Dear Parents and Carers

The term seems to be flying by and I can't believe that we break up for half term today. I hope that you have something nice planned even if it is as simple as not having rush out to school each morning! Let's hope that the bright autumnal days that we have seen this week, continue through the holiday!

Enjoy the break.

Best wishes,

Mrs. D. Hudson
Headteacher

When we return after half term, we will revert to our standard or winter uniform.  This means all children are to wear

- White button up shirt or blouse (not polo style)

- Navy blue school tie.  We are aware reception children and some new starters have been unable to purchase a tie due to stock issues with our supplier.  We are expecting delivery within the next few weeks and will communicate this out once we have received them.

- Grey pinafore dress, skirt or school trousers

- The Ridge Primary School sweatshirt / cardigan (obtainable from the school office)

- Navy blue, white or grey socks or tights

- Flat black/navy/grey school shoes (not trainer style)

Please can we also take the opportunity to remind you that

- hair bands or clips should ideally be in school colours and should not be ornate

- nail varnish and jewellery must not be worn to school, although a watch and small pair of simple ear studs are acceptable

Again, it was lovely to welcome so many of you into school last Wednesday.  Parents from Year 3 and 4 came to visit a reading lesson as part of our Family Learning programme.  Once Miss Crowson returns to school following her surgery, we will let you know the new date for Years 5 and 6.  We are also conscious that we need to rearrange the Year 1 Family Learning session which had to be postponed because of illness.

Year 4 and 5 were privileged to be invited to see Ridgewood's performance of Into the Woods on Tuesday.  It was a wonderful show which captivated the audience.  The quality of acting, singing and dancing was inspiring and it was fantastic to see so many Ridge past pupils taking part.  Our current pupils were inspired as it gave them a vision of the opportunities open to them in the future.  Our thanks go to the students and staff at Ridgewood for sharing their talents with us in this way.

After half term we will be selling poppies and other items for the Royal British Legion.  The following are available

- Snap bands £1.50

- Wrist bands £1.00

- Other selected items 50p

- Poppies Minimum donation 50p

We only have limited supplies of each item and unfortunately, once they are gone, they are gone!

As part of our Remembrance commemorations we will be making some poppies to display.  Each child will need an empty 2 litre fizzy drink / pop bottle.  Further instructions will follow but in the meantime, please save an empty bottle for your child.

We will be paying our respects at a special Remembrance assembly and Year 6 will be attending a short Remembrance Service at Ridgewood.

It has been a busy start to the sporting campaign for us at The Ridge. Our first Tournament of the year was the Paralympic Sport of Boccia on Thursday 10^th October. A small group of us competed against other teams in this friendly competition, to gain a better understanding of how people with disabilities can still compete at the highest level. For more info on what Boccia is, please see the attached link. https://boccia.uk.com/about-boccia

On Thursday 17^th October we took part at the Dudley School Games TAG Rugby Tournament. This year the standard was so good that we took a second team! We named our teams DK and Stourbridge, respectively. DK progressed to the third place final and were victorious and well deserved bronze medal winners. We narrowly beat our neighbours Rufford 1-0 in a very close match.

On to football. We have since September been trialling for our boys football team, to which now a team has been selected. The boys fixtures with commence after half term, with the additional trip thrown in to West Bromwich Albion`s EFL tournament, at their training dome in December. Our girls’ football team are also ready to step back out on to the field of play after half term. This year our Year 6 Girls, who made up the majority of the Year 5/6 team, along with a few new members of the squad who Mr Lamb has talented spotted since returning after the Summer break, will be participating in the cluster schools girls league, as well as another trip to Halfords Lane for the WBA Girls Football Competition.

Finally, we have added a few snippets from Summer 2 Half term, where our Year 5/6 boys and Girls competed at the Dudley Schools Cricket Festival at Stourbridge Cricket Club, walking away with a respectable third place. Also achieving success was last season’s girls’ football team who won the Sandwell Academy Girls Football Competition.

We have many other competitions lined up throughout the rest of the Autumn and Spring terms including Archery, Boccia, Sports Hall Athletics and Gymnastics.

If your child has a secret talent in sport that we do not yet know about, please inform Mr Lamb as he is always looking to sing our super stars praises in our assemblies.

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 Ms Gledhill.  Where child protection concerns are raised, the school has a statutory duty to refer these concerns to children’s social care.

This Weeks attendance 

Whole School - 93.27%

Reception - 88.33%

Year 1 – 96%

Year 2 – 95.86%

Year 3 – 95.07%

Year 4 – 94.67%

Year 5 – 86.67%

Year 6 – 96.33%

Well done Year 6!

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