Newsletter - December 13

Dear Parents,

I hope that you have a very enjoyable and peaceful Christmas.

My many thanks go to the PTFA and staff for organising the Christmas parties. I hope the children enjoyed themselves and it was very gratifying to hear from Santa that he found all of them extremely polite and courteous. It looks as though their excellent behaviour might suggest that they will receive all the presents they have asked for! The DJ also told the children that St. Andrew’s was his favourite school because the children are always so well behaved – and yes, he does do discos in a lot more than one school!

Can I remind parents that our Christmas Services take place this Tuesday, for Foundation and KS1, and this Thursday, for KS2? Both services will start at 2.00 pm and should finish by 3.00 pm allowing parents, who have children in the other Key Stage, to have time to return to school to collect them. Children who are not being picked up by parents will be brought back to school by staff, but please be aware that they may not get back to school until after 3.30 pm. Parents who are not attending the services can, of course, pick their children up from the church at 3.00 pm. It would be helpful if you could let your child’s teacher (and, if appropriate, Kaleidoscope) know if children are to return to school if you have not returned a slip?

I would also like to keep you informed of developments towards implementing the New Primary curriculum for September 2014. Miss Owen and Mrs Jones have made an excellent start to re-writing the programmes of study for history. Mrs Stephenson and Miss Hassler have made initial adjustments to the Maths and English programmes of study. Similar to the Spelling and Phonics evening, there will be a Mental Maths evening for parents in the New Year. The guidelines for parents has already been completed and will be sent out shortly. Every member of staff has been involved in training for the development of new study areas for all other subjects and the next subject to come into focus will be geography, led by Mrs Johnson and Mrs Poyser.  Mrs Stephenson has also researched the programs needed to deliver the new section of the Information Technology curriculum relating to computer science and the school is now in a strong position to teach this area from September 2014. Some of our children in Y6 are already using the programs very effectively. I also know that parents have been full of praise for the increase in competitive sports and I am grateful to Miss Rowson for leading this and the support given by Mr Wilson.

A new initiative, starting in January, will be the re-introduction of a modern foreign language. Governors have agreed that Spanish will be taught to all children in KS2. This curriculum area will be led by Mrs Harper and Miss Rowson who have excellent qualifications in the language at degree level. They will each take three KS2 classes for an initial weekly input with follow up work being carried out by the class teacher. Their expert knowledge is one of the reasons for the change from French. Governors are aware that Idsall teach French and German from Year 7, but have reasoned that having experts in Spanish was the most important factor in delivering high standards. Additionally, it would not be guaranteed that a child learning French in primary school would necessarily continue to learn that language in secondary school. All research states that the important factor in the teaching of MFL is that children become used to learning a different language. Once the grammar has been taught, it is much easier to pick up any language.

The school has also purchased a new and extremely robust on-line tracking system to ensure that pupil progress is being monitored even more effectively. Most of the data has now been transferred from the old system and this will allow the school to use evidence about individual children to develop increasingly personalised learning programmes matched to their needs.

Can I end by thanking you for all your support this term and wish you a Happy New Year