Dear Parents and Carers,

The Christmas holidays are almost upon us and we want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support this year. The weeks before Christmas are always a wonderful time in school and this year is no exception! With performances, parties and a visitor from Lapland, everyone is well and truly ready for the big day itself.

On behalf of all of the staff, we want to thank you for all your cards, gifts and good wishes. In return, we wish you all a happy Christmas and a peaceful new year.

We look forward to seeing everyone back for the new term on Wednesday 4^th January. 

Kind regards

Mrs D Hudson

Headteacher

As already mentioned,  when we come back after Christmas, there will be some adjustments to the classes that our TAs work with. The new arrangements provide greater flexibility for support for individuals and groups and address the financial constraints that we now find ourselves in. From January the following TAs will be based with each class..

We send our best wishes to Mrs Burley as she leaves Kindergarten today. We thank her for all that she has done over the four years she has worked at The Ridge and wish her well for the future. We hope that she will keep in touch and maybe even be seen in Kindergarten when we need some cover for staff absences!

As a result of your generosity at the Christmas Fayre, buying Grand Raffle tickets, Breakfast with Santa and the raffles at our Christmas Performances an amazing total of £2540 has been raised which will all go to enhance the facilities for our children and in particular, develop the outdoor learning environment to support well-being. We are really grateful to each and every one of you who has contributed. Thank you.

In these challenging financial times, schools like lots of other public sector services,  are feeling the pinch. Please consider the following ways of boosting our budget without it costing you a penny.

Pupil Premium Funding

Our school gets extra money for each child who comes from a lower income household. This is called the Pupil Premium and available for children who are entitled to free school meals. It is worth an extra £ 1385 per child and is not only paid in the year that it is awarded but every year for the following five years even if the family are no longer on a low income!

If your child is in Reception of Key Stage 1 they will already get free meals from the scheme which gives free school meals to all children but for school to get the Pupil Premium funding, free school meals there must be an application from eligible families.  

To be eligible ……..

Please speak to Mrs Davenport in confidence if this applies to you and she will tell you how to apply. Eligible children may also receive other benefits such as reduction on the contributions to residential visits and access to other schemes which give for example, shopping vouchers.

Taking Up School Lunches On Census Day – Thursday 19^th January

Each term we have a school census and the numbers we return to the Department for Education determine how much money our school receives. One measure is the number of children in Reception and Key Stage 1 who take up their entitlement to free school meals from the scheme that provides them to everyone, on the day of the census. Our next census is on Thursday 19th January and we would welcome your support as we aim for every child in Reception and Key Stage 1 to have a school meal that day so that we can generate the largest contribution possible from the DfE. We will remind you nearer the time. Thank you.

As you will no doubt be aware there is a big national push to improve school attendance. Thank you for your on-going support.

Whole school attendance during the Autumn Term has been 95.18%

This week we have been hot by a lot of illness: our whole school attendance is 90.77%

This Weeks attendance 

Reception - 95.33%

Year 1 – 92.00%

Year 2 – 84.33%

Year 3 – 95.36%

Year 4 – 94.00%

Year 5 – 87.59%

Year 6 – 87.00%

Well done Reception and Year 3!

• School closes for Christmas at 2.00 p.m. on Friday 16^th December
• There is an Inset Day on 3^rd January 2023. The Spring Term starts for the children on Wednesday 4^th

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Mrs Hudson is the Designated Safeguarding Lead and any concerns should be shared with her or the Deputy Safeguarding Leads – Mrs Hadley, Miss Beddoes and Mrs Burley.

You will have noticed that we have been without a crossing patrol on High Park Avenue for some time. Obviously this is a concern as the road is extremely busy and we have had reports of some ‘near misses’. Dudley Council tell us that they have been trying to recruit to the vacant post but have had little response. Please share the advert below with your family, friends and neighbours so that hopefully we can find a replacement for this vital role.

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