Headteacher’s Message

It was an early start to the term this year—coming back on 3rd January did come as somewhat of a shock to the system but we have all enjoyed a positive begin-ning to the new year at school. I am still not used to writing 2019, but I am sure that will come. The school disco was great fun and is a welcome treat to come back to— and was, as always, well organised by our fabulous FOBS. Please take a look at the calendar on the back of the newsletter for upcoming dates. Let’s make 2019 a great year!

Barford

Primary School

Monday 7th January 2019

SPRING

1

Bring your wellies in!

We would like to try and use the

school field more—even during

these wet and wild winter days.

For that to happen, we will need

the children to bring wellies in—

which they can leave at school

if that helps. Having space to let off steam and stretch legs is vital and we

hope that this small change will make a positive difference.

Current attendance rate i s 95.8%

A move towards being paperless.

This will be the last newsletter available as a hard copy. We would like to move towards

a paperless system, whereby messages and information are shared electronically. We

are already using our text messaging system to remind and inform—which I think is

proving useful. We also have our Facebook page which can be used for information

sharing. There will still be letters sent home on occasion—for example when a signa-

ture is needed— but if we can avoid using lots of paper we will endeavour to do so.

Thank you for your support with this and look out for information on your emails!

Sports Provision at Barford. We have an exciting term ahead of us with a number of experienced coaches coming into support the physical edu-cation of the pupils. Shelia Hunter will continue to provide excellent sessions in Key Stage 1—the children love taking part in these. Pupils in Key Stage 1 will also be taking part in Karate sessions during this term. In Key Stage 2, we wel-come back Joe and Ashley for capoeira—every Thursday— and on top of this Badger class will be receiving TAG rugby coaching every Friday in preparation for an upcoming com-petition in the cluster. We will continue to use our sport funding in the most beneficial way for the pupils.

Attendance targets.

We start 2019 with an attendance rate which currently stands at 95.8% .

However, a total of 1.7% of our absences are

due to unauthorised holiday, taken in term

time. If this were to be reduced, our attend-

ance levels would be far healthier. Please be

aware that we have a duty to monitor our

attendance rates at school and if an individual

pupil’s attendance drops below 90% we will

send out an advisory letter to make parents/carers aware of the implica-

tions and look for ways to improve on this moving forward.

TABLE TENNIS iS HERE!!

With the help of 2 dedicated Year 6

pupils, I have put up the new out-

door table-tennis table - which is at

the bottom of the slope near to the

new building. Over the coming

weeks, the children will have oppor-

tunities to use it and challenge their

friends.

WymoNdham Cluster sportshall Athletics 2019

Today, 17 children from Badger Class, attended this inter-school competi-

tion which involved a variety of multi-skills activities including running,

jumping and throwing disciplines. All pupils took part in a carousel of

events, racking up points to add to their team score. The event then fin-

ished off with a number of exciting relays, which were immensely fun to

watch. Our team were excellent throughout and really worked well to sup-

port one another. We will await the results with eager anticipation!

Reminder : All pupils in Key

Stage 2 have access to Times Tables

Rock Stars which is an online re-

source aimed at improving speed

and accuracy of times tables. If you

have not done so already, login and

take a look. If you have lost your log-

in details, please speak to your class

teacher. Visit:

ttrockstars.com/login

Special Menu

coming up on

Thursday 17th January.

More details to follow soon.

Key Stage 2 Residential Reminders

Final payments due for

Hilltop (Year 5/6)

And

Aylmerton (Year 3/4)

Monday 21st January

Best wishes

Matt Dunscombe

Headteacher

Please make sure that we have your current email address so that we can send information to you. If

these need updating, please let Mrs Brown know in the school office. Many thanks.

Dates for your diary

Road Safety sessions Thursday 17th January

On-road Cycle Training (Y5/6) Thursday 17th January

Norse Special Menu Thursday 17th January

Final Payments for Residentials Monday 21st January

Last day of first Spring half term Friday 15th February

First day of second Spring half term Monday 25th February

Hilltop Residential (Year 5/6) Monday 25th March -

Wednesday 27th March

Aylmerton Residential (Year 3/4) Monday 1st April -

Wednesday 3rd April

Last day of Spring term (Easter break) Friday 5th April