7th September 2006

• Welcome back to St Peter’s School and to Michaelmas Term 2006. I hope that you have all enjoyed and benefited from time together during the summer break.  After a sparkling year, culminating in Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, both on Founders’ Day and at the Ball, it is time now to focus upon working together to create another great year for our School community. I am confident that what we have planned for our pupils in terms of curriculum and additional activities will serve to further increase their enjoyment of School life this year. 
   
• We welcome new pupils to St Peter’s, and particularly to those in Reception Class who are moving into a more formal learning environment, as they approach the end of Foundation Stage.  May I remind parents of pupils in all year groups that teachers are available at the end of the school day should you wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s ‘settling in’ at this early part of term.  The return to, or in the case of younger pupils, the introduction of the routine of a school day can be daunting.  Teachers are ready to encourage and support pupils and to work with parents in achieving this.
   
• Details of class teachers for this academic year were published at the end of last term.  In addition, I am pleased to tell you that we have Mr Mike Kilsby visiting the School each week to teach percussion, and particularly the art of playing the drum kit!  Mr Kilsby has taught in other Independent school settings, and is also a respected working musician in the area.  Many of you know him also as the parent who has organised our ever popular PTAFA Ghost Hunt, which is traditionally a feature of the Michaelmas Term!
   
• There has been a great deal of work completed in School during the holiday. In Foundation Stage the Nursery’s rooms have been relocated so that they are now next to Reception Class, allowing for further professional development between practitioners.  This area has also received a decorative upgrade. The Music Room has now been moved to the end of the ‘Infant Block’, giving it an altogether more spacious feel, which will please our little listeners, performers and composers. The new Sick Room was also completed during the holiday, and is situated in the ‘Infant Block’. An interactive whiteboard has been installed in Sunnylands, and a super bundle of software for it arrived today, which will add another dimension to the teaching and learning at St Peter’s School. 
     
• Curriculum projections for Michaelmas term will accompany the bulletin of Thursday 21st September.  These will give parents a general overview of the themes and topics covered in this term’s curriculum plans, and will provide an opportunity for extended reading, research or other work that you may wish to undertake with your child at home.  The information is also useful when purchasing books, using the local libraries or accessing the internet.
   
• This letter accompanies a set of forms that will need to be completed by parents and returned to School as soon as possible.  It is vital that we are provided with newly completed medical and contact details, as well as the ‘out of school’ permission slip each year.  During the course of the year if there is any change to the information you have provided, please alert the School Office.
   
• If your child requires asthma inhalers or Epipens, please ensure that they are within date, and that one is with class teacher and one with the School Office.  All medicines should be passed to the School Office, and written instructions on administering should be supplied.  Class teachers are not permitted to do this, or to keep medicines for the children.
   
• Please note that all absences from School should be authorised.  If your child needs to attend a medical appointment then please pick up a form from the Office, which should be completed and returned prior to the appointment being attended.  Once this is signed it will be returned to you by the class teacher.  Parents are kindly requested to avoid booking holidays during the term if at all possible.
   
• There will be some information in this letter with which many parents may already be familiar, but it is hoped that a reminder of some of the general but important aspects of day to day school routine will be a helpful reminder to you all, and useful information to our ‘new’ parents:

Please note that St Peter’s School operates a no-smoking policy.  Pets, excluding guide dogs are not permitted on site.

The School Uniform Shop will continue to run on Mondays in September, but will move to a different day of the week from October.  More information regarding this change will be conveyed closer to the time. At present, the shop will open from 2.30pm and will close at 3.45pm. There may be occasions when this facility is not available.  When possible, this information will be conveyed in advance to parents in the weekly bulletin.  Where this is not possible, I would ask parents for their understanding. 

Please ensure that all uniform, including shoes and trainers are clearly labelled.  If pupils bring any personal property into School it should also be labelled.

Girls and boys in Reception upwards should wear their school hat or cap into School and out of School each day.

The morning drop off ran smoothly last year, providing a good start to our pupils’ school day. In order to keep this in place, parents are kindly requested to use our one way system, travelling down The Crescent on the ‘school side’, and after dropping off pupils, resisting the temptation to complete a  U turn, but instead continuing along the The Crescent to where it meets Queensberry Road.  If you intend to park and walk your child in to School, please ensure that you respect the parking restrictions and also avoid parking across residents’ drives, so that the good relations we have developed with the surrounding residents are maintained. 

The drop off will be staffed from 8.25am.  If you arrive earlier you will either need to car queue, or lead your child into Early Club, which will run from 8am this year.  In the rare case of an unaccompanied pupil arriving before 8.25am, he or she will be directed to Early Club. Parents are of course welcome to come on site and wait until the teacher supervision begins, when ‘first bell’ is rung, at 8.30am. At this point you are requested to make your departure so that there is a clearly defined point at which teachers take over the supervision of pupils.  The school bell is rung again at 8.40am to mark the start of the school day, by which time all pupils from Reception upwards are expected to be on site.

School ends for Foundation and Key Stage One at 3.20pm.  Children not collected at this time will be taken to Late Club.  Parents collecting Key Stage Two pupils are requested to wait outside the School Office building until 3.30pm after which time they can walk up to the area outside the changing rooms to meet their children who will be waiting with their class teacher.  Similarly, pupils in Year Three to Year Six who are not collected at 3.30pm will be led down to Late Club.  Please note that pupils attending Late Club should be collected by 5.15pm. 

If an adult other than those cited on your child’s contact form will be collecting at the end of the day, please ensure that the School Office is informed.  Please do not ‘help out’ by collecting another parent’s child unless the School Office has first been alerted of this change.

• Clubs will start from Monday 18th September to allow pupils and staff time to establish routines and begin the important task of working through the planned curriculum for this term.  Due to netball matches starting earlier, girls in Years 5 and 6 interested in being considered for team selection are invited to an after school session which ends at 4.15pm on Wednesday 13th September.  Speech and Drama lessons will start on Thursday 14th September.  Details of all clubs scheduled for this term will be sent out at the start of next week.
   
• Please note that swimming lessons for pupils in Year 2 onwards start tomorrow, and therefore swimming kit, swimming hat should be brought to School. Swimming hats are available to purchase from the School Office.
   
• Homework will commence from Monday 11th September.  Pupils in Reception Class and Key Stage One will have their homework written by staff, whilst pupils in Key stage Two will use their homework diary to log their homework.  Please sign the homework diary at the end of each week, or if you prefer, on a daily basis as you check that each task is completed.  It is important that the diary is returned to School each day.  Similarly, reading records and the books they accompany should be returned to School the following day.  If there is difficulty in completing homework then please keep your child’s class teacher informed by writing a comment into his or her homework diary, or by providing a written note in an envelope.  Your child’s class teacher will shortly be providing you with a homework timetable outlining the subjects set and their time allocation.  Pupils are expected to work for this amount of time, and can work beyond this with parents’ consent. 
   
• Term dates for the academic year were distributed last year.  If you require another copy then please call into the School Office.  The teaching team at St Peter’s have spent the earlier part of this week planning items for this year’s school calendar of events, and this promises to be yet another busy year!  A calendar of events will be published and distributed later during this half of term.  Prior to this information reaching you, please note that Assessment Week starts on 2nd October.  I would be grateful to parents for trying to avoid booking appointments or requesting time out of school during this important week.  Parent Consultations are on Tuesday 17th October from 4.30pm to 6.30pm and on Wednesday 18th October from 4pm to 6pm.
   
• I am confident that what we have planned for our pupils in terms of curriculum and additional activities will serve to further increase their enjoyment of School life this year, and I look forward to sharing School news with you throughout the course of this academic year.