Introduction

So here we are in the second half of the academic year already! How and when did that happen! They say time flies when you are having fun!

You’ll be pleased to know that the second half of the year has even more exciting and memorable opportunities and experiences in store for all of your children, for you and our school community.

I hope you enjoy this latest newsletter—Mrs Shaw, Head Teacher

Please take a look at our calendar below.

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

March

01/03/2018 World Book Day

06/03/2018 Year 3 Reading Parent Workshop – 9.00am to 10.15am

09/03/2018 Year 4 Reading Parent Workshop – 9.00am to 10.15am

12/03/2018 Parent’s Evening – 2.00pm to 7.00pm

14/03/2018 Parent’s Evening – 2.00pm to 5.30pm

15/03/2018 Parent’s Evening – 2.00pm to 4.30pm

23/03/2018 Sports Relief – come dressed as a sporting hero or sports clothes for a 50p donation

26/03/2018 F2 Achievement Assembly 9.10am start, All Parents & Carers welcome Year 3 & 4 Dress Rehearsals

27/03/2018 Year 3 & 4 Achievement Assembly 9.10am start, All Parents & Carers welcome Year 3 & 4 Afternoon Show Performance – 2pm start

28/03/2018 Year 5 & 6 Achievement Assembly 9.10am start, All Parents & Carers welcome Year 3 & 4 Evening Show Performance – 6pm start

29/03/2018 Year 1 & 2 Achievement Assembly 9.10am start, All Parents & Carers welcome FS Easter Bonnet Parade- more information to follow Break up for Easter Holidays

30/03/2018 – 15/04/2018 Easter Holidays

April

16/04/2018 Children back to school

25/04/2018 – 27/04/2018 Book Fair

May

02/05/2018 May Day Disco – more information to follow

07/05/2018 Bank Holiday

09/05/2018 – 11/05/2018 Year 2 SATS WEEK

14/05/2018 – 18/05/2018 Year 6 SATS WEEK

21/05/2018 – 25/05/2018 Year 3, 4 & 5 Walesby Residentials

25/05/2018 Break up for May Half Term

26/05/2018 – 03/06/2018 May Half Term

Dates for your diary continued………..

Sports Relief Fun & Fundraising

Old Basford School will be supporting Sports Relief this year on Friday 23rd March.

We will be asking all children to come dressed as a sporting hero (or just sports clothes) for 50p each.

During the day the children will be partaking in another one of our ODW (One Day Wonders) learning about the Paralympics. On top of this we will have a 40ft long inflatable obstacle course on the field for each class to compete in a special competition; and also to experience what it must be like to have a visual impairment, working in pairs to guide one another through obstacles.

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

June

04/06/2018 Children back to school

08/06/2018 FS Sports Day – more information to follow

20/06/2018 – 22/06/2018 Year 6 Kingswood Colomendy Residential

26/06/2018 Sports Day – more information to follow

July

11/07/2018 Summer Fayre

13/07/2018 Move up Morning

16/07/2018 F2 Achievement Assembly 9.10am start, All Parents & Carers welcome Year 5 & 6 Dress Rehearsals Open Afternoon

17/07/2018 Year 3 & 4 Achievement Assembly 9.10am start, All Parents & Carers welcome Year 5 & 6 Afternoon Show Performance – 2pm start

18/07/2018 KS1 Achievement Assembly 9.10am start, All Parents & Carers welcome Year 5 & 6 Evening Show Performance – 6pm start

19/07/2018 Year 5 & 6 Achievement Assembly 9.10am start, All Parents & Carers welcome Year 6 Leavers Disco—more information to follow

20/07/2018 Reports sent home to parents

24/07/2018 Nursery Graduation – more information to follow

25/07/2018 Year 6 Leavers Assembly Children Break up for the Summer Holidays!!!

26/07/2018 Inset Day

27/07/2018 – 02/09/2018 Summer Holidays

September

03/09/2018 Inset Day

04/09/2018 Children return back to school

PROUD Achievement Assemblies

As the end of the Spring Term fast approaches you will as always be very welcome at our End of Term PROUD

Achievement Assemblies.

Not only will many of the children be presented with their Bronze, Silver and potentially a few Gold achievement certificates, but will also be showcasing some of the

exciting things they have done this term.

We hope you can join us.

Thank You Mr Martyn

As you will all be very aware spring has sprung rather late this year and the weather has been challenging to say the least! I would like to say how incredibly grateful I am to have such a dedicated site manager. Mr Martyn has worked tirelessly on the extremely cold days to grit the entire site morning and night on top of his normal workload. Thank you to those parents who have already passed on a kind/appreciative word – it goes a long long way.

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

If Your Child Is Off School

If your child is ever off school please ring/text the school office before 9am. If a child is not in school by 9:30am we have a duty of care to ensure that all children are safe. You may have seen the very sad and tragic reports recently in the news,

this has meant now all schools must ring and speak to an adult if a child is not accounted for.

The government has now stated we must have at least 3 up to date contact numbers and if none of these are answered we could make a home visit.

Please do ensure we have your correct and current details. Sadly school staff are spending too much time every day chasing children who are genuinely

absent but the school has not been notified.

Lolly Pop Lady in a Million

Thank you to Maggie our school Lolly Pop Lady for working above and beyond the hours she is contracted to every day to ensure the children cross our main road safely. She does so with a smile, giggle and upbeat manner no matter the weather.

Parking Outside School—Stay Safe!

We have been receiving a number of complaints from local residents and passing drivers about a number of our parents parking and driving dangerously as they approach school. Please do not park or drop off on the yellow lines outside of school. The main road is always busy and the very last thing anyone would want is for someone to get hurt.

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

Tea and Toast Mornings

We love our Old Basford Community and want to allow more opportunities for us to grow together developing friendships between parents and the school. If you are free to join us on Wednesday

21st March we’d love to see you there!

Biscuits and Bingo—Grandparents Afternoon

Mrs Shaw is very excited about this new afternoon on Monday 16th April and can’t wait to meet our communities’ grandparents to share a cup of tea,

a biscuit and a game or two of bingo!

SAVE THE DATE AND SPREAD THE WORD!

Need to speak to a member of staff?

If you ever wish to speak to a member of staff about anything at all please contact school as soon as possible – we will always do our utmost to help in any situation.

We do ask that you please follow the arrows below in order to allow us as a school to help you as quickly as possible.

Extra Curricula Clubs – OBS – Opportunities Bring Success

I see it as our job, as a school to unearth a hidden talent in every child!

Each opportunity given and taken allows us to discover another star! With an average of 28+ free extra curricula clubs a week I am so incredibly PROUD and grateful to all the staff who give up their time at lunch and after school in order to allow our children every opportunity we can to enrich their education.

Every club continues to be oversubscribed and has a waiting list!

Please check the clubs blackboard at the front of school which will be updated every Monday with which clubs are on and their finishing times.

CLUBS FOR THE REST OF SPRING TERM &/OR COMING UP FOR SUMMER TERM

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

See your child’s class/year group

teacher.

See your child’s Assistant Head of

School

See Mrs Duffin (Deputy) or Mrs

Shaw (Head)

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

KS1 Art

KS1 Choir

KS2 Chess

Y5/6 Elite Gymnastics

Y1/2 Elite Gymnastics

Y3 Football (coming soon)

KS2 Cooking (coming soon)

KS2 Drumming (coming back

soon)

Y5/6 Street Dance (new

group of 25 children)

Y6 Tag Rugby

Y5/6 Area Band

KS2 Parent and Child Philosophy club (coming

soon)

Y6 Maths Breakfast club

Y5/6 Basketball

Y4 Football

Y6 Crochet

KS2 Choir

KS2 Art

Y5 Recorders

KS1 History

Y5/6 Fitness

KS1 Cooking

KS2 Book Club

Y4 Tag Rugby

Y4/5/6 Girls Football

Y2-Y6 Eco Outdoor Learning Club

Y5/6 Sewing Club

Y4-6 Computing Club KS2 Lego

Y6 Extra Maths

Y3/4 Basketball

KS2 Mathletes

Y5/6 Guitars

Y4/5/6 Table Tennis

Y5/6 Netball

1 3 2

Punctuality ‘Cross the line before 10 to 9!’

Punctuality continues to be very good for the vast majority of families! A genuine and personal WELL DONE and THANK YOU from myself and all of the OBS staff to those of you who every day make sure their children are on the playground BEFORE the whistle blows. It allows registers to be done quickly, learning to start on time, teaching assistants to work with specific children, the office team to be productive and for classes/the rest of the children not to have to stop learning to repeat what has already been said when someone comes in late.

Congratulations to Goutham (y2) Rowan (y6) who won the Spring 1 Half Term £25 family voucher

after being pulled out of our prize draw for 100% punctuality so far in 2018!

A Plea For Help/Awareness – Smoking & Dogs On Site.

Can I please thank the many, many parents who have been incredibly thoughtful after my last plea about smoking just outside the school grounds in January’s newsletter. As you know the school is a non-smoking site and I thank everyone for always respecting this. If I can politely remind adults that if they do smoke, to kindly stand to the side of the school,

near the wall by the main road, so as not to allow smoke to gather collectively as children go to come up the school path. Your understanding on this continues to be greatly appreciated. Can I take this opportunity to also remind all parents and carers that no dogs can be brought on to the school site. THANK YOU!

Once The Whistle Goes—Reminder

It would be incredibly helpful if I could again ask parents not to gather and wait around the green school entrance gate when the whistle has gone, but to wave and say goodbye on the playground and then make your way down the school path. It is still quite congested by the green gate and for those children quickly trying to run

up the path can be both daunting and frightening to make their way through so many adults. I THANK YOU AGAIN IN ADVANCE OF YOUR RESPONSE AND APPRECIATION OF THIS PLEA.

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

Friends of Basford (PTA)

The FOBS Valentines Disco was hugely popular, each child that attended had a night to remember dancing away and letting their hair down with their friends.

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU yet again to Mr Allen for giving up his time and equipment for free in order that all the money raised can go towards enriching the experiences we give your children in both trips and residentials; it helps to reduce the cost to all parents. THANK YOU also to all of the FOBS parents and members of staff who were at school supporting and running the event.

Residentials

Not long now until the summer term and our FANTASTIC year group residentials in years 2-6! Dates will be coming out shortly for the parent information evenings on each of the 5 trips, be sure to keep your eyes peeled and jot the dates down in your diary.

Bring Your Home/School Diary Every Day

Thank you to vast majority of parents who help to ensure their child has their diary with them every day. Staff use them every day to record when your child is heard read, to pass on notices, record spellings, highlight important dates etc. Please make sure your child arrives with it in their bag.

Spring 1 Holiday Competition—Olympic Rings

Congratulations to Mrs Widdowson and Miss Tarlowski’s team, who finished in joint first place with 50/50 reads over the half term break. Each child in both teams received a brand new book of their choice.

Class Reading Competition

Congratulations to Miss Longmate and Class 9 who were the Winners of the x3 Reads Per Week Class Challenge for Spring 1! For their prize they choose a cinema afternoon complete with popcorn and pick and mix.

Reading Bingo and Top 50 OBS Books

If I could just take the opportunity to remind you that in your child’s diary are 2 challenges that are reading related. The first is Reading Bingo, can you help your child complete a line or a full house this half term – MAKING READING FUN!

Also the OBS top 50 books are stuck in your child’s diary; these are classics that you can thoroughly enjoy again and again together. We currently have 4 children in school who have read all 50 books! By the time your child reaches Year 6 can they have read them all?

Reading

Reading is the school’s number 1 priority focus this academic year. Reading is the most fundamental and basic of skills needed in our society; we vow to make every effort to allow all children to be coherent and confident readers who get pleasure from reading before they leave us for secondary school. Thank

you once again to the vast majority of our parents who do hear their child read regularly at home and spend time discussing and enjoying books together, WELL DONE as you are JUST WONDERFUL! Thank you also to everyone who has been able to attend the reading comprehension parent/pupil workshops this half term – your support, as always, is invaluable!

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

The School Website

Teachers and all staff have updated their year group website pages to include all things new for Spring Term 2018 and collected some of the most magical moments of the Academic year so far for you to look at. The staff work incredibly hard to keep their school website pages up to date and relevant so please do find a moment or two to look on to your child’s year group page for the latest information.

Attendance

Attendance for the first half of the year was 96.4% which is classed by Ofsted and the DFE as good (but only just, by 0.4%). On the flip side there are 109 children who still have 100% attendance – FANTASTIC – let’s see just how many of you can manage to keep this up throughout the school year!

In your child’s home school diary you now should have 3 attendance stickers, one for each half term, stating their ongoing individual percentage attendance for the academic year. I hope this continues to be useful.

Holidays in Term Time / Fines

The Governing Body and School Leadership Team continue to be very concerned by the number of children still taking term time holidays. Especially those going away in the weeks before SATs exams! When looking through records some children/families year on year are being taken out of school during term time which is prompting considerable weighting towards beginning fining for holidays at Old Basford School in the very near future. We are currently the

ONLY school locally who do not fine for holidays taken in term time, BUT due to the number of requests for absence that continue to be handed in, this is something that is becoming increasingly more likely.

Please only use our school website for all school holiday dates for 17/18, 18/19 and 19/20 which we have published. As you know we have a 2 week half term in October, this is different to the vast majority of the country, and therefore holidays at this point in the year are significantly cheaper.

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

How to stay above 96% attendance - There are 190 school days for children to attend each academic year, therefore to be at or above 96% means that your child has to have attended school for 182 days – meaning any more than 8 school days absence will result in them having an overall end of year attendance below the agreed school and government expectation.

On-going attendance information - The government requires us to closely monitor attendance and specifically states that any child whose attendance is below 90% is classed as a persistent absentee. Our attendance officers in these cases will then liaise closely with each family on a weekly basis. Any child who, without exceptional circumstance, has an attendance of 85% or below has to be referred to the Education Welfare Service which can result in legal action.

Marvellous Me

We now have 100% of our parents using this initiative! As a school we have now sent over 32,000 positive messages to parents about your children! Thank you for all the Hi 5’s you in turn send back – the children can see the high 5 counter in the corner of the screen increase every time a parent sends one!

You said we listened

As a school we are always interested to hear and listen to how you think we could improve the experiences and education of the community and children we serve. Please, if you have any ideas or suggestions look on our website page ‘you said, we listened’ and add a comment, or we have a suggestion box in both reception and our school hall.

Senior Leadership Team Reminders

Our Senior Leadership team consists of myself Mrs Shaw Head Teacher, our Deputy Head Teacher Mrs Duffin and our four Assistant Head and Head of Phases Miss Priddle (Nursery &

Classes 1 & 2), Mrs Thomas (Classes 3, 4, 5, 6), Mrs Tee (Classes 7, 8, 9, 10) and Miss Eccelston (Classes 11,12,13,14)

Safeguarding Team Reminders

At Old Basford School we have a team of 5 people; Mrs Duffin, Mrs Davies, Mrs Spilsbury, Mrs Thomas and Miss Priddle who all have the role of Designated Safeguarding Leaders.

As a team they work together to ensure all children at Old Basford School are safe and well both in school and at home. If there are any incidents where this might not be the case, a member of the Safeguarding team becomes involved and the school Safeguarding policy and procedures come into play.

As a parent you can help ensure all children at Old Basford School are safe. If you ever have a Safeguarding concern about a child, please speak immediately to one of the Safeguarding team who will treat your concerns in the strictest confidence but deal with it in the appropriate way. You can also refer children directly to Nottingham Children Services.

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

March 2018

OLD BASFORD SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Safeguarding

At Old Basford we are firmly committed to keeping our children safe from harm. We have increased the capacity of our safeguarding and child protection team this academic year; members of staff responsible are Mrs Duffin (lead), Mrs Davies (lead), Miss Priddle, Mrs Thomas, and Mrs Spilsbury. We believe that safeguarding children is everyone’s

responsibility if you have any concerns please share these with one of our team.

Just some of the Special Memories and Moments from Spring 1 2018

Mrs Shaw