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West Denton Primary School

‘A Stepping Stone into the Future’

Head Teacher's Blog

Welcome to West Denton Primary School (WDPS)

 

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WDPS - A Special Place to Learn and Grow

Head Teacher's Welcome Message

HT Welcome Message

Head Teacher's Blog 

04- 10- 24 (Mick MingStones, Head Teacher, WDPS)

Dear Families,

 

I hope you have enjoyed a fulfilling week.

 

Monday Assembly

This week I shared a story about the successes and failures in the life of the artist Vincent Van Gogh. We discussed two WDPS Core Values:

 

WDPS Core Value - Commitment

I finish what I start and I don't give up.

 

WDPS Core Value - Caring

I want people around me to be happy and I am sensitive to their needs.

I care for other people.

I try to help others

I care for animals and Planet Earth.          

 

Friday Achievers

I love seeing the delight on our children's faces when they receive an Achievers' Certificate for their hard work, positive attitude and living out the WDPS Core Values.

 

School Development Planning (SDP)

Working offsite on Tuesday morning allowed me to focus on SDP priorities for the rest of this term.

 

CES Safeguarding Meeting

Miss Croll and I enjoyed a productive meeting with Tracey Welsh from CES.

 

Staff Meeting

Thank you to Miss Alexander for providing SEND PD and updates to staff.

 

Attendance Update

(We need to get all children into school every day and we are working hard to support all families to get their children in to school 96%+ of the time).

All school staff are working really hard to improve our overall school attendance. Please ensure that your child gets into the habit of coming to school every day so that they can maximise their life chances through developing their talents to the full. Our Attendance Officer Lyndsay McMenzie is working with families to improve their children's attendance. If you are having any problems getting your child into school, please let their Class Teacher know immediately and Lyndsay will contact you to offer support.

 

Attendance Figures- September 2023-July 2024

Overall attendance: 93.7%  + 0.6% improvement on Sep 2022- July 2023

 

Persistent Absence

Sep 2023-July 2024 Threshold = Less than 91% (SIMS Value range), but 90.1%+ = Non PA

55 students

46 (Y1 to Y6)

9 students (R)

NB 3 students less than

Sep 2022- July 2023.

 

Attendance Initiatives

Children with over 97% attendance will have a treat in the hall once a half-term.

Green wrist bands for 97% attendance for a half-term and gold for 100% attendance.

Class weekly league table on the website every Friday.

Monday text reminding parents about benefits of attending and the £50 voucher each half-term.

Children to receive a sticker for attending each week.

 

In-class Incentive

On each day that the whole class are present, they will earn a letter to display. Once they have spelt out ‘My Perfect Attendance’, they will be rewarded with a Golden Afternoon e.g. PJs party, film and popcorn in classroom, board game afternoon etc.

 

Parent and Carer Incentive

Parent/carer 96%+attendance termly prize draw for a £50.00 supermarket voucher.

 

Holidays in Term Time - Penalty Notice

Since September 2019, the Governing Body has been notifying the Attendance Service about any pupil taking holidays in term time and will now be issuing Penalty Notices.  This policy is in line with Newcastle LA and our partner schools in the ONE Trust.

 

Please note that a copy of the Penalty Notice is issued to each parent for each child taken out of school. A Penalty Notice is a fine of £60 if paid within the first 21 days which increases to £120 if paid between 22 and 28 days. If the Penalty remains unpaid, this may lead to prosecution through the Magistrates Court.

 

The summer holidays at the end of the academic year 2023-2024 are equivalent to a full six weeks starting on the 22nd July to the 2nd September which we hope may enable families to book cheaper holidays removing any need for children to go on holiday during term time.

 

Family Support - Literacy and Numeracy

Read Write Inc (RWI), Reading Plus and Reading with Your Child at Home to Improve their Life Chances

NB We have purchased Reading Plus for those Y2 children who have finished RWI.

Please practise all RWI phonics work that is sent home with your child and work with school staff to help our children to develop a love for reading by sharing books with them at home on a daily basis. Also, can we ask all parents and carers to share a book, story of magazine with their child at home each day. Help your child and  make sure that they do their Reading Plus work as well,  as those children who are accessing these challenges regularly, are making rapid progress in their reading speed and thinking skills. I know that many of our students are strengthening their attainment levels with regular sessions at home on both Doodle English and Doodle Spell. 

 

Once your child can read, they can access the curriculum and begin to learn and also improve their life chances to get the best jobs possible in life. Education simply opens up more choices for your child in all areas of their life to come. 

 

Numeracy

All children love and benefit from Times Tables Rockstars, so please support them at home with this programme and also with Doodle Maths and Doodle Tables. With just 10 minutes every day, the children can potentially make three months’ worth of progress in one month. 

 

Extended Curriculum

I am passionate about giving our children a rich diet of healthy activities at school. It has been lovely to extend our curricular offer and to encourage our children to adopt healthy life choices that they can hopefully continue throughout their lives. 

 

We have extended our outdoor learning offer and provide a wider range of activities in order to develop our children’s Multiple Intelligences.  Please click on the link below to see an overview of the exciting experiences our children will enjoy in the future as per the mindmap  'WDPS Cycle Development and Wider Outdoor Learning'.

 

WDPS Cycle Development and Wider Outdoor Learning - September 2022 | West Denton Primary School

This week, our Y3 children enjoyed their weekly ukulele sessions delivered by John from the Newcastle Music Service. Nathan has delivered Rocksteady music sessions to our budding performers and musicians.  Our Reception children are having fun learning in their weekly music session delivered by Jane from Newcastle Music Service. Our students are also enjoying piano lessons too.

 

Mrs. McHatton has enjoyed delivering the WDPS Life Skills Challenge Award (LSCA) to our children on a rota basis. I am enjoying helping her deliver a lunchtime Bushcraft Club too. Mrs. Williams continues to develop our children's bike-handling skills and give them confidence in this life-enhancing skill. 

 

Clubs

A huge thank you to all out staff who provide lunchtime and after-school clubs for our children this term. If your child did not manage to get into the club of their choice this half-term, there will be further opportunities over the course of the next academic year.

 

Phase 1 Story Makers

Our Phase 1 children really enjoyed working with staff from the Newcastle Music Service this week as part of a series of 6 workshops.

 

Phase 3 Street Dance

Our Phase 3  students enjoyed learning new dance moves this week with an Active Kids dance instructor.

 

BMX Sessions

Thank you to Mrs. Williams, Ben Skaife and Mr. Jones  who delivered the BMX training session to our Y5 students this week. I'm looking forward to taking the children to Chopwell pump track next week to improve their skills. Let's see if WDPS can produce a future Olympian!

 

Zone West

Thank you to Sarah Spoors (Zone West) who is working with some of our Y6 students each week to help them strengthen their Emotional, Intra-Personal and Inter-Personal Intelligences.

 

Alan Shearer Centre Visit

Some of our Foundation Stage students benefit from a weekly visit to the Alan Shearer Centre Visit to help meet their individual needs.

 

CHEFF Programme

Our Y6 students are enjoying learning how to prepare healthy meals and snacks. Thanks to Mrs. Maitra for organising this highly, important and fun training opportunity.

 

Piano Lessons

Some of WDPS students are having fun learning to play the piano.

 

Washington Wildfowl Trust visit - Y1

As  part of our exciting Life Skills Challenge Awards (LSCA), Mrs. Elliott’s Y1 class enjoyed an exciting, free school trip to Washington Wetland Trust as part of our Gen Wild project. The children learnt about wildlife and their habitats and participated in fun tasks. 

 

Family Engagement

No activities this week.

 

WDPS Raising Aspirations Programme (RAP)

We need more speakers - please!

If you would like to share your life journey with our older students (15 to 20 minutes), could you please e-mail Miss Croll or I and we can talk through this positive experience for our children. I promise you that it is very relaxed and teaching staff and I are there to promote a calm, learning environment.

 

All children need to have positive adult role models in order to help them to achieve their full potential. This is why we invite inspirational speakers into school to help children understand that hard work, perseverance and following your dreams can open up maximum choices in all aspects of life. 

 

Having Fun as a Family

As families, remember that you and your children need lots of down time and getting outside together is a tonic for the wellbeing of all. A walk in the park, throwing or kicking a ball, a family bike ride can all help to put a smile back on our faces. If you have a pet, have fun playing with it. If the weather is challenging, try an indoor physical workout which will get your heartbeat up or dust off a board game and re-kindle the shared pleasure of playing games together. Also, sharing a book is one of the best ways to help your child on their lifelong learning journey.

 

Enjoy a happy weekend with your loved ones. 

 

Kind regards, 

 

Mick

 

Mick MingStones

Head Teacher

WDPS

 

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