Bailiffe Bridge Junior & Infant School
School Telephone Number: 01484 713039
Email: [email protected]
Fax Number: 01484 722870
Website: www.bailiffebridgeschool.org.uk
September 2015
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great summer holiday!
Staffing for September 2015
This term we welcome the following staff to our team:
Nazma Yahya, our Class 1 teacher. Nazma will be with us covering Miss Gibney’s maternity leave.
Claire Birch and Natalie Shaw, our new Teaching Assistants. Claire will work in Reception Class and Natalie
will work across Classes 5 and 6.
We hope that they will all be very happy with us.
Attendance
I was delighted to send out 99 postcards for 100% attendance during the summer term in
July. This is an impressive achievement and reflects our children’s positive attitude towards
school.
Overall attendance for 2014-15 was 97.4%. This is down 0.1% on the previous year but still
remains an outstanding achievement for our school. Please continue to work with us to
ensure this excellent record is maintained.
School Meals Reminders
Children in Reception Class and Key Stage 1 need to give one week’s notice if changing from school meals to
packed lunches (and vice versa).
Children in Class 3 will now need to pay for their school meals at a cost of £2 per day/£10 for the week but
they now have the flexibility to change from dinners to packed lunches as they wish.
Please keep lunch boxes as healthy as possible with lots of fruit. No chocolate please!
Health and Safety on the Playground
At the beginning and end of the school day, please ensure children stay with you wherever
appropriate. During these times, children are not permitted to play on the school field, play ball
games (apart from football at the top of the playground from 8.35 – 8.45am), use the trim
trail/play equipment on the field or climb on the school railings. Also, to avoid any unnecessary
collisions, please do not allow your child to use a scooter on the playground. Thank you for
your help.
Friday Achievement Assemblies
Friday morning achievement assemblies have been becoming increasingly popular with many parents in
attendance each week. Due to the poor acoustics in the school hall, the Governing Body made the decision
some time ago to stop pre-school children attending assemblies as they could become noisy and cause an
unnecessary distraction to our children whilst disrupting an act of collective worship. I am well aware that this
decision has never been a popular one with parents and, as such, I have thought long and hard about a
suitable compromise.
This year I want to trial a new system. ‘Praise book’ children (ie: those getting a mention in Achievement
Assembly) will be identified on a Thursday and the parents of those children will receive a text message on a
Thursday afternoon. If those parents wish to attend our Friday morning assembly to watch their child receiving
their certificate but also have a pre-school sibling, we will be arranging crèche facilities in our Reception
Classroom under the supervision of Mrs Fairlie. Please note: these facilities will only be available to the
parents of the children whose names are in the ‘Praise book’ for that week.
While we trial this new system, I’ll continue to chat with parents to gauge opinion on its impact.
Contact Sheets
New BLUE data collection sheets for children are being sent out with this letter. I would be grateful if you could
amend, update and return these to school as soon as possible.
This year we are asking for additional information as we also need you to add your email
address and job information. As a school we are aiming to become increasingly ‘paperless’
in our communication with parents over the coming months. As such we will be emailing letters
to you using a similar system to our text messaging service. In a technological age where
everyone has smartphones, this will be an environmentally friendly move whilst also reducing paper/copying
costs for the school but holding accurate email addresses for all parents is a must!
Don’t forget to include any new mobile phone numbers in order to make best use of our texting
service too. Thank you!
IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE HOLD CURRENT CONTACT INFORMATION IN CASE OF
EMERGENCY.
Dates for your Diary
September
Monday 21st
Meet the Teacher Week – more information to follow next week!
October
w/c 5th October
Wednesday 7th
Friday 9th
Wednesday 14th
Thursday 22nd
Friday 23rd
IEP review meetings
Parents evening 3.30 – 7.00pm (all classes including Reception)
Harvest festival at 9.00am (classes 1-6)
Individual & sibling photographs
School closes for half term
Training Day 2
November
Monday 2nd
School re-opens
And finally… a few of the comments we received from our July leavers and their
parents
‘I’ve had a great time at Bailiffe. I’ve loved all my teachers. They have all been helpful and supportive
throughout my time here. My learning has improved for sure as I have moved classes each year. All the
friends that I have made are amazing. I will miss everyone at Bailiffe Bridge but will be back for work
experience! Thank you all so much!’ (Year 6 leaver)
‘My child has had a wonderful time and education at Bailiffe Bridge. We have seen the school go from strength
to strength and are sad to be losing our links with it. Our daughter has grown and blossomed under the care
and guidance of the school and we would like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to all the staff who have helped her.’
(Parent)
‘I have been very pleased with my child’s progress while at Bailiffe. We have been very pleased with the staff
who have taught and supported her during her time here. Thank you to you all.’ (Parent)
‘I am very proud of my achievements at Bailiffe and I hope I can keep this level of standard throughout high
school.’ (Year 6 leaver)
‘My child has worked hard and received excellent SAT results. He has thoroughly enjoyed his time at Bailiffe
Bridge and he has lasting memories to take with him. Thank you to all the staff. His last day will be an
emotional one.’ (Parent)
‘My child has had a very successful time at Bailiffe Bridge School. The level of teaching has been excellent
and very professional. She has made good friends who will hopefully be friends for life. I hope her education is
as good at Lightcliffe Academy as it has been at Bailiffe! Thank you to all the staff! (Parent)
‘I have enjoyed my time at Bailiffe and don’t want to leave. It has been fun and I have made so many friends. I
am pleased with my SAT results and thank the teachers for helping me to get the results that I wanted.’ (Year
6 leaver)
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Don’t forget to keep an eye on the school website for any school updates in between the monthly newsletters.
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. If you wish to discuss any issues relating to the above
mentioned items, please do not hesitate to contact myself or another member of the senior team – Mrs
Bennett or Mr Roberts.
Yours sincerely,
Helen Proctor
Headteacher