Our annual Music Showcase Concert will be on Wednesday 26th June at 6.00pm in the school hall.

The concert is open to all pupils who have instrumental lessons in and outside of school, from Year 2 upwards. It’s free to attend and is always a lovely opportunity to perform to a friendly and supportive audience.

To confirm your child’s participation and provide details of the music they will be performing (only one piece per child please!) and other pertinent information (e.g.  whether they require accompaniment,  backing track etc.), please complete the booking form below:

https://forms.office.com/e/UJsgscFyw5

Performers may need some preparation time – for warming up, tuning instruments etc.-  so we ask that they arrive around 5.45pm. The concert will start at 6.00pm prompt and will last around an hour. Mrs Porrett is in school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays if you’d like to talk more about your child’s chosen piece.

I do hope you can join us for this very enjoyable evening.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Following my letter last half-term about changes to staffing, I’m delighted to be able to inform you all of the classes and teachers for September.

Miss Turner and I will continue lead the school, along with our Senior Leadership Team, details of which are contained in the table below:

As you will also be aware, it is our normal practice to mix the children who are currently in Reception, Year 2 and Year 4.  Today, the children in those year groups have been informed of their mixes for next year: if your child is in one of these year groups, you will receive a separate letter later today detailing which class they will be in and who their teacher is for next year.  All the children across school (apart from one class) have met their new teachers briefly today.

Below is a summary of staffing for the next academic year (September 2024 to July 2025)

• EYFS Badgers and Foxes mix move up to either Year 1 Hedgehogs (Mrs Young) or Squirrels (Mrs Rank)
• Year 1 Hedgehogs move up to Year 2 Rabbits (Miss Cox and Miss Turner)
• Year 1 Squirrels move up to Year 2 Owls (Mrs Field)
• Year 2 Rabbits and Owls mix move up to either Year 3 Starfish (Miss Heap) or Turtles (Mrs Mukhopadyhay and Mrs Harrison)
• Year 3 Starfish move up to Year 4 Whales (Miss Armstrong)
• Year 3 Turtles move up to Year 4 Dolphins (Miss Lewis)
• Year 4 Whales and Dolphins mix move up to either Year 5 Leopards (Mrs Stennett) or Lions (Mrs Allan)
• Year 5 Lions move up to Year 6 Giraffes (Mrs Morgan)
• Year 5 Leopards move up to Year 6 Elephants (Miss Featherston)

Our HLTAs, Mrs Butler and Mrs Ward will continue to work across different classes to support PPA cover for teachers and providing any other required cover, led by Mrs Storey.  Mr Halford will continue to deliver PE to all classes each week and Madame Jones will continue to teach French in Key Stage 2.  Mrs Porrett will also be in school 2 days a week to lead and teach music to all classes across the school.

To help prepare the children for next year, we have organised some transition sessions over the coming weeks.  On Monday 1^st July, the children will spend the afternoon getting to know their new teachers in their new classrooms and on Wednesday 10^th July, they will be spending a whole day with their new teachers.  These invaluable opportunities will help alleviate any worries your children may have about moving up into the next class.  On both of these days, drop off and pick arrangements will be the same as you have done all year.  There may be more opportunities between now and the end of term for transition activities, and the mixed classes will do more work in their new mixes.  We will encourage the children to speak to their new teachers when they have the opportunity, and we will also be able to arrange any extra transition if necessary.

Before the end of term, we will send out details of next September’s collection and drop off points (and times) for each year group and remind you again before the end of the summer holidays.

We hope that sending this information out early and running the various different transition sessions will help the children feel well-prepared for the new academic year ahead.  Of course, if you do have any worries or concerns, please do contact your child’s current class teacher who will be happy to help.

Yours sincerely,

Tom Larkham

Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

Change to School PE Kit

We are proposing a change to the School PE Kit from September 2024.

The current PE kit is: a house-coloured plain t-shirt and a house-coloured plain hoody/zipped jacket/sweatshirt in either Red, Green, Blue or Yellow or (Black/navy option if you don’t have house the colour).

This was brought in a few years ago, but there are many children who come to school wearing alternate clothes and so we have considered if this kit is still appropriate.  At the time, it was felt that the coloured t-shirts/jumpers could be cheaply purchased on Amazon (or similar) but it is not until we try things that practicalities become more apparent.  We always have high expectations for uniform: the children look very smart and take great pride in their Coleham School uniform, and we wish for them to feel the same about their PE Kit.  Time spent policing uniform is never a good use of time, and feedback from children suggests that a better option for PE kit would reduce stress and the need for conversations around correct uniform.

What do we need for an effective solution?

• An affordable, accessible option that can be purchased locally.
• A practical garment for PE activity
• A PE Kit that gives the children a sense of pride in sporting activity, and also the House community that they represent.

Pupil Feedback

We have talked to KS2 children and invited 6 children from each class to be involved in a research panel to gain their thoughts.  The general consensus is that they don’t always have the coloured jumper at home, the Darwin Yellow isn’t a popular choice and is hard to find in the shops and the children much prefer the Coleham School PE fixture kit that they wear to represent Coleham at sporting competitions.  In fact, they say they love wearing this to represent Coleham!

When asked what they liked about the fixture kit they said they liked the sports material, which is lightweight/breathable, and it makes them feel more sporty and that everybody wearing the same makes them feel smart.  They felt the coloured jumpers weren’t working as lots of children in school wear plain navy or black.  They were also excited about the possibility of incorporating a House Crest.

Proposed Change

Therefore, considering the children’s views and comments from parents, our proposal for September is to offer:

• A Coleham School PE sports top with a house-coloured band and crest costing £10.99.
• Navy shorts or joggers
• A plain navy hoody/zipped jacket/sweatshirt.

Please see the visuals on the attachment.

PE Kit Visuals

We are very mindful of the cost to families and currently only have 1 item of school logo-branded uniform which needs to be procured from The School Shop.  The addition of the PE top will take this to 2 items of school logo-branded uniform.  With 5 school days across the week, this means you will need to purchase 3 school jumpers and two PE tops, where in previous years families had to purchase jumpers for 5 school days and extra PE kit to bring into school for PE sessions.  As always, we will phase in the arrangements for the first year, so if anybody does not wish to purchase the sports top they may wear a plain navy t-shirt and we plan to help re-cycle uniform in school.

We hope that by considering the children’s views, and them expressing a desire to wear the PE Kit it will make your lives easier at home too.  It was particularly interesting to hear their reasons: that it made them feel sporty and inspired to take part.  Of course, we are keen to hear what the wider community of parents think of this.  Therefore, before any final decision is made, we would like you to please complete this short survey which is open until Friday 24th May PE Kit Survey Link

We will only be asking for feedback on the PE kit proposal. We know that generally uniform is a controversial topic and that we all have our private views on this, but we won’t be making any changes to the full school uniform or be collecting feedback on it at this time.

Kind regards,

T. Larkham

Headteacher