ST PETERS CHURCH SCHOOL Moor Lane, Budleigh Salterton, EX9 6QF Telephone 01395 443167

24th April 2013

Newsletter 27
Summer Term 2013
OUR NEW SCHOOL WEBSITE - http://www.st-peters-school.org.uk/

Keep up to date follow us on twitter @BudleighStP

Spring Term 2013

Friday 26th April Friday 26th April Friday 26th April Tuesday 7th May Thursday 9th May Sunday 12th May Monday 13th May Tuesday 14th May Thursday 16th May Tuesday 21st May Thursday 23rd May Friday 24th May Friday 24th May Monday 27th to Friday 31st May Half Term and Budleigh Gala Week Thursday 6th June Sunday 9th June Tuesday 11th June Tuesday 11th June Saturday 15th June Monday 17th June Tuesday 18th June Thursday 20th June Tuesday 25th June Thursday 27th June Friday 28th June Tuesday 2nd July Thursday 11th July Thursday 11th July Sunday 14th July Friday 19th July Tuesday 23rd July

Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate the Centenary 10.00am St Peters Church SPSA Second Hand Uniform Sale at 3.15pm SPSA Quiz - cancelled - new date to be announced Parent Forum 7pm Ascension Day Church Service Family Service at St Peters Church ay 10am KS2 SATS week Teaching and Learning Governors Meeting at 7pm Messy Church Sports Day Reserve Sports Day SPSA Coffee Morning 9-10am SPSA Second Hand Uniform Sale at 3.15pm

SPSA Meeting at 8pm Family Service at St Peters Church ay 10am Tempest Photographer in school Resources Governors Meeting at 7.00pm SPSA Summer Fair from 12-3pm Year 1 Phonics Screening Test Week Year 6 at RNLI Hit the Surf Event am Messy Church Full Governors Meeting 7pm Year 4 Wild Night Out Residential at Escot SPSA Second Hand Uniform Sale at 3.15pm Parent Forum at 7pm Messy Church Open Evening from 4-6pm Family Service at St. Peters Church ay 10am SPSA Bake Sale at 3.15pm Leavers Service at St. Peters Church 10am Leavers Barbecue pm

Collective Worship

Resurrection

Wednesday 24th July

End of Summer Term

Dear Parent/Carer, As I write this letter the OfSTED inspection team led by Mr John Laver have started their work early this morning. The inspection will last for 2 days and will finish tomorrow afternoon. The report will follow quite shortly. I have limited time today to write at length but there are two key issues I would like to mention. 1. Friday 26th April at 10 am at the Church is the short service of thanksgiving for the service of this school to Budleigh Salterton. You are welcome to come and support the children. Please inform any neighbours of the service as they may like to attend especially if they are past pupils. 2. Town Councillor Harry Harrison, who is now a school Governor, informs me that a new replacement cover for the school swimming pool is being considered as a good project for the 106 money. There are many projects and if our bid is to succeed it will require us to vote for it against the other bids. You can do this on Gala Saturday 25th May at the fete on the Green. There will be a table for us to vote. Please support. Useful Information for Parents Take a look at Back To School Magazine, a new digital magazine for parents of primary school children. Its full of useful information such as helping with homework, SATs, phonics, numeracy and literacy. Sign up now and you will receive it (at no cost) in your inbox at the start of every term. Visit: www.backtoschoolmagazine.com
Tempest Photographer Tuesday 11th June The school photographer will be visiting on Tuesday 11th June. Mr Lees (photographer) will be located in the school hall from 8.30am. Families, who would like group photographs with children under school age including Nursery, please arrive at 8.30am and queue in the playground outside the Hall. Children in school will automatically be photographed in a family group during the school day, (unless you inform us otherwise). Please let the office know if a sibling in Carousel needs to be photographed with a family group.

Lunch Bunch Cafe Lunch Numbers week commencing 15th April 2013 4 day week Fri Mon Tue Wed Thurs Actual Non pupil 91 97 75 136 day Target 100 100 100 100 100 Is your child entitled to Free School Meals? Nursery aged children can receive Free School Meals if: They attend an LA maintained nursery (not private) They attend before and after lunch sessions

Average 99.7 100

How do I apply? Free School Meals are administered by Devon County Council (DCC) for all Devon maintained schools and you should apply to Devon if your child(ren) are attending a Devon school. The claimant in receipt of the qualifying benefit will need to apply: Phone 0845 155 1019 with your National Insurance Number, date of birth, name and childs details and an eligibility check can be carried out using the Department for Educations Eligibility Checking System, this will confirm if your details have been matched or not. It will not tell us what benefits you are in receipt of, dates when a benefit was awarded or say how much you receive Apply online by downloading an application form (862KB - pdf help) and emailing it to the Free School Meals Team at [email protected]

When you apply, you wont need to provide us with any evidence of your benefit, DCC can check your eligibility status for you. Absence due to Illness or Unexpected Emergency Please telephone school on the morning of the absence before 9.00am on 01395 443167 or text the school mobile on 07857464734 to let us know why your child is absent.

F2 Foundation Questionnaire summary 2013

59% of all Early Years Parents replied to this questionnaire (Nursery class and Reception Classes) 58% of parents/carers replied in Nursery. 61% of parents/carers replied in Reception (59% in Mrs Jenkins class, 67% in Mrs Cawthera and Mrs Stubbs class)
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree I dont know

My child enjoys their time in the Early Years. The introduction and transition from F1 (Nursery) into F2 (Reception) was good. The parents Introduction to School' meeting was informative and useful. My child has settled into F2 (Reception) well. The dates for my diary sheets that inform parents/ carers of events that they can share in school with their child are useful and clear. The activity days, where parents/carers are invited in, are useful and informative. I feel that the activities and advice at parents events such as Marvellous Maths Day help me to support my child with their home learning. I feel that I am kept informed about daily matters concerning my child. I feel comfortable talking to the Early Years staff. I feel informed about my childs progress via the Parents evenings, Learning Journeys and talking to Early Years Staff.

12 14 11 13 14

7 4 7 6 5

13 10

6 9

12 15 14

5 4 5

Strengths: I feel communication between staff and parents is great!! I think all areas are very strong. Parents as partners is great as it really involves the parents, the teaching staff are so friendly and helpful, dates for my diary are great and my daughter is really happy. I believe the school is doing a great job with loads of help and advice regarding teaching my children. Organisation and communication with parents is excellent I wish the whole school was so good at it. I think you are all doing a fantastic job! My child thoroughly enjoys coming to school and seems to be learning well. Thank you! High quality teaching dynamic and enthusiastic delivery of the curriculum productive and caring classroom atmosphere. Very happy with the frequency with which our sons reading is heard. The sheets giving the regular activities on different days of the week were very good both for keeping track and helping us discuss the school day with our son. Mrs Jenkins. Her ability to organise and structure the Reception class is excellent. Communication is always professional, yet personable. Letters and sounds and numeracy. Keep calm and carry onyoure doing a marvellous job, Thank you! Each term we get a timetable of the weeks routine. Teaching staff are excellent and very supportive. The staff have made learning fun. I also feel that staff are very approachable, which is excellent in my view as I can be quite shy. The homework flags on the door is more tailored to my child now. Quality and empathy of teaching staff who appear to have genuine interest of children. Transition from Nursery to Reception is seamless and easy for children. Variety of activities = indoor and outdoor that are available to the children. Teaching staff are very helpful and informative. The care which * receives and all the activity days. Communication with parents is great. We feel able to come and discuss our childs progress and any problems are quickly addressed. Thanks. Areas to be developed: None. I love the FSU! Im keen to support my childs learning at school with activities at home. If I had more information say the week before this would help. Eg, if I knew what book you were reading together I could get it out of the library etc. I know Sidmouth Primary School give a weekly sheet (the week before) to highlight the key areas of learning. Eg, going to be looking at subtraction. They are only a couple of lines of information but just enough to give a clue what the children will be doing. Even just a note on a whiteboard could be useful. More continuity in reading books sent home. Still find the designations Nursery/F2/Reception confusing Mrs Jenkins class is the most helpful. Definitive written information along with introduction to school the more the better please! (and please check information on website is consistent) Communications of events could be sent out sooner. The to and fro of Reception/Yr 1 pupils to Foundation Unit can be unsettling. As our child spends quite a large part of his day in Foundation would be nice to have feedback from there too. Teachers dont have time to speak daily. Parents dont see Foundation Staff. More afterschool clubs that are applicable to Reception children. I dont feel I have any contact with the teacher after school, although Im sure that if I went into the class the teacher would be available. I would like more information from teaching staff on how her reading is progressing I am unsure on how often her teacher hears her read it would be good to have some comments from them. Staff should offer more assistance to Reception class children when using the toilet as many of them still cant reach to wipe their bottoms properly.

 Nursery 2013 2012

More ways we can practice writing at home for children who are not too keen on writing. Statement SA A D SD DK My child enjoys their time in the Early 92% 8% Years My child enjoys their time in the Early 71% 27% 2% Years It is wonderful to see that 100% of parents feel that their child enjoys Nursery. It is also great to see that 92% say they strongly agree. The introduction and transition to starting 57% 31% 4% 4% 4% at St. Peters is informative and useful. 2013 The introduction and transition to starting 55% 36% 5% 2% 2% at St. Peters is good (F1 & F2) The parents that disagreed have acknowledged that we did organise extra sessions for their children but they still think two is too few as a general number for children. The other comments were the dates of visits and that the holiday is too long from visits to starting Nursery, however we are tied into term time so this cannot be changed. The parents introduction to nursery/school was informative & useful. The parents introduction to nursery/school was informative & useful. 61% 43%

2013

2012

2013 2012 2013 2012

39% 46% 11%

The new dates for the diary sheets are 72% 28% useful and clear. The new dates for the diary sheets are 46% 40% 5% 2% 7% useful and clear. We think the increase here is down to the 2012 survey results and the changes put in place since then. We now send out separate sheets for F1 and F2 to avoid confusion and we also send out a secondary slip asking parents to respond if they have not by the deadline. The activity days, where parents/carers 64% 32% are invited in are useful & informative. The activity days, where parents/carers 48% 39% 2% 11% are invited in are useful & informative. We think the increased result is a direct result to us changing the times of our parent events and holding them on evenings and different days throughout the term. This has enabled a greater amount of parents to attend. I feel that I am kept informed about daily 52% 44% matters concerning my child. I feel that I am kept informed about daily 41% 52% 5% 2% matters concerning my child. We are delighted that 100% of parents feel that they are kept informed about daily matters concerning their child. This is a direct result of us putting up the outdoor board outlining the activities of the day and reiterating to parents that we are readily available. I feel comfortable talking to the talking the 84% 16% Early Years staff. I feel comfortable talking to the talking the 68% 32% Early Years staff. We are very pleased to see that 100% of parents still feel that all staff are approachable and that 84% strongly agree with this statement. It should be pointed out that parents have also mentioned support 1:1 staff and regular volunteers here.

2013 2012

2013 2012

2013 2012

2013 2012

I feel informed about my childs progress 88% 12% I feel informed about my childs progress. 41% 37% 11% 2% 9% We are extremely pleased to see that 100% of parents feel informed about their childs progress. Communication was a huge part of our development plan as we have never before had 100% of parents agreeing to this statement. We have also worked hard on our home learning links and this has been a School Improvement Point.

Last year 58% of parents sent back questionnaires. This year 58% of parents also sent back questionnaires for Nursery. Next Steps for F1: More pegs in the cloakroom. Actioned 16/4/13. More cultural topics for children. Actioned over Easter holidays. Better room layout for morning and 3pm pick up. Actioned 16/4/13. Community playthings furnishings to be purchased via fundraising. Plan for the raffle. Continue the parents link events we run and look at how we can improve our ideas for home aspects. Keep the red learning journey for all children and not go to a computerised system. Reception 2012 2013 Statement SA A D SD DK My child enjoys their time in the Early 71% 27% 2% Years My child enjoys their time in the Early 63% 37% Years In 2012 98% of parents said their child enjoyed their time in Nursery. We are really pleased to see that 100% of parents feel that their child enjoys the Early Years in our 2013 questionnaire. The introduction and transition to starting 55% 36% 5% 2% 2% at St. Peters is good (F1 & F2) The introduction and transition to starting 78% 22% at St. Peters is good (F1 & F2) We feel that having adapted our induction policy to meet the needs of children who are struggling to settle and possibly offering extra sessions or a more phased start on an individual basis that is worked out with parent and teacher have affected the percentage on this section of the questionnaire. We are extremely pleased that 100% of parents feel that our induction to school is good. The parents introduction to 43% 46% 11% nursery/school was informative & useful. The parents introduction to 61% 39% nursery/school was informative & useful. From our 2012 responses we changed our letters to also state that if there is a problem with childcare, parents should let us know to see if we can accommodate this. Parents said this was a much more welcoming and friendly stance than previous letters asking them to come without children. Attendance to the meeting was greater (although nobody asked us to accommodate childcare needs) and we feel that higher attendance meant that whereas previously 89% of parents felt it useful, 100% felt it useful in July 2012 for the September 2012 start. My child has settled well My child has settled well 64% 68% 32% 32% 2% 2%

2012 2013

2012 2013

2012 2013

We are pleased to see a raise from 96% to 100% of parents feeling that their child has settled well into their F2 classes. (69% said strongly agree in HJ class and 67%

said strongly agree in BC/ES class.) 2012 2013 The new dates for the diary sheets are 46% 40% 5% 2% 7% useful and clear. The new dates for the diary sheets are 74% 26% useful and clear. In 2012 14% of parents commented that it remained unclear between Nursery (F1) and Reception (F2) as to which was relevant to their child. We responded by sending out separate sheets for F1 and F2 children to try to ensure this is clearer. We have also begun to send slips out to parents who do not respond to the invitations to ensure that they have had the information. We feel that these improvements have been reflected in the 2013 data. (F2 mixed class BC/ES had 100% Strongly Agree to this answer) The activity days, where parents/carers 48% 39% 2% 11% are invited in are useful & informative. The activity days, where parents/carers 68% 32% are invited in are useful & informative. In the last year we have arranged some after school and evening events to try to make these events as accessible as possible (working parents 2012) We have also ensured that dates go out a term in advance to give plenty of notice. We feel that this has had a positive impact on the figures above as 100% of parents feel that they are useful and informative with 68% saying they strongly agree. I feel that I am kept informed about daily 41% 52% 5% 2% matters concerning my child. I feel that I am kept informed about daily 63% 26% 5% 5% matters concerning my child. We are glad a higher percentage of parents strongly agree with this but can see that we still need to ensure all of our parents are feeling informed. 100% of parents felt that they were informed of daily matters in F2 HJ but one parents disagreed in F2 BC/ES. We do feel that this is a one off and as the parent provided their name on the questionnaire will ensure that they feel comfortable to speak to the class teachers who are always readily available at the beginning and end of the day. We are still considering the possibility of outdoor boards for R and R/1. I feel comfortable talking to the talking the 68% 32% Early Years staff. I feel comfortable talking to the talking the 79% 21% Early Years staff. It is fantastic to see that 100% of parents are happy to speak to Early Years staff. Communication with parents is so important to us. We are very pleased to be so approachable and to see that more parents strongly agree this year. I feel informed about my childs progress. 41% 37% 11% 2% 9% I feel informed about my childs progress 74% 26% We are very pleased that our data from 2013 shows that 100% parents feel informed about their childs progress. We feel that this has been one of our main aims to improve since the last survey. The evening events, making ourselves more available, parents evenings, Learning Journeys, open events have all contributed to this and we feel that as a staff we and the whole school are now more explicit in where the children are and the consistent wording that we use.

2012
2013

2012 2013

2012 2013

2012 2013

Next Steps for F2: Clearer explanation of how reading books are used in school and how to help at home/when to change books/how often children are heard reading in school. An explanation about Guided Reading in classes for parents. Check that details on the school website are current and up to date. Actioned 15.4.13. Daily feedback boards including the time the F2 children from R/1 spend in the FSU.

Continue to look at how we can maintain our strong home learning links.

Second Hand Uniform Friday 26th April This will be available this Friday in the Music Room from 3.20 to 3.45 p.m. As usual all items will be available on a voluntary contribution basis. We always welcome any clothes donations you may have (especially larger jumpers!). If you have any old uniform which you would like to donate, please can you leave it in the box in the school hall on Friday. Thank you. Bake Sale - Thank you Thank you to Mrs Jenkins class and other cake contributions donated on the last day of term. The SPSA would also like to thank those that bought a cake! The event raised over 90 for the SPSA.

Community News

Summer Splash Swimming Parties

At St Peters School, Budleigh Salterton 1 hour pool time with inflatables and qualified lifeguards Great for birthday parties or why not get together with friends and hire your own private pool session 55 (1 hour swimming time) 10 additional hour (non swimming) Maximum of 20 Children Times to be arranged with Lifeguards To book please call 01395 442496 or email [email protected] All proceeds to Warm Wish Fund Best wishes Mr Malcolm Elliott Headteacher