Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Value of the month ‘Caring’
Goodbye and thank you – to Jade McGinty who has been the Beech Class Teacher since September this year. Jade has been a great member of our team and we wish her well in the future.The new Class Teacher will be Mrs Helen Pearson. Mrs Pearson has sent out a class letter to the Beech Class parents.We also say Goodbye and thank you to Millie Taylor, a student from Henley College who has been working in Hornbeam class over the last term.
Swimming lessons – Beech Class will have swimming lessons next term on a Friday. Ash and Rowan Classes will walk up to the newly opened Oratory Sports Centre pool on Thursdays. Letters have gone out to all the relevant classes. Please remember to return your permission slips by Friday 9th January 2015.
After School Pottery – will this Newsletter is an attachment regarding after school pottery. This will be held on a Monday afternoon from 3.20-4.20pm. Please coordinate with Sarah Rushbrook, the pottery teacher, if you wish to book a place. Details are on the attachment.
Music for Schools – on the first day back to school on January 6th, Alan Summers from the Music For Schools Foundation, will be coming in to demonstrate a variety of brass and woodwind instruments for the children. He will return on Thursday 8th January at 3.30pm in Willow Class (Year 6), to speak to any parents interested in their children having music lessons.
FluVaccine Letter – attached is a letter from the NHS regarding the importance of the flu vaccine for young children aged between 2-4year olds. Please take a moment to read it if relevant to your family.
Lost & Found – an electronic item was found in Ash Class a few weeks ago but no one has yet come forward to claim it. Please let the office know if it may be yours.
Absences – if your child is absent from school due to illness please inform the class staff or the school office, in person or by phone by 9am (an answering machine is available for messages to be left). Alternatively please send an email notifying the office of your child’s absence, including the reason. (office.2510@woodcote.oxon.sch.uk) Absences not reported by 9am will be marked on our registration system as unauthorised. As part of the safeguarding procedures, school is expected to produce a daily evacuation report detailing accurate absence information. Once your child is back to school please bring an absence letter to the office or complete an absence form, available on the website or from the Foyer. If you have pre-ordered an Aspens dinner please remember to cancel it via their website (www.aspens-services.co.uk/schools/pri-woodcote.php) by 9am or by calling the Aspens Kitchen on 01491 682 783 to avoid the food being wasted.
New term – school will reopen for children on Tuesday 6th January 2015. Please remember to bring in book bags, PE kits and ensure your child has a packed lunch or an on-line Aspens dinner ordered. From all of us at Woodcote Primary School we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Flu Vaccine for 2, 3 and 4 year olds:
We are writing to you in our role as the Network Nurses for the Children’s Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), which covers Bucks, Berks, Oxon and part of Beds. The AHSN has been asked by the Department of Health to run various child health initiatives across our region, including efforts to increase uptake of immunisation.
You may be aware of the children’s flu vaccine which now forms part of the usual childhood immunisation programme given in General Practice. This year the ‘nasal spray’ (no needle) vaccine is available to 2, 3 and 4 year olds (some Autumn-born children may be 5).
In some circumstances, children may need an injection but the vast majority do indeed receive a few drops of liquid sprayed just into the nose. We know that by children being vaccinated, less flu will circulate, fewer people will become ill from flu, less time will be lost in school and nursery through illness and the vulnerable health groups of adults and children will be better protected. Very worthwhile, we think!
Please find a link below for a short film for children and a poster providing details of the vaccine for display.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.
Yours faithfully,
Julie Wild and Liz Davis
c/o: The Oxford University Hospitals Trust
Children’s Hospital, Tom’s Ward,
Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU
Julie.wild@ouh.nhs.uk Elizabeth.davis@ouh.nhs.uk
01865 572049 /07770 866 152 01865 223388 / 07771 978 436
Film:
http://www.sharegoodtimesnotflu.co.uk/why-vaccinate.html
Posters:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/354769/DoH_8502_5_reasons_Flu_poster_2014_02a_Web__4_.pdf https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/318807/phe-who-gets-which-vaccine-poster-02.pdf
Value of the month ‘Caring’
Key Stage 1 Nativity play – thank you to all the children and staff who worked extremely hard to produce the wonderful ‘Children Around the World’ Nativity. Thank you to Sandra Farmer who again helped make some beautiful costumes for the children. The children coped admirably with the three performances. Thank you to the parents for coming to support the children.
OFSTED – as you will have been aware, our school has been inspected by OFSTED this week. Thank you to all the supportive messages received from parents and for completing the on-line survey. The confirmation of the school’s grade will be issued by OFSTED in January 2015. The information and report will be passed onto parents as soon as possible.
NSPCC fundraising –Kim, the NSPCC representative, came to collect the last few sponsor forms this week and we now have a revised total of £1656.10 collected by the children for their charity. Kim was astonished by the final total and wanted us to thank all the children and parents for their amazing fundraising.
Aspens Christmas Dinner – Wednesday 17th December. Please do not order any further meals for this day as the canteen have placed their orders with suppliers. Please note no Aspens packed lunches or jacket potatoes will be available that day. Please provide your child with a home packed lunch if necessary.
French Café – on Wednesday 10th December the Year 6 children hosted a French style café in the hall. The children have been learning French each week this term and this café was to encourage the use of spoken French. It was very well attended and the money raised from the sale of refreshments will go towards another project next year. Thank you very much to all the parents who came along and supported the event.
Coffee Morning – on Thursday 11th December Maple Class invited their parents to visit the hall for a coffee morning to share their work on Animals and Living Things that they have been studying this term. The children presented either a power point presentation or information leaflets to the parents. Parents also had the opportunity to meet Kelly Gould and Alison Ploszynski, the Home School Learning Mentors. Thank you to both of them for organizing the very successful event.
Iinkai Judo – with this Newsletter is information from Iinkai Judo detailing their morning sessions from Jan 2015.
Elms Multi-Sports Camps – will be offering school holiday sports camps throughout the year at Woodcote Primary School. (Please see attachment).
End of term – on Friday 19th December school will finish at 1pm after registration. Please note that there will be no After School Club.
Dear Parents of Key Stage 1,
FOWPS (our parents association) have kindly agreed to offer refreshments in the Chalet this evening after 5pm, once parents have dropped off their children to Hornbeam class. They will also be selling the school printed T-towel and cloth shopping bags. The prices are £4.00 each or 3 for £10.00.
The doors will open tonight at 5.50pm and admission is by ticket only. There will be no standing room or extra seating available due to Fire Safety regulations.
There will be a collection at the end of the performance. This year the money raised will be split between See Saw, a charity that helps children to cope with loss of a family member or sibling, and school IT equipment to help us make greater links with communities around the world.
Thank you.
We hope you enjoy the performances.
As part of this year’s fundraising efforts, FOWPS arranged for tea towels and bags to be made. Each child in the school drew two images; one for their Key Stage bag and another for the whole school tea towel. As you can imagine, it took 3 FOWPS members, 3 full days to get through each child in the school, making sure that no one was missed out (we even included the staff on the tea towel). They only had very small squares to draw on and we think they did very well, especially the very youngest members of our school in Oak class. These will make super keepsakes in the years to come and also great presents.
These items are now ready for purchasing at school. Please look out for FOWPS selling them after school in the playground and at some school events.
LAST FEW ON SALE NOW ONLY £1 each!! (AS OF DECEMBER 2015)
GET YOUR SHOPPING BAGS HERE!
Dear parent or carer
Inspection of Woodcote Primary School by Ofsted
We have just told your child’s school that we will inspect it on 10 – 11 December 2014. The lead inspector will be John Taylor. We are writing to you because we would like to know what you think about the school. Please take a few minutes to read the leaflet which came with this letter. It explains why we inspect schools, and what happens during an inspection.
Your views about the school are important to us
If you are a registered parent or carer of a pupil at the school (including pupils on sick leave or who are temporarily excluded), you can tell us your views about the school by completing Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, at: www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk.
Parent View asks for your opinion on 12 aspects of your child’s school, including the progress made by your child, the quality of teaching, dealing with bullying and poor behaviour. The inspectors will use the online survey responses when inspecting your child’s school. Written comments can also be sent to the school in a sealed envelope, marked confidential and addressed to the inspection team.
To register your views, you will need to provide your email address, which will be held securely. It will not be used for any purpose other than providing access to the online survey. Neither schools nor Ofsted will have access to any email addresses.
Please complete the online survey by 11am on 10th December 2014 as this will give the inspection team more time to consider your views. However, we will consider all online responses that are completed during the inspection.
Speaking to an inspector
If you are unable to complete the online survey, it may be possible to speak to an inspector during the inspection, for instance at the start of the school day, or to pass on messages to the inspectors if you are unable to speak to them in person. Inspection administrators will be happy to make the necessary arrangements. If concerns are raised about child protection, we may have to pass the information we receive to social services or the police. You can contact the administrators on 0117 311 5202. Inspectors will be pleased to receive your comments, but cannot deal with complaints about individual pupils or settle disputes between you and the school.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the online survey.
Yours faithfully
Kelly Smith
As well as completing the survey, you can use Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, at any time during the school year to give Ofsted your opinion of your child’s school. You can also use Parent View to see survey results for schools across England. Visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk
Why does Ofsted inspect schools?
We inspect schools to provide information to parents, to promote improvement and to hold schools to account for the public money they receive. School inspections are required by law. We provide an independent assessment of the quality and standards of education in schools, and check whether pupils are achieving as much as they can.
When do inspections happen and how long do they last?
A school that was judged to be outstanding at its last inspection is exempt from routine inspection. We will not normally inspect ‘exempt schools’ unless we have a concern about their performance. Ofsted will also carry out an annual assessment of an exempt school’s performance (from the third year after the school’s last inspection) to determine whether an inspection might be necessary. Exempt schools continue to be inspected as part of Ofsted’s programme of surveys of curriculum subjects and aspects of the curriculum. Exemption from inspection does not apply to maintained nursery schools, Special Schools or Pupil Referral Units.
A school judged to be ‘good’ is normally inspected within five school years from the end of the school year in which it was last inspected.
A school judged as ‘requires improvement’ will be subject to monitoring from inspectors to check its progress and is inspected within a period of two years. If at that inspection it is still judged as ‘requires improvement’, there will be further monitoring, and another inspection will take place within a further two years. If at this inspection it is still not ‘good’, it is highly likely that it will be judged ‘inadequate’ and deemed to require special measures.
Most schools receive notice of their inspection on the afternoon of the working day before the inspection begins. However, Ofsted can inspect any school without notice where this is judged to be appropriate. The inspection usually lasts for two days and the number of inspectors on the inspection team will vary according to the size and nature of the school.
Who inspects schools?
Her Majesty’s Inspectors and additional inspectors carry out the inspections. All inspectors have been trained to, and assessed against, Ofsted’s standards.
What happens during an inspection?
Inspectors look at the school’s self-evaluation and analyse the pupils’ progress and attainment. They talk to the headteacher, governors, staff, and pupils, and consider your views as a parent. They spend most of their time observing a wide range of lessons and looking at the quality of teaching in the school, and its impact on learning and progress. They also look at the behaviour and safety of pupils at the school, the promotion of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development; and how well the school is led and managed. Where applicable, inspectors will also look at the effectiveness of early years or sixth form provision in the school.
How can I make my views known?
If you are the registered parent of a child at the school, the school will send you a letter notifying you of the dates of the inspection. This letter provides you with details and options for providing your views. Our survey site, Parent View, is the main source of gathering parents’ views about a school. Inspectors will use the views expressed on Parent View when inspecting your child’s school.
Can I speak to the inspectors?
You may have the chance to speak to the inspectors during the inspection, for example at the start of the school day. The inspection administrators will be happy to pass on messages to the inspectors and may be able to arrange telephone conversations if you are unable to speak to them in person. Their contact details will be in the letter that tells you about the inspection. Please remember that inspectors cannot deal with complaints concerning individual pupils or settle disputes between you and the school.
What happens after the inspection?
n grade 1 (outstanding)
n grade 2 (good)
n grade 3 (requires improvement)
n grade 4 (inadequate).
The lead inspector reports her or his judgement to the headteacher and governors. The inspectors’ findings are published in a report for the school, parents and the wider community. Inspection reports provide information about the effectiveness of the school’s work and contain recommendations about what the school should do to improve further. The school must take all reasonable steps to make sure you receive a copy of the report. Reports are also published on our website: www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports.
What happens if Ofsted judges a school to be ‘inadequate’?
If inspectors judge a school to be inadequate it will be placed in one of the following two categories.
This means the school is failing to provide its pupils with an acceptable standard of education, and is not showing the capacity to make the improvements needed. Inspectors will visit the school regularly to check its progress, until it can be removed from the category. We will inspect it again after about two years.
This means that one or more of the key areas of the school’s performance require significant improvement, but the leaders and managers have demonstrated the capacity to improve. Inspectors will visit the school regularly to check its progress, until it can be removed from the category. It will be inspected again within 18 months of its last inspection.
Where can further details be found about school inspections?
The Framework for school inspection[1] sets out the statutory basis for inspections.It summarises the main features of school inspections and describes how the general principles and processes of inspection are applied. The School inspection handbook[2]sets out what inspectors must do and what schools can expect, and provides guidance for inspectors on making their judgements. Both documents are available on Ofsted’s website www.ofsted.gov.uk.
What happens if I have concerns about the inspection?
Complaints are rare, but we treat them very seriously. You can find out more on our website at www.ofsted.gov.uk, or by calling our helpline on 0300 123 4666.
If you need any more information about our work, please visit our website or call our helpline.
What happens if I have concerns about my child’s school?
If you are concerned about your child’s school, you should start by talking directly to the teachers or headteacher or, if necessary, the governing body or the local authority. If you are not satisfied with the responses you receive Ofsted may be able to help.
You can find out more on our website or by calling our helpline.
Helpline: 0300 123 4666
www.ofsted.gov.uk
[1]Framework for school inspection (120100), Ofsted 2014; www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/120100
[2]School inspection handbook (120101), Ofsted 2014; www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/120101
Value of the month ‘Caring’
Welcome – to Miss Julie Critcher who started with us this week as a Teaching Assistant in Oak Class.
Key Stage 1 Nativity play – tickets for the performances have been given out to the classes today and should be in your child’s book bag. Please remember to bring your tickets to the performances as we are unable to admit anybody without one.
The Dress Rehearsal on Monday 8th December will start at 2pm and entry for parents will be 1.50pm.
On Tuesday evening please take your children to the Year 1 Classroom (Hornbeam) at 5pm to get ready into their costumes etc. The Chalets will be open for any parents unable to return home in the time between drop off and front doors opening at 5.50pm. The performance is due to start at 6pm. After the performance the children will be taken back to their classes to change and hang up their costumes. The staff will bring the children back to the hall to be reunited with waiting parents. It would be greatly appreciated if parents could help put the chairs away while they are waiting. Thank you.
Finally, the Thursday afternoon performance is at 2pm and parents are welcome into school via the front door at 1.50pm.
The children may be collected from their classrooms in the usual manner on Monday and Thursday afternoons. The gate will be unlocked after the performance for parents to access the playground to wait for children to change and be ready for collection from their classrooms.
Please do not arrive too early for the performances. We are unable to allow anyone into the school building until 10 minutes before the performances start. Tickets are not numbered but there will be a seats for each ticket.
NSPCC fundraising – the total amount raised for the NSPCC so far is over £1500.00!!! What a fantastic amount! This figure is slowly increasing as more sponsor forms and money are returned. The NSPCC representative will return on Monday for a final assembly and to collect any further monies.
Aspens Christmas Dinner – on Wednesday 17th December Aspens are offering a Traditional Christmas meal for the children. Please be sure to pre-order via their website by Monday 8th December as they will need to know numbers expected for the day. Please note no Aspens packed lunches or jacket potatoes will be available that day. Please provide your child with a home packed lunch if necessary.
End of term – on Friday 19th December school will finish at 1pm after registration. Please note that there will be no After School Club.
Christmas Market – Thank you to everyone who came along to support us last Friday and especially thank you to all of the staff and parents who put in so much hard work to make the evening possible. Money and expenses are still being totted up but we will let you know the final total as soon as we are able. A final thank you to all the parents and local businesses who donated prizes and vouchers for our Christmas raffle. A full list of contributors will be in next month’s Correspondent.
KS2 Disco – Tonight from 6.30 until 7.30 and is for children of Woodcote Primary only. Entrance is £3 per child of £6 per family.
Cake Sale – The next cake sale will be for years 4 and 5 and will be on Friday 12th December immediately after school. Plates will be sent out soon.