Call us: 0 1922 682583 Email us: postbox@st-francis-p.walsall.sch.uk

Curriculum Overview Plans The school’s website gives a set of overview

plans that set out what your children are learning this year at school.

These are great sources of information that set out the content of the curriculum.

We would be really grateful if you could continue to talk to your child/ren about their work, extending their learning even further at

home. Thank you, everyone!

A* Stars ‘Walk to School Week’ If you would like to, you could join in on ‘Walk to School Week’

from 20th October.

This is an initiative that encourages children to come to school ‘under their own steam’. For example, we encourage pupils to walk, scoot or cycle to school; and to think about the physical

and economic benefits of leaving the car at home.

If you would like your child/ren to take part, please complete, sign and return the slip at the bottom of your ‘Walk to School

Week’ letter, when you receive it.

Holiday Dates 2014 School closes for the half term holiday on Friday 24th October 2014 at 3.15pm. School re-opens for pupils on Monday 3rd November 2014.

Term Dates 2014/15

Fri 24th Oct –Fri 31st Oct 2014 Half Term Fri 19th Dec 2014 – Fri 2nd Jan 2015 Christmas Holiday Fri 13th Feb – Fri 20th Feb 2015 Half Term Fri 27th Mar –Fri 10th Apr 2015 Easter Holiday Mon 4th May 2015 Bank Holiday Fri 23rd May – Fri 29th May 2015 Half Term School closes for Summer Holiday - Mon 20 Jul 2015.

10th October 2014

Diary Dates SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS – Wed 15th Oct, 1.15 pm

(Family Groups at 3.15 pm) PARENTS’ DROP IN EVENING – Thurs 23rd October

CLJ Week – 8th December THEATRE VISITS – KS2 Monday 15th Dec

KS1 Wed 17th Dec and Nursery will visit Cadbury World on Thurs 18th December (details to follow)

Message from the Acting Head Teacher WRITING POLICY

The school has developed a new Writing Policy so that we have a single, common approach to teaching this important

subject across the whole school; and so that children can learn to love writing.

As part of our policy, we have included a set of nine

guidelines that can help staff and parents to support children in their writing.

These are taken from Wrigley, S: National Writing Project (NWP), National Association for the Teaching of English

(NATE): http://www.nwp.org.uk/1/category/national%20curriculum/1.html

I thought that it might be useful for us to share and explore

each of these nine things, week-by-week, in the ‘Tweet’.

Here is the first one: 1. 1. Simon Wrigley suggests that when encouraging children to

write, we could “start with ideas or pictures or stories or experiences - or particular examples of writing”.

He encourages us just to get writing, without worrying. We should write something that inspires us.

We should think about how we feel, too – and we can involve different senses, for example. Children could write about

what they can see, hear, touch, smell, taste, as well as how they feel.

Using this starting point, can you help your child/ren to write for fun at home this week?

WORDS OF THE WEEK

Also, every week, we will hold a ‘Word of the Week’ competition for all pupils.

Children in Key Stage 1 will be given a word to use in a

sentence; they will write their sentence; hand it in; and the best ones will be put on display and given awards.

Key Stage 2 children will get a different word to start them

off, but otherwise the process will be just the same for them.

Good luck, everyone!

PLEASE SEE OVER

Parents’ Evening Arrangements We want to involve and inform parents as much as

possible, and so we have set up termly drop-in sessions for parents.

This term's session is on Thursday 23rd October

between 15:45 and 17:15.

We will send out an interim 'report card' sheet to all parents on the day before the Parents' Evening drop-in session. This will provide a very brief update overview

of children's attainment in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics (telling you if they are working below, at,

or above, national expectations).

Parents should come along to meet teachers only if this report sheet - or anything else - raises questions for

them.

There won't be any appointment slots, but, rather, parents will be given the chance to come into class and look at their child/ren's work, if they want to, as they

wait for the teacher to see them.

TOAST! The team of parents, who have been making toast for the children

every morning break, is magnificent.

They give their time freely and work incredibly hard.

But there are too few of them and the work is getting to be too much. This is a small group with limited numbers on the rota: the time commitment has become significant for everyone currently

involved.

So we have a choice.

We can either: - recruit more DBS-cleared parents for the rota; OR

- stop making toast for pupils after half term.

If you want us to continue to provide this service (it has been very popular and the children love it), please volunteer your help.

If this does not happen, regrettably, we will have to discontinue the

service. Please bear with us if this happens. Please let us know asap if you can help.

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS The School Photographer will be in school on

Wednesday 15th October from 1.15 pm onwards to photograph all the children. Anyone wishing to have a group photograph taken with younger siblings, these will be done at 3.15 pm onwards. Morning Nursery

parents are welcome to bring children along at 3.15 pm to have their pictures taken.

Junior Leadership Team

The JLT has recently:

- delivered an Assembly on how pupils in Year 4 or Year 5 can apply for roles in the JLT’s ‘Shadow Cabinet’. (This is

a team of pupils who will ‘shadow’ the main JLT team members,

learning their roles before they graduate to these jobs fully next

year); - voted to guide school policy on

effective marking; - started to write their Post-Ofsted

Monitoring Visit Action Plan (‘POMVAP’), focusing on marking

and Writing.

There are also plans to produce a JLT ‘Inventors’ Display Board.

The JLT Liturgy group:

- delivers a Catholic focus in Assemblies every Friday;

- organised important aspects of the St Francis of Assisi Children’s Mass at

Church on Sunday 5th October.

Thank you to the JLT and all concerned.

STRIKE ACTION Strike Action originally proposed by Unison, GMB and Unite for Tuesday 14th October has

been called off.

School will be fully open, as usual, on that day.

VOUCHERS

Flora and Stork have teamed up with Tesco to give primary schools in Great Britain the chance to get their hands on touch screen

tablets – simply by collecting tokens in special tubs of Flora or Stork from Tesco.

Please make sure they are clean!!