17^th March 2023

Dear Parents and Carers

As we approach the end of the Spring Term, it has been a delight to reflect on the numerous successes from this term already. Every Monday we have our celebration assemblies which always begins my week in the right way. The stories that the teachers tell of how children have shown our CROWN learning values warms my heart and demonstrates how hard the children are working across the curriculum. Thank you for all of the support that you give the children at home – we are a partnership and we know that we can achieve great things together.

It was a delight to see so many parents and carers attend the parent/carer consultations over the past two weeks. As always, please make sure you catch your child’s class teacher if you missed your appointment to rearrange it with them.

Please make sure you have a look at the Key Upcoming Dates at the end of the newsletter so that you can make a note of them in your own diaries.

Corporate Challenge

Thank you to all of the parents and carers for their support at our Corporate Challenge events this month. Kingsham are the leading primary boys team out of 56 teams. All of the children have run their hearts out and represented the school so well with their determination and resilience.

Child Absence

As you will have seen from the mid-year reports you received during parent/carer consultations, we have reported your child’s absence to you. We are aware that there have been lots of bugs and illnesses that have circulated our community and if a child is not well enough they must stay away from school. However, our attendance as a school is below the national level for primary schools which means that too many children are missing too much school.

If your child’s attendance was around 90% - that means they are missing ½ a day of school a week.

If your child’s attendance was around 80% - that is the equivalent of an entire day a week of absence.

Absence of these levels will have a significant impact on your child’s progress. Please support the progress and education of your children by ensuring that children only miss school if they absolutely have to through illness.

Introducing Fliss McHale

My name is Fliss McHale, I am a Trainee Education Mental Health Practitioner and work within the West Sussex Mental Health Support Team, www.westsussex.gov.uk/Thought-Full. The aim of the team is to work with schools to embed Whole School Approaches to Mental Health and Wellbeing and to work directly with young people presenting with mild to moderate mental health difficulties, including anxiety and low mood. 

Kingsham Primary School have been identified as a school that is keen to build on the fantastic work they are already doing and are welcoming me to complete my placement with them and beyond.  For those of you with older children, I am also working alongside another Trainee at Chichester High School.  If you would like more information, please feel free to come and chat to me. I am here on Fridays; you may have already seen me on the gate in the morning with Mr Williams. 

You can also follow Thought-Full on Facebook West Sussex Thought-Full Instagram Thought-Full

 

New Chichester Parent/Carer Support Group for families with children with SEND

 

Parking and driving around the school.

I regularly bring up the issues with parking and driving around the school at pick-up and drop off. With over 300 children at the school and the families of the local residents to consider, it becomes very busy at pick up and drop off times.

As always, can I please urge you to park safely and ideally on the other side of the park to allow the safe and considerate flow of traffic for everyone. The safety of our children has to be our number one priority and there have been times when that safety has not been prioritised.

Reading

As you know, we are trying to reach our target from last year to read over 101 million words!! After over half of the year, we are currently up to 59 598 025 words. Hopefully we can match or beat last year’s total!

Please continue to support us by:

• Reading to your children,
• Reading with your children and
• Listening to them read.

When this is done five times a week, it makes a massive difference!

Maths

Please could we remind parents and carers to support their children with the learning of their number bonds and times tables. This is their Maths homework which needs practice every week.

As you know, the children have access to Numbots (https://play.numbots.com/#/intro ) and Times Table Rock Stars (https://play.ttrockstars.com/ ). These platforms can help children to practice their number bonds and times tables. Alternatively, children can get some practice cards from their teachers to help them to do their homework. Please speak to your child’s teacher for support with this.

Upcoming Key Dates

Here are the dates for our families to be aware of:

• Class photos - 21.03.23 
• School Meals Ordering Service goes live – 17.04.23 (Further, separate communication to come regarding this.)
• Cross Country Finals, Brighton – 19.04.23
• Parent/Carer Workshop with Mr Dallinger – Growth Mindset – 6pm 24.04.23
• Bank Holiday Mondays – 01.05.23 and 08.05.23
• Year 6 National Curriculum Tests – 09.05.23 – 12.05.23
• Walk to School Week – 15.05.23
• Team GB Athlete visit – 22.05.23
• Year 5 Sports Week – 05.06.23
• Year 5/6 trip to Natural History Museum – 13.06.23
• Sports Week – 19.06.23-23.06.23 (All children to wear PE kit all week)
• Sports Day – 21.06.23
• Parent Carer Consultations – End of year reports and classes for next year – 22.06.23 and 27.06.23
• Transition Day – 05.07.23
• Year R trip to Staunton Country Park – 07.07.23
• Year 3 and 4 Drumming Concert – 11.07.23
• Year 6 End of Year party – 5-7pm 13.07.23
• Sundown Open-air movie – 18.07.23
• Year 5/6 Performances – 6:30pm 17.07.23 and 1:30pm 19.07.23
• Year 6 Celebration awards assembly – 9:00am 20.07.23
• Early finish 1:15pm 21.07.23

With my very best wishes.

 

 

Mr Lee Dallinger

(Headteacher)