FRIDAY 24TH OCTOBER - SCHOOL CLOSES FOR HALF TERM

MONDAY 3RD NOVEMBER - SCHOOL RE-OPENS  - School 

TUESDAY 4TH NOVEMBER - YEAR 2 FAMILY LEARNING Our Year 2 families are invited to join our next 'Family Learning' event of the year on Tuesday 4th November from 9am - 10am in the school hall.  The event will include the opportunity to work alongside your child with some maths activities and we hope that this will give you the confidence to better support at home. We hope to see you there.

WEDNESDAY 5TH NOVEMBER - REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE 5TH NOVEMBER WHOLE SCHOOL HISTORY THEME DAY

FRIDAY 7TH NOVEMBER - NON-UNIFORM DAY FOR WINNING HOUSE (TBC)

REMEMBRANCE ITEMS ON SALE

Please note that the School Councillors will be demonstrating our kindness school value by selling Remembrance related items when we return after half term. All monies raised will go towards the British Legion charity. 

SCOTT HETHERINGTON CHARACTER AWARD - LISTENING

Congratulations to our five nominees and two winners of the character award for this Autumn half term.  The focus this past term has been on demonstrating wonderful listening skills and our seven chosen Park ielders demonstrate this important quality every day. Special thanks to Scott's mum who provides the winners with a £10 voucher each half term.

RAISING ROCHDALE AWARDS - STAFF NOMINATION

Congratulations to Mrs Langan who was nominated for two Raise Rochdale awards: Primary Support Star of the Year and Mental Health and Wellbeing Award! The nominations demonstrate what brilliant work Mrs Langan does at the school and the positive impact she has in her ELSA role. 

RAISING ROCHDALE AWARDS - WHOLE SCHOOL NOMINATION

The school also recieved a nomination for its 'Commitment to Inclusion'. We were very proud to recieve this nomination particularly because of the hard work and dedication school staff put into ensuring that Parkfield is an inclusive environment for all.

STAFFING CHANGES

Today we said goodbye and good luck to Mrs Bradshaw after nearly five years at Parkfield. Mrs Bradshaw is moving on to an exciting new role at a special high school in Manchester — a position we know she will thrive in. We thank her for her hard work and commitment to our children and wish her every success in the future.

We have successfully appointed Mr Campion, who will be joining the school after half term. Mr Campion will be joining as part of the Year 3 Teaching Assistant SEND team and is looking forward to becoming a Parkfielder. 

ENHANCED SITE SECURITY

We have secured some funding to strengthen the site security and as a result, over the half term, the fence around the KS1 yard will be replaced with a higher fence. 

PROSPECTIVE PARENT OPEN MORNINGS

Is your child due to start primary school in September 2026? Do you know anyone that has a child starting school in 2026? If so, we are inviting prospective parents into the school on Tuesday 11th November from 9.15am. There will be a presentation from the headteacher followed by a tour of the school from our school councillors. Please contact the school office to book your place.

FAMILY HUB APP

Essential Parent GM Family Hub – Apps on Google Play

Family hubs – Rochdale Borough Council

 The Rochdale Family Hub app is a free app, available on iOS and Android, that provides parenting and family support information, including advice on health, development, and local services. Users can find resources from pregnancy to a child's late teens, with articles and videos approved by medical experts, and local activity notifications. 

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SCHOOL DINNER PROVIDER, FRESH KITCHEN, ON ALLERGENS

We are following the recommendation from Allergy UK and are following their recommendation that, instead of banning allergens within our Kitchens we at Fresh Kitchen are Allergen Aware.

 Fresh Kitchen has a robust HACCP system in place that minimises the risk of exposure to allergens, we train our Catering Employees to encourage self-responsibility and have processes in place to any possible emergencies.

 Due to the way our food is prepared, it is not possible to guarantee the absence of allergens within our kitchens. Therefore, we cannot guarantee school meals to be 100% allergen free.

 If you have any concerns in regard to your child and allergens, then please speak to the school office / Kitchen Supervisor who will be more than happy to help.

MAD SCIENCE CLUB 

The club will start after half term each Friday from 3.15 - 4.15pm for those that have requested the place through the Mad Science company. If you have any questions please contact the school office. This is a great opportunity for those pupils to extend their Science knowledge.

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS 

The school photographer took photos of individuals and siblings yesterday. Please ensure you follow the instructions that have been sent home to order your photos online. For info, class photographs are taken later on in the school year.

EASY FUNDRAISING - ONLINE AND APP

We’d like to let you know about a simple and completely free way to help raise funds for Parkfield Primary School through an online platform called easyfundraising that we have currently raised £40 from.

Easyfundraising allows schools, charities and causes across the UK to receive donations whenever supporters shop online. It doesn’t cost you a penny, as over 7,000 retailers (including John Lewis & Partners, Argos, Iceland, Amazon, eBay and M&S) donate a small percentage of your total spend to the school every time you shop via their site or app.

So far, over 190,000 causes have raised more than £56 million through easyfundraising, proving that every little really does help.

To make it even easier, you can download the easyfundraising app to your phone. This means you can raise donations for Parkfield automatically every time you shop online.

To get started and support our school, please click here: Easyfundraising  for Parkfield . Every donation makes a difference to our pupils.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS POORLY

If your child is unwell, please call the school office before 9am and speak directly with a member of our team – Miss Pritchard or Mrs Cummings. We don’t use an answerphone service, as speaking to someone in person means we can offer advice, confirm how long your child may need to stay off school, or even suggest they come in if we feel they’ll manage with support during the day. Quite often, our Parkfielders perk up once they’re in school and benefit from being around their friends and teachers. 

Please note that if your child is absent and we haven't been notified, we will contact you shortly after registers have been taken.

ATTENDANCE UPDATE

Our whole school attendance so far this academic year is 94.8%, which is below both our school target of 96% and the current national average. While this may not sound like a big difference, even a few days of absence can quickly add up and have a real impact on a child’s progress, confidence, and long-term outcomes.

Attending school every day really does matter. Children who are in school consistently not only achieve better academically but also build stronger friendships and develop the positive routines that help them succeed.

To put this into perspective, our school target of 96% attendance allows for no more than 7 days of absence across the whole year. Missing more than this can start to affect learning and make it harder for pupils to keep up. That said, our ambition is for all pupils to achieve above 96%, giving them the very best opportunity to thrive.

We know that illness and absence are sometimes unavoidable, but we hope that over the coming months we can work together to improve attendance and give every Parkfielder the very best chance to shine. Parents can support this by avoiding term-time holidays and, where possible, booking medical appointments outside of school hours. 

ARBOR - WE NOW HAVE 83% OF OUR PARENTS AND CARERS SIGNED UP!

Firstly, we'd like to thank you for you perseverence and patience with our new system - Arbor. The vast majority of parents and guardians have had no trouble logging in and using the app / website but there have been a few teething issues which we were expecting because it is a new. However, if you need any support with logging in, booking clubs and making payments, please contact the school office and Miss Pritchard and Mrs Cummings will be happy to help.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS, FREE HOLIDAY CLUBS AND FOOD VOUCHERS

Did you know that if you are entitled to free school meals you also get access to free holiday clubs and food vouchers during the holidays? To apply or if you're not sure if you are eligible, please  read the information and apply using the link here. School receives additional funding for those pupils that are entitled for free school meals and this much needed funding helps better support all Parkfielders. Even if your child is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 or they're on packed lunch - please still apply. In addition, if there has been a change in your family circumstances (i.e. recently become unemployed) you may also be entitled to apply for Free School Meals.