Monday 19th November 2012

Welcome to another Copthorne Blog
Last week was another busy one at Copthorne. A large number of our Year 6 pupils took the entrance assessment tests for Dixons. I know that they will all have tried their very best and we wish them every success.

Road Safety Training
At Copthorne we strive to keep our children safe and feel that it is very important to give children the skills they need to be able to make informed decisions when it comes to their own safety. Consequently we work with the Bradford Road Safety Team to provide road safety training for all our pupils when they are in Year 3. Children are taught where and how to cross roads safely and what to wear so that other road users can see them. In addition, the children are taught how important it is to be on the lookout for dangers by making sure they can see and hear clearly e.g.Taking out earphones, not listening to music and not using a mobile phone when crossing the road.
Our present Year 3 began their training last week and this continues this week on Thursday 22nd November. I hope everyone has an enjoyable and informative time.

Forest Schools

Hoof Fungus

Our weekly Forest Schools experience continues this Friday and, at present, it is 4 Poplar who are the lucky class that will be spending the day at St Ives Woods. It's great to see the range of interesting things that are found on each visit. A couple of weeks ago it was a piece of fungus called Hoof Fungus which the children found growing on the trunk of a tree. The fungus is so hard, like a horse's hoof, that it has to be almost sawn off. We wish this week's group a great visit and look forward to hearing about their discoveries.

Ladies' Evening
As promised in my previous blog the date for the Ladies Evening is confirmed as Thursday 6th December. The event will take place from 5.30pm to 8.30pm and will include: a hot meal, fashion show, dancing display, mendhi and hand massages, and a DJ - all included in the price of the ticket: £7.50 per person. In addition, there will be a professional photographer on hand to take pictures and a couple of stalls. It promises to be a great evening and I look forward to seeing as many female members of our community there as possible.
Tickets will be available to buy from the office by the end of this week - Friday23rd November.

Parents' Feedback
In last week's blog I began the process of publishing the suggestions and comments made by parents and carers during our most recent parents' consultation evening and, as explained last week, I will continue to add to these on a weekly basis:

Suggestions

• Introduce sewing and mendhi classes for teenagers. Through Exceed - our LAP extended schools provision - we provide after school and weekend activities for the young people within our community. I have passed this request to the Exceed Coordinator. If the sewing and mendhi courses for teenagers are being widely requested by our community then Exceed will do their utmost to provide these. At present, however, there have been very few requests for courses of this nature.
• More parents should get involved with school activities. We welcome parental involvement in our school as we believe that it is partnership with our parents and our community which is one of Copthorne's great strengths. One of the ways in which parental involvement can be increased is for parents/carers to accompany classes on trips and visits. By December, therefore, a letter will be sent home asking parents/carers to say whether or not they would be happy to accompany classes on trips. We will then approach those interested.
• Reintroduce Cycle Club. Teaching children how to be safe cyclists is a really important life skill and, at Copthorne, we run Bike-ability training for any Year 5 and 6 pupils who are interested. This training takes place each year in June or July and parents/carers will be informed of this in plenty of time
• Provide a creche during parents' classes. I understand how useful this would be for our parents/carers but I am afraid that we do not have the facilities and/or staff available to be able to provide creche facilities at this moment in time. However, there are two Children's Centres in our locality which often provide childcare/creche facilities: Farnham (01274 573297) and Princeville (01274 573298). Please contact these directly for more information.

Concerns

• The Year 4 doors close before 8.45 and then a child is marked as late. Registration begins at 8.45 am and it is, therefore, essential that all children are in school by this time. Doors will, therefore be closed just before 8.45 am each day but we will ensure that they stay open until 8.44 am.
• I would like more support for children with disabilities during trips.The quality of care provided for all of our pupils both in school and during trips is of an excellent standard. Thorough risk assessments are carried out for every off-site activity so as to ensure that staffing is at the correct ratio and also of the best quality to enable each child to have an enjoyable visit and successfully access the learning. Where parents have individual concerns please feel free to call int to see me so that we can discuss and address these.
• More encouragement is needed for children with speech difficulties. At Copthorne, speaking and listening activities are very important parts of each lesson and learning experience. Strategies such as talking partners are used to encourage children's speech and language development. Where a child is identified as having speech and/or language difficulty then parents are informed and the child referred to the Speech and Language Support Service by our SENCO - Mrs Bradley. We then work in partnership with this service to ensure that the child's needs are effectively met.
• People are unlikely to get a job at this school because they go to people who are known rather than on a fair basis. Copthorne's recruitment policies and procedures were audited by the local authority this September. As a result we have developed a rigorous recruitment system and are confident that only the best candidates for posts, at every level, will be short-listed and recruited regardless of connections with the school or individuals within it. However, if you do still have concerns of this nature please do not hesitate to see me at any stage.

Thanks again to everyone who made suggestions and/or voiced concerns which will help to make Copthorne even better. I will publish and respond to more of these next week.

Have another great week.

Mrs Shepherd