WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

SANDIWAY PRIMARY
SCHOOL
Number 12

Autumn Term 2015

www.sandiway.cheshire.sch.uk

Wednesday 9th December 2015

admin@sandiway.cheshire.sch.uk

01606 883298

a
e
h
a
g
n
Looki

Monday 14th Dec

Reception and Year 6 Visit to the
Theatre
The children are looking forward to
visiting The Grange Theatre with
their buddies.

Tuesday 15th Dec

Today we served nearly 260 Christmas Lunches - cooked to

perfection, thanks to the hardworking kitchen sta. The
children looked wonderful in their Christmas hats!

Thoughts from the week

Thank you to the parents who said they
missed the newsletter last week - I dont
know where the week went - lots of stu
must have been happening!
This is such a wonderful time of the year
in a primary school - the Reception/Key
Stage 1 and Year 5/6 performances are
coming together really well - you are in for
a treat next week! Tickets requests for the
Infant Performance (Tuesday evening at
6.00pm) came out last week - please
check book bags if you have not received
this letter. Tickets will soon be given out.
We have a waiting list for additional
tickets in the school oce (first-comefirst-served) for any special requests.
Whist we do have a large hall, we are
limited to the number of tickets, due to
fire regulations (we are restricted by the
number of fire exits in the hall to ensure a
quick evacuation, if necessary).
A DVD will be made of the Infant
performance with order forms available on
the night. These orders need to be
processed very quickly to get the DVDs to

you by the last day of term. All orders

must be in by the end of Thursday 17th
December, at the latest.
The Christmas Fair was another success
of the year so far - thank you for all your
support and spending your money at the
school! We have raised an amazing
1,700 which will go towards the
replacement of our whiteboards with
large touch-screen LCDs in the near
future. In addition, the PTA are able to
fund other small projects throughout the
year.
You are invited to school for our final
assembly on Friday 18th December to
listen to the children singing
Christmas songs before the holidays
start. Please be seated ready to start
at 2.45pm.
Thank you also for the donations you
sent for the Poppy Appeal, with just over
200 being raised from the school.

Reception/KS1 Performance
All are welcome to the morning
performance (from 9.30am). Tickets
are available for the evening
performance (from 6.00pm).
Y5 Visit to Liverpool Museum
Year 5 have been studying space
and the UKs connection with the
International Space Station. Tim
Peak (Britains first astronaut to go
to the ISS) will be blasting o on his
voyage on Tuesday. Our school has
been selected to attend an event at
Liverpool Museum where the
children will watch the launch over
the Internet and take part in other
space-related activities.

Wednesday 16th Dec

Theatre Company in School to
entertain the children (funded by the
PTA)
Carol Service led by Year 5 and 6
in St Johns Church from 7.00pm

Thursday 17th Dec

Year 1 visit to Delamere Forest to
enjoy some Christmas activities.

Friday 18th Dec

Break Up for the holidays

More news...
Healthy Eating
Thank you for the positive response to the requests in the last
newsletter regarding healthier packed lunches and snacks. I
am pleased to say that I have already seen a big dierence in
what the children are bringing into school.

NSPCC and can be found by searching share aware or by

clicking here: http://tinyurl.com/os8b4ag . Please view these
videos before showing and discussing with your children, as
they may start a big conversation which you will need to be
prepared for.

However, as always, we can do better! The Christmas

Holiday is traditionally a time of extra treats for the children,
so it would be a great idea to start the new school year by
talking to the children about getting back to a healthier
lifestyle. Can you please help me to make sure lunches
continue to be balanced and that children only bring healthy
snacks to school (no chocolate, sweets, fried crisps, etc for
break times).

I will be training the school sta and governors so that we

can
support the Government in its drive
to reduce how young people can
be radicalised and be exposed to
extremist materials. Whilst you
may consider the risk for this to
be low in our part of Cheshire
(and you would be correct), there
are still areas that we need to be
vigilant and aware. Part of our
role is to protect children against
these threats.

School Attendance
I am delighted to report that
our school attendance is at its
highest point for December
for many years. The whole
school attendance is 98.2%.
Thank you for your help and
support by making sure that
children are in school when
they should be and for
supporting our policy of no
holidays in term time.
Parents Meetings/
Information Meetings
There will be another
opportunity to meet with teachers next term to discuss the
progress your children are making. Can I please remind you
that there is an open invitation to make additional
appointments with sta before then. Many parents have
already done this and have found it valuable for further
updates, especially at a time when were are working with a
new national curriculum and using new assessment methods.
In addition, in the Spring Term, we plan to hold an evening
meeting for parents, for our sta to explain each of the
national curriculum subject areas and how they progress
through the school. We will also explain how we are making
assessment judgements of the children and what this is
telling us. There will be opportunities to look at children's
books, images of work and to discuss the curriculum with the
school sta. The date for this meeting will be confirmed early
in the New Year.
We will also be holding meetings for parents to explain the
testing arrangements for the end of KS1 (Year 2) and KS2
(Year 6). There are a number of changes that have been made
by the Government this year, which will need a little
explaining. These dates will be confirmed in the New Year.
Can I also remind you about the eSafety evening we have
planned on Wednesday 13th January from 7.00pm. This will
be led by Cheshire Police and the school sta. How children
access the Internet and social media is changing rapidly and
takes a lot of energy to keep up with! With children having
their own devices, the importance of knowing what potential
diculty children can get into and how we safeguard against
this is very important.
Internet Safety
If you havent seen the Share Aware videos on the TV, I
recommend having a look. They have been produced by the

I highly recommend that you take time this holiday to review

your childrens access to the internet/social media/videos/
music on their devices. Good practice is that you use the
restrictions settings to prevent children accessing unsuitable
material. Restrictions should be set by
parents and should not accessible by
children. Remember that no system is
fool-proof. We firmly believe that an open
culture within your home is important so
that any inappropriate access can be
discussed and safeguarded against in the future.
Dates for the next term
I know that parents find it useful to forward-plan school
events. The following are the confirmed dates for next term:
Monday 4th Jan 2016
Tuesday 5th Jan
Wednesday 13th Jan
Thursday 14th Jan
Friday 12th Feb



Monday 22nd Feb
Tuesday 1st March
Wednesday 2nd March
Wednesday 9th March
Monday 14th March
Tuesday 22nd March
Wednesday 23rd March
Thursday 24th March









Tuesday 29th March
Friday 1st April
Monday 18th April

Training Day for sta

Children return to school
eSafety Evening (7pm)
Governor Day
PTA Disco (early eve)
Break Up for half term holiday
Children and sta return
Young Voices Concert (pm/eve)
Y5 to Conway Centre (2 nights)
Full Governors Meeting
Y2 to Fox Howl (1 night)
Parents Evening
Parents Evening
PTA Easter Egg Hunt
Easter Service led by Y3/4
(2.00pm)
Break up for Easter Weekend
Children and sta return
Break Up for holiday
Children and sta return to school

On behalf of the sta and

school governors, we would like
to wish you a very happy
Christmas and best wishes for
the New Year.
The children return to school on
TUESDAY 5th January 2016.