Changing weather  

All children need a water bottle and hat at school as the weather starts to change. In addition to this, please can you help by making sure any hay fever sufferers have taken medication before coming to school. This helps keep these children comfortable during the day.  Please make sure sun cream is applied before coming to school each day.

Staffing  

Mrs McGuinness has worked really hard all year to achieve her teaching apprenticeship and she will get her results at the end of July. She enjoyed starting the year with the Rashford children and finishing her apprenticeship in Parks' class. Mrs McGuinness has given 6 years of her life to us at Stanley. She started out as our school administrator and then, having been inspired by our talented staff and amazing children, took on the role of apprentice teacher. The time has come for her to move on and secure a teaching position, so she will be leaving us at the end of this academic year. We know that she will be an amazing teacher and has so many skills to offer a school she will be snapped up. We will celebrate Mrs McGuinness' time in true Stanley style later in the term.  

Amiee will also be leaving us at the end of the year as her contract is due to end. Amiee has enjoyed being part of our family this year and has enjoyed the roles she has taken on at breakfast club and the office. Due to the decrease in reception children nationally and the increase in staffing costs, it is not viable. Breakfast club and office work will be taken up by existing staff within school to keep the costs down. We wish Amiee the very best in what she decides to do next. We will be celebrating her time with us towards the end of the term.  

Father Julius will also be leaving us this year. Father J was only ever on loan from Kirk Hallam as we do not have any clergy in place in St Andrew’s. Father J has been exactly what we have needed within school to help us support the spiritual needs of our children and staff. He has brought alive worship within the church and has given us a real flavour of how worship is personal, but can also bring people together. Father Julius is also one of our governors and again gives us the real sense of why being a church school is important and how, as leaders, the decisions we make are made within a Christian framework. We are very grateful for the time that he has dedicated to our school, children and staff. His presence has made each one of us feel special. I know that our children will miss his Monday worship, hearing his beautiful voice and his sharing of the bible with us. Again, we will have a collective worship for father J later in the term.  

Bishops visit  

Bishop Libby and Bishop Malcolm came to visit our after-school provision. It was brilliant to see Belle, Caden, Daisy and Casey take complete control of the meeting. The four were confident doing a tour of school and spending time with them to discuss our school values. The Bishops and their team were very impressed with the children’s knowledge of our school and why the values are important for staff and children in order to live our lives. Bishop Libby took the opportunity to pray in the space where our year 6 were sitting their SATs, which I know the heads and deputies felt was a privilege. We continue to work closely with the Diocese in providing training space and our expertise of being a small church school.

Mrs Gresswell continues to lead worship and RE within school, planning a range of events to make sure that we continue to focus on giving our children a good view of world religions. Mrs Gresswell has the privilege of working with NATRE, which is a team of professionals who make changes and create resources for RE teaching for both Primary and Secondary professionals across the country. We look forward to trialling resources and gaining feedback from Mrs Gresswell over the next few years.  

Wrap around care  

The DFE expects all schools to offer wrap-around care from 8am – 6pm, which is affordable and allows parents and grandparents to go to join the workforce. We reviewed our charges for the first time in over 9 years last term, giving all parents over 6 weeks' notice of the increase. Please note that our breakfast club opens at 7:30 am, which is 30 mins before the DFE statutory requirement to enable parents and grandparents to work flexible hours. We continue to monitor the use of our wrap-around care and, in conjunction with the governors, we have introduced some additional benefits for those who use it.  

A sibling discount: the first child will be charged £6 and the second child will be charged £4.  

The early bird drop off starts at 8:30am each morning for £1. 

A late bird pick up: children can be collected at 3:30 instead of 3:15. This will allow those who may need that extra time to collect without paying for the hour.  

Please don’t forget if you use childcare vouchers, you gain 20% off your childcare.  

All booking for after-school club need to be done before 1pm. Any booking after 1pm will incur a late booking fee of £2 this has been introduced due to the high number of parents phoning up at 3pm to book children in.   

There is no need to book children into breakfast club.  

Payments  

All payments for clubs, wrap around care and school dinners must be paid in full. If you are struggling with payments, please contact Hayley in the office, who will help you set up a payment plan and also signpost you to apply for support.  

Responding to Parent questionnaire feedback  

Homework  

We have reviewed our homework set, and many have given great feedback on handing it in towards the end of each term. We still have some parents who are struggling to support this part of their children’s learning. This term we are asking that you complete reading 4 times a week with your child. They will receive their raffle ticket and a small prize.  

Spellings or phonics will continue as normal for any parents who are struggling with the spelling frame online. A paper copy will be sent, if requested. 

TT rock stars will continue, and children will be awarded based certificates and be able to take part in local competitions.  

We hope this review helps to support those parents who are finding homework a battle or, indeed, for those who do not have time.  

Charity contributions 

As a school this year, we have given to the following charities this year: 

Autumn  

Harvest gifts donated to the local feed bank.  

Remembrance Day Poppy items are sold to children or adults. 

Children in Need donation for cake sale non-uniform colouring competition  

Christingle donation of pennies. 

Spring  

Skipathon donation in aid of Alana local sibling within our community. 

Red Nose Day donation  

Summer  

Raffle items for our summer fair. 

Festival change £3 for stalls.

These charities have been chosen as we feel they help children to show compassion, kindness and to think about others.

As a school, we only ever ask for a donation or gesture and would never want any family to feel pressurised to take part. 

Earrings and uniform  

The school has a uniform policy to meet the guidance set out by the DFE. We have actively encouraged parents not to buy designer items nor do we insist on wearing logo items. This is to help keep the cost down when purchasing. We also recycle items to make sure that every child in school has quality items which they are able to wear during the week. Uniform helps children get ready for their secondary school and gives them a sense of belonging. Non-uniform days, including discos, are planned throughout the school year so that children can express themselves and enjoy wearing other items of clothing.  

Earrings are not part of our school uniform and are difficult to manage within school due to the health and safety implications.  We ask that children have their ears pierced at the end of the academic year so that earrings can be removed ready for school in September.  

Stanley’s Got Talent  

Rosie took the plunge as creative curriculum leader to host the Christmas version of Stanley’s got talent as a rehearsal for the event. Rosie has decided that she would like to run Stanley’s got talent, and she is happy to open it up to parents and grandparents. This event is always very difficult to time as the afternoon can quickly get eaten up with children enjoying the atmosphere. To plan the event if your child wants to take part, it would help Rosie if she was given an idea of the time it would take, as auditions do not give us an accurate time due to nerves and sorting music. This event will take place on Thursday 11th July at 1pm. If the weather is poor, we will have to have this event inside and may not be able to open it up to an audience. If this is the case, all acts will be recorded and put onto the school website for parents and grandparents to view.  

Summer fair  

The summer fair will be on 12th July from 3:15-5pm. This year we will hold the fair at the village hall to help ease the traffic congestion. We intend to take the whole school up to the village hall at 2pm where we will have a school event on for the hour.  This will give all the year 6 children the chance to set up their stalls ready for the fair. All children can be collected from the village hall at the end of the school day. Any children who have been booked into ASC on that day will remain at the village hall with staff until they are collected. 

Stanley festival 

Stanley school festival, as many of you will know, was always Mrs McGuinness' input through her husband's business ‘Furthest from the sea’. For the final time, we are going full circle and ending on a Pirate theme as requested by the children. The date for the festival will be 19th July. The children will be able to come to school dressed up as pirates or in non-uniformed for the day. As usual, school will cover the cost. We just ask that you send your child in with some change, a maximum of £3 which they can use for activities.