Page
1 of 4Lady
Our
Immaculate Catholic Primary
School
Parent’s
Newsletter
Headteacher: Mrs Catherine Sergeant
Spring Term
March 2015
Headteacher’s News
Dear Parents
I am pleased to inform you that we were recently awarded The Liverpool Reading Quality
Mark - Silver level in acknowledgement of the schools commitment to the teaching of
reading and the development of lifelong readers. The report was extremely positive and
gave us 3 areas of development so that we can continue to work towards the gold level.
Northumberland Terrace
Everton Liverpool L5 3QF
Phone: 0151 260 8957
Fax: 0151 260 6786
E-mail:
Business Manager:
[email protected]
“The whole school approach to the teaching of reading including the development of
reading for pleasure is evident in children’s positive attitudes”
An extract from the report.
The assessment day was very rigorous and was led and organised by Mrs Burns with the
full support of staff, children and parents.
I would like to thank parents for their continued support with home reading either with
or to your child. I would also like to say thank you to those parents who gave up their
time to talk to the assessor on the day.
General Admin:
Mrs Catherine Sergeant
[email protected]
School Website
TERM DATES
2014/15
Academic Year
SUMMER TERM 2015
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20 April to 21st July 2015
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Half Term 25 May to 29
May 2015
May Day (Bank holiday)
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Monday, 4 May
INSET DAYS
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Monday 1 September 2014
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Tuesday 2 September 2014
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Friday 30 January 2015
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Monday 20 July 2015
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Tuesday 21 July 2015
If parents would like more information on reading in school and how you can support
your child with reading at home please check out our website on
www.oliprimaryschool.co.uk/curriculum/reading
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The children are also writing blogs on the website about the work they are doing in school
and there are lots of photographs to see within the gallery section.
Following our consultation with parents in the autumn page we understand that the
website is a valuable tool for communication between home and school. Staff work hard
to ensure that the website is kept up to date with information for parents, photographs
and news of school events. We also ensure that letters home and all newsletters are
uploaded in order to support our busy families.
Remember if you visit the website don’t forget to leave a comment on the visitors page.
Term Dates 2015/16 are available on the school website.
Future Events
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World book day Thursday 5 March.
Children can come dressed as their favourite character from a book.
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Red nose day Friday 13 March.
Children can come to school wearing red and donate £1 to the charity.
Page 2 of 4
School Newsletter
Attendance Figures Spring 2015
% attendance for Spring Term 1
97
96
95
94
93
92
91
90
89
88
87
FSRO
FSRL
KS10
KS1L
KS1I
KS1S KS2LO KS2LL KS2LI KS2LS KS2UO KS2UL KS2UI
100% attendance trip
Last half termly attendance trip was a great success and we took 142 children to the
Yellow Sub Play Centre. As usual the children were extremely well behaved and they
all had a great time.
This half term’s attendance trip for Spring 1 will be to the Bowling Alley on Edge
Lane. The trip will take place on Friday 20th March 2015 and we will be taking 150
children.
Thank you for your support with attendance which is continuing to show
improvement.
Parents’ Evening Spring 2015
This term Parents’ Evenings will take place over 2 nights due to the excellent attendance of parents at our recent
meetings. We hope this will enable us to accommodate everybody more comfortably while supporting effective
discussion and communication between our families and school staff.
Foundation Stage and KS1 on Tuesday 31st March 2015 at 3.30pm
Key Stage 2 on Wednesday 1st April 2015 at 3.30pm
They will all be held in the gym and you will be given feedback on your child’s progress and attitude to learning
along with an attendance update and target for the summer term. Your child’s class teacher will send out more
information and an appointment time in due course.
Page 3 of 4
School Newsletter
Playground Buddies
Since September Miss Hughes has been working with the Playground Buddies each week in
order to equip them with the skills they will need to be effective playground friends.
The children have been very busy creating a playground code of conduct that outlines
what is acceptable behaviour on the Key Stage One yard. Miss Hughes has also supported
the Playground Buddies so that they know what to do if they see behaviour that they don’t
think is appropriate. They have spent time discussing what bullying is and what it might
look like. From that, the children created a flow chart for all children to use if they suspect
bullying is happening. They have been proudly displaying these around the school.
It has been a joy to see the buddies introducing a range of traditional games to the
children. This has kept the children very busy on the yard! Caitlin (one of our buddies) has
said
‘I enjoy getting to know the children and being there for them. I’ve learnt how to listen to
them and play different games.’
The children completed their training last week and at assembly they received their
Playground Buddy high visibility jacket so that the Key Stage One children can easily
identify them.
This programme has been a resounding success and when asked, 99% of Key Stage One
children are really enjoying the presence of the buddies on their yard.
During the next half term we are going to be applying for the Anti Bullying Quality Mark.
The work our children are undertaking is really helping towards ensuring that our school
remains a happy place for all of our children.
Waste Week: 2nd to 6th March
Waste week is the beginning of a spring term topic on recycling, which gives the children an opportunity to explore the
impact that all waste materials have on our local and wider environment. In class they will be thinking about the key
messages of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and they will learn how their waste, such as plastic bottles etc., ends up as
landfill waste.
As parents you could become involved by encouraging the children to take part in reducing, recycling and reusing at
home by doing simple things such as switching off lights, pulling out plugs that are not in use, turning PlayStation’s and
games off standby and by turning off taps when brushing their teeth etc.
Each class will have their own recycling focus such as holding a book swops in school or by bringing in an item of clothing
for charity or they will be taking part in the year 5 and LIPA project to donate an old football kit or shirt to Africa.
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If you would like more information on waste week and access to resources that you can share with your children at home
follow the link to the Pod/EDF energy website:
http://jointhepod.org/campaigns/campaigh30
School Newsletter
Page 4 of 4
Our New Canteen
Over the last 12 months the School Council has been working closely with the leadership team to redesign and
update our school canteen.
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Their wish list was long but eventually they narrowed it down in consultation with their classmates. They decided
that they wanted it to have
 a coffee shop feel
 enough space and variety of tables so that they could choose to sit in small or larger groups and they wanted
 higher tables that looked out over the gardens.
The canteen was enlarged over the summer holidays and we have met together with several companies to see their
products and design options. The school council finally agreed on a design and the new canteen furniture was fitted
over the half term holidays.
The children and staff were thrilled with everything with some saying that it’s now even better than McDonalds. The
School Council has worked hard on this project and has created a wonderful, social, lunchtime dining experience.
The final stage of the project will take place over the Easter break when we update the servery.
Year 5 LIPA drama project and recycling football Kits
Year 5 children are involved in a drama project with a LIPA student and as
part of the project they have been linked with a school in Ghana called
Ankoma Presbyterian Primary School. Throughout the project, pupils have
been exploring the issues around each other’s lives and the work is raising
awareness surrounding the poverty the children in Ankoma face. The drama
sessions focus on confidence building and team work, alongside improving
literacy and drama skills.
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The children have begun communicating with the school and we received
two lovely photographs from the children of Ankoma School. Our children
have been writing letters back to them and they will be sent this week.
All of this work will be the focus of the Year 5 parents’ assembly on the 18th
March and there will be updates on the project on the school website too.
So that we could make the link with Waste Week and recycling more
personal, Year 5 have decided to donate their old football kits and shirts to
the school children in Ankoma School in Ghana. A container of school
supplies is being sent to the school in Ghana by the project leaders and they
were so delighted with the children’s suggestion that they have assured
them that they will make space on the container for the donated kits and
shirts. During this season of Lent it is good to see the children thinking about
how they can do something positive to help school children in another part
of the world
If you and your family would also like to support this recycling charity
project please send in any clean football kits or shirts that your children
have outgrown to your child’s class teacher. They will forward them on to
Mr. Garth and Miss Topping.
The two photos received from
the children of Ankoma
Presbyterian Primary School.