NEWS NOTICEBOARD
Welcome to Alkrington Primary School and our website.
Ofsted News
Our report from our inspection carried out back in March this year has finally been published. You can read it below.
Staffing News
Deputy Headteacher
We have recruited a new Deputy Headteacher, ready for a September start. He is Mr. Charles Richards, currently an Assistant Headteacher in a Salford primary school.
Reading Pod
You may have noticed the magnificent new structure in the far corner of the playground; it is a Reading Pod, where children will be able to relax and enjoy a read during break times.
We are extremely grateful to parents and carers for donations of books (these are still welcome) and to www.podfolks.com , including parent Craig Adams, for creating it and volunteering their time and expertise.
Part of the plan is for the Eco Club to create a sensory garden in that area so any donations of good quality soil or edible plants/ seeds would be appreciated.
Summer Holiday Club
See the letter below for details, including how to apply and pay for a place.
Summer Fair/Non-Uniform Days
The PTA Summer Fair will take place on Saturday 17th June from 11.00 a.m. – 2.00 p.m.
In the lead up to the Fair, we need your help, so a number of Non-Uniform Days have been planned and in return we will be grateful for your donations:
Friday 26th May – Chocolate Items
Friday 9th June – Bottles
Friday 16th June – Cakes and Sweets
Class Assemblies – all on a Wednesday at 2.30 p.m.
Class 1M on 7th June
Class 4G on14th June
Some dates to note for the end of the school year
Y6 Adventure Day with children from Boarshaw and Elm Wood, here at Alkrington on Monday 26th June
Most Y6 to new High Schools on Tuesday 4th July TBC
Awards Evening on Monday 10th July (by invitation only)
Y6 End of Year Concert during the evening of Wednesday 12th July
Sports Day – for the whole school – Thursday 13th July with N, R, Y1&2 in the morning and KS2 in the afternoon
Y6 Leavers’ Party on the evening of Monday 17th July
Y6 Leavers’ Assembly at 1.30 p.m. on the last day of the school year, Wednesday 19th July
School re-opens for the Autumn Term – for most children – on Wednesday 6th September 2023
Supporting Charities and Good Causes
You know that we like to support worthy causes and there are two that I would like your help with in the coming months:
The Race for Life in Manchester in on 2nd July, so we will be encouraging the children, during their Daily Runs, to be working/training hard to lead up to a sponsored event at the end of June. More details to follow.
This is particularly poignant for us because one of our staff members is currently undergoing treatment for cancer and we look forward to seeing her back at work with us as soon as she is well enough.
Also, recently a little girl in the Reception year and her family experienced the loss of her baby brother and parents wanted to support fundraising to help towards the purchase of a Cooling Cot for North Manchester General Hospital. This would be used for the care of little babies in hospital and costs around £2,800.
The parents have already set up a Just Giving page and you are welcome to make a donation at any time. Here’s the link:
Spring Writing Competition
Thank you to all who entered this competition, organised by Mrs Harsiwka. See the winners pictured below with their prizes:
Easter Events at Alkrington Primary School
The end of term has been marked with our tradional Easter celebrations, with decorated eggs and Easter bonnets.
Thank you if you joined in the fun, it seems a shame to choose winners, because so many made a big effort. However here's a list of the winners, who were presented with Easter Egg prizes. Pictures of the winners and of all of the eggs will appear soon in the box below:
Have a great Easter holiday and we look forward to seeing you back on Monday 17th April.
Our New Headteacher
Congratulations to Mr. Andrew Nott, who has been appointed as the new Headteacher.
He will take up post in September, but will be involved from now on in matters relating to the planning for our September start.
His new appointment will mean that we have a vacancy for Deputy Headteacher, so the process for appointing a replacement is underway.
School Closure Dates
Please be aware of dates, in the coming months, school will be closed, in line with our published holiday schedule – see below - and additionally for the public holiday for the Coronation of King Charles III.
In summary - School will be closed on:
Monday 1st May – May Day holiday
Monday 8th May – Coronation
Monday 5th June
Phonics Meetings
Following the meetings for parents and carers of children in N, R and Y1, there are four items which will help you to support your child at home.
Robinwood Trip for Y5 in Dec '23
This trip is booked for 4th to 6th Dec '23.
See the letter below for parents of current Y4 children inviting them to sign up. Paper copy also distributed. Cost to parents is higher than for 2022, but is still heavily subsidised at £50/child, or £30 if on Free School Meals
Scarlet Fever and ‘Strep A’ Infections
We have all been alarmed about news of these infections across the country among young children.
The local health authority has been issuing guidance to schools and this is available to you on this link:
https://www.rochdale.gov.uk/strep
It stresses that these are usually mild illnesses and although they're highly infectious they can usually be treated at home with antibiotics.
Symptoms are:
- Sore throat
- Headache
- Strawberry tongue or tonsils - this means that it's swollen or bumpy or covered in white spots.
- A fine, pinkish or red body rash with rougher skin that feels like sandpaper. On darker skin, the rash might be more difficult to see, but the 'sandpaper; feel should be present.
- A temperature of 38C if they're under 3 months old, or 39C if they're more than 3 months old.
- If you don't have a thermometer to check their temperature, check if your child feels hotter than usual when you touch their back or chest or feels sweaty.
If your child is not well enough to be in school, or you think that they may be displaying some of the above symptoms, seek medical advice and keep them off until it is safe for them to return.
See the letter on this link for advice from HM Dept of Health Security
Middleton Schools' 5-a-side Champions 2022
Congratulation to our team - victorious in the tournament in December 2022
Inter-School Cross Country Success
The final races of this season 2022 were completed on 16th November. There were more great performances by our children.
In the team events we finished the season in the following places:
Y2 1st
Y3 1st
Y4 1st
Y5 1st
Y6 1st
Overall 1st
This is a clean sweep for our school, winning all age groups and, for the 5th consecutive season, the overall trophy .
How well is Alkrington Primary School doing?
Our school is due an OfSTED Inspection during this school year. We will carry on providing the good quality provision for your children as always, but of course, we are collecting our thoughts and preparing to present the good work that we do to the inspection team.
This includes a Self-Evaluation (SEF), where we judge how well we are doing, against the OfSTED criteria. It also identifies areas where we believe we can improve as a school.
You can see a summarised SEF on the school website Home page, along with a copy of the latest School Improvement Plan (SIP) identifying the main areas of focus for development this year.
We judge our school to be:
Quality of Education – Good
Behaviour and Attitudes – Outstanding
Personal Development – Good
Leadership and Management – Good
In our SIP, the Strategic Direction for the school for 2021 – 2024 is set out; we want to be
‘To be the school of choice for all; regardless of religious belief, socioeconomic status or cultural background.’
Some specific aims are also identified.
Our main areas for improvement this year are:
- Early Reading
- Writing
- Mathematics
- Personal development and well-being
These documents are ‘live’ and will be changed, updated and amended as the year goes on.
Click on the links below to read them:
Rotary Club - Shoe Box Appeal 2022
If you would like to help with this, please bring £1 to school in exchange for a Shoe Box, to be filled with items to send as gifts to underpriviledged children across Easter Europe and then return to school. Full details are on the link for the letter below:
Survey of Parents and Carers 2022
Thank for the responses, 262 in total, to this survey.
See the summaries on the links below of the responses and comments, including our response to some of the comments made:
Reception Mini-Books
See the letter on the link below, sent out to the parents and carers of children in the Reception classes, about support your child with Early Reading
Holiday Schedule
This has been updated and amended, a copy can be accessed on the link below. An error in the previous schedule for 2022 - 2023 resulted in one day too many in the pupil year so an additional closure day has been added - Monday 5th June. This means that school will re-open after the Summer Half-Term week long holiday on Tuesday 6th June.
Holiday Schedule for 2022 - 2023 and 2023 - 2024
Holiday Schedule for 2023 - 2024 and 2024 - 2025
ROBLOX
For important online safety information for parents and carers, please click the link below:
Mathletics
Children in Y1 to Y6 have been given home access to Mathletics, a targeted, rewarding and captivating online learning resource, which is aligned to curriculum standards. Mathletics can be used to set homework and encourage children to practise and consolidate their learning at home, using fun and interactive games and challenges. Please click here to access a parents support pack.
Attendance
Good attendance at school is essential for children to make good levels of progress and development.
Our overall attendance at school has dropped over the two years of the COVID pandemic, but now it needs to pick up again.
Attendance at school, overall, for this school year, to date, stands at 93.6%. We want it to be higher. For an individual, 96%+ represents good attendance.
Children's Welfare Officer, Mrs Hill, and Assistant Head, Mr Torr, have been working with the Education Welfare Officer from Rochdale LA on ways to improve our school attendance and support children and families with low attendance.
They have produced a newsletter, a copy of which will be available below on the link and our Twitter account. A copy will be emailed to all who have signed up to our email newsletter.
Those families where a pupil has attendance for this year below 90% will receive a paper copy along with a covering letter.
Where there is a genuine and understandable reason for low attendance, I accept this to be so, but many in this category may be guilty of keeping their child off school, when, in fact they should be in. This may be a lingering uncertainty/anxiety post-COVID.
We want to help and support our families to improve school attendance. In some cases, however it will be necessary to obtain evidence to support the reasons for absence and, at times, use legal enforcement, with fixed penalty fines, where necessary.
The Strategic Direction of the School
After consultation with staff members, the Governing Board have finalised their aims and objectives for this school year, and the next two. It is set out in the document below.
I welcome any thoughts or comments from parents/carers or pupils.
Year 1's Nativity Show
We hope you enjoy watching the long awaited video of the Year 1's doing their nativity show.
Music Lessons at School for Children from Y2 to Y6
Opportunities to learn to play a musical instrument, with tuition from qualified music teachers, will begin after the October holiday. There is a charge of £3.17 per lesson, which usually take place during lunchbreak or after school.
Some free places are available for those children who are on free school meals or in public care.
See letter on the link below has details, including which instruments are available and how to book a place. Completed forms should be returned to school
If your child is interested and is on FSM, please ask at the office.
Keeping Children Safe Online
For support and guidance about keeping your child/ren safe online please see the link below and read the attached help sheet.
Also, on the Home page of our school website and on the links below, you will find a number of information leaflets which relate to different aspects of online safety, which may be of interest/value to you, on topics of:
Remember this.....Happy 70th Birthday Alkrington Primary School
For those of you who have been with us for a while, you might recall the following event from 10 years ago, as reported in the Middleton Guardian.
Happy 80th Birthday Alkrington Primary School
Thank you to all who supported our special day by dressing up or sending in memorabilia to make the event an enjoyable and informative one. Particular thanks to:
Local history expert Geoff Wellens, Vintage car owner Kevin Croft, Miss Ford & her mum who sourced lots of old artefacts, & Miss Pilkington’s Grandma, Pat.
There are plenty of pictures on our school Twitter account, which also appear on the school website Home page.
I enjoyed looking though the old school Log Books, which had to be completed by the Head Teacher in those days.
Alkrington Temporary school opened in 1937, situated in the hall at the United Reformed Church on Manchester New Road with 14 pupils.
Alkrington Junior and Infant School opened on this site on 9th December 1940, with 80 pupils.
The country was in the midst of the Second World War, so entries in the Log Book mention the building of shelters, school closures after air raids the night before and practice in shelters during the school day. Lots of entries mention low attendance due to illnesses such as scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles and chicken pox. Also a number of closures due to severe winter weather.
I noted with interest that in 1938 the school closed for the Christmas holiday at 4.00 p.m. on 24th December. Not leaving much time to prepare for the big day!
I hope that the children enjoyed the day. I enjoyed giving the children a taste of school discipline as a 1940s Headmaster!
See the pictures below, a sample of the outfits worn on the day.
Safe After School Campaign
Please read and cosider the information on the poster below - which wants to help you check that clubs and activities that your child might attend out of school are safely and appropriately organised. For more information search for RBSCP Safe After School
Defibrillator
Thank to your generous donations, we now have a community defibrillator fitted into a secure cabinet attached to our school fence. You can find it near to the entrance to the staff car park.
The defibrillator is for use by anyone in need, and can be accessed by calling 999 in an emergency. The operator will tell you the code to open the cabinet.
Well done to Mr Nott, who has been the inspiration behind this scheme, and to those who raised the funds to pay for it, including Jenson Bleakley-White, who raised an incredible £400 towards our total.
Latest Alkrington Primary Events
- Non-Uniform for the Summer Fair - Bottles please09Jun2023
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
- Class 4G Assembly14Jun2023
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
- Non-Uniform for the Summer Fair - Cakes or Sweets please16Jun2023
9:00 am - 3:00 pm
- PTA Summer Fair17Jun2023
11:00 am - 2:00 pm
- Y6 Adventure Day at Alkrington26Jun2023
9:30 am - 3:00 pm @ At Alkrington
With Y6 children from Elm Wood and Boarshaw Primary Schools
