A message from the Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week there is good news to share. The week started with the lovely news of the safe arrival of Mrs Norgates baby – a healthy little boy. Lochlan Norgate weighed in at 8lb 2oz and was born on Monday, his due date. Both Mum and baby are doing well. We send our best wishes to Mrs Norgate and her husband at this very special time.

On Thursday there was more good news as our girls’ football team began their league campaign. This was the first time that The Ridge has had a team in this particular league and we are delighted that they represented our school so well, playing two games. Despite a narrow 1:0 loss in their first match against Blandford Mere Primary School, they went on to enjoy success winning 3:0 against The Glynne, with goals coming from Freya S, Poppy and Eloise! Congratulations to all the squad and thanks to Mr Lamb for training our very own ‘Lionesses’.

Kind regards

Mrs D Hudson

Headteacher

Very Important Message - Taking Up School Lunches On Census Day; Thursday 19th 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 in its budget.

One measure used 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 order a school meal that day so that we can generate the largest contribution possible from the DfE.

Every meal ordered counts so please help by placing an order. Thank you.

Uniform Swap-Shop

Our Uniform Swap Shop is almost ready to open for business – we just need some uniform!

If you have clean, tidy items of uniform which still have plenty of life in them and you would like to donate, you can now send them in to school. We are particularly interested to receive sweatshirts, cardigans, shirts, school trousers, skirts and pinafore dresses.  We will be supplementing the stock with unclaimed items from our lost property bin so please make sure you have checked lost property if your child has mislaid an item.

We will let you know as soon as we can invite you to take items from the Swap Shop. This can either be as a swap for outgrown item or for a small donation to school fund.

Attendance and Punctuality

This Weeks attendance 

Whole School - 97.00%

Reception - 97.33%

Year 1 – 96.67%

Year 2 – 98.33%

Year 3 – 98.57%

Year 4 – 94.33%

Year 5 – 98.97%

Year 6 – 95.00%

Well done Year 5!

 

You will know that we are committed to promoting regular attendance and this includes punctual attendance. As a reminder

  • Gates open at 8.40am
  • Pupils are recorded as late if they are not present in the classroom when the register is taken at 8.50am
  • Arrival after 9.20am is recorded as ‘unauthorised absence’ for the morning session, unless there is an exceptional reason for the lateness which can be authorised by the school.

Arriving on time for school is important. Arriving late is disruptive for the class and can be embarrassing for the child who is late. Children can also miss important information during registration including the plan for the day. They may also miss part of the first lesson, which in Reception and Key Stage 1, is usually phonics, which is so important for learning to read.

Last term, there were 205 occasions where pupils arrived late between 8.50 and 9.20am. 55 pupils (more than a quarter of the school) had one or more lates, and although 23 individuals were only late once, some children were frequently late.  We will continue to monitor this, and whilst we understand that occasionally circumstances conspire to make children late for school, frequent lateness will need to be addressed in line with our policy. If there is any support that we can offer you, please do get in touch.

Safeguarding - Place2Be: Parenting Smart

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 and Miss Beddoes.

Place2Be have a fantastic resource on their website with a variety of different videos and resources to practically support parents with a wide range of issues their children may face. There are 46 topics which cover a wide range of themes including praise and reward, my child always say ‘no’ , family meal battlegrounds, understanding about positive gender identity and shyness.

Visit Place2Be: Parenting Smart: Articles. https://parentingsmart.place2be.org.uk/

Special Educational Needs (SEND) Provision in Dudley - Parental Survey

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC) SEND Team is working with the Department for Education (DfE) to improve the way that they work with children and young people with a special education need/disability (SEND). The work that they have done so far shows that Dudley does not get the right outcomes for all children and young people with SEND. They really want to understand more about your experiences in mainstream education. This will help them understand areas of best practice in the SEND system and areas where they can improve, for both you and your child. The SEND Team would be grateful if you could spend 5 minutes completing this survey.

Please click on the following link to complete the survey

Dudley SEND Parent and Carer Survey

What's Happening Week Commencing 9th January 2023

Tuesday • Year 4 Whole Class Clarinet Lesson
Wednesday • Year 5 and 6 Athletics
Thursday • Choir (Key Stage 2)
• Girls football team - Fixtures and Training
Friday • Year 4 Swimming

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