I want to say an enormous THANK YOU to everyone who supported our school fair on Friday afternoon. Whether you helped on a stall, contributed something or turned up and spent your money, we are extremely grateful to you all for making the event such a success. It showed once again what a fantastic community we have here at Galley Hill. The beautiful sunshine helped too! We took approximately £1400 at the event so a real triumph for our children, who will benefit from the funds. Obviously, I have to say a particular thank you to Lisa Sproat (our FROGS chair) and her team for their incredible hard work to run the event. They are small in number so anyone wishing to support in future events should please contact the school office.
Staff and Governor News
I am delighted to share with you all that following our Full Governing Body meeting last week, Tracey Hunter has been elected as our new Chair of Governors. She has done an extraordinary job as vice chair for the last year, so I know she will be marvellous in her new role. Leah Pearce has been elected as the new Vice Chair.
I am sure you will all want to join me in saying a big congratulations to Miss Friend, who graduated from her university degree at the weekend. Miss Friend has been studying part time for her degree alongside working with us at Galley Hill as a teaching assistant and we are all very proud of her hard work. As you will know, Miss Friend is now undertaking teacher training in Emerald class.
Open Classrooms
We love for parents to be able to share in their children’s learning and celebrate their achievements. As such, we have a monthly open classrooms event. During this time (3:15 – 3:45pm), parents and carers are welcome to come into their child’s classroom and your child can share their learning in their books and in the classroom environment with you. While staff may be present in the rooms, these events are not times to have detailed conversations with your child’s teacher. Please make an appointment for a meeting if there is something you wish to discuss in more detail.
Our first Open Classrooms of this year is taking place on Thursday 3rd October. Dates for further opportunities can be found on our school website or on posters around the school. In response to feedback from parents about it always being the same day, we have tried to alternate between a Monday and a Thursday this school year.
Attendance
As outlined in the last newsletter, there are significant changes to the attendance policy this year, in response to the new national government guidance. As well as sending out the full policy once it has been approved by governors, we will continue to try and outline the headlines through these newsletters.
You will know that any absence (unless for a genuine illness) can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. The discretion of the headteacher has now been removed. The definition for exceptional circumstances is, ‘The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional’ are events that are “rare, significant, unavoidable and short”. By 'unavoidable' we mean an event that could not reasonably be scheduled at another time, outside of school term time, regardless of who has planned or paid for the holiday or absence (including grandparents or other family or friends).’
Food Bank
We would like to remind all families that we do hold a small food bank in school and we do not want any of our families to go hungry. We know it can be embarrassing, but we please do ask that you speak to any member of staff that you feel comfortable with, if you are in a position one week or month where you cannot afford food. We will endeavour to provide you with some basic food items as discretely and as quickly as possible.
We are always happy to accept donations to our food bank. Non-perishable items you wish to donate should be brought to the school office.
News
Science!
On Monday 14th October we are celebrating all things SCIENCE! Children will be in groups around the school and have a chance to work alongside any siblings from other years (Y1-6). The focus will be on nocturnal animals and after completing an afternoon of learning, we are inviting parents in to come view their children’s work. From 2.45pm, you will be invited to come see your children’s learning and hear about their science afternoon.
