Dear Parents/Carers

Thank you for your understanding with the recent closure due to the snow.  I hope that is the last we have seen of the recent weather, but you never know, and the children certainly enjoyed the chance to play out in the snow on Friday.

There are a number of updates to share with you this week.

Many thanks for the responses we received at the end of last term, your feedback is very much appreciated and important as we continue our work on school improvement.  The summary data is attached to this newsletter, and we are delighted at the positive responses.  The written feedback is also valuable; there will be a further response to the points made as we action the very helpful comments. 

As previously mentioned, our first SEND Information Workshop for parents will be held on Tuesday 3 February at 2.30 pm.  We will be discussing the ways in which we approach the support for special educational needs and disabilities, and this is the first of our workshops.  We intend to repeat this workshop before Easter during an early evening timeslot for any working parents who are interested in attending.  To help us with arranging seating etc, this workshop will be a ticketed event so please advise how many seats you require through the form that has been set up on ParentMail.

Our new Phonics programme, Read, Write, Inc. begins with our first training day which is Monday 19 January.  Our second training day will be the Monday after February half-term.  This second day on Monday 23 February 2026 will allow us to complete the training for this programme, and we will update you as soon as possible with the launch date.  I am very keen to move to this programme as soon as is feasibly possible.  Parent workshops will also be held in the summer term for us to share this new approach and provide the necessary information for you to be able to support your child with their reading.  Mrs Melia, Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Early Years and Reading will be leading this programme alongside myself.

We are also moving forward with our school approach to developing Writing across the curriculum.  I am delighted that Miss Crowson is going to be leading on this area of focus as part of the extended senior leadership team.  We will update you with the developments in Writing as we move through this spring term.

I am not surprised to read some of the feedback from the parent survey in relation to our school meals.  I am very unhappy with the current standards of our meals service.  The menu choices, the quality of cookery, choice and variety and general communication are just some of our issues.  Please rest assured we are dealing with this with the company at the highest levels whilst also looking at our options moving forward.  I will keep you updated.

The RFA have a number of ideas and events for this term and will send out the exciting details to you in due course.

I am continually impressed with so many of our children and are increasing our weekly rewards which the children value so much.  This week, the children with 100% attendance for the autumn term will be recognised. 

We will be awarding Ridge Values to each class.  5 children will be chosen from each class in recognition of their efforts towards each of our RIDGE values.  R for Respect, I for Independence, D for Determination, G for Gratitude and E for Empathy.   Names will be displayed in the main hall for the term. 

My final reward is to recognise one child from each class as Pupil of the Term.  This will be awarded to a child that has consistently performed at the highest levels across all areas of school.  Names will be shared in due course.

I am all too aware that this is the biggest frustration for many parents.  We will do better and are grateful for any suggestions that help us improve the efficiency of our partnership between school and family. 

Our new website is currently under construction and will go live in a few weeks.  This will be an improved method for communication.  We also have a new MIS (Management Information System) that Dudley local authority is releasing to all maintained schools.  We will have a provision called Arbor, some of you may have older children at schools who have Arbor.  I have used it in my previous school.  It is much easier and phone-friendly via the parent app.   This should reduce many of the different platforms that you currently have to use as parents.  The intention is for Arbor to do everything from attendance, rewards, notices, meals, payments etc but this is a phased programme of delivery.  Again, more information to follow as the first phase goes live in the coming weeks.

I am delighted that we have four candidates who have applied for the opportunity to become a parent governor.  The ballot closes at noon on Friday 16^th January.

I hope you have an enjoyable week.

Kind regards

Mrs C Gilbert

Headteacher

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Mrs Gilbert is the Designated Safeguarding Lead and any concerns should be shared with her or the Deputy Safeguarding Leads – Mrs Hadley and Mrs Morley.  Where child protection concerns are raised, the school has a statutory duty to refer these concerns to children’s social care.