September 2024

Swansfield Park Primary
School Newsletter

welcome to the autumn term

A Message from Mrs Grimes

A warm welcome to everyone and especially those joining us for the first time this week.

The sun shone for us on Wednesday morning and the children returned to school beautifully, full of chat about their summer holidays and ready to get on with their learning in their new classrooms. I was very proud as I visited each class and saw caring, curious and courageous youngsters, embracing their new start.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and I also hope that you’ll consider getting involved in school life this half term - whether that is through our Friends of Swansfield, by coming along to our Harvest Festival or joining us for family lunch or a class assembly. You can find more details if you read on!

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have a question or a query that I can help with.

I look forward to seeing you throughout the half term.

With my best wishes,

Anne-Marie Grimes

Introducing our new senior students

Fresh from their election in the summer term and ready to get started with their year

I am delighted to introduce you all to our new head boy and head girl who are keen and eager to establish themselves in their new and exciting roles. In their own words…

Hello, I am George and I am head boy for Swansfield Park Primary School. I am here to make school a better place and to make friends with everyone. I am in Larch Class so if you have any questions, you can just ask me and I will always listen to you and try to help. Please say ‘hi’ if you see me around!

Hi, my name is Lilly and I am now in Rowan Class. I am here as head girl this year and you should feel confident asking me questions because I’m here to help you feel safe in Swansfield Park Primary School. So, next time I walk past you, or if you see me out and about, please say hello!

Working alongside George and Lilly are our wonderful new Castle Captains:

For Alnwick Castle: Sophie Tincombe and Ollie Findler

For Bamburgh Castle: Ella Armstrong and Theo Thomas

For Warkworth Castle Abi Oliver and Alex Jepson

For Dunstanburgh Castle Niamh Claxton and Noah Edgar-Hogg

We know that all of these students will relish their responsibilities and will be excellent ambassadors for our school in the coming year!

Attendance Matters

Find out how new national guidelines may affect your family

A letter will be sent out in the next few days from Northumberland County Council giving details of the changes to national legislation which takes effect from September 2024. In light of this new legislation, Northumberland County Council have written and shared their own Attendance Improvement Strategy to set out their vision for school attendance. In a nutshell, its aim is to ensure that:

‘All children and young people in Northumberland enjoy good attendance at school, or alternative education provision, in environments where they are safe to learn, achieved through partnership working to provide timely and meaningful support when it is needed.’

Having good attendance is a key factor in educational success. This useful diagram shows what we consider to be good attendance here in Northumberland:

To support all children to achieve good attendance, the new legislation continues to encourage partnership work between families, schools and local authorities . This support can include:

Telephone calls between school and home when children are not in attendance

Letters from school to inform parents when attendance is becoming concerning with an offer of support to improve this

Referrals to and meetings with the Education Welfare Officer

Early Help

Mental health services

In addition to these measures, there is new legislation with regard to the issuing of Penalty Notices to address poor attendance. A penalty notice can now be considered when a child has been absent for 10 sessions (5 school days) within a rolling period of 10 school weeks. It is important to note that there can be legitimate reasons why a child may be absent for longer than 5 school days within this period and when this is the case, a Penalty Notice would not be considered. However, in cases where absence is not authorised (for example, a term time holiday or where a valid reason for absence has not been identified or communicated), then schools should consider submitting a request for a Penalty Notice to be issued. Please note that it is Northumberland County Council who issue Penalty Notices and not individual schools. Further details will be sent out in the next few days from Northumberland County Council to give you further information about this.

However, I want to reassure all families that where children are struggling with attendance, our policy continues to prioritise support to improve.

Please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Grimes or Mr Fordham-Scott if you are concerned about any aspect of attendance and we will be only too happy to help.

Get involved and help raise money for out school...

Friends of Swansfield Park

The Friends of Swansfield Park are looking forward to a new year of fund raising to support additional resources and experiences across school.

Their first event of the year will be the ever-popular Halloween disco. We’ll be in touch with a date for this event very soon but we look forward to running three sessions again so that all children across school can enjoy a party suitable for their age.

We will also be holding an AGM. It is vital that parents and carers support this if the work of the Friends is to continue. Currently, we have a small army of dedicated committee members who work tirelessly to organise events for the whole school community and they need new recruits! Please consider getting involved. It’s a great way to meet people, have some fun and raise money for school!

We’re a talented bunch here at Swansfield...

Celebrating Success!

We were delighted to come into school on Monday 9th September to the wonderful news that Lee had not only taken part in the Mini Great North Run, but that he did so with a podium finish! Lee finished in an amazing 2nd position, recording the second fastest race time across the whole of the Mini GNR. This is a huge achievement and we are all so very proud of you, Lee. Lee is looking forward to moving on to the Junior Great North Run next year and we know he’ll continue to experience success!

Don’t forget to let us know of your children’s achievements out of school, we love to share their success with everyone and pass on our congratulations.

Here’s what is coming up for all the family to get involved with

Family Events

Harvest Festivals

One of our favourite events of the year is our Harvest celebration, which will be held this year on October 17th. The children will perform songs, poems and share artwork as part of this annual event.

There will be three festivals across the day to ensure that all children can get involved.

Pear and Plum classes will start the day with a short and very informal performance at 09.15.

This will be followed by Ash, Oak, Beech and Chestnut classes with their performance at 10.15

Finally, Willow, Maple, Sycamore, Larch and Rowan classes will perform at 13.45 to bring the ‘harvest home’.

Children are encouraged to bring in a donation of dried food (pasta, rice, tins etc) on Wednesday 16th or Thursday 17th to add to the Harvest Table. The collection will then be donated to the Alnwick Food Bank to support families in our community.

Family Lunches and Class Assemblies

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone in for a class assembly and family lunch again this year.

You are warmly invited to join your child for a roast lunch on their family lunch day. A booking form will be sent to you the week before the event and lunch is served at 11.45. In addition to this, each class performs one assembly each year and family members are invited to support the children as they present. A reminder is sent when your child’s assembly is coming up.

Here are the dates across the year to pop into your diaries so you know when events are coming up for your children:

Family Lunches

Date

Pear Class

15th January

Plum Class

19th March

Ash Class

25th September

Oak Class

11th June

Beech Class

9th October

Chestnut Class

7th May

Willow Class

20th November

Maple Class

2nd April

Sycamore Class

27th November

Larch Class

23rd October

Rowan Class

5th February

Class Assembly

Date

Pear Class

19th June

Plum Class

22nd May

Ash Class

3rd April

Oak Class

6th March

Beech Class

23rd January

Chestnut Class

10th October

Willow Class

20th March

Maple Class

30th January

Sycamore Class

8th May

Larch Class

6th February

Rowan Class

21st November

Here’s a run down on the events for the whole term. Further details for many of these dates will be communicated closer to the time.
Autumn Term Diary Dates

Date

Event

23rd September

Teacher led clubs start this week

25th September

Tennis Festival

23rd September

School Photographs

25th September

Ash Class family lunch

9th October

Beech Class family lunch

10th October

Chestnut Class assembly

17th October

Harvest Festivals

18th October

Community Soup and Sing in school

23rd October

Larch Class family lunch

25th October

Break up for half term

4th November

Training Day (school closed to children, Tic Toc open)

6th and 7th November

Parent Consultations

11th November

School Remembrance Service

12th and 13th November

Parent consultations

15th November

Children in Need

16th November

Choir singing at St Mary’s Church, Lesbury

20th November

Willow Class family lunch

21st November

Rowan Class assembly

27th November

Sycamore Class family lunch

10th (pm) 11th (am) December

Infant Nativity performances

11th and 12th December

Junior Christmas performance

13th December

Christmas Jumper Day

16th and 17th December

Rock Steady Performance (16th)

Cherry and Apple class songs around the Christmas tree

18th December

Class Christmas parties and Christmas lunch

19th December

Christingle at St Paul’s church

20th December

Break up for Christmas holiday

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