Friday 25 September 2015


It has been a fairly straightforward week in school this week with everything running very smoothly which is always good. However, next week the pace really picks up as we have lots happening in school.

On Monday the ‘Book Fair’ begins. Every night until Thursday the book fair will be open after school in the main hall (we are also opening it on Wednesday lunchtime at 11.45am for nursery parents). There will be a wide variety of books to select from and your children will already know what is there as they are viewing the books today. This is a good opportunity for you to purchase some early Christmas presents. As a school we do get a percentage of the profits to use on books for the school so remember, the more you spend the more the school will benefit.

On Wednesday the school photographer will be in school to take individual photographs. This also includes family groups within the school so you may want to make sure that your children look ‘extra smart’ on that day because it will be a whole year before they get the opportunity to have an individual picture taken in school again.

On Friday we are holding our annual ‘Harvest Festival’ coffee morning. I have already sent out details about this in a couple of newsletters but we hold this so we can donate money to a worthy cause. There are a couple of charities that we are considering this year so I will let you know on the day which one the school has decided to support. As well as enjoying a drink and a cake with your child the classes will also be singing a couple of Harvest Festival songs to entertain you.  Remember that you may start sending in your cake donations from Wednesday, 30th September and if you are sending them in a container you would like returned to you please remember to put label it with your name. We have always had lots of donations in the past and I am sure that this year will be no different.

The football team also have their first match against Oakmere on Monday so let us hope that they will be successful. With all that is going on in school it will be next Friday before we know it. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Harvest Festival next week.

 

Friday 18 September 2015


You can tell that we have been back for a while now because the weeks are starting to fly by - I cannot believe that it is almost the weekend again. This is because all the extra- curricular clubs have started this week and for some reason the weeks always seem to pass more quickly when we are running the clubs.

I have been in reception this week and I am amazed at how settled the children are considering they have only been with us for a couple of weeks. May I remind reception parents that now the children have been here for a while they should be coming into school themselves so if parents can leave them at the gates where I stand the children can make their own way around to the classroom. If any of them are a little unsettled Mrs Aldridge or I will take them round but I am sure that if they can have it explained to them at home how they are going to come into school they will be fine. Some parents do think that their children will not come in without them but they do manage at break and lunchtime when parents are not present.

Next week appears to be quite a straightforward week in school next week. I have to attend a meeting about the firework display which is on November 7th. This is always a great event in school and I know that the PTA will soon be asking for volunteers to help with this event.  If you can organise your diary so you can help out for even an hour that will be greatly appreciated. More details about this event will be following shortly.

Have a great weekend everyone and I will see you all again next week.

Friday 11 September 2015

We have had some sunshine this week so I feel that summer is still with us which is great but I do feel that it is on borrowed time. The nights are already starting to draw in and before long it will be back to coats, gloves and scarves. However, before I get too gloomy let us think of better things. The good news is that all the after school clubs start again next week which will really mean that school is back to normal. All the letters have been sent out and hopefully you will have signed up all your children for the clubs they want to attend. I think after school clubs are an important part of school life because they help enrich the learning experience for children which is why I am glad that we run such an extensive programme at Little Heath. May I just remind you that if your child cannot attend a club for any reason you inform the school so that we can let the adult running the club know and we do not waste time trying to see why they have not attended. Can I also ask that if your child is attending an after school activity that whoever is picking them up is on time. I know that sometimes everyone can be delayed due to no fault of their own but I do feel that if people are persistently late that this impinges on the goodwill of those running the clubs. Last night I know many of you attended the ‘Meet the Teacher’ sessions. I hope you found them useful as I know the teachers put a lot of work into preparing them and I do know that many of you feel that it is good to ‘touch base’ with the class teacher early in the year. We deliberately make these sessions ‘adult only’ so that parents do not feel inhibited asking questions they do not want their children to hear. However, if you were unable to attend the sessions all the information that was presented can be found on the class blogs which are always updated at least weekly by the class teachers. The forecast is quite good for the weekend so I hope that you can enjoy some of the last rays of summer sunshine. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

Friday 4 September 2015


Welcome back. All the children appear to have come back very relaxed and all of them have settled very well back into the school routine. However, they have only had a two day week so let us hope they are still as eager next Friday when they have completed a full week.

As you will know we have been having some renovations completed over the holiday. We have been having some of the heating updated in the older part of the school, we have had some more work completed on our drainage system and we are also having a new boiler installed. Hopefully when all this work is completed it will mean that we will not experience any more floods and will not have to close the school at short notice which is inconvenient for everyone. I was a little worried last week at how the school was going to look for the children coming back but fortunately nearly all the internal work has been completed and the workmen are now based mainly in the boiler room. This is why the children are entering the school through the main hall in the morning. Hopefully all the work will be completed by the end of September but I will keep you informed.

Next week we are holding our ‘Meet the Teacher’ sessions on Thursday 10th at 4.30pm and 6.00pm. These are for the parents of children in Years 1-6 and are an opportunity to meet your child’s class teacher in person and find out about the expectations for the year and how you can best support your child with their learning. As I explained in my newsletter these sessions are for parents only so you will have to make alternate arrangements for your child if you want to attend. Our after-school club is offering a one-off session at 4.30pm to look after your child while you meet the teacher. If you wish to take up this offer you must inform the school office by Tuesday, 8th September. Parents who do turn up with their child will be asked to leave which causes embarrassment for everyone. If you are unable to attend these sessions all the information that will be discussed will be posted on the class blogs. Although there will be an opportunity to talk to the class teacher informally at the end of the sessions you will not be able to discuss the progress of your child. You will have the opportunity to do this at the parent consultations in October.

That is all for now. Have a great weekend and I will see you all again on Monday.