Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
I am pleased to announce that he parent voice (questionnaire outcomes) have been received and analysed and are available now on the 'About Us' pages on the school website.
How is the data from the questionnaires used?
The information from the data is used to identify areas for improvement and or secure practices that work well. Outcomes are shared at all levels from support staff, teachers, senior leaders and governors. As the finding sheet evidences, we share the information publicly so that the local community and all stakeholders can have an insight into the performance of the school.
Once analysed, patterns and trends can be used to refine / instigate adjustments to the way we work and what practices we employ. It is common for these to be used as part of the school formal Self Evaluation as well as School Development Planning documents.
THE PUPIL JOB CENTRE
As many of you are no doubt aware by now, as part of our drive to ensure that learning at the school has real world and meaningful purpose, we focus our learning around our 'Ashgate DNA' threads.
Details of the DNA, what they are and how we build our curriculum around them, can be found under our 'Curriculum' page (the purple pencil tab') alongside our detailed curriculum sequence.
THE PUPIL JOB CENTRE - ('Your Future' - 'Your Self)
Taking ownership of ones future is an important message in the school and one that will support children in the wider world as they progress through life.
As such, we today launch our 'Pupil Job Centre' initiative. Overt the coming weeks and months, rather than simply task or allocate key jobs in the school (the traditional approach), we will be encouraging children to apply for positions that are advertised centrally in the school. Each job, commonly a monitoring position such as a librarian, will be advertised with a salary (RESPECT Tickets to open in the RESPECT Shop).
As with 'real world' positions, there will be an application process with specific skills identified, a commitment to the role and a submission deadline. Naturally, some children will need some assistance and guidance and the process will be very age specific.
We are confident that this strategy will give children an initial understanding of the workplace environment and the confidence and basic skills needed to put themselves forward, be rewarded for their efforts and value their contributions.
I wanted to pass on genuine and heart held thanks to all the adults who attended the phonics session for parents today.
Over 40 parents attended the session that was led by Ms Vobes, our Early Reading Lead.
As was shared, phonics and early reading is the keystone to a pupil's success across many aspects of their life, including that beyond school and academia.
The 'Phonics Shed' programme is now running across the school and with your support I am confident it will be a big success, especially for those children who, as a result of the pandemic, missed out on opportunities to progress at a rate we would have normally seen.
Look out for further similar sessions during the academic year. Remember, 'practice makes permanent!'
Pupils at Ashgate Primary School were today visited by Nottingham University’s Robotics department as part of the school’s Science, Technology and Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) studies.
Pupils in Year 1 and 2 saw Spot in action, demonstrating its manoeuvrability skills and capabilities, with some children being given the opportunity to directly control Spot and explore how he works through a variety of cameras and sensors. The robot, which has multiple real life functions including application as a search and rescue device, was put through its paces, climbing stairs, moving at pace, crouching and even self-correcting when knocked over.
Pictures of the visit are available on the Gallery Page.
Click, Children, Gallery, Years 1/2
Following the announcement this weekend that King Charles has declared the Monday 19th September a bank holiday period to enable the nation to mourn the loss of Queen Elizabeth and witness the state funeral, I confirm that the school will be closed. This is in line with direction from the Department for Education.
DfE Statement:
"The official date of the State Funeral is 19 September 2022. This day will be a bank holiday and settings that are normally closed on a bank holiday should close on this day as a mark of respect. This will include schools and colleges".
Dear parents
As you are aware the school now provides, free of charge, a morning fruit snack for all children at the school (this was previously only for Early Years and Key Stage 1). We no longer sell cereal bars, biscuits or similar and this reflects our Healthy School Status. A fruit only snack option is an appropriate and positive drive to ensure children receive an energy boost that is nutritious and healthy.
If you decide that your child does not wish to have the fruit provided by school, you are free to provide an alternative fruit / vegetable (such as carrot sticks) choice. Fruit is the only snack permitted unless there is a medically evidenced reason otherwise. Requests for a child to eat other types of snacks through preference will as a general rule not be accepted.
You are reminded that children need not bring in any money for snacks, which I know will be appreciated at times when household budgets are stretched.
Today, alongside thousands of others worldwide, we reflect on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who died yesterday afternoon.
We marked the occasion with an extended Friday assembly in recognition of her life and her dedication to the people of the United Kingdom, The Commonwealth and beyond. The assembly included a 2 minute silence.
Bereavement and loss are managed sensitively in the school and it is hoped that we struck the right balance and chord between loss and celebration.
The reflection ended with a sharing of the Jubilee clip of Her Majesty and Paddington Bear, a clip that touchingly and accurately demonstrated the personal connection with her people and the collective appreciation of her subjects through Paddington’s poignant final words, “Thank you Ma’am…for everything’.
The Queen is dead, long live the King.
We are excited to be starting to use our new phonics scheme 'Phonics Shed' to help develop the children's early reading skills. There are fun new characters to meet and songs and actions to learn.
Soon the children will be bringing home their new books to practice reading with you, along with the new sounds and words that they will be learning in their phonics sessions each week.
In EYFS and KS1 they will also be set fun activities and games that they can do at home to help them practice their new skills,
KS2 will also have some fun new activities to help them with learning spellings each week as they begin to use Spelling Shed!
Parents are invited to come to hear all about this in more detail and ask any questions they might have on Friday 16th September at 2pm.
We hope you can join us,
Ms Vobes
Early Reading and English lead,
Dear parents and carers
We are always seeking to improve practices at the school and value your views. To support this aim we are issuing our latest parent survey. To access the survey click the link below. The survey will take no more than 2 minutes to complete and is in a multiple choice format.
Responses should be based on the wider experience of you and your child (commonly over the duration of 12 months) as this gives us a more realistic picture of the day to day experiences of pupils and families over time. For families new to the school, we recognise that your experience may be limited and ask that you complete the survey to the best of your knowledge.
Responses are completely anonymous and collated by a third party provider.
The deadline for responses is Friday 16th September 2022, responses received after this time may not be included in the analysis or included in published outcomes.
Click the link below