31^st August 2007.

 Dear Parents and Carers,

 Welcome back to a brand new year. I do hope that you all had relaxing and enjoyable holidays, whether at home or further a field.

 We welcome our new reception children into school for the first time, Liea-Mae in year 4 and our new staff: Miss Kneale, Mrs Blackburn, Mrs Leach (Dining Supervisor) and Mrs James-Furley (Cook Supervisor). We look forward to working with them all.

During the Summer there have been a number of improvements made to the school. We have a newly redecorated canteen with colourful plates and dishes. This is to help improve the eating environment for the children and to encourage the children to take hot dinners. The dinners are locally and ethically sourced, cutting down the carbon footprint as much as possible. If you would like your child to try hot dinners, which many children take up as the weather starts to become cooler, just contact Mrs Foote in the office and she will be happy to advise. Dinners are £1.85 per day. Milk is available to drink at break time 12p per day payable termly in advance (under 5s free).

 We also have the “Parents Waiting Shelter” at the end of the pedestrian walkway. This shelter was won by our Starwalker Champions and Road Safety Officers eighteen months ago for their work in school promoting road safety. The children who were involved in the competition have since moved to their High Schools, but we are pleased that the shelter is finally ready for use. We hope that it will prove to be a good place to meet and chat with other parents, especially in the rain!

Please can I remind parents and children to use the pedestrian walkway to school and not walk through the main gates. This is because the school site is used by other people in cars to and from the Telecentre and the flats and offices. Using the main gate access on foot could be dangerous.

We also ask you not to bring dogs onto the school site in the interests of health and safety. There is a post at the top end of the pedestrian walkway to tether your dog if you need to speak to a member of staff.

We will be continuing to encourage children to walk, cycle or scooter to school and we will be rewarding them through the Starwalker scheme. There is plenty of space to park at the Black Horse or The Crown if you do not live in the village and then walk to school. Children who have fresh air on their way to school are more alert and ready to learn.

 We are also encouraging children to bring named water bottles to use in the classroom, so that they have a ready supply of drinking water. Please do not send juice in these bottles.

 Please come in and introduce yourselves to our new members of staff. We will be sending letters out shortly regarding clubs and activities for the children and a list of events coming up in the next few weeks.

 Children will be given homework diaries on Monday (not Acorns).

 Yours sincerely,

  

Judith Boston.