It has been a busy four days at The Ridge following on from the sombre start of the week with the Queen’s funeral on Monday.

A large group of children from Years 3 and 4 went to Asley Burf this week and had an amazing time on residential. For some it was their first night away from home without their family but they enjoyed a long walk, tried out the high ropes and enjoyed singing around a campfire; even the weather was perfect for them! They have created memories to last a lifetime! Huge thanks go to Mrs Hadley, Mrs Jarrott, Miss Wesson and Mrs Warren who gave up their own time to make sure that the children had a good time. Those children who remained at school enjoyed their week too – especially trying out archery with Mr Lamb!

On Wednesday we took some representatives from the School Council to see the wonderful work of the Black Country Food Bank. On Monday they will be leading our assembly and encouraging everyone to donate food items for our Harvest on 7^th October. We will be sharing their presentation with you but in the meantime you might like to visit the Food Bank’s website to see the types of donations that they would welcome.

https://www.blackcountryfoodbank.org.uk/

Over the next two weeks, teachers will be holding telephone consultations with parents to discuss how the children have settled into their new classes. Please make sure that you have booked your time for your call and are available to speak at the time you have selected. (Reception Parents – bookings will go live on the school website on Monday 26th September for your appointments, which will be held week commencing 3rd October)  

Finally, next Friday we will be holding a McMillan Coffee Morning to raise funds for this very important cause. Please feel free to drop in between 9.00 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. for a drink and a piece of cake. Donations (either homemade or shop bought) would be very welcome. We look forward to seeing you.

Kind regards

Mrs D Hudson

Headteacher

• Please remember that if your child arrives after the gates have closed at 8.47, they must come into school via the main door and report to the office. Children should be accompanied by an adult to sign in at the office. If they are not in the classroom when the register is taken they will be recorded as late. Please see our Attendance Policy for further information about what this means.
• Attendance and Punctuality has always been important to us at The Ridge however this has been brought into even closer focus by the Department for Education, who have recently released a new strategy to improve school attendance.

• Missing school will make your child fall behind in lessons and will impact on their academic progress and achievement. If your child takes too much time off school they are categorised as ‘persistently absent’. (Attendance below 90% = persistent absence).
• It only takes 3 ½ days absence between September and October for your child to be classes as persistently absent and 7 days in the Autumn Term from September to Christmas.
• We will be contacting you to see if there is any support that we can offer, if we are concerned that your child is at risk of becoming persistently absent.

This Weeks attendance 

Reception - 92.92%

Year 1 – 94.09%

Year 2 – 97.62%

Year 3 – 100.00%

Year 4 – 99.17%

Year 5 – 96.55%

Year 6 – 92.08%

Well done Year 3!

The photographer will be in school on Tuesday 27^th September. They will only be taking photos of children in school or Kindergarten. Where there is more than one family member in school or kindergarten the photo will be taken as a family group unless individual photos are requested. Please let the office know if this is the case. On this occasion, uniform – either summer or winter -  is parental choice, unlike the class photos in the summer where we ask for everyone to be in winter uniform.  Children in Years 2, 5 and 6 can bring their forest school clothes (years 2 and 5) or PE Kit (Year 6) to change in to after their photos have been taken.

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.

The NSPCC produce a really useful resource to help parents have important conversations with young children to help keep them safe from sexual abuse without scary words.

For more information and tips about how to talk to your child, and to Sing along with 'Pantosaurus' visit the NSPCC website...

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule

Follow us on Twitter