’. In our case, the Children’s Colour Strings music lessons had been partly funded by the trust. Our children gave an excellent demonstration of singing, playing instruments and dancing.

Thank you to all parents who took the time to attend the concert and to the staff, who gave their own time to the occasion.

Parking I continue to be seriously concerned at the illegal parking on the yellows lines and the driving through the No Entry sign by many parents. It is a sad state of affairs that parents of the school are more concerned about rushing around for their own purposes, because they don’t leave home early enough to be at school on time, than being concerned about children’s safety or regularly breaking the law in front of their own child!

What many of these parents did not notice yesterday, is that there was a traffic attendant’s camera monitoring the situation and taking pictures. Tickets will be sent to the culprits, who may show greater consideration for safety in the future.

Dates for your diary:
Last day of this term Thursday 1st April
Easter Holiday Friday 2nd April – Sunday 18th April
School re-opens for the summer term Monday 19th April
Bank Holiday Monday 3rd May
Staff Training Day Friday 28th May
Half Term Break Saturday 29th May – Sunday 6th June
School re-opens Monday 7th June
Last day of the school year Friday 23rd July
Staff Training Days Thursday 2nd – Friday 3rd September
School re-opens for pupils Monday 6th September

4th March 2010 Newsletter No:7

4th March 2010 Newsletter No: 7
Dear Parents/Carers,

Playground Toys I am pleased to report that we now have some new and exciting equipment, such as skipping ropes, balls, hoops etc. for the children’s use at playtimes from next Monday. The older children will be responsible for looking after this and have been working with Mark Evans, our P.E. coordinator, to organise this. Well done, Mark!

Sponsored Silence Event Once again I would like to celebrate the great success this event was in raising so much money, which is still coming in for the benefit of all Cranbrook pupils. I am pleased to report that the highest amount (£425!) was raised by Taha Chowdhury. Well done, Taha! He will be presented with his prize in Friday’s assembly.

PTA Meeting The next meeting of the PTA will take place on Tuesday 9th March at 2pm in the staffroom. All parents are invited to come along and share ideas for our forthcoming end of term/Easter event.

Parents Please Help I would ask all parents to stand well back from the door ways at the end of the school, so that the class line can be brought out safely and quickly.

Attendance/Punctuality Please note, holidays during term time will be not authorised. If parents do take their child/ren out of school for holidays, they will be required to pay a fine of up to £100 per child and will risk losing their place at the school.

Book Week What an exciting week we are having with all our Book Week activities! It has been lovely to see the children and staff so excited, and parents coming in to read to classes. Many thanks for all your support. Don’t forget, Friday is a dress up day- Dress as your favourite book character. I might come as the Invisible Man…………See if you can find me! Well done, Alex, for organising the week!

Parent Survey It is still not too late to express your opinions about the school on the on-line confidential survey, which can be accessed via the link on the school website. Outcomes so far indicate the following:

Strengths Areas for improvement
Children are happy at school A reading scheme should be in place
Behaviour is good overall More sanctions for poor behaviour are needed
Staff are approachable Parents are unclear about some school policies
The school is welcoming An after school childcare provision is needed
The school website and newsletter is very popular Some children are excluded from play by others
Teaching is sound because of their race or religion
Extra curricular provision (clubs) are popular and
develop children’s confidence
The school has good capacity to make further improvements
The recent changes are welcomed by parents

However, as the number of parents who have responded is so low, it is difficult to address needs if only 1 parent has raised a concern. Therefore, I would ask you once again to take some time to respond to this survey. A full report will be provided once the survey is closed on 12th March and areas that require attention will be taken into consideration when staff formulates the new School Improvement Plan.

Photographing Pupils From time to time we would like to take photographs of the children for displays within the school and for publicity for the school through local newspapers and the school website. If you have any objections to this, please put this in writing to me so that your child is not included.

Staff Car park Please do not use the car park by the main entrance to the school, as this is only for staff use and for emergency access.

Safety/Security In order to monitor all adults on site during the school day, I would ask you all not to come into the building with your child in the morning. The children are very familiar with the building and can find their own way to class, as they do during the day everyday. Please also help by not talking to them at the fences, so that they do not get into the habit of talking to people at the fence. As we have recently had reports passed on by other schools of strangers approaching children, I would ask for your support in this matter.

Parents Coffee Mornings I am keen to meet with parents informally to not only to get to you know you better, but also to find out what you think about the school’s provision and to gather your ideas for ways in which to improve the school. Over the next few weeks I would like to meet you over a cup of tea/coffee to discuss your issues. Therefore, please make a note of the following dates:

9.15am Tuesday 9th March Coffee morning for Parents of Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 parents.
9.15am Wednesday 10th March Coffee morning for parents of Year 1& 2 parents
2.30pm Friday 12th March Tea/Coffee afternoon for parents of Nursery and Reception children

And finally to finish on a positive note … We were delighted to welcome 30 PE coordinators to a Tennis course hosted at the school this week, when we were chosen because of the excellent facilities and after school clubs that are in place at the school. All coordinators left the school very impressed with the facilities and provision. This was also stated by our special visitors from Bahrain, who came to view the school as part of their planning stage for a new school that they are building in Bahrain. They were very impressed with the children’s behaviour and confidence and the displays that they saw in classrooms along with the quality of work on display around the school.

I am also thrilled to congratulate one of our Year 1 pupils, Aditya Verma, who has participated with huge success in Chess competitions with children in the locality. He recently passed the Bronze Standard examination and will be participating in forthcoming other regional tournaments. Well done!

If your child has participated in exceptional achievements outside of school, please do share them with me, as I would very much like to use the newsletters as a vehicle for sharing such exciting news.

Yours faithfully

Jas Leverton
Cranbrook Primary School, The Drive, Ilford, Essex, IG1 3PS
Telephone: 0208 518 2562
Fax: 0208 554 1575
School website: http://www.cranbrookprimary.redbridge.sch.uk/




Head teacher