Hello Parents and Carers,

Firstly, I would like to wish you a happy new year. As we begin a new school term, I am excited about the chance that we all have for a fresh start. As you read this newsletter, all of our staff will be in school either tidying up after building work that happened over the break or preparing fresh curriculum materials ready for the term ahead. Here are this week’s announcements.

Curriculum Evening:
As we mentioned last term, we decided a month ago that we needed to stagger the revival of the Lyndhurst Curriculum. We have a parent session on Thursday 19^thJanuary at 6:15pm in the lower hall to talk about our current curriculum in years one and upwards (EYFS your curriculum remains unchanged). If you would like to find out more, please join us.

SEND Coffee Morning:
We’re running behind on our SEND coffee mornings so we have two this half term. The first is on Friday 20^th January and the second is on Wednesday 8^th February both are at 9am in the library. The first session will look at how the school supports your child across the curriculum.

Premises:
Over the break work has been taking place at school. Our new bike and scooter storage areas have been completed. They can now be accessed from inside the main school gate so that we do not have to leave the area unsecured at the start and end of the day. We hope that this will make the area safer for everyone. We may still open the street gate for the drop off and collection times (whilst the big gate is open if it gets too crowded). The acoustic sound baffles in the lower hall are now almost installed—they will be finished this weekend. This coincides with us working with all pupils to clarify what our expectations are during the lunch service—more on that later. Lastly, the MUGA lights are being repaired this week – after the cherry picker failed to be delivered in the holidays.  

Lunchtimes:
We had a great meeting with Harrisons at the end of last term to discuss some of the concerns that families had raised about portion size and menu choice. We will continue to work with them to monitor what is provided. Over the next few weeks, we will be ensuring that all pupils are calm and considerate when eating in the lunch hall. This includes ensuring that pupils do not walk whilst eating, talk with indoor voices and clean up spillages on the table as they happen. Please ask your child about the changes that are taking place. Can we remind you that if your child has a packed lunch, that they must still eat it with their year group in the lunch hall and that the lunch should not contain any nuts (due to allergies we have in the school), sweets including chocolate or fizzy drinks.

Homework:
Before the break we shared our updated homework guidance. We know that many of you want more homework and many want less. We have looked at what we think makes the most impact to a pupil’s attainment and used that as our guide. In year six we have increased the homework to help support pupils with their transition into secondary school. If you are having trouble accessing a device to complete any homework on or if you need additional support, please speak to your child’s class teacher.

Library:
We want to start opening the library up after school between 3:30-4:00pm so that families who wish can either complete homework or read together. We are looking for volunteers to help our school staff facilitate this. If you think that you could commit to one day per week, please get in touch.

Reports:
This year we are adapting the way we report to parents. At the end of each term you will receive a short report with the level your child’s teacher has assessed them to be at as well as the results of any standardised testing they may have taken during the beginning of the second half of the autumn term. The spring term report will follow the same format as this term but the summer term one will include some personalised comments from your teacher (although paired down from previous years). We will also be having a parent conference (parents evening) on the week beginning the 20^th March details will be sent out later this term).  

Key Dates:
Our long-awaited new website should be live in the next few weeks, it will include an online calendar that we hope will be able to sync with your own digital calendars. In the meantime, you can find some of the key dates below.

• Clubs start in the second week of the term.
• Book Week start on the 20^th February.
• World Book Day is the 2^nd March.
• Comic Relief is the 17^th March
• Parents Consultations are on the 22^nd and 23^rd March (exact dates and times tbc).

We can’t wait to welcome you back on the 4^th of January.

Have a great week everyone.