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Castle Camps Primary School and its Community

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2013!



Monday, 7th January - Staff Training Day with a main focus on teaching mathematics. We shared the training session with Great Abington Primary School allowing us the opportunity to meet other staff as well as improve our maths teaching.

Tuesday, 8th - first day back and every child was at school! Believe it or not that is only the second day that that has happened this academic year! This has been a particularly bad year for illness and the school attendance/absence figures illustrate this. However OFSTED expect 95% attendance as only 'satisfactory' - it must be above 95% to be considered as 'good' and 'outstanding' ...........
I am sure that you do your best to make sure your family avoids 'missing school' for any reason apart from illness or 'exceptional circumstances'.

Start of the Day - I think that something that many people overlook is 'lateness'. School starts at 9.00am and that really means that your child should be in school, coat off, bags unpacked and in the classroom ready to start. Parents should not be in school at 9.00am unless they have something essential to tell the teacher. All other messages should go through the school Office. Class helpers should always register at the Office and then make their way to the class where they are helping.

Late Arrivals - There are a considerable number of children arriving at school late. Some are late 2-3 times a week! Frequent lateness can add up to a considerable amount of lost learning time and can seriously disadvantage your child’s education, for example:

 

Minutes late per day:               Equivalent days across a year

5 mins.                            3.4 days

10 mins.                          6.9 days

15 mins.                          10.3 days

20 mins.                         13.8 days

30 mins.                         20.7 days

 

Arriving before the bell allows your child to socialise with other children and for those going straight into class to ‘settle in’. We open the gate at 8.50 and you should aim to be at school between 8.50 & 8.55, Is it the children’s fault?

Snow Forecast – Remember to send your child to school in boots or wellingtons when it is snowy with a warm coat and hat (all named!). They should have a change of shoes for indoors and it is useful to have a spare pair of socks – nothing worse than sitting inside with wet socks.

If the forecast is ‘heavy snow’ check the website to see if we are open! We will do our best to be. Ice is far worse as the roads, paths, playground and field become very dangerous.

 

Take care - KS