Dear parent,

Just a short letter to remind you that Parents Evening will be held next Monday from 4pm until 6pm. This is an opportunity to meet your child's teacher and see how they have settled into their new class and the new school year. These meetings are about sharing any information that will help your child with their learning. As these meetings are not private please consider making an appointment if you want to discuss more confidential matters.

Next week we will be welcoming visitors from our partner schools in Europe. This is a new project and children will have opportunity to share their work with other children in schools across Europe over the next two years.

On Tuesday 20th of October we will be celebrating our Harvest service in school. This year we have decided that rather than accepting foodstuffs we will accept donations towards purchase of a "Shelterbox". This is a charity that we will continue to support throughout the year and more details will be available later.

Due to a decrease in the number of children using the Fruit Tuckshop we have decided that we will need to stop it at half term. We will start again in the Spring as the demand always seems stronger in the fine weather.

Over the next week you will receive a couple of letters from school requiring information for the Local Authority regarding National Identity and ethnic background and also an Agreement to be signed between parents and school. This agreement has become a requirement for all children rather than a recommendation. We don't feel that there is anything controversial in the agreement but should you wish to discuss it please do not hesitate to contact us. If you are comfortable with the agreement please sign a copy and return it to school.

I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the current arrangements for Music tuition here at school. The school continues to offer all children in Year 4 and above the opportunity to learn an instrument through an agreement with the Local Education Authority at a cost of £5593. Parents contribute £75 per year with the short fall of £3,343 beign met by the school budget, which is very similar to previous years. This year the Local Authority needed to levy an additional cost of £1,316 for the school to be involved in County Orchestra and performance. As only four of the children taking music lessons in school attended orchestra last year, we decided that it was not prudent to enter this agreement. I have every confidence in this decision which is to ensure that the limited resources available to school are used to the best interest of all our children. The situation as described in the local paper is regarding a pupil who does not take music lessons in school and is an arrangement between a private tutor and County Orchestra.

We have been advised that Swimming sessions for school children are more effective on a whol term basis rather than our current half term arrangement. Therefore Mrs Davies Class will continue with swimming until Christmas; Mrs Raw-Rees Class will swim during the Spring term and Mr Leggett's class will swim during the Summer term.

We are pleased to let you know that the school won a prize for its recycling of the Yellow Pages last Spring and we received a cheque for £100. Miss Evans is putting this towards a new litter bin as part of the revamp of the playground. Thank you for your hard work.

Well done to all the children who competed in the Cross Country last Friday. Everyone did very well but the Year 6 boys' and Year 4 boys' teams were outstanding.

The school continues to work hard to improve the Health and Welfare of all our community and has recently been awarded Phase 3 of the Healthy School standard. Well done to all children, staff and parents involved.

Teachers have also asked me to remind parents of arrangements for mornings. If children are in before 8:45am they should be in breakfast club, this allows staff privacy to prepare their classrooms or hold meetings. We also request that if you child arrives after the bell at 8:55am they should enter the class quickly and quietly so that the reading sessions can begin promptly at 9am. We would also ask parents to ensure that they don't disturb lessons after 9am. We are very keen that we maintain the close contact and discussion that we share in the mornings but are sure you will recognise the need to start the day prepared, and on time. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

The PTA have asked me to clarify their arrangements for the supply of School Uniform. They have agreed that the School Uniform Shop in Pier Street can supply school uniform and other items with the school logo. However, they have now decided that they will continue to supply uniform directly through the school also. Uniform will be available for sale from the "Uniform Cupboard" by the staffroom entrance every Monday morning and Friday afternoon. Arrangements for ordering with an order form and sending it in to school also continue.

I believe that this is probably one of the longest letters I have sent home and I am sure there will still be things I haven't made clear! However, please always remember that if there is anything you are unsure about, please ask your child's class teacher or contact me directly.

Yours sincerely,
Tom Fanning