Head Teacher's Blog
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Head Teacher's Welcome Message
Head Teacher's Blog
19- 07- 24 (Mick MingStones, Head Teacher, WDPS)
Dear Families,
I hope you have enjoyed a fun week.
Monday Assembly
Thank you to Miss Croll for leading the assembly that focused on 2 WDPS Core Values:
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.
WDPS Core Value – Thinkers
I am thoughtful.
I try to solve problems and make good decisions.
I do this by thinking about things and by learning from my mistakes.
CFO Meeting
Mrs. Hollins and I enjoyed a productive meeting with CFO Victoria Hanlon.
Performance Management
Thank you to Karen Elliott (WDPS School Achievement Partner), Joanne Lockey (WDPS Chair of Governors), Mark Wright (WDPS Vice-chair of Governors) and Julie Stuart (ONE Trust CEO) for supporting me so well in my role of Head Teacher of WDPS.
Interview for Finance and Admin Officer
We say 'Thank you' to Karen Blenkinsop for her service to WDPS, as she leaves WDPS to take up a new life chapter role. We say 'Hello' to Judith Ledger who will join our school family in September.
Bye Bye
A huge 'Thank You' to the following staff members who are leaving us at the end of this term. We wish you every success and happiness for the future:
Karen Blenkinsop
Deborah Hicks
Tammy Shaw
Zoe Yule
Carol Greener
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.
Staff Meeting
The focus was on staff updating SEND Support Plans.
Bushcraft Club
It was a pleasure to work with Mrs. McHatton and the children in the WDPS Bushcraft Area this week.
Attendance Update (We need to reverse the downward trend to May half-term and to start heading in the right direction once again. 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 Grant Short and our School Welfare Officer Lyndsay McMenzie are 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 Grant and/or Lyndsay will contact you to offer support.
Attendance Figures- September 2023-May 2024
Overall attendance: 93.7%
Persistent Absence
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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 97%+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 Outer West Learning Trust (OWLT).
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 Y4 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.
Y3- Shipley Art Gallery
Our 3 class enjoyed visiting the Shipley Art Gallery. The children took part in two textiles workshops. They investigated felt making and produced their own felted piece, before sewing and creating their own embellished square with initials.
Phase 2 Street Dance
Our Phase 2 children are really having fun learning their 'Street Dance' moves.
Reception Classes Visit to Northumberland Zoo
As part of their ‘Animals’ topic, Reception visited Northumberland Zoo on Monday 15th July and they all had a fabulous day out. .
Y6 Lightwater Valley Trip
The children told me that they had the best time ever on this end of year trip.
Rocksteady Concert
Congratulations to our rock stars who entertained the WDPS community so well.
Talent Show
Hats off to all the children who performed on stage this week.
Family Engagement
Family Learning - Ready for School Course
Thank you to our Nursery families who are attending the Ready for School Course.
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, stimulating, safe, healthy and fun-filled summer holiday with your loved ones.
Kind regards,
Mick
Mick MingStones
Head Teacher
WDPS