A message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers,
The end of the summer term has arrived and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support over the past year. This year has been another successful year, reflecting the hard work of pupils, staff, governors and parents. We have marked our pupils’ numerous achievements in many, many areas both academic and also in the equally important areas of sport, music, art and personal development.
There have been lots of highlights but three that spring to mind are the wonderful impact of the new CUSP curriculum on the children’s learning, our team’s success in the Black Country Rugby tournament and the fabulous performance of ‘What A Knight’. All the children have worked hard to do well in their statutory assessments and in particular our Year 6 children should be very proud of their fantastic SATs results. To end the year on another high, yesterday we were informed that the school had been awarded School Games Mark (Gold). The School Games Mark is a government led awards scheme launched to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community and to achieve gold is a wonderful accolade. Thank you to Mr Lamb for leading all the hard work to develop this aspect of our school.
As always, the staff and governors have worked tirelessly for our school, and although not everything worked out as we planned this year, everyone has pulled together to keep the children at the centre of all we do: it is a privilege to work with such a talented and hard-working team. I know that you recognise the hard work of the staff, and on behalf of everyone, I want to thank you for your kind words, cards and gifts
Today we are saying “Goodbye” to our Year 6 pupils. It has been a pleasure to be part of their lives and we wish them all, every happiness in the future; we look forward to hearing of their achievements in the years to come. We hope that you all have a restful summer and are able to spend some time with those who are important to you. We look forward to welcoming you back in the Autumn, as we continue to work together for a bright future for all our children.
Have a great Summer.
Kind regards
Mrs D Hudson
Headteacher
A Reminder......
Term starts for the children at 8.50 a.m. on 5th September.
Please can we ask that if you are considering having your child’s ears pierced, you arrange for this to be done at the start of the holiday so that the earrings can be removed for P.E. when your child returns to school in September. Thank you for your support in this matter.
Staffing Update
Thank you for your ongoing support this year, where in some year groups, staffing has not remained as consistent as we had hoped. As we look to the new year, we are delighted to welcome Mrs Rouse back from her maternity leave. From September we have permanent staffing in place with the exception of Miss Howarth who is covering the remainder of Mrs Norgate’s maternity leave.
Class Arrangements for September are as follows:
| Kindergarten | Mrs Gledhill |
| TAs - Mrs Banks, Mrs Collins, Mrs Dakin | |
| Reception | Mrs Melia |
| TA - Mrs Hyde | |
| Year 1 | Mrs Masters (Mon - Thur) and Mrs Hemus (Fri) |
| TA - Mrs Warren | |
| Year 2 | Miss Beddoes (Mon/Tue) and Mrs Rouse (Wed - Fri) |
| TA - Mrs Plant | |
| Year 3 | Miss Howarth (Covering the maternity leave of Mrs Norgate) |
| Year 4 | Mrs Jarrott |
| Years 3 and 4 TA - Miss Thompson | |
| Year 5 | Miss Wesson |
| Year 6 | Miss Crowson |
| Years 5 and 6 TA - Mrs Evans |
In addition Miss Phillips-Roden and Miss Clewloe will be supporting the learning of individual pupils and groups.
We have recently said ‘goodbye’ to some of our support staff. Mrs Mcklennon one of our cleaners has left prior to the birth of her baby in August and has decided not to return to work. Mrs Simpson, one of our lunchtime staff has also taken the decision not to return to her role after a period of ill health, from which she is now recovering. We thank them both for their contributions to our school and wish them well in the future.
SENCo – Mrs Norgate continues her maternity leave but Mrs Hunt, who came out of retirement to help us out, is finishing in her role of acting SENCo at the end of term. We are very grateful to her for the impact that she has had in the two terms that she has been with us, supporting staff with training and introducing new ways of working to support pupils with Special Needs. We wish her well.
We are delighted to welcome Mrs Louisa McGivney, to The Ridge as our SENCo next term. Mrs McGivney brings a wealth of experience to the role, being a Specialist Teacher and consultant in autism and complex communication. She will be in school each Friday and has already had an extensive handover from Mrs Hunt. We will arrange for parents of children who are already working with the SENCO to meet Mrs McGivney early in the new term.
Baby News
Congratulations to Mrs Zulfiqar and her husband on the birth of their baby girl. Hadia Shujaat arrived on Wednesday weighing in at 7lb 2 oz. Mother and baby are doing well!
OSCAR Club News
OSCAR is our breakfast and afterschool wrap around provision (Out of School Care At Ridge)
From September, we will be opening a quarter of an hour earlier at 7.45 am, which we hope will benefit parents who need a slightly earlier session in order to get to work.
We have also reviewed our prices, having benchmarked our charges with other local providers. Having not increased the session costs since before COVID and having seen a 20% rise in staffing costs along with inflationary increases in other supplies, we have no option to pass these increases on to ensure that the club remains self-sustaining.
From September the cost will be
Breakfast Session - £5.00
After School Session
- First Hour to 4.20 p.m. - £6.00
- Full session to 6.00 p.m. - £9.00
Summer Fundraising
Thank you for all your support with our summer fund raising. Thanks to your generosity, an amazing total of £2484.56 was raised through the summer fayre, raffles, discos and performances. All of this will go to enhancing our children’s experiences at school and in particular go to redeveloping the bungalow garden area. Thank you so much!
Balls to Cancer
We were disappointed that the weather played havoc with our Shorts and Shades picnic. Despite this we were delighted to raise £317.37 for ‘Balls to Cancer’. Thank you for your generous support for this very worthy cause.
Attendance and Punctuality
This Weeks attendance
Whole School - 94.56%
Reception - 88.28%
Year 1 – 99.67%
Year 2 – 92.00%
Year 3 – 96.79%
Year 4 – 93.98%
Year 5 – 96.00%
Year 6 – 95.17%
Well done Year 1!
This Terms attendance
Whole School - 94.35%
Reception - 90.27%
Year 1 – 92.04%
Year 2 – 94.22%
Year 3 – 96.14%
Year 4 – 94.51%
Year 5 – 96.26%
Year 6 – 97.08%
Well done Year 6!
This Years attendance
Whole School - 95.44%
Reception - 93.81%
Year 1 – 94.23%
Year 2 – 95.44%
Year 3 – 96.25%
Year 4 – 95.48%
Year 5 – 96.12%
Year 6 – 96.73%
Well done Year 6!
Safeguarding - Summer Holiday Contact Information
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. Where child protection concerns are raised, the school has a statutory duty to refer these concerns to children’s social care.
https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/care-and-health/safeguarding/
If you are concerned about a child or young person over the summer break, please call the Dudley Children’s Services on the telephone numbers below.
- During office hours Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, call children's services on 0300 555 0050.Select option 3
- Out of office hours, contact the Emergency Duty Team on 0300 555 8574
- In an emergency call 999
When you contact them, you will speak to a professional who will listen to your concerns. They may take a few details and might need to contact you again, but your concern will be dealt with quickly and appropriately. You do not need to provide your name or give contact details if you do not wish to do so. Anonymous calls will not be ignored.
Alternatively, contact the NSPCC on 0800 800 5000
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