Dear Parent/Carer,

1) 2023 Key Stage 2 (KS2) national curriculum tests (SATs)

The KS2 SATs will take place during the week commencing 8th May 2023. Below are the SATs dates for each test throughout the week.

Please note that the 2023 KS2 SATs were originally due to start on Monday 8th May 2023, but this has been postponed by one day to Tuesday 9th May due to the additional bank holiday in honour of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III.

Timetable for SATs week

2) All things SATs after-school drop-in session

 We are inviting parents to attend an informal drop-in session where we will be looking at a variety of SAT materials. The drop-in session will be on Monday 6^th February and we will be available between 3:30 pm and 5:00 pm to answer any questions you may have regarding the SATs.

3) Year 6 SATs revision/practice books

 In response to the large number of requests from parents for SATs revision materials, the school has purchased a reading, maths and grammar, punctuation and spelling practice book for each child. Your child will soon be given these and will have a schedule to complete the practice questions.  The schedule will be published on Dojo for reference each week.

4) Homework

Again, in response to parental requests, we will be providing weekly maths homework which will take the form of a link to access a specific challenge, found on the Mathsbot web site. If your child has no access to an electronic device, we will provide them with a paper copy of the challenge to be completed.

MathsBot is a great resource which we will be encouraging children to use as often as possible at home to practise maths skills which they find more engaging.

If you would like to have a look at the site and try some of the resources, here is the link to MathsBot.com:

https://mathsbot.com/

We will be focussing on the primary school maths skills.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Edwards and Mrs Morgan

We are very excited to announce that we have organised a residential trip for our Year 6 pupils and staff for May 2023 at The Pioneer Centre, Cleobury Mortimer. Children will leave school on the morning of Monday 15th May and return around 3.00pm – 3.15pm on Wednesday 17th May.

We are great advocates of the benefits a residential trip can give to those pupils who attend. These include:

• team building skills, co-operation and respect (through a series of safe but challenging activities);
• developing greater independence;
• learning new skills and taking part in new and enriching experiences;
• discovering more about themselves and their capabilities and becoming more motivated as individuals; and
• (last but not least) having fun!

The Pioneer Centre is a relatively new purpose-built activity venue, with excellent modern facilities, designed to meet the diverse needs of both staff and children alike, and we have stayed there on a number of occasions now. Each occasion has been very successful and, as such, we plan to take our Year 6 pupils there again in the Spring.

The centre provides a “home from home” atmosphere and offers a wide range of exciting activities, with experienced and qualified staff on hand at all times. To find out more about the Centre’s facilities and to see a plan of the site, please visit their website at https://activity-centres.naycacuk.co.uk/pioneer-centre/

The cost of the excursion is £212.00 per child, including transport, food, accommodation, supervised activities and equipment. We recognise that this is a large sum of money so have broken it down into four instalments of £53.00. We would be grateful if you could pay the first instalment by 17th February, sooner if possible, and the remainder of the trip balance by Friday 5th May. Of course, if you wish to pay this sooner that would also be appreciated.

If you are worried about making full payment by the given deadline, please do come and talk to me or contact the office: we can extend the payment schedule to give you more time to cover the cost.

If your child is worried about any aspect of the residential trip, please do not worry as class teachers have plenty of time to prepare the children.

An information evening for parents and Year 6 pupils will take place nearer to the trip to go over the finer details and address any outstanding queries you or your child may have.

This trip will be an amazing, once in a life-time, experience for our pupils and we hope very much that all our Year 6 pupils will attend. If, however, your child WILL NOT be attending the trip, please do let the class teacher know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jane Hilbert
Administration Manager