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Week Beginning 23/11/2020 |
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Week Beginning 09/11/2020 |
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* Payment Reminders |
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PAYMENT REMINDERS Please don’t forget to make advance payments or clear any outstanding debts via ParentPay, thank you. Parents in Years 3 – 6 whose children are moving to a school lunch from next Monday, need to make advance payments for school lunches via ParentPay to ensure school meal accounts are in credit on Monday, thank you. UPCOMING EVENTS (2 weeks) Week Beginning 09/11/2020 Week Beginning 16/11/2020 * There are no significant events scheduled for this week COVID-19 SCHOOL UPDATE and REMINDER * everyone should be vigilant and take care to follow the national, local and school rules guidance; CHILDREN IN NEED – FUNDRAISING This week is fundraising week for Children in Need. Although we are not having a Children in Need assembly this year, we would still like to raise funds for the charity as we have always done. We would therefore like to invite all children to wear ‘non-uniform’ clothes on Friday of this week. The theme is yellow/brown or spots and/or stripes but this is not essential. However, children should not wear sportswear (e.g. football team tops) or superhero costumes on this occasion. Children should bring a donation to school to participate in the wearing of non-uniform. We are suggesting a donation of at least £1, with the aim of raising at least £250 on the day. Given that people around the country will not be able to take part in the usual full range of fun activities to support Children in Need and that this may affect national fundraising, it is even more important that we make a donation this year, however small. Last year (with the sale of Children in Need items which we are not selling this year, we raised £450). Thank you for your support. Money can be donated in cash via our collection boxes on both Thursday and Friday of this week. DRIVING / PARKING ON BAZLEY ROAD We are still noticing a number of parents driving into and parking on Bazley Road, including dropping children off while parked on the yellow lines and in some cases right outside the school gate. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS and park away from the school, no matter how inconvenient it might be … even if it’s raining … even if you’re late (potentially adding fast driving to the problem). At the moment, we have parents and children waiting at various points in the cul-de-sac for their entry times into school. Any vehicles coming into Bazley Road (and making three-point turns) at busy times simply makes the environment congested, busy and less safe for everyone. Our staff feel that we are having to act like traffic wardens and police officers reminding people of this request when reminders about safety should really not be necessary. So … if it’s you that is continuing to drive and park on Bazley Road, please stop it. If it’s not you … thank you for listening to and respecting our request, and for caring about other people’s safety at what is already a difficult time (and our apologies that you have had to read this message again!).PARENTS’ EVENINGTELEPHONE APPOINTMENTSDon’t forget that you can request a telephone appointment with your child’s class teacher, in place of a face-to-face parents’ evening this term. If you would like to arrange a telephone appointment, please let us know by Wednesday 11th November at the latest, after which time the website form will be removed, thank you. Staff will be making calls to those who have requested them during this week and next week. Online Form : Report Feedback/Appointment Request VISITING THEATRE PRODUCTION : THE WIZARD OF OZ The children enjoyed the productions of the Wizard of Oz which took place over six performances across two days last week. One actor, joined by recorded actors on a very large screen, worked hard (with some special effects and very clever timing) to bring us a traditional pantomime in a different way this year. We asked for a voluntary contribution on this occasion of £2.00 and want to thank all those parents who contributed towards the cost of this event. £360 has been contributed so far. A number of parents have not yet contributed but it is not too late to do so please via PARENTPAY. The Friends of NCS (PTA) will also make a contribution to the cost of this event. Thank you for your support. FRIENDS of NCS/PTA NEWS Reminder – Annual General Meeting This is the final reminder for parents to sign up to attend the Friends of NCS Annual General Meeting which will take place via ZOOM on Tuesday 10th November at 8.00pm. If you wish to join the meeting (you do not necessarily have to contribute, just be there) please register your details using the form below; we will then send you the papers for the meeting (which you don’t necessarily have to read) and the ZOOM meeting details. Online Form : Register your interest to attend the PTA Annual General meeting. PTA Newsletter We attach the latest PTA newsletter for your information. CHRISTMAS CARDS The children have this week completed Christmas card designs which have been collected and will be sent off to MyChildsArt.co.uk. As soon as they have been processed, designs can be accessed and various items ordered online using the username and password that will be shared with you via email in the next week or two. AMAZON SMILE If you are ordering Christmas gifts via Amazon, do not forget that by using http://smile.amazon.co.uk you can generate funds (Amazon contributes 0.5% of the net value of your order) for the ‘Friends of NCS’, our PTA. To register the ‘Friends’ as your chosen charity, log on to http://smile.amazon.co.uk/ and then select Amazon Smile from the top menu and then select your charity by searching for ‘Friends of Northenden Community School’. Once you have selected the ‘Friends’ as your charity, do not forget to use smile.amazon.co.uk rather than the usual Amazon website to make your purchases. It’s easy to forget to use the SMILE website so we suggest creating a bookmark or using the AMAZON SMILE App which automatically links any purchase to your chosen charity. As of August 2020 (it’s not updated regularly), Amazon have contributed £59.36 to the Friends of NCS.
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Week Beginning 09/11/2020 |
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* Upcoming Events (2 weeks) |
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We hope that despite the awful weather and the restrictions in place, that you and your families managed to enjoy the half-term holiday. It was great to see the children back in school today as we start the second half of the autumn term and the run up to Christmas.
PAYMENT REMINDERS
We would like to remind everyone to bring your payments/any debts on PARENTPAY up to date, including payments for:
* school meals
* before-school club * after-school club * music lessons (instrumental tuition) * visiting theatre production (Wizard of Oz) UPCOMING EVENTS (2 weeks)
Week Beginning 02/11/2020
* School opens for the remainder of the autumn term
* Monday 2nd November : Reception class height, weight, vision and hearing tests
* Monday 2nd November : Deadline – Year 6 parents to submit secondary school applications by 5pm
* Tuesday 3rd November : Nasal Flu Vaccinations
* Thursday 5th November : Visiting CINEMATIC theatre (Wizard of Oz)
* Friday 6th November : Visiting CINEMATIC theatre (Wizard of Oz)
Week Beginning 09/11/2020
* Tuesday 10th November : Friends of NCS / PTA Annual General Meeting (ZOOM) at 8.00pm (see below)
COVID-19 SCHOOL UPDATE and REMINDERS As we return to school in the context of increasing COVID-19 cases and a national lockdown (other than the closure of schools) from Thursday of this week, we want to tell/remind you that: * everyone should be vigilant and take care to follow the national, local and school rules guidance; EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
At this time, we are still limited and restricted in what we can offer children in terms of extra-curricular activities. For the half-term ahead, we are offering mixed (boys and girls) football to Year 3 (Tuesdays) and Year 4 (Thursdays). These sessions start THIS WEEK and the details are available via PARENTPAY. Year 5 and Year 6 parents are asked to be aware that the extra-curricular sessions for these classes which were running before the half-term holiday have now finished. The children have been reminded about this.
HOME / REMOTE LEARNING PLAN
We have published on our website our plans for implementing home/remote learning should we have to in a number of different scenarios, including whole-class isolation (due to a positive case) or whole-school closure. You can read these plans here:
All children in Years 1 – 6 should have received (with their report) an updated set of usernames and passwords for various online learning systems, including SEESAW. Early Years children will be provided with their new usernames by the end of this week.
PARENTS’ EVENING
TELEPHONE APPOINTMENTS
Following the issue of pupils’ reports on Friday 23rd October, we are now inviting parents to provide any feedback or ask questions about the reports via an online form. This is entirely optional. The same form can be used to request a parents’ evening telephone appointment which will take place at a mutually convenient time during the next three weeks. Given that the report is intended to effectively replace parents’ evening at this time, we are asking parents to request a telephone appointment only if you require information in addition to that provided in the report or have questions to ask about specific aspects of your child’s learning or progress not covered in the report.
Early Years children were not given a written report as early years teachers have been posting work, observations and comments via TAPESTRY since the beginning of September. However, Mrs Singh and Mrs Johnston will offer a telephone appointment to parents on request. Early Years parents can use the online form to request a telephone appointment and can use the report feedback section of the form to ask any specific questions.
You can provide feedback on the report or request a telephone appointment with your child’s class teacher via the form below:
Online Form : Report Feedback/Appointment Request
Please complete the form by the end of this week, Friday 6th November, so that teachers can plan times to make phone calls. Telephone appointments should last no more than 10 minutes.
SCHOOL MEALS for Years 3 – 6
We are aiming to re-introduce hot school meals for children in Key Stage 2 from Monday 16/11/2020, that is in two weeks’ time. Before doing so, we need to know what the demand for hot meals is likely to be so that we can plan additional staggered meal times for the remainder of the school. We are wanting to avoid children eating hot meals in classrooms but know that some schools are doing this by providing hot meals in takeaway trays. This is not ideal (for various reasons) and we would rather everyone eat in the school hall if we can manage this through additional sittings. Parents of children in Years 3 – 6 will receive a separate email about this on Monday.
HARVEST – FOOD DONATIONS – “Thank you”
We would like to say a huge “thank you” to everyone who donated food to the local food bank. The response was fantastic. We have received the following thank you from Gerry Flanagan who runs the St Aidan’s Centre and the Hope Food Bank.
“Please will you pass on my thanks to all the parents and families for their amazing donation to the Hope Project Foodbank. There were over 100 full bags in total, which is an amazing effort, particularly during these difficult times. The Hope Project has continued to support a broad range of people across Wythenshawe and Northenden over these past few months. This has included; people over 70 who are self-isolating, NHS staff, refugees, families experiencing financial difficulties or a sudden fall in income, people with mental or physical disabilities and people who have been made homeless. We would not be able to do any of this with the kind donations from the families at your school. We greatly appreciate the support the school continues to give the Centre and look forward to continued collaborative working with addressing the challenges faced by the local community.
VISITING THEATRE PRODUCTION : THE WIZARD OF OZ
VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION PAYMENT REMINDER
Please do not forget to provide a voluntary contribution of £2.00 per child (via PARENTPAY) for the visiting cinematic (in addition to a live actor) theatre experience of The Wizard of Oz which will now take place across two days, Thursday and Friday of this week, so that we can socially-distance classes and bubbles across six performances rather than three. We would welcome financial contributions for this event given that our income from other sources and PTA events this year is very much-reduced (due to COVID-19), thank you.
FRIENDS of NCS/PTA NEWS
ONLINE MEETINGS and the AGM
We would like to remind you to register to attend online PTA meetings, including the PTA’s Annual General Meeting which will take place via ZOOM on Tuesday 10th November at 8.00pm.
A ZOOM link and supporting papers for the meeting will be sent to all registered participants by email before the end of this week.
AMAZON SMILE
If you are ordering Christmas gifts via Amazon, do not forget that by using http://smile.amazon.co.uk/ you can generate funds (Amazon contributes 0.5% of the net value of your order) for the ‘Friends of NCS’, our PTA. To register the ‘Friends’ as your chosen charity, log on to http://smile.amazon.co.uk/ and then select Amazon Smile from the top menu and then select your charity by searching for ‘Friends of Northenden Community School’. Once you have selected the ‘Friends’ as your charity, do not forget to use smile.amazon.co.uk rather than the usual Amazon website to make your purchases. It’s easy to forget to use the SMILE website so we suggest creating a bookmark or using the AMAZON SMILE App which automatically links any purchase to your chosen charity. So far, Amazon have contributed £59.36 to the Friends of NCS.
NASAL FLU VACCINATIONS (Reception to Year 6) Nasal Flu vaccinations that should have taken place before the half-term holiday will now take place tomorrow, Tuesday 03/11/2020. If you have not registered your child for a nasal flu vaccine but would like to do so, you will need to call the Immunisation Team on 0333 358 3397 today. The online registration form is now closed.
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