Dear Parents/carers,
Please remember that we are closed on Monday for the King’s Coronation Bank Holiday.
Coronation Day
We have had a lovely day celebrating the King’s Coronation. We had beautiful cakes and trifles for lunch and all the tables were covered in Union Jack flags. Thank you very much Ms Nuttall.
This morning we learned more about our King in Worship and this afternoon we took part in lots of royal activities. I was very impressed with everyone who dressed up either in their posh clothes, or following a red, white and blue theme. Each child has also been given a special medal to take home to keep as a souvenir of such a special moment in History.
Please try and watch a bit of the coronation tomorrow as it will be a unique experience for us all.
Sweet jar competition
Congratulation to Chester Rawson who guessed the closest amount. There were actually 146 sweets in the jar.
Pentecost Service
We are holding our Pentecost Service at St Mary’s Church on the 17th May at 10am. Year 3 will be leading the service and so their family and friends are very welcome.
Year 6 SATs
Please remember that Year 6 SATs take place on Tuesday 9th May to Friday 12th May. It is essential that all year 6 pupils are in school and on time. Year 6 pupils will be allowed to come to breakfast club free of charge from 8am. You will have received a letter today via email with more information about next week.
Year 2 SATs
Year 2 SATs will take place on Monday 15th May to Friday 19th May. Please make sure that all year 2 pupils are in school and are on time.
Year 1 Phonics Screening Test
This test will take place on Wednesday 14th June. Please can you make sure that all year 1 pupils are in school on this day and on time.
Year 3 parents evening
As Mrs Wilson was absent for the last parent’s evening this will now be held on Thursday 18th May. You will be able to book appointments from Thursday 4th May at 7pm until Wednesday 17th May at midnight. Please make every effort to book an appointment or contact school if there are any problems.
London trip
If you would like your child to go on next year’s London trip but have not paid the deposit yet, please speak to Mrs Grant or myself. I appreciate it is a significant amount of money and we can help with a payment plan. If your child is eligible for free school meals, we maybe able to offer further support so please come and talk to us. This trip is available to pupils who are currently in Years 4 and 5.
Carrier Bags
There has been a request from Batley Food Bank for carrier bags. As you can imagine it is very easy to run out of bags and when times are hard the pressure on the food bank is even greater. If you do have any bags please drop them off at school and we will pass them on.
Year 6 sweet tuck shop
Thank you to everyone who brought £2 to spend at the Year 6 tuck shop today. As you can imagine it was very popular! All the money raised will go towards the end of year celebrations.
Burger Menu
There will be a special lunch menu on Thursday 18th May. I have attached the menu along with this letter. It offers a selection of burgers for children to choose from. This lunch does not have to pre-ordered, but can can just be ordered on the day whether your child usually has lunches or not.
ParentPay accounts
Please make every effort to clear your Parent Pay accounts for Breakfast Club, Tea Time Club, Nursery and lunches. It is essential that you keep below the £30 maximum debt. If you’re struggling to meet your payments then please speak to school.
Breakfast Club:
Don’t forget that Breakfast Club is now open from 7.30am.
Coffee Morning:
All welcome to our informal Coffee /Tea mornings (drink and natter). These are held every Tuesday after dropping your children off at School (8.45 till 10.00am). Under school age children welcome too as there are lots of toys for them to play with. Please join us in the Children’s Centre with Mrs Boyle supplying the drinks and biscuits.
Here are the training days for the next school year:
| Monday 24th July 2023 |
| Tuesday 25th July 2023 |
Yours sincerely, Miss J. Barker
Dear Parents and carers,
As you know, next week, Tuesday the 9th to Friday 12th May, the children in year 6 will be taking their National Curriculum Assessments (also known as SATs). There will be assessments on each day of that week (except Monday as this is a bank holiday).
In English, there is an English Reading test and an English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling test.
In Maths, there are 3 papers. Paper 1 is an arithmetic paper which tests pupils’ ability to calculate and manipulate number. Papers 2 and 3 are reasoning papers where the children will need to solve problems.
Some children will take their exams in class and others will take theirs in smaller groups throughout school. This is to allow adequate spacing, adult supervision and to allow some children with access arrangements to be catered for.
Once completed, the SATs assessments are sent off for external marking whereas the writing is judged on the work they have produced throughout the year in a range of subjects.
The timetable is as follows:
| Tuesday | English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling |
| Wednesday | English Reading |
| Thursday | Mathematics Paper 1- Arithmetic Mathematics Paper 2- Reasoning |
| Friday | Mathematics Paper 3- Reasoning |
Once the results have been returned to school we will inform you and your child of the results as quickly as possible. You will be sent your child’s scaled score for each subject, and will be informed whether they have reached the expected standard set by the Department for Education.
We know that some children may be feeling a bit anxious and, while this is natural, we do hope that the following can be used to reassure them. These are things we regularly tell the children, but feel free to read this aloud to reinforce the point if needed…
- All you can do is ‘try your very best’ and to be resilient, especially if you find something hard.
- There is nothing on the papers that you don’t know so you’ve got an excellent chance of doing well.
- Mrs Kennedy and Miss Joyce believe that you are 100% ready to ‘smash it’.
- Although high schools might use these results to set pupils at first, they may not consider them at all! And most high schools are far more concerned with what your teachers have to say about you in transition meetings. In these meetings, your teachers will talk about what you can do and what you are like all the time, not just on one day in one test.
- These tests are important because the learning you’ve done is incredible, but they are not the be all and end all. They are only designed to test them on English and Maths skills; they cannot measure the countless other ways that you have achieved success during your time at primary school, nor all the other things that make you special, clever and unique.
- Once the SATS are done, you will have completed your first set of real exams. Then you get to look forward to the next few hundred you’ll experience on your way to becoming an adult (GCSEs, A-levels, GNVQs, Driving Tests….the list goes on and on and on).
- In three months’ time, you’ll have forgotten all about your SATs.
And…
- Once this week is over, we get to do all the fun stuff that comes in Summer 2 (Leavers’ play, leavers’ service, Summer Concert, Sports Day, Hoodies, Leavers’ meal, transition days).
Over the last few weeks we have done lots and lots of prep work to make sure the children know exactly what to expect, are fully prepared and are feeling confident- please reassure them that they are more than ready!
It has been a real joy to see how far they have come, how hard they have worked and how resilient they have been in their approach- they’ll ALL been amazing! So, no matter how they perform next week, Mrs Kennedy and I want you to know how immensely proud we are of your fabulous children and the way they’ve approached this year.
Have a fun, stress-free (homework –free) long weekend, and try to get to bed on time on Bank Holiday Monday- King Charles wouldn’t want you to be tired on his account!
Miss Joyce and Mrs Kennedy
