This information will also be distributed in a letter to all year 6 pupils. It provide parents with details of how they can make their child’s application for a Secondary School placement in 2020.

PLEASE ENSURE YOU MAKE YOUR APPLICATION AS NEAR TO THE OPENING DATE AS POSSIBLE, AND ENSURE YOU RECEIVE AN AUTOMATED REPLY TO YOUR APPLICATION. PLACES ARE LIKELY TO BE LIMITED.

The application process for the Secondary Admissions 2019 Intake is due to begin on 12th September 2019. Parents/Carers can make their application for Secondary School online by visiting http://www.durham.gov.uk/schooladmissions and the School Admissions online application facility will be available to parents from the 12th of September 2019. The Closing Date for Secondary School Applications is the 31st October 2019.

If parents do not wish to apply online they can complete a paper application form, and these are available to print from the website (same website address as above) from the 12th September. Alternatively these application forms can be requested by e-mail to http://schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk or by telephone from the School Admissions and Transport Team on 03000 265896. Copies of the Parent’s guide “Primary and Secondary School Admissions in County Durham 2020/2021” will also be available from the website or on request from the 12th September 2019.

As you are aware, or have been informed, we are a very supporting school and very much like to help to fundraise for charities. We always support charities such as Comic Relief or Children in Need, but we also try to go that extra mile and support one particular charity over the course of the year. Last year it was Cancer Research UK, and the previous year it was Children’s Cancer UK. With your support we raised thousands for both of these charities.

This year we are raising money to support another amazing charity, Now If U Care Share Foundation (IUCSF). There seems to be more and more people affected by mental health, and suicide and we seem to hear of this more now than ever before. This charity has 3 main aims: prevention, intervention and support of those bereaved by suicide.

How will we fundraise?

Over this year we plan to hold monthly ‘drop in’ coffee mornings, these are for any parent/carer who just wants some time out of their usual routine, they can come and read a paper, enjoy some music, have a chat and a cuppa!

Tomorrow, 10th September, is a significant day for this charity, it is called ‘Inside Out’, which means that people can wear an item of clothing inside out with an aim to encourage people to talk. As Mr Dixon wants to talk about this charity with the whole school, he will wear something inside out tomorrow for his assembly and invites the children to wear their top/jumper inside out next Wednesday 18th September. We ask for £1 donation and this will set the ball rolling as we raise more throughout the year.

In July we will hold a family afternoon/evening of fun, games, and sponsored races at Consett Rugby Club, for which we invite everyone to attend.

Mrs Raine is also ‘considering’ running ‘The Wall’ again…

The Story of how this charity started…

Daniel O’Hare was 19 years of age when, without any warning, he took his own life. He had no previous history of mental health problems nor had he shown any outward signs of his intentions.

Daniel was a normal young man, who was extremely popular and well known in his local community. He had a large amount of friends and a family that loved him dearly. He enjoyed football, spending time with friends and socialising. Daniel also had a job managing a family online retail business. To this day his family remain devastated by their loss and are still no nearer to understanding Daniel’s choice.

Daniel’s brothers Matthew and Ben, along with his cousin Sarah (then aged 10, 5 and 13) hoped to do something positive to try and prevent another family suffering a similar experience. They wanted to create a lasting memory to Daniel and started If U Care Share.

https://www.ifucareshare.co.uk/

Help required from all our family shoppers!

Please see below…

From 6th September, Aldi’s Kit for Schools promotion is giving 20 primary schools the chance to win £20,000 to kick-start a health legacy for their school. What’s more, every school who enters by completing their Aldi’s Kit for Schools poster will also receive an exclusive school sports kit! Collect a sticker with every £30 spent in store and fill up your school’s poster for a chance to win.

So please ask for your sticker for every £30 you spend and send them into our school for your child to add to the HUGE chart. LETS WIN THIS!!!!!

Will our school win £20,000?

Just a reminder about our weekly training. We will continue to run every Wednesday and Thursday Lunchtime, even in the poor weather to ensure our runners get the training and exercise they need. As the days get colder and wetter we will leave the decision to run until the last minute. We will not run if the weather causes concern, as we need to ensure the safety of the children and staff.

We have received dates and venues of the next set of county cross country races, which will shortly be added to the App calendar. We will only chose runners to represent our school if they have shown dedication to weekly training. Whilst we do want competitive and strong runners in our team races, they will not achieve a place over a child who runs more often but may not be as strong. We are carefully observing our runners over the next few weeks and will notify families by text if they have been selected to represent our school. We can choose 3 boys and 3 girls for our main race, and as many other runners to run in the reserve.

Our training is to support, motivate and strengthen our runners, and whilst wanting them all to build in stamina and speed we also want children to get ‘their’ pace and be comfortable in it, some of our current regular runners have done this, they have grown in confidence and resilience and we are so proud of them. So…if your child has been running with us and have now got our of this routine, please speak to them about this.

Please click on the link below to access the September 2019 Newsletter

https://consett-jun.durham.sch.uk/parents/school-newsletters/

Dear Parents/Carers and our lovely children

We hope you have enjoyed a fun filled, busy and wonderful summer break. We are very much looking forward to hearing lots of stories of adventures had and memories made on the children’s return to school next week. Below are a few reminders and bits of information to read before starting back…

First day back – School re-opens on Wednesday 4th September (Tuesday 3rd is staff training day)

Breakfast club – You do not need to book a place for this club. It starts at 7.45 a.m., so please ensure your child does not arrive before this time as there is no supervision of your child until 7.45 a.m. breakfast club is £2.50 per day, this must be paid using ParentPay in the week your child attends. Children come to the main door and ring the bell to enter.

School start time – School starts at 8.55 a.m. The yard gate will be opened and supervised by Mr Dixon at 8.40 a.m., children dropped off before this time will not be supervised, so please consider this if you drop them any earlier. If children come into school before 8.40 a.m. you will be charged for the breakfast club service.

School meals – Children must return to school on the same school meal arrangement they accessed before the holidays, unless you informed Mrs Raine otherwise. There is a two week notice period required for a change to school meal arrangements. If you change without notifying the office then your ParentPay account will be charged the daily rate. School meals remain at £2.05 and the weekly rate is £10.25. Children on packed lunches can access a dinner on a Friday as part of an on-going Fun Friday arrangement we run. Children must order their lunch on a Monday by returning the order form (or a written note), with payment.

Swimming lessons – Year 3 swim last lesson every Thursday, this will start in the second week back (12th). Year 4 will swim last lesson on a Monday. Year 5 and 6 will share sessions during the academic year, starting with Year 6. Year 6 will swim last lesson on a Friday from the second week back (13th). The change over date tbc. Children need to be collected from the baths on these days.

School uniform – Please visit our website for the school uniform requirements. All children must be in the correct uniform, which includes shoes and P.E. kit. Our uniform supplier is Tots to Teams. https://www.consett-jun.durham.sch.uk/parents/our-school-uniform/

School finish time – School finishes at 3.30 p.m. Parents/Carers of children in year 3 are welcome to come into the yard and wait at the TOP of the yard by the grass verge (not spread across the yard). Year 3 children will be brought out by their teachers at 3.25 p.m. Parents/Carers of children in all other years must ensure they inform their child of where they will be waiting for them at the end of the day. This is usually anywhere from the main gate to the crossing patrol person, or possibly walking home if local to the school.

Appointments – All routine medical appointments, unless an emergency or exceptional circumstances, should be made outside of the school day. If they are during the school day, you must provide a copy of the appointment details.

Emergency contact information – If you have moved house, changed your contact number, or your listed contacts change, please forward this information to Mrs Raine on the first day. If you are a family who require two sets of important information, you must inform us of this. If you are a parent who does not live with your child, we can post important information to your address, i.e. school reports/newsletters.

Water bottles – Children in year 3 will be provided with a school water bottle (and homework bag) on their first day. Additional water bottles can be bought from Mrs Raine for £2.00.

After school clubs – All clubs will re-commence in the second week back to school (except cross country for current members, this lunchtime running will start on the first day back). Letters have already been sent out and reminder texts will follow next week. Please pay for your chosen club in the first week back if you have not already done so. Art club will also return in the second week back, this is for our new Year 3 children. There are only 25 spaces available so please do not assume you will receive a place. Letters for Art club will be sent out next week.

Payments to school – If applicable to you, dinner money and breakfast club payments MUST be made using ParentPay. Fund, clubs, charity and trips are paid directly to the school office, but must be in a clearly labelled envelope. School fund can be paid in the same way or dropped into our ‘money spinner’. School fund is £1 per week (or a donation if you prefer) and is used for resources for the children.

School texts – If you need to contact the school to inform of absences, general enquiries etc., we have a school text number, 07537436638 . Alternatively you can send an email to consettjunior@durhamlearning.net . If your child is absent from school you must ensure you inform us, otherwise this is recorded as an unauthorised absence, which will result in an attendance referral if they hit the triggers. It is our responsibility to monitor and support attendance in our school.

We hope this information is useful, especially for those new to our school. Please contact us should you need any further help.

Looking forward to seeing and meeting you all over the next few weeks.