Dear Parents/Carers
This has been a short, 6 week half term, but as always, with much happening, special events, the
‘day to day’ - and of course, Year 6 SATs. I have been particularly impressed with the manner in
which our Year 6’s have conducted themselves over these last few weeks, where, inevitably, the
pressure has been mounting, where they have re-visited key learning points on numerous
occasions (‘practice makes perfect’!) and revised ‘exam technique’. The children have, to the
very large part, remained calm, cool and collected, with only minor, understandable ‘wobbles’
and truly, they have done themselves, their families, their teachers (from their very young days
here to current) and Quarry Bank Primary School proud—well done you Year 6!!! Within these
pages you will find their ‘version of events’ and I hope Year 5 pupils and their parents/carers will
find this helpful as they look to move to the ‘top of the school’ in September.
Whilst on this note, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my staff—again I say from the
children’s early school days onwards—who ALL have contributed to the success that is our young
people about to embark on their secondary school experience—they don’t just ‘land’ in Year 6/
they are nurtured and cared for from Day 1!!! May I also say with regard to the children that it is
not all about ‘SATs’ and how they perform in that arena; we have children with many abilities,
talents and personal character traits, and it is important that we celebrate these too as they are
just as important (and in some instances, more so).
So, whatever the results, we know everyone concerned has done their best—all that we can ever
ask—and time is now to look forward to the future—First Aid training, the residential trip, ‘Prom’
etc! Enjoy it all Year 6 and stay the focussed, caring, responsible young people that you are.
We look forward to this half term break but in the sure knowledge that the final half term of the
academic year will bring about more hard work, challenge and change in various guises. With
your support, all of us working together, I am sure we can meet these head on and in a positive
fashion. Nothing stands still at Quarry Bank!
Hoping for some warmer weather next week! Wishing you a pleasant holiday with the
children.
Helen Johnson
Headteacher
Dates for your Diaries:
Friday, 22nd May—break up for half term
Monday, 1st June—all return
Friday, 17th July—academic year ends
Special Event Dates
3rd June—’Parents Cooking in the Curriculum’ sessions begin—more
information to follow
3rd June—Swimming lessons continue for designated children in Year 3
4th June—Dr Morgan visits re ‘Pupils 2 Parliament’
5th June—Rights Respecting World Environment Day
Vocal coach continues to work with children in school—Years 1-4
Woodwind sessions continue for Years 5-6
5th June—Years 5/6 netball competition at Ellowes Hall School
8th June—Thorns Community College staff visit Year 6 pupils transferring there in September
10th June—Year 6 cookery club starts
11th June—Reception Class visit Dudley Zoo
11th June—A group of Year 6 pupils visit The Houses of Parliament, London
11th June—Governing Body meeting—curriculum and school improvement focus
12th June—Rights Respecting Child Labour Day
12th June—Part of Year 4 Fire Service visit to school
15th June—Rights Respecting World Refugee Day
15th June—Rev David leading assembly
16th June—Education Welfare Officer meeting with school re pupil attendance
18th June—Year 5 at Thorns Community College for special science lesson
22nd June—Sports Week—more information to follow
24th June—Year 6 road safety training
25th June—Year 6 induction for pupils transferring to Hillcrest Secondary
25th June—Year 5 at Thorns Community College for special science lesson
30th June—Education Welfare Officer meeting with school re pupil attendance
1st - 3rd July—Year 6 pupils to Kingswood Activity Centre for residential stay
2nd July—Years 1 and 2 visit to Selly Manor linked to ‘Great Fire of London’ work
7th July—Parents’/Carers’ Evening
8th July—’Attendance Trip’ for class with best attendance record
9th July—Year 6 induction day for children transferring to Thorns Community College
9th July ‘Meet your new teacher’ day for children here at Quarry Bank (preparatory for September)
9th July—Governing Body meeting—curriculum and school improvement focus
10th July—‘Meet your new teacher’ day for children here at Quarry Bank (preparatory for September)
13th July—Year 6 performance (evening)
14th July—Education Welfare Officer meeting with school re pupil attendance
14th July—Year 6 performance—afternoon
15th July—Year 6 Prom
16th July—Achievement Assemblies
17th July—Year 6 Leavers’ Assembly
Pupil attendance update
Many of you will have experienced a ‘poorly child/children’ over the last few weeks and school
acknowledges genuine illness. Even if an absence is ‘authorised’, it still counts as a child missing
schooling and has to be logged accordingly. Consequently, school’s attendance figures have
plummeted.
So, let’s hope, with the Whitsun break, children will be well on their way to recovery, and return to
school fit and well ready for the remainder of the summer term. As always, we very much appreciate
your support in raising those figures back up to hit (or exceed) school’s target of 96.1% attendance.
Please do your very best to ensure children attend on all school days; this positive attitude will help set
them up for life especially when they have a job and are required to attend daily!
If your child is really too poorly to attend school, may we remind you that you should
contact school on the first day of the absence to report the non attendance—thank you. Remember,
every week your child had a full attendance, their name is entered into a prize draw which is drawn once
a term—and you’ve got to be in it to win it!
Over recent months, a small number of pupils are repeatedly late for school. This
impacts upon them as individuals and the smooth running of school. We ask that
parents/carers make every effort to ensure a prompt and punctual start to the day.
Best Class Attendance
as at May 2015
Well done to 4P and Miss Price with 96.72%
RBR 92.89%
RK
93.07%
1P
95.04%
1/2C 96.18%
2H
96.66%
3P
95.97%
3/4M 96.01%
5B
96.36%
5R
96.69%
6C
95.80%
6R
95.22%
Language Unit 91.84%
The target for 2014/2015 is 96.1%.
School’s attendance is currently below this at 95.54%
100% Attendance since
September 2014
Harvey Adlam
Remmaine Brooks
Andrew Ciuperca
Melissa Crowley
Lauren Davies
Alex Foxall
Evie Henshaw
William Henshaw
Amelia James
Molly Mumford
Tia Oliver
Alfie Parker
Charlie Parker
Paris Parkes
Minha Parviz
Natasha Perks
Ella Roberts
Hayden Roberts
Callum Rudge
Chloe Sheppard
Aimee Skingle
Brianna Smart
Harriet Marie Smith
Chayton Taylor
Jessica Tomes
Rebecca Louise Turley
Kayley Tyler-Crisp
Paige Tyler-Crisp
Jasmine Wilson
Achievement Certificates
Key Stages 1 and 2
Alexandra Perry
Connor Ashmore
Ryan Marsden
Mia Coles
Liam Davies
Lucy-Mae Skingle
Jessie Lin
Anisa Faisal
Fatima Kosar
Bilal Azram
Kieran Lees
Brandon Jefferson
Abigail Hingley
Michael Law
Libby Bryant
Declan Collins-Gordon
Ashleigh Grogan
Jobee Mills
Jacob Housley
Georgina Smith
Dylan Johnstone
George Ostins
Callum Rudge
Holly Slater
Jamie Burgoyne
Leyton Page
Kristian Danielov
Arry Taylor
Jack Burton
Zak Wells
Alfie Parker
Ezmee Mills
Jessica Parkes
Evie Henshaw
Chloe Sheppard
Liam Andrews
Achievement Certificates
Key Stages 1 and 2
Cameron Patel
Cara Grove
Amber-Leigh Robinson
Areebah Hussain
Amelie James
Umayma Hasan
Aqsa Hussain
Remmaine Brooks
Owen Parsons
James Tromans (5R)
Joseph Parsons
Demi Simpson
Ryan Marsden
Olivia Waldron
Hayden Roberts
Kanav Sethi
Elliott Hector
Amelia Stringer
Jessica Tomes
Benjamin Squiare
Amelia Underhill
Emily Harriman
Samuel Wright
Ellie-Mae Burgoyne
Evie Hutton
Chance Batham
Jack Burton
Maya Tranter
Angel Tighe
Reuben Queen
Peter Smith
Nathan Slater
John Turley
Maisie Whitehouse
Kaysee Page
Tri Golf Competition
On Friday 24th April 2015, we entered a Tri Golf Competition. There were 17 other schools from Dudley
at The Mark Butler Golf Academy in Sedgley. The views were astonishing but we needed to focus and
concentrate to get the job done right! As a team, we had very little experience with playing golf, but we
did our very best and scored a massive 225 points – resulting in us coming 8th out of 17. We played 9 mini
games of golf, which involved us using golf clubs and different balls to achieve various goals. We also had
the opportunity to play foot golf – which was totally awesome. Instead of using golf clubs and golf balls,
we used our feet to kick the football into the holes.
We felt nervous to start with, but we soon got into the swing of things and had a glorious afternoon. The
rain even held out too!
Mrs Cadman and Miss T had a wonderful time and commented on how fabulous we were! “The Tri Golf
team were an absolute credit to Quarry Bank Primary School; behaviour, attitude and ability was incredible.”
We look forward to trying different sports in the future.
Health and Safety and Premises Update

Perimeter fencing remedial works undertaken

Quotes for an ‘Evac Chair’ being obtained

Quotes for additional fencing being obtained

Water hygiene checks made

Dining tables and chairs—annual check booked for June

‘Operable Wall’ (Dance Studio/Hall) - annual check booked for June

Generator (emergency power source) service booked for June

Water fountain in Main Reception repaired/serviced

Rainwater harvest system serviced

Repair made to fire alarm system—faulty device detected/replaced

Annual independent inspection of external play equipment undertaken
Well done to Brenda and team in the kitchen on achieving a
Level 5 Food Hygiene rating again!! Well done!!
Summer gardening
The flower beds are showing great promise as children plant them this summer season. School has purchased all manner of seeds—broad bean, peas,
lettuce, marigold, sweet pea etc and even seed potatoes—and many classes
are enjoying the great outdoors as a result!
If any of you have spare bedding plants or vegetables that the children could
plant up, we should be most grateful to receive donations. Only please
plants known to be non-toxic (or least wise, thoroughly identifiable so school
might take the
necessary precautions) and if in any doubt, Mrs Bradley will try to help in this
regard. By mid summer last year, many areas of the school site were both
pretty and productive; we hope to replicate that this year!
Year 6 Residential Trip to Kingsford Activity Centre, Staffordshire
School has this academic year offered Year 6 children the opportunity of a residential
trip, staying 2 nights at this activity centre. Many of the children are taking advantage
of this and now SATs are ‘done’, the anticipation is beginning to mount! Our
programme of activities includes abseiling, orienteering, quad biking, zip wiring,
archery, initiative tasks, fencing, disco and camp fire—if everyone doesn’t come back
completely worn out after that, we’ll eat our hats!!!
A representative from Kingswood (supported by school staff including Miss Johnson)
has visited school to speak directly with parents/carers about various aspects of this
trip and ‘questions from the floor’ were answered, with children in attendance having
their own particular question and answer session with Mrs Cadman and Mr Bateman
(they and Mrs Roff, will be escorting the children on the visit). Children will be assisting too with the writing of risk assessments required for the event to run safely and
smoothly—it is their trip after all. We hope our next newsletter will be full of fabulous
photos and detailed reports of their exciting excursion!
Staff Training
Parents/carers may be interested to
know that staff, in all categories,
undertake ongoing appropriate training. For example, our Early Years
Department has recently hosted a Local Authority moderation visit to quality assure the work in Early Years. Mrs
Rock is taking a specialist
qualification to further her role as
SENCO (Special Educational Needs
Co-ordinator). Mrs Westwood
constantly attends ‘Child Protection’
updates and Miss Johnson, too, works
with other headteachers, sharing
good practice and indeed formal
training sessions. After half term,
Mrs Bradley will be attending training
to support placing bids for the award
of grant monies and Miss T will work
with other local learning mentors
where new initiatives etc will be
discussed.
The learning process never stops!
Mrs Jos Smith—former teacher here
at Quarry Bank
Many of you will remember Mrs Smith,
teaching our younger children when
we were housed in the old building. It
is with great sadness that we tell you
of her passing following a period of
illness.
Mrs Smith was the gentlest of persons, kindly and
caring of the children and with a keen sense of
humour too.
She had a great love for ‘the outdoors’ and we
hope to commemorate her life using this as our
theme. Classes are to be tasked with creating a
scarecrow each in the likeness of ‘a hero’ - Tony
Smith,
Jos’ husband, will be judging the competition and
there will be a prize awarded to the class with the
best figure together with a trophy in the name of
Mrs Smith.
The scarecrows will be displayed in the garden area
for everyone to enjoy. We think Mrs Smith—Jos,
would approve.
Year 6 SATs Week.
Last week, children in Year 6 tackled their SATs (statutory assessment tests). These tests are completed by all
Year 6 children across the country. They test everything that children have been taught in their primary school
career, in English and Maths, before they start their journey into secondary education. Our year 6 children
tackled the tests very sensibly and we were all very proud of them. This was supported by the fact that Brenda
provided many of them with a ‘brain-fuelling’ breakfast which helped many of the children to relax before starting the tests each day.
On Monday, the first test to be completed was reading and the children had to read 3 different texts and
answer questions about them. They had to use many reading skills like inference/ deduction and talk about the
author’s techniques. They had to retrieve the important information and answer as fully as possible.
On Tuesday, the children completed a Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation test. Once again, they were extremely
sensible and tried their hardest to remember all of the grammar and spelling rules that they had been taught.
Wednesday and Thursday comprised of the written Maths tests and the mental Maths tests. The children had
to re-call many mathematical skills and concepts and then apply this knowledge in a test.
By the end of the week, the Year 6 children looked exhausted! However, so many people commented upon their
positive attitudes and the fact that they kept smiling each day although they were in the midst of tests.
Here are a few quotes from some of the children at the end of this ‘long’ week:
Ella: ‘A few of the SATs were more challenging than others. I wasn’t worried as I knew that I could only do my
best!’
Luke: ‘I didn’t worry about my SATs because I practised at home. Breakfast club was amazing! Thanks Brenda!’
Sharnie:’ I think that the SATs went better than I thought. On the first day, I was quite scared but, once I
knew what to expect, I didn’t worry after that.’
Gugandeep: ‘I thought the SATs were quite hard but we had done so many practice tests that it felt like just
another test!’
Good luck Year 6!
The results will be out towards the end of this school year.
Year 3-4 had a First Aid taster session with a lady from the St. John’s Ambulance Service. They learnt how to treat
someone with a bad cut and who was in shock. The children enjoyed their session and the photo shows Lottie and
Grace from 4P practising using a bandage.
Year 3-4 used their ‘Cooking in the Curriculum’ time this half term
to make fruit kebabs. The children learnt about eating healthily
and how to prepare and chop fruit safely. Here are Hasnain, Chloe
and Paige from 4P with their delicious fruit kebabs.
...and 3/4M!!!
CHRIST CHURCH
QUARRY BANK
part of the Brierley Hill Team
in the diocese of worcester
The Vicarage
Maughan Street
Quarry Bank
Brierley Hill
DY5 2DN
Christ Church invites you to:
“Fire and Bones”
Tuesday 26th May 2015
10-12noon @ Christ Church, Quarry Bank
Children aged 3-11 are invited to Christ Church to discover more about the story of Jesus through
craft, activities, drama, song and stories. At Fire and Bones we’ll be thinking about the events, recorded in the Bible, following the resurrection of Jesus in a fun and interactive way. There will be fun
and laughter alongside reflection on God’s love for us.
Refreshments will be provided for children and parents. Please let us know if you or your child has
any food allergies.
The event is free of charge.
To book places please contact:
Rev David Hoskin, The Vicarage, Maughan Street, Quarry Bank, DY5 2DN,
phone 01384 565480 (leave a message) or email [email protected]
Christ Church, Quarry Bank:
01384 565480
[email protected]
The PCC of the Team Parish of Brierley Hill is a registered charity: no. 1132884
Could parents/carers please remind children to follow the safety signs
in and around school—including external signage requesting that they
do not walk on walls. This is for your child's safety and that of others.
We have had an increased number of instances, especially in a
morning, where children ‘challenge’ each other to run on the wall and
jump the gates/fencing. Thank you for your support.