Head Teacher: Mr A Ruffell
Fairfield Primary School
Glenfield Road
Stockton-on-Tees
TS19 7PW
Tel: 01642 581305
Fax: 01642 589657
Email:
Twitter: @FairfieldPrim
www.fairfieldprimary.org.uk
Dear Parents and Carers,
As many of you may already be aware, we are very lucky to have a pupil here at Fairfield who is proving to be an inspiration to others with his dedication to improving the lives of others. Callum Lane-Tingle has been tirelessly raising money for Cancer Research UK (nearly £10,000 so far) and, in doing so, is helping to offer hope and support for families dealing with very difficult situations.
In recognition of Callum’s dedication, he has been nominated for one of the Gazette’s Community Champion awards. We would very much like to support Callum, so I would urge any families who also believe Callum’s efforts deserve this recognition to go to www.gazettelive.co.uk/communitychampions and add an additional nomination for Callum. If you want to do this in writing instead, you can send your nomination to: Elaine Blackburne, Newsdesk, The Gazette, 1st Floor, Hudson Quay, The Halyard, Middlehaven, Middlesbrough, TS3 6RT (making sure you include your own contact details with your entry). The closing date for making nominations is Sunday, October 8th at midnight.
Well done and good luck Callum! We are all very proud of you.
Parking
I would like to remind parents that our school carpark should not be used (except by those who need to use the disabled parking spaces) at any time between 8:30 and 4:00. This helps to reduce vehicle movements near to the school as much as possible during the times that children may be walking along the paths next to the carpark. Along with the new gate that has been installed outside Early Years, it helps to keep your children safe.
In addition, several residents have asked me to request that parents dropping off or collecting their children from school do so respectfully – driving carefully and parking with consideration. On some roads around school, cars parked on pavements have meant that children have had to step onto the roads to get past them, which is clearly not safe for children or adults.
We know that the roads get very busy at the start and end of the school day but unfortunately, apart from trying to encourage as many children as possible to walk to school, we cannot do anything as a school to enforce parking or reduce incidents when drivers’ tempers get the better of them. For this to improve, the whole community needs to work together to reduce the traffic as much as possible and make sure that any unavoidable car journeys are made as safely as possible.
Alarm Apologies
For those of you who live near the school, I apologise if you are ever disturbed by our alarm (I know it has gone off a couple of times recently). When the alarm goes off, the Stockton Surveillance Centre is immediately alerted to this and they always contact Mr Prowse our caretaker (who I must thank for being on hand to come and investigate, even in the middle of the night). If the Surveillance Centre cannot contact Mr Prowse, they will always send someone to investigate.
Packed Lunches
To reduce the risk of choking, please take a moment to cut any grapes or cherry tomatoes in your child’s packed lunch in half. Please also remember that we do have several children with serious nut allergies in school; to avoid any serious allergic reactions, we ask that all parents make sure that their child’s packed lunch does not contain nuts or nut products (e.g. peanut butter).
School Social Media
In school, we make use of Twitter and Facebook to celebrate all of the positive aspects of school life. We would encourage parents to engage with this but, as we only use Facebook and Twitter for sharing positive messages, please remember to use it as a positive platform; any negative messages will be removed. If you ever have a query, concern or complaint please simply contact the school office directly or talk to a member of staff – we are always happy to listen and respond to your worries or suggestions.
Internet and Digital Images Agreements
Very soon, your child will be bringing home some information about how we use digital technologies such as the internet in school and how we might use images or videos of children within school. With this information will be a form for you and your child to sign to show that you are happy with them having access to digital technologies in school, and that you are happy for images or videos of your child (subject to clear guidelines) being used in school.
It would be very much appreciated by our office staff if you could return the completed forms to school as soon as possible – collecting information for well over 400 children is never an easy task!
School Dinners
If you ever need to swap your child between packed lunches and school dinners, it is always easier for the kitchen if the change happens at the start of the week. To let us know about any changes to dinner time arrangements, please send a short note into the school office.
Attendance
On this year’s newsletters I will include each class’s attendance for the previous week and the year to date. Well done to Mrs Strachan’s class and Miss Knight’s class for starting the year last week with 100% attendance (Miss Knight’s class are also set to hit 100% this week as long as no-one suddenly falls ill before this afternoon, so double congratulations are deserved for you).
Class / Last week’s attendance % / Year to date attendance %Rec Mrs Hodgson / 98.5 / 98.5
Rec Mrs Hart / 99.3 / 99.3
Y1 Mrs Fountain / 98.3 / 98.3
Y1 Mrs Strachan / 100 / 100
Y2 Mrs Calvert / 99.1 / 99.1
Y2 Mrs Clayton / 90.0 / 90.0
Y3 Mrs Pickup/Mrs Wilcox / 97.4 / 97.4
Y3 Mr Whitaker / 96.7 / 96.7
Y4 Mrs Conway / 99.2 / 99.2
Y4 Mr Howe / 99.2 / 99.2
Y5 Miss Knight / 100 / 100
Y5 Miss Bantleman / 97.5 / 97.5
Y6 Mrs Watkinson / 95.0 / 95.0
Y6 Mrs Jenkinson / 98.3 / 98.3
School Total / 97.6 / 97.6
Useful Diary Dates
29/09/17 MacMillan Coffee Morning (Y5 are organising this and details will follow)
02/10/17 Year 6 Carlton Lodge trip (02/10/17 – 04/10/17)
05/10/17 Box2bfit fun circuit training sessions organised for Key Stage 2 (there may be a parents’ session as well after school – details will follow)
09/10/17 Early Years and Key Stage 1 parents’ evenings will take place during this week (details to follow)
16/10/17 Key Stage 2 parents’ evenings will take place during this week (details to follow)
16/10/17 Art Week across school (the children will take part in the National Gallery’s Take One Picture project)
20/10/17 Last day of this half term
30/10/17 First day of second half of term
20/11/17 Book Club in school for the week
21/11/17 M and M Productions – pantomime in school for Years 2 – 6 (Reception and Year 1 will organise an alternative treat for their year groups during this half term)
13/12/17 School Christmas Dinner in school (for children who have school dinners)
14/12/17 Explorers’ Club Christmas Treasure Hunt (details to follow)
22/12/17 Last day of the Christmas term
Further dates and details (e.g. for any trips or Christmas productions, nativities etc.) will be added as the term continues.
Yours sincerely,
Mr A Ruffell
Head Teacher