Daily Archives: October 6, 2013

Last week we enjoyed another great week at Copthorne and I am sure this week will be just as exciting. It is always such a pleasure to walk through our school and experience such a calm, learning atmosphere. I visited a number of classes last Friday and was thrilled to see all of our children working so hard and enjoying the inspiring lessons being delivered. It was especially pleasing to hear the mathematical language that the children in 6 Sycamore were using and the way that each one of the children could clearly explain what the terms meant  – Keep up the wonderful work, everyone!

Autumn Fayre

Once again thank you to the whole of our community, pupils and staff for making this event such a success.  I am thrilled to report we raised £952.46 which will be used to provide even more exciting learning activities for our children. One group of children have come to me with a great plan for building a greenhouse which would be used to grow seedlings to plant in our allotment and make a community vegetable garden. I think this would be a very good use for some of the money raised. The School Council will be able to discuss the idea this week and, hopefully, with their agreement, we can make a start on the project.

Safeguarding Audit

Last week the school underwent a rigorous audit of its safeguarding policies and procedures.  Safeguarding includes the arrangements in place to protect all of our children and staff both physically and emotionally.  The audit found that our practices and procedures are outstanding and comply  with all relevant laws and regulations regarding child protection and health and safety.  Thank you to all children, staff and parents for working with us to ensure Copthorne is such a safe and happy environment to work and learn in.

This week at Copthorne

Head Teacher’s Performance Appraisal

All staff including Head Teachers go through an annual staff appraisal process.  This involves targets being set related to each individual’s role in school.  Staff then work towards the achievement of these targets and their performance against these is evaluated annually. Today, Monday 7th October,  both Mr Jacques and I be taking part in our appraisal review and we will be setting our  targets  for the following year. If anyone is interested in finding out about how our targets are set and appraised feel free to ask or visit http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/deployingstaff/b00201884/new-arrangements for further information.

School Council Meeting

On Monday 7th October at 12.30pm the next School Council meeting will take place. We look forward to hearing all about our pupils’ ideas for the future at Copthorne.

Governing Body Meeting

This Wednesday, 9th October, at 4.30pm there will be a meeting of Copthorne’s Governing Body.  As you will know our Governors are  very important partners in the work we do at Copthorne and I look forward to sharing with them developments and plans since our last conversations.

Forest Schools

Half the pupils from 4 Beech will continue to take part in our Forest School Programme this Friday, 11th October.  Last week the group had an exiting time in spite of the rain – it turns out that mud is a good thing when you are wearing the right clothes! I am sure that this week’s experience will be just as positive.

Eid Parties and Asian Dress Day

On Friday, 11th October we are inviting all children, staff and volunteers to come to school in Asian dress. This will form part of our Eid celebrations. We will also be holding an Eid party in each class during the afternoon and Mrs Ramsden also has a special Eid meal planned for everyone.

Eid Holiday

School will be closed from Monday 14th to Wednesday 15th October inclusive. This includes an additional day to those published on our holiday calendar as Eid will now take place on Tuesday and Wednesday rather than  Monday and Tuesday as originally thought by the Local Authority.  Eid-al-Adha, which commemorates Ibrahim’s (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son to God. This festival also marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and is celebrated by a large proportion of our community. We have, therefore, used one of our training days to extend the holiday for parents and children and so allow our community to celebrate Eid at home. Teachers will be directed to carry out specific work at home during one of the 3 days.

School will reopen at the usual time on Thursday 17th October.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy a very happy Eid next week. Eid Mubarak!

Mrs Shepherd