Newsletter No 22 29th Feb 2012

Ofsted Report I hope that you have all had the opportunity to read the report of our recent inspection. As head teacher I feel that it is a true reflection of the achievements of the school, since the last inspection in October 2008. We were already aware of the 3 areas that the inspectors identified as development points as they are areas of priorities within our own School Improvement Plan. Once again, I would thank all parents who sent in their questionnaires and showed great support for the school. Onwards and upwards!

Attendance Figures for Last Week
RB 93% RG 96%
RR 94% RY 99.3%
Yr 1B 93.3% Yr 1G 99.3%
Yr 1R 93.1% Yr 1Y 95.9%
Yr 2B 91.3% Yr 2G 97.3%
Yr 2R 93.6% Yr 2Y 96%
Yr 3B 92.1% Yr 3G 93.2%
Yr 3R 98.7% Yr 3Y 95.3%
Yr 4B 96% Yr 4G 93.9%
Yr 4R 91.3% Yr 4Y 95.2%
Yr 5G 98.7% Yr 5R 91.7%
Yr 6B 96% Yr 6Y 96.7%

Attendance The classes with the highest percentages are Reception Yellow and Year 1 Green with 99.3%! Well done to both classes! The overall percentage for the whole school was 95.1%.

Staffing Update Parents of class 4B and RG should have received letters informing you of the arrangements for the class cover when Monika and Jasmina start their maternity leaves. Caroline will become the class teacher for 4B and Julia for class RG. I would take this opportunity to inform you that Mark Hemsley, one of our deputy head teachers will be leaving us for 1 term to be interim head teacher at Wanstead Church School, whilst the governors there work on recruiting a substantive head teacher. This is a fantastic opportunity for Mark, but also acknowledges his vast experience and skills. I am sure you will all join me in wishing him well.

Football Match In an exciting first game of the season Cranbrook beat Uphall 1-0. The winning goal was scored by Santana Porter and if it was not for the opposition goalkeeper we could have won by a lot more. The game was played in a fantastic spirit and managers Mark E and Ian were delighted with the commitment, team work, skill and passion showed by the children. Let’s hope the winning run continues!

New Reception Class Following our good inspection the local authority has asked us to accommodate an additional class in reception due to the huge pressure on school places within the local area. We have agreed to do and this and will start the new class later in March by making use of the large areas we have within our site.

Lettings As a fantastic site with facilities that are ideal for community events, please note that the hall and kitchen, small hall and dance studio are available for hire. £25 per hour before 6pm and £40 per hour after 6pm and £60 per hour at weekends. Prices can also be varied according to which space is being used and at the discretion of the head teacher and governing body.

Book Fayre The Book Fayre is being held this Thursday (1st March) until Wednesday (7th March) from 3.15-4.00pm in the small hall. Please come and support us, as the commission enables us to purchase more books.

Year 1 and 4 performance dates The Year 1 performance to parents is on Wednesday 28th March at 2pm.
The Year 4 performance to parents is on Wednesday 21st March at 2.15pm

Sainsburys Active Kids Vouchers We are collecting the Sainsburys Active Kids Vouchers again this year, so please remember to send them in to school so we can collect as many as we can and exchange them for PE equipment.

Maths Resources for Year 1 and 3 The Maths Resource packs that were sold at the recent Year 1 and Year 3 parent workshops will be available to buy at Parent’s Evening outside the Year 2 classrooms. These will help support your child’s learning in Maths. The Year 1 pack is £11 and the Year 3 pack is £9. Your child’s class teacher will also be able to provide you with a copy of the PowerPoint that was featured at the workshops as well.

New PTA This morning Cranbrook Primary School hosted our first Cranbrook Friends Association (CFA) meeting. This is a really exciting initiative which extends our old Parent and Teachers Association. The group includes representatives from the staff, the parents, Frenford, Barclays Bank, the Police Force, The Children’s Centre and St Andrew’s Church. There have also been other local groups who have expressed an interest in joining the Association and we will be further extending in the future. We had a very positive meeting, made a range of links and planned a number of activities to benefit our children and the local community. The first event will be an Indoor Boot Sale on 29th March 2012 – a letter will be sent home tomorrow to each family.

Parking Campaign Many of you will have noticed the police presence in the car park today. This has occurred in response to our concerns about illegal and dangerous driving and parking. A number of parents were fined. I hope that those who show little consideration for children safety will take note, as this will be repeated periodically. I would also ask parents who come and ‘have a go’ at school staff, realize that we are not responsible for the poor behaviour of some of our parents. Don’t moan at us, moan at them! As a staff team, we are determined to work with the community to address this issue because we take the safety of our children very seriously. More so, than the parents of some of our children!

Weds 29th Feb Parent’s Evening for Nursery to Year 5
Thur 1st—7th Mar Book Fayre
Weds 7th Mar Year 6 Blue Parents’ Meetings
Weds 7th Mar Redbridge Mini Games
Weds 21st Mar Year 4 performance to parents at 2.15pm
Thurs 22nd Mar Royal Albert Hall Choral Festival
Weds 28th March Year 1 performance to parents at 2pm
Thur 29th Mar PTA Event—details to follow
Fri 30th Mar Last day of term

Term dates for this year:
Spring 2012
3rd Jan—10th Feb
Half term break 13th-17th February 2012
20th Feb-30th March 2012
Easter Holidays 2nd April-13th April 2012
Summer 2012
16th April—1st June 2012
Half term break 4th June—8th June 2012
11th June—23rd July 2012
Inset Days
1st June 2012
23rd July 2012
Autumn Term starts on Thursday 6th Sept