Consett Junior School

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Summer Fair Stalls and Charity Day Update

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During the afternoon/evening of Friday 10th July we are holding a fun day at Consett Rugby Club, to raise money and awareness of the charity ‘If You Care Share’.

We are quietly working behind the scenes planning the event now and wondered if anyone has or knows of anyone who would like to operate a stall from 3.30 p.m. onwards. This could be selling crafts, jewellery, cakes etc, and in return we would ask for a donation to the charity.

The afternoon will be focused around the children (and parents) doing a sponsored event on the rugby field, and for those families who are wanting more of a sponsored challenge we have secured a 70 seater coach to take us to Rowley Farm to allow us to run back to the Rugby Club, this run is a parent/child/family event. There are only 70 seats so if you know now you want to do this then please email consettjunior@durhamlearning.net asap to secure your seats on the bus.

The venue is secured until 8.00 p.m. (or later!) when more children’s entertainment will be on. There will be food stalls and the bar (The special adult drinks for adults will be from 4.00 p.m.!).

To raise as much as we can for this charity we will be selling wrist bands for adults and children, this is to allow children to freely access most of the activities without paying individually.

From 3.30 p.m. the Rugby club is open to your friends and families to make this an even bigger event, all they need to do is purchase a wrist band on entry. Letters and sponsor forms will go out after May half term.

Special Lunch for Mother’s Day 2020 – Confirmation

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If your child has handed in a booking form for one of our special lunch events for Mothers Day. You should have received a text confirmation today.

To pay, you need to log into ParentPay and pay £2.46 for your adult meal under the ‘Special Lunch for Mothers Day 2020’ meal assignment. To pay for your child’s meal/meals, it is £2.05 under the usual ‘school meals’ option.

Your account will be debited on the day of the event.

If you have not received a text you have either not returned the form or your child has not handed it in.

So far there are 17 spaces available for the 18th March and 32 places available for the 25th March.

Photographs of your child with their special person must be emailed to consettjunior@durhamlearning.net before Friday 6th March.

Thank you

Mrs Raine

Ethan and Emily ‘Ring the Bell’ Day

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As you are aware, we have two very brave children in our school who have been undergoing treatment for Leukaemia (ALL). Emily was diagnosed, while in our school, two years ago and Ethan was diagnosed the year prior to that. This meant we have had two children in our school who have received treatment at the same hospital for the same condition. Every patient is different and they respond to treatment in different ways. It has been a very difficult time for both families, and I am sure you will agree it is amazing to hear that both children are now nearing the end of their treatment.

There is still a long recovery road ahead for these children, but on 30th January Ethan will ring the ward bell with his family and Emily rings the bell on 10th February. All the children and our families have been supportive with these children, either by being a very special friend, supporting us in raising money for children with cancer in 2018, or informing schools when an illness may impact on Ethan or Emily. Therefore, we have the family’s permission to celebrate in school by holding a family assembly and inviting all the children to enjoy a ‘party style lunch’ on Friday 14th February. Ethan and Emily’s favourite foods will form the menu, pizza, chips and fish! We will have music and balloons.

If your child is usually on packed lunches but would like to have a school lunch on this day, please return the order form which will be sent home today before Friday 31st January. Your ParentPay account will be charged on the day (unless on free school meals).

As Friday 14th is the last day of this half term, we usually offer non-school uniform for £1 school council fine. Children can still come to school in non-uniform for a £1 fine, but this will either be donated to the RVI ward or Children with Cancer UK.

Ring this bell,

three times well,

It’s toll to clearly say,

my treatments done,

this course is run,

and I am on my way!

Kind Regards Mrs Raine School Operations Manager

Special Lunch for Mother’s Day 2020

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Children will VERY soon be provided with details about our Special Lunch for Mother’s Day. This alert is early notification that we will once again be organising this event in school.

For families new to our school, please ensure you act fast if you want to secure a place as these events are always very popular.

The special lunch dates will be Wednesday 18th and Wednesday 25th March. Year 5 parents/carers can only book Wednesday 18th March as all year 5 children are visiting Consett Academy on Wednesday 25th March.

You MUST pre-book your place. As we now use ParentPay for school meals, this is how you will pay for this event. Once you have had your place confirmed, you will find a ‘single payment option’ on your ParentPay account, specifically assigned to this payment event. If you have not booked a place, you will not have this option to pay. If you have not activated your ParentPay account, you will not be able to book a place. There are still 17 families who need to activate their accounts.

Every year we recognise that although this is a day traditionally for Mothers, many children have another special someone in their life, therefore, this special person can be Mum, Grandma, Nanna, Auntie, or special other but only ONE adult per family. Someone your child would like to show their appreciation for, don’t worry Dad’s/GrandFather’s, we will cater for you in June!

We only have capacity for 80 adults per day, so book quick to avoid disappointment. The price will be £2.46 per adult and the usual £2.05 for children. Children who usually have a packed lunch can pay for a school lunch and be included in the event. Unfortunately, due to the size of our hall we will not be able to accommodate parents of children who are having a packed lunch (unless a dietician letter is provided to state they cannot have the school lunch).

The seating provided for the adults will be the children’s dining tables and chairs, please consider this when booking a place, as this seating arrangement may not be suitable for some adults, unfortunately, we do not have any alternative.

FURTHER DETAILS AND BOOKING FORMS COMING SOON…:)

Year 6 After School Club

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Chris Shield, a DCC Physical Activity Officer, who facilitates in the running of FISCH club is running some free after school clubs for year 6 and has offered us a Wednesday. There are 25 spaces available. It is a 10 week course which start next Wednesday (15th) and is aimed to increase physical activity by a variety of multi sports. Children have been provided with a leaflet today. To secure your place please ring Mrs Raine.

Some sessions will be cancelled due to previously booked events i.e. Valentines Disco

Activities will range from dodge ball to scooter board games. This club will also aim to promote community programmes that we are currently running in the area.

For more specific information about this club please contact Chris on:
03000 262455 or see the flyer below.

After School Club

Start time for Breakfast Club

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It has again been brought to our attention that many parents/carers are dropping their child off at breakfast club before it starts at 7.45 a.m.

Please can we stress that breakfast club starts at 7.45 a.m. and not before. We are not insured for children to be on the premises before this time and the staff are not responsible for them. If families continue to drop their children off, sometimes as early as 7.30 a.m. they are leaving their children unsupervised, which is a safeguarding issue.

If this policy is not followed we will have no option but to ensure each child is signed into the club by an adult.

Free breakfast Club for children who meet criteria

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Before Christmas, members of the senior leadership team attended a forum to discuss updates on pupil premium.

The pupil premium funding was introduced in 2011, it is a sum of money given to schools each year by the Government to improve the attainment of disadvantaged children. This is based on research showing that children from low income families perform less well at school than their peers. Often, children who are entitled to pupil premium face challenges such as poor language and communication skills, lack of confidence and issues with attendance and punctuality. The pupil premium is intended to directly benefit the children who are eligible, helping to narrow the gap between them and their classmates, often, all of the children in a class will reap some benefit from how the school spends its pupil premium.

Schools receive guidance on how to spend their pupil premium money, following this guidance schools identify what would be of most benefit to the children who are eligible. The overall goal is to ensure that gaps between all children are closed, in particular, the children that attract this funding to school.

Primary schools are given pupil premium for:

  • Children in Reception to Year 6 who are, or have ever been, entitled to free school meals based on their family income
  • Children in care
  • Children previously in care who have been adopted, or who have a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order. As long as permission to record this has been granted.
  • Children recorded as being from service families

Schools do have to show that they are using their pupil premium fund appropriately. This is measured through Ofsted inspections and annual performance tables showing the progress made by children who are eligible for pupil premium. Schools must also publish this online, which can be found at

https://www.consett-jun.durham.sch.uk/about-us/premium-allocations/

As a result of attending the forum, we have looked into the way we allocate our funding and would like to include Free Breakfast Club for children who we receive additional funding for, as identified from the list above. This free club will commence from Monday 24th February so we can ensure the staffing in the club can accommodate the increase of children. If you are applicable you will be informed by an individual letter. If you already have money outstanding for Breakfast Club, this must be paid before Friday 14th February, to allow the free provision to be offered.

Kind regards

Mr P Dixon

Head Teacher

Welcome back to a new term…

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Welcome back to the start of a new term, this is the spring term, with a one week half term holiday in February (w/c 17th February, returning to school on Monday 24th February).

School term and half term dates can be found on our website or this School App. We hope everyone has enjoyed a restful break, with special moments and times with family and friends, we look forward to hearing all the special stories from the children this week.

School re-opens tomorrow (Tuesday 7th January) at 7.45 a.m. for breakfast club, please can we remind you that breakfast club CANNOT be accessed before this time so please ensure you wait with your child until 7.45 a.m.

Please pay dinner money/ breakfast club on ParentPay for this week as well as any money outstanding from last term. Children must return to school on the same dinner arrangements (unless otherwise changed with Mrs Raine), if your child changes without giving notice, your ParentPay account will be charged.

Apart from Cross Country, there are no after school clubs this week. Some existing clubs and all new clubs start next week (Recycling Club and Basketball). If your child has requested to join one of the new clubs and they handed in their form, this was returned last term. A text reminder will be sent to parents/carers this week, please ensure you pay before the club starts. Both new clubs are full. Band, Karate, Art and Football training ARE all back on next week. Further club details can be found on this website or the School App. Football training is now for children in Year 5 & 6 (but only if they were members in September 2019).

Swimming will recommence this week, Year 3 on Thursday, Year 5 on Friday and Year 4 next Monday.

Year 3 children will have an opportunity to participate in a cross country trial at the end of the spring term term, and those successful will be invited to join the weekly training team after Easter.

Attendance letters were sent home last term, some letters requested a meeting, if this is the case please ensure you ring school to make a convenient time to come in for the support we feel you need to improve this moving forward. If you do not make a meeting, we will need to contact you.

Whole School Performances – Reminder

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I am sure you are very excited about this weeks performances, for a reminder of the details see our website link. https://www.consett-jun.durham.sch.uk/christmas-show-productions-important-information/

We have recently met with staff from the Academy, who suggest doors open at 2.00 p.m. for a 2.15 p.m. start. as our children are only arriving at 1.30 p.m. therefore opening at 1.45 p.m. would cause unnecessary congestion on entering the Academy.

If you have siblings at our school they can remain at school until you collect them, so please ensure they are aware of this. If you have children in the Infant school, we have made them aware that there will be a late collection on those days. We estimate a show finish between 3.00 and 3.15 p.m. At the end of the performance, Mr Dixon will inform families to how children will vacate from the stage.

If you are not watching the performance you child will be walked back to school for the usual collection.

Enjoy the Show and remember not to take photographs of the children, it is everyone’s responsibility to keep them safe.