Governors welcome.

Welcome one and all from all the Governors at Knutton St Mary’s. Here’s hoping for a zero-bubble closure year so that all the exciting learning and activities planned by the staff, can be experienced by all, alongside friends and peers.

The Local Governing Committee (LGC) are hoping to return to holding their meetings in school, rather than via zoom, so that we too get to experience all that is happening at the school.

One of the roles of the LGC is to ‘hold the Principal to account’. Last year we did this by questioning the senior leadership team about the progress the children were making whilst being educated at home and at school. Mrs Rowlandson and the senior leadership team assured us that progress had been made but inevitably some gaps for some children had been identified. So, this year we will be asking what is being done to close the gaps and how effective that work is being.

We also had a very interesting and informative presentation from Mr Collier on the i-pad strategy. What a blessing the i-pads turned out to be during the various lock downs and times of being educated at home. So once again the LGC will be asking how effective the i-pads are being in supporting the work to close the gaps.

It goes without saying that if it were not for you as parents supporting your children here at Knutton St Mary’s, getting them to school on time and making sure that they are ready to learn that the job of the teachers would be so much harder.

It is a real team effort that makes Knutton St Mary’s the great school that it is and long may that continue – thank you.

Anne Gadsden Chair of Governors

Knutton Community Library

The library is open for click and collect between 10am and 2pm every Saturday. Books can be ordered via BorrowBox (www.borrowbox.com) and collected from the library.

"Through the App., you can download audio books and e-books. Just like the Library you can browse, order, and acquire any book of your choice. I have used this facility for nearly two years now and found it very easy and convenient to use especially during lockdown when access to the Library was curtailed. I would highly recommend the use of this free service to anyone." - John Pollock, Library Volunteer

Lateral flow home test kits are now available for collection from Knutton Community library. Simply drop in between 10am and 2pm and ring the bell. Two boxes may be collected per person.

The library now has it's own facebook page. Click on the link below for library updates and information.

Your school needs you

Please consider joining our Local Governing Committee. Parent governors play a vital role on governing bodies, holding the unique position of having a parental viewpoint of the school. The role involves three meetings per year. We would be delighted to welcome any of our new parents onto our Local Governing committee.

EYFS update

We at KSM believe that the secure foundations provided by a high quality Early years learning environment, curriculum and staff ensure that all children have the best start to their education.

Attendance

Daily attendance is vital to your child's wellbeing, in maintaining friendships and achieving potential. Unless too poorly to attend, children need to be in school, on time every day. Well done to everyone who has been in school every day that they could this week. Keep up the good work.

Holidays in term time

A reminder that holidays in term time will not be authorised and may result in parent's being fined. Our key priority is to ensure that your child is as successful as possible, is able to reach their full potential and gains maximum benefit from their educational experiences.

The Alice pantry

We have large stocks of food, hygiene and personal products in our Alice pantry. If you need a little help, please do let us know and we will do all that we can to support your family.

Nursery admissions

Our Nursery is almost full. If your child is three between 1/9/2018 and 31/8/2019 please contact the office to add them to the waiting list.

As a school nursery, we are able to offer an early year’s curriculum which fully prepares our children for their Reception year, from Summer 2021 our nursery provision is full time. We are very excited about this change and hope that it will support families and children. The children already doing full days have settled into the new routine well and are really enjoying their days, parental feedback has been very positive too.

Early reading and phonics

At KSM we use the RWinc phonics programme to teach early reading. We have added a wide range of videos to our web page to help you to help your child with their phonics and early reading. By working together, we can support our children to learn to read, write and spell whilst fostering a love of reading and writing.

Teaching reading using phonics is probably very different to how you learned to read and can be confusing. Each week we will add another video to support you to help your child to learn. This weeks video explains what Rwinc phonics is.

Uniform

A reminder that children should be wearing full school uniform and PE kit on their designated PE days. Uniform requirements can be found on the academy website.

Black school shoes or plain black trainers are compulsory uniform items.

Please ensure that t-shirts are appropriate for school - crop tops may not be worn.

Coronavirus - When to self isolate.

Please ensure that if your child displays any symptoms of coronavirus, that they stay at home and go for a PCR test. These can be booked online or go to a drop in test centre.

You will know that the three main symptoms of COVID-19 are a high temperature, a persistent cough or a loss of smell or taste. If any family members or close contacts have symptoms or a positive test, please arrange for a PCR test. They must get tested with a PCR test not a lateral flow test. This can be booked on https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or ring 119.

You should NOT bring your child to school if they are unwell but book a PCR test to be certain. Better safe than sorry!

Communication

We will continue to email and text information out to you all. Please do check our website regularly and the section home learning for links to class timetables.

Don’t forget to follow your child’s class on Twitter for regular updates about learning, activities, clubs etc.