This week our school value is Respect. In our Monday assembly, we talked about how everybody responds differently to change. Children are learning about different sorts of change in their Jigsaw lessons this term, including the change of moving to secondary schol, or getting a new teacher. We have lots of new staff joining us in September, and as promised last week we can introduce you to more of them now...

Staffing

We are delighted to welcome more new teachers and teaching assistants to our team from September. Miss Deane will be teaching on a Thursday and Friday (joining with Mrs Booth to share a class) and Miss Fairfield is our new cover HLTA who will be teaching across all year groups. We are excited to welcome back Mrs Bennerson who will be joining us as a Teaching Assistant. Also joining the TA team is Mrs Chatterton, who some of you may know already as a parent. Finally we must congratulate Mrs Fletcher on her new role as a teaching assistant. This means we will be recruiting for a new member of the office team - the advert is below.

Maternity News

Congratulations to Miss Evdyriadou who is expecting a baby and will be going on maternity leave during next academic year! Returning from maternity leave during the next year, we will welcome back Miss Bailey and Miss Jefferies to the team.

Vancancy - Admin Assistant

Are you friendly, approachable and happy to help others? Do you enjoy working closely with others and being part of a team? Are you able to juggle the demands of a busy office? Do you care about the needs of pupils and staff? If so, we want to hear from you!

We are looking for a School Receptionist to join a hard-working team, committed to supporting the school. This role is fixed term for one year, 32.5 hours per week, term time only, plus INSET days.

This is an exciting opportunity, working in the heart of the school. The right candidate will have a proactive approach to work, will thrive in a busy office environment, and will be willing to work collaboratively with the rest of the office team with various administrative tasks, as the need arises. We are seeking an experienced office administrator who has worked within a busy school office. The ideal candidate should be a welcoming, calm, professional individual who is passionate about providing an excellent support service to our pupils, parents, staff and visitors.

Click here for more information and to apply.

Please spread the word to anyone who you think may be interested!

Year 4 camp

Year 4 pupils returned from camp at Grittleton House today. They had an amazing time with activities including Bushcraft Survival, Problem Solving, Water Wars, Escape & Evasion, and a camp fire. We are so proud of everyone for their teamwork, resilience, friendliness and joy. They say a picture paints a thousand words, so here are a few thousand words about our wonderful year four pupils. Thanks to Miss Datta, Mrs Walker, Mr Irwin, Mrs Nottage, Mrs Charles, Mrs Davidge, Mrs Burn, Mrs Mills, Mrs Brown, Mrs Heath, Mr Gunner and Mr Bailey for making this possible. Back at Basecamp, the children enjoyed lots of creative and active opportunities with Mrs Olejnik and Mrs Buckland.

Teacher Strikes - 5th and 7th July 2023

You might have heard that the largest teaching union, the NEU, have announced two more teacher strikes on Wednesday 5th July and Friday 7th July. This is part of their ongoing dispute with the government about how much schools are funded, as well as their pay and conditions. Every school will be affected differently by this industrial action depending on the number of their teachers who are members of the NEU (and therefore legally protected if they take strike action). Like on previous teacher strike days, it is very likely we will close the school on Wednesday 5th July and Friday 7th July. We will confirm this during next week, but would advise you to make advance arrangements for childcare. If the NEU call off their strike, we will let you know.

Moose OFSTED

Congratulations to MOOSE for a successful OFSTED inspection last month. Here is a link to their report on the OFSTED website.

Other Information

• One of our parents, Sarah, is organising a charity static bike ride in July to arrange funding to help with patient travel expenses. Sarah is a liver transplant coordinator and is organanising this jointly with a patient. For more information and if you would like to support the fundraiser, click on this Just Giving Link.
• For details of Summer Football Fundays at Longwell Green Community Sports venue, click the flyer below. These football fundays are open to children of all skill levels, whether a beginner or an experienced player. The program is designed to provide a fun, supportive environment where children can learn new skills, make new friends and enjoy football together.

On Wednesday this week, we welcomed the next generation to join Victoria Park Primary School at our parents and carers meeting for new Reception families. It was great to see so many new and familiar faces. Have a lovely weekend!