Latest News

POLLING DAY - WE'RE OPEN!

Parkfield will be a polling station for the forthcoming General Election but you will be pleased to know that we are going to be open on Thursday 12th December. Fortunately, building the new fence between the KS1 and KS2 yard means we can keep our children safe and separated from the general public. The voting will take place in the Blue room which can be locked off from the rest of the school. To minimise contact with the general public on the day all children will enter the school through the KS2 entrances. More information will follow nearer the time.

BOOK PEOPLE BOOK FAIR

We have some exciting news! The Book People 'Bus' will be on the school car park this Monday 4th November selling some great books at a fantastic price. School will recieve a proportion of the money that our friends and families spend on the day. Please bring your wallets and purses ready to buy some great books.

HOUSE POINTS CHANGE

You'll be aware that every child in the school is a member of one of our four houses: Archers, Assheton, Bamford and Wood. Children earn house points for their team and these totals are counted each week by the Y6 house captains. Previously, we counted up these totals and had an end of year winner. However, we're changing it so that there is a winner each half term. Each week, all four teams will earn 1, 2, 3 or 4 points dependent on how many house points have been won and at the end of each half term, the points will be counted up with the winning house having a 'house' reward. We feel this will invigorate the reward system and make sure more children are rewarded for their fabulous behaviour.

PTA RAFFLE TICKETS

Would you like to win £500 before Christmas? Please keep an eye out for a raffle ticket books being sent early next week where £5 enters you into the prize draw.

WINTER CLOTHING

Please ensure your child comes to school with appropriate clothing for the cold weather. All children will need a suitable coat and hat. A scarf and gloves will also probably be needed as we do venture outside in all weathers.

CONGRATULATIONS

Miss Danby, who is currently on maternity leave, got married over half-term and will now be known as Mrs Hartley.

ALDI STICKERS

Thank you to everyone who's been bringing these in - we're now starting to fill up our second chart.

NEW FENCING AND EARLY YEARS OUTDOOR AREA

If you've not already noticed, we now have a new fence and gate at the side of the Blue Room. This will help us better enclose Reception's outdoor area. We've also had some additional work completed in our friendship garden meaning that our Reception children will have a larger, more varied area to venture into to take part in lots of outdoor activities such as den building, bug hunting, story telling and tree climbing!

CURRICULUM OVERVIEWS

Our teachers have been working hard on our new curriculum website to now have information about the topics each class will be learning about this half-term:

• Reception: How do you celebrate?
• Years 1 and 2: Where would you prefer to live: England or Kenya?
• Years 3 and 4: Would we survive without gravity, electricity or water?
• Years 5 and 6: How did the Battle of Britain change WWII?

LEARNING LOGS

Tasks for this half-term have been sent out to children in Years 1-6 this week. We were very impressed by both the quantity and quality of work handed in last time so we look forward to seeing them in December. As usual, all those children who complete them will be given the opportunity to talk about their learning with their class and be rewarded with house points and a certificate.

THANK YOU

We now have lots of newspapers in school for whenever we need it for art/DT lessons thanks to several big donations - we'll let you know when we're next wanting more. Another thank you to Maisie's family for donating Christmas costumes and Amelia-Jane's family for sending in lots of marvelous items that can be used as prizes in upcoming events.

VOLUNTEERS

We are currently looking for volunteers to read with some of our Key Stage One children. If you are interested in offering your services then please contact Mrs Whalen.

BOOKS

We are asking for book donations for our Key Stage Two children. If you have any books at home by popular authors that the older children in the school would enjoy then we would be very grateful if you would donate them to our class libraries. (For example, Jeff Kinney, Michael Morpurgo, David Walliams, etc). We are also looking for donations of comic books and magazines that are appropriate for children and that they are interested in. (For example: Minecraft Magazine, Match, CBeebies, Beano etc) Please bring them into school for Mrs Whalen to sort through. Thank you!

POPPIES

Our School Council are currently selling a variety of items in aid of the Royal British Legion's annual fundraising campaign leading up to Remembrance Day. Please note that there are suggested donation amounts for each type of item.

DISCO TICKETS

Tickets for the children's fancy dress disco, organised by the PTA, on Friday 15th November at 6:30pm, are currently on sale at the office for £5.

TWITTER

Please keep following us on Twitter - there's lots of photos on their of what children have been learning about recently, including the Y5/6 trip to Stockport Air Raid shelters and lots of pumpkin photos that people have sent in from home.

PARENT EVENTS COMING UP

Please check the calendar below for dates and times of events coming up this half term. We have some parent drop ins, Reception Stay and Play, nativity performances and a Christmas Carol concert to look forward too.

PANTOMIME

The whole school will be visiting Middleton Arena for this year's Cinderella festive pantomime on Tuesday 10th December. The PTA will be kindly donating 50% of the ticket price towards the show which means it will only cost £5 per child for this wonderful experience. Payment can now be made on the School Gateway.

HEYWOOD LEGO SHOW

For any fans of Lego, there's a great event on in Heywood this Saturday and Sunday with lots of models to look at and stalls selling reduced-price sets.

REMINDER: GOOD LUCK MR BARNES

Organ donation makes a huge difference to the lives of individuals and their families who battle with life-threatening illnesses every single day. It is with this in mind that I am writing to inform you that our Y6 teacher, Mr Barnes, will leave us for a short while to donate a kidney to a close family member. It will hopefully mean that this person will be able to live a normal life again.

Mr Hellon, an experienced Y6 and KS2 teacher, will join us to teach Year 6 until Mr Barnes returns in the Spring term. To ensure a smooth transition and to continue the high expectations we set in Y6, Mr Hellon will be working alongside Mr Barnes for a few weeks before his surgery. Mr Barnes’ last day will be Friday 22nd November and I’m sure you will all join me in wishing him and his family good luck for the big operation and a speedy recovery for both donor and recipient.

REMINDER: ATTENDANCE POLICY

A reminder that our attendance policy has been updated and is now available on our website here. The key change is that our policy is now in line with the local authority and other local schools regarding penalty notices. A penalty notice will be issued for holidays taken during term-time which total 5 days or more. We recognise that this is short notice and as a result will implement the change from Christmas. In addition, if you have already booked a holiday after Christmas, and have the evidence proving that the holiday has already been booked we will not issue a penalty notice. I'm sure you will understand that having good attendance and punctuality is vital for children to achieve and succeed at school and thanks in advance for your support on this matter.

• Please let the school office know as soon as possible if your child is changing from school meals to packed lunches and vice versa.
• In line with local authority guidance, the price of school meals has increased to £2.20 each day, £11 per week for KS2 children. All monies will be collected using 'School Gateway'. Please note, if school meals are 2 weeks in arrears you will be asked to provide a packed lunch.
• The school provides healthy and nutritious school meals that are cooked onsite. The contents of each school meal is in line with Healthy Eating Guidelines which is a requirement for all schools.
• All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM), irrespective of family income and family circumstances. If your circumstances change in future and you then receive benefits, you will need to apply for a Free School Meal (FSM). The number of children entitled to a FSM affects the funding we receive as a school. Therefore, we kindly ask all parents that believe they may be entitled, to apply for FSM. These forms can be collected from the school office or downloaded online from http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/schools_and_children/free_school_meals.aspx