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Dear Parents

Swimming

Swimming in our own pool has been just as successful as last year. Mrs Speller our swimming coach is very pleased at the progress the children are making, she would like to join me in thanking the parent volunteers who have helped to make this work as well as it does.

Sadly the High School swimming for Yr 5+6 this year has not been possible. Consequently we will be returning a portion of the voluntary contribution paid by Yr 5+6 parents. We kept hoping that the High School pool would be ready before the end of term but it is now clear that this will not the case. Fortunately we have been able to use our own pool; Mrs Nelson has kindly helped to make this possible.

Uniform

From next September Mrs Stimson and Mrs Braggs will be processing uniform orders once a week on Tuesdays. We’ll send some blank order forms out in time for next year. Please send in any orders with the money, they will be collected up during the week and then the uniform will sent home with your children at the end of school on Tuesdays.

Writing Week and Open Day

There has already been some very high quality writing inspired by our pirate theme this week. I have been delighted by the teachers’ creativity in thinking up exciting ideas to inspire the children. Parents are welcome to join us for a brief  assembly tomorrow at 10.15am when each class will share some work inspired by pirates!

I was very pleased to see so many parents and visitors coming in to school yesterday for our open day, I hope you all enjoyed seeing the school in action and looking at your children’s work.

School Entrance

I wonder how many of you have difficulty getting in or out through the entrance doors by the school office – I know I have. This summer we are going to have some alterations to the school entrance which should make things much better. There will also be some changes to the offices; Mrs Stimson and Mrs Braggs are swapping sides with my office and they will be having a larger working area. You can probably imagine the upheaval involved in moving offices, so please help us out by promptly returning any letters and slips well before the end of term. You may also need to be patient at the beginning of the new term as we get settled with the new arrangements.

School Photo

We had our whole school photo taken on Monday. I have been assured that the proofs will be back before the end of term.

Sponsored Skip

Thank you for your generous support for the sponsored event. We have received  over £1000 and so have a good amount to start to buy some staging for school. Please thank your family and friends for their help. I hope you will see the benefit when we come to staging our Christmas productions.

Move-Up Afternoon

On the last Thursday afternoon (20^th July) of term the children will all be spending time learning in their new classroom with their new teacher in order to get a taste of next year.  Mrs Locke, Mrs Green and Mrs Field will be with the Yr 6 children on this afternoon.

If you have not already had a chance to meet your child’s new teacher please pop in at the end of the day on 20^th July. Miss Ingram for Class 1 and Mrs Gwatkin for Class 5 will be here on this day.

Our new reception children have already spent one afternoon here for a Teddy Bears’ Picnic and they will also be coming in for a story time before the end of term.

Cycle Training

Congratulations to all the children who have taken the Cycling Awareness course; they all successfully passed. This vitally important safety course was led by Rod Joy and a group of parents, staff and ex-staff.  Thank you to these volunteers.

Attendance

The attendance print out you will receive towards the end of term will show you the records held on our computer up to Friday 14^th July. If you have any queries about this please contact Mrs Stimpson or Mrs Braggs. You may be interested to know that Warwickshire Education Authority and the Department of Education and Skills consider an acceptable level of attendance to be 95% or above. The greater majority of our pupils are above this level. If your child’s level is below this it may reflect an extended period of illness, a hospital stay, general poor attendance or term-time holiday. As headteacher it is my responsibility to monitor attendance at school. All of our pupils who have achieved 100% attendance for the whole school year will receive a certificate to mark this attainment.

Sports Day

There will be a separate letter giving you details of our Sports Day arrangements sent out before the end of this week. This will have a return slip attached, please look out for it.

Residential Visits

Staff and children from Years 5 and 6 have now all returned from Marle Hall in North Wales and Kingswood in Staffordshire. The teachers have spoken very highly of the children and their good attitudes towards each other and challenging new activities. It is wonderful to hear about the personal achievements made by several children conquering fears and reaching challenges. Class 5’s assembly last week gave parents a really good picture of their exciting activities. Class 4 pupils had a good taste of what to expect next year.

I would like to thank all the staff and parents who accompanied the children for their generosity of time in giving the children the opportunities to experience such fulfilling weeks.

Leavers Assembly and Leavers’ Service

This will be held on the last Friday of term at 9.30am. Yr 6 parents are invited to join us.

The Yr 6 pupils are now ready to move on to the next stage in their education. As last year the rest of the school have learned a song to sing to the leavers which reflects some of the mixed emotions they may be feeling as they move on; excitement and anticipation possibly tinged with a little apprehension of the unknown. Good luck Yr 6, the teachers here will be looking forward to hearing good things about you from your secondary schools, don’t forget to let us know of your future achievements. Maybe we’ll see some of you here on work experience in the years to come.

The Leavers’ Service will be held in church on Thursday 20^th July at 9.30am.

Service of Dedication

This is advance notice for a special Dedication Service for the new school year. We plan to hold this in school at the beginning of next year on 13^th September at 9.15am and I would like to invite all parents and governors to join us. Each class will contribute an element to the service.

Friends

I am sure that all of Kineton and beyond will still be “buzzing” with excited memories of this past weekend’s Summer Fete. It really was the event of the year! I have had so many favourable comments from children, parents, friends and visitors. I would like to give a huge vote of  thanks to  our team of Friends for their fantastic organisation  with special mention to Jonathan Wilkes as our Chair of Friends Committee and the fete organisers Jim Doherty and Jonathan Walls for their vision and commitment to making the day such a success. Financially the fete was a huge winner too – well over £3000 at this stage.

School Notice Boards

The two new notice boards are now up and in use on the outside of the wall of the entrance to KS2 .

Staff News

Robert Holtom has joined our team of lunchtime supervisors. The children have enjoyed the extra  chances for football on the field since Mr Holtom has been working with us.

Olga Satterly has been a lunchtime supervisor for many years and sadly for us has decided to leave her regular work at school as her husband is retiring soon and they have plans to go travelling together. Thank you Olga for your friendly and caring work with our children and especially the development of the Super-buddies scheme at lunchtimes.

I would also like to thank Miranda Williams for her work this year as a lunchtime supervisor.

We have a vacancy for lunchtime supervisor on Tuesdays and Thursdays next term. If you would like to work with the children do come and have a word with me or telephone for some details.

Steve Harper has been working with us all year as a graduate teacher trainee and will be moving on in September to a post at a special school in Coventry . Thank you Steve for all your work at Kineton especially your contributions to singing and accompanying the Yr 5 class to Kingswood .

Finally, please continue to ensure that your child brings a water bottle with fresh water every day.

Yours sincerely

M. Jane Moffatt

Headteacher