Welcome Back
A warm welcome back to the new term to all of our children and families. We hope that everyone had a restful break over the holidays. We have certainly enjoyed hearing about the many days out, holidays, visits to relatives and fun activities that the children have been doing.
Our staff continue to work hard to plan and deliver interesting, engaging and enjoyable curriculum topics and teachers will be sending home more information about the curriculum for this term in their year group letters. Please visit the ‘class info’ pages of our school website to access curriculum long-term plans if you would like more information.
I am sorry to say that I have some very sad news to share with families as we start the new term. Valerie Schea, who worked in school as a lunchtime supervisor and Care Club Playworker, has passed away after a short illness. Val was a warm, kind person who made a big impact on the children in her care and the staff whom she worked alongside. We would ask that you talk to children who knew Val at home about this sad news in the way that you feel is most appropriate. Staff in school and Care Club will, of course, make time to talk to children as appropriate too. If anyone would like to pass on a message of condolence to Val’s family, please do so by emailing the school office and we will collate messages and pass them on.
Vivace Choir Visit
At the start of the new term, Key Stage 2 classes were treated to a wonderful performance by the children in our school who are members of the Vivace Youth Choir. The choir are looking to expand their numbers and any child aged eight or over is welcome to join. The choir meets at 6:30pm on Thursdays at Menston Methodist Church. To find out more, please visit the choir website here.
Car Safety
Bradford Council have provided our school with a child measuring guide which provides important advice for parents and children on road safety, child car seats and in-car safety. The measuring guide is located outside the school office on St Peter’s Way for children and parents to use.
Uniform
We encourage our families to donate outgrown uniform that is in excellent condition to our PTA. Parents can then buy high-quality pre-worn uniform items for as little as £1:00 (£2:00 for branded items). Uniform can be donated/ purchased by emailing fompsuniform@gmail.com or by speaking to Mrs Meakin on the Key Stage 1 gate.
Dogs
Please can we request that families avoid bringing dogs into the school grounds unless the dog is carried by the owner and is under very close control.
School day timings
The school day runs from 08:55 to 3:15 currently. Our gates and doors are open between 08:45 and 08:55 in the morning and we request that all children are in school by 08:55.
From September 2024 the Government requires all schools to deliver a 32.5 hour school week. We propose to achieve this by starting our school day at the slightly earlier time of 08:45, which will mean that our drop-off window will be between 08:35 and 08:45 from September. We are letting you know about this now so that you have the opportunity to consider how the change might affect your family and to contact the school with any questions or comments.
This is what the proposed timetable change would look like in practical terms:
| Current model | Proposed 32.5-hour week model | ||
| Gates open for children to arrive and settle into class | 08:45 – 08:55 | Gates open for children to arrive and settle into class | 08:35 – 08:45 |
| Registration and morning learning task | 08:55 – 09:10 | Registration and morning learning task | 08:45 – 09:00 |
| Core lessons start | 09:10 | Core lessons start | 09:00 |
| End of the school day | 15:15 | End of the school day | 15:15 |
Please contact the school with any questions or comments by emailing office@menston.mlt.co.uk and we will get back to you.
Our overall attendance for the autumn term was 97.6% for the year to date, which is fantastic. Our overall attendance for the last academic year was 96.46%. It is our aim that every child in school achieves attendance of at least 97% so I would urge families to check our school term dates carefully before booking any holidays. Children should only be absent from school if they are too ill to attend or for other truly exceptional circumstances and holidays in term-time are not classed as exceptional. We encourage families to send children into school if they have a mild cold or other mild symptoms of illness. Children will always be monitored by staff and parents will be contacted if we feel that a child is too ill to stay at school. If you are not sure about whether your child is too ill to attend school, please refer to the NHS website Is My Child Too Ill for School? where you will find advice on a range of common childhood illnesses. We should take this opportunity to remind parents that children with diarrhoea or vomiting should stay away from school until they have not been sick or had diarrhoea for at least 2 days (48 hours).
If you have anything that you need to ask me about or let me know about, please email the school office, come to see me or give me a call and I will get back to you.
Mrs Marie Wilson
