Thank you so much to all the parents who came to our open morning this week on World Mental Health Day- it was so lovely to be able to share with you some of the wonderful work that is going on in school. The Zones of Regulation booklets. https://www.calverleycofeprimaryschool.org.uk/zones-regulation This link can also be found on the school website under the Noticeboard.
Some of the work that has gone on in classes around mental health day can be seen later in this newsletter.
Thank you too for the responses to our parent survey, please see the results below:
Parent Survey results 2023
Thank you very much to all the parents who responded. We had 118 replies which should represent a good spread of our families across the school. This is a summary of what you said:
- Although it can be hard to get to assembly when your child is chosen for a certificate, 93% of you said you wanted us to keep inviting you, so we will definitely be doing that.
- There was a lot of support for trips and visitors with 43% of people happy to pay £20-40 per year and a further 24% prepared to pay up to £100 per year. There is no doubt that the costs of trips have gone up, along with inflation generally, and coaches in particular are very expensive compared to a few years ago, but we will be looking at our curriculum and planning in good value trips over the year. Having visitors into school is also a great way to enrich the curriculum and can be more cost effective.
- After school clubs were popular with the vast majority of parents happy to pay for what they cost. In order of popularity the clubs you most wanted to see were:
- Craft Clubs
- Game and lego
- Football
- Netball/basketball/dodgeball
- Music clubs and choir
- Tennis/ badminton/volleyball
We will be doing our best to provide a range of after school activities by using staff in school but also external providers, starting soon.
- On school communications the majority of parents like to get information by email with the school gateway app being the next most popular. There was an even split between parents who find information from school clear and those who find it confusing and overall more parents felt there was too much communication rather than too little. There were lots of useful comments around combining less urgent or ‘for information’ things into a summary whilst keeping things that need action shorter and clearer and streamlining our systems. We are going to sit down as an admin team with our platform providers to look at how we can make things better in the coming weeks.
- 62% of you felt that you didn’t get enough information about what and how your child is doing in school with 37% saying it was about right. No-one felt it was too much. Parents evenings and end of year reports were the most useful for parents as understandably, this gives parents information on their individual child. These are also the most demanding of teacher time of course, so as a school we need to balance teacher workload with parent information. The school website was not seen as a particularly useful source of information about what children learn so that is something we can look to improve over time. Lots of you (65%) access the school website for the newsletter and even more (73%) for practical information and around 30% have used it for information about the curriculum and school policies.
- In terms of emergency childcare in the event of a school closure (most likely for snow) it looks likely that we would be able to open with a skeleton staff. Very few if any class teachers live locally enough to make it safely in, but we would have first aiders and safeguarding staff available so we are likely to try this in the coming year. It is unlikely that we would be able to provide a hot meal however.
- There were lots of positive comments about the school which were really encouraging to read. Parents value the way staff care about the children and the friendly atmosphere in school. Lots of parents mentioned welcoming the new behaviour policy and more opportunities for children to earn recognition in the form of housepoints and certificates.
- There was lots to learn from the ‘even better ifs…’ and sometimes a balance to be struck – what some parents like, others hate! Some themes were about using the outdoor space we have more, school lunches, information about what children are learning (see point 5) and wearing ties for the younger children. We will take all these ideas on board and make decision on what we feel is best for the school.
Thank you once again to all who responded. The saying that “it takes a village to raise a child” is surely true in Calverley and we value so much the partnership we have with parents and want to see it go from strength to strength. Ms Cameron and all the Calverley CE Team
SCHOOL HOUSES
Last week we officially named our school houses and the theme of 'trees' was chosen by governors. Trees are a fantastic symbol of growth and strength and our school's position, right at the entrance to Calverley Woods, makes this especially relevant to us. The houses names and colours were all assigned at random and are:
House 1: Chestnut (red)
House 2: Beech (green)
House 3: Oak (yellow)
House 4: Ash (blue)
We would like to develop a symbol/picture for each house which we can use consistently, using the tree leaf and seed (each of the trees we have chosen are distinctive in this regard). If any parents have graphic design skills and would be able to volunteer help us with this, please get in touch with the office.
CHOIR
Finally from me, we are planning to start a choir in the run up to Christmas (and hopefully beyond). We would like to open it up to lots of children but could do with some extra adults to help (checking with the office on any children who haven't turned up, helping to deal with anyone who needs the toilet or not feeling well and then helping with the singing of course!) . If any parents enjoy a good sing and would like to come along for an hour on a Wednesday after school, please get in touch with the office.
Yours,
Ms Kate Cameron
World Mental Health Day
Tuesday 10th October this week was World Mental Health Day. We have recognised and acknowledged this in school to highlight to the children the importance of looking after our minds, and raised awareness of how we can look after our mental health and who we can speak to if we are feeling worried, anxious or overwhelmed. Year 6 students presented their recent learning in PSHE about mental health to the whole school in a special assembly. At some point this week, each class has also taken part in a wellbeing activity. There has been a range of wonderful, interesting and mindful activities going on across school, from playing board games and walking in the woods in Year 6, to collaborative art work to music in Year 1, all linked to the Five Ways to Wellbeing.
Further information and support about mental health can be found through visiting the following websites/links:
Five Ways to Wellbeing (for children and adults)
If you would like to have a go at a bit of homework with your child linked to World Mental Health Day, this link has a task that you can do:
Year 1 have had a fantastic couple of weeks as part of their art curriculum. We explored mark making and line, working and experimenting with different materials through observational and collaborative pieces. We experimented with a range of mark making tecniques. Below is a variety of artwork that we produced from our lessons.
Year 3 took part in a ‘Stone Age afternoon’ last Thursday with the help of Mr Harkins from the green team. We looked at how Stone Age people lit their fires using flint stones and the type of foods they would have hunted and gathered. We also had a go at making our own shelters using hazel branches and collecting natural items from outside such as dandelions, leaves and berries to test their colour pay off. It was a great afternoon!
Year 3 took part in mindfulness activities. Using a collection of natural resources, they focused their minds on the experience of touching these objects. This technique helped them to relax, focus on the present and unclutter their minds.
Year 6RM have been looking at 'chiaroscuro' - a technique that uses strong contrasts between light and dark. They studied different artists that have used it and produced their own graffiti art using charcoals to mirror the style.
Year 6 have been busy researching the events of World War 2, specifically the effects felt here in Leeds during the Blitz. They used laptops to access various websites to gather information on the blackout, air raid shelters and family life during this time. Next week we will begin drafting our newspaper reports.
Hello everyone,
I wanted to share a parenting session I took part in yesterday. Anisa Lewis is a very experienced, positive parenting coach and she offers FREE 30min clinics. Yesterday, she was talking about behaviour, she mentioned how the 5 love languages and Betari’s Box play a big part when thinking about behaviour. The session was recorded and can be watched via YouTube until midnight on Monday 16th October, I’m afraid I don’t have a link but you can find it on YouTube at Anisa Lewis Behaviour Oct 23 – it’s well worth a watch.
Her further clinics are: 7/11/23 Anxiety and 7/12/23 Emotions. You can join by emailing her at: [email protected] or visit www.anisalewis.com. The clinics take place by Zoom (you can have your camera on or off) and consist of her talking through strategies that she has used to help her children and families and, as I say, they are FREE.
I hope you find it useful.
Have a great weekend,
Tracy Haigh
Pastoral Support Officer & DSO
Weekly Attendance Award. A certificate is given to the class in each Key Stage with the best attendance for that week, which will be award during Friday's celebration assembly The winners for last week and this week are:
w/e 5.10.23 w/e 12.10.23
KS1 - 1ND 100% KS1 - 1VE - 99.7%
KS2 - 6RM - 98.4% KS2 - 3OB & 6RM - 98.7%
Well done to all classes. Keep it up!!
Monday 16th October - Individual photographs
Tuesday 17th October - PTA AGM 7.30pm
Monday 23rd October - Parents Evening 3pm - 5pm
Wednesday 25th October - Parents Evening 4pm - 6.30pm