Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 6th September 2024

ashley.coley • September 6, 2024

Headteachers Update

It has been wonderful seeing the pupils returning to school this term in smart uniform with smiles on their faces. We understand that returning to school can be challenging after the long summer break but we are all here to ensure the transition back can be as smooth as possible for us all. The children are settling well into their classes and showing great enthusiasm for all their new learning and topics. We are very proud of every pupil and their attitude towards learning. All class letters and learning content have been shared with you via MCAS email. If you have any questions around your child’s curriculum please speak directly to your class teacher.

Thank you for your continuing support. We are excited to start the year as a UNITY partnership. It was lovely to see Tim Coulson CEO of our new trust greet the school community on our first day back.

Miss Laycock and the Lingwood Team

Dates for the diary

4th September - Term begins
6th September - Year 6 begin swimming
Monday 28th to Friday 8th November- Half-term holiday
Monday 11th November- Autumn Term 2 begins

Year Group News

Nursery

Reception

We are so proud of how well the children have all settled into reception this week. They have really enjoyed exploring the activities around the classroom and learning our new routines. Well done Rabbits class!

Year 1

What a fantastic first few days in Squirrels class! In the mornings we have been reminding ourselves of the features of a sentence in English and sorting and counting in Maths. In the afternoons we have enjoyed practising jumping in different ways in PE and in History we have been talking about how we have grown and changed since we were born. We have loved earning our new Dojo House Points and also our acorns for reward time. Today we earned some extra play time for working hard! We are looking forward to another busy week of learning next week!

Year 2

Well done Hares class for a great start to the year. In English, we have been reminding ourselves of the importance of using capital letters and full stops. In maths, the children have been focusing on their numbers to 100. In the afternoons, we have enjoyed exploring the outer layers of creatures in science and media in art. Miss Coley and Mrs Mera have been giving lots of new class Dojo house points for being ready, respectful, and safe. We had a big celebration when we hit 100! We are looking forward to celebrating more positivity next week.

Year 3

Well done to everyone in Year 3 for an excellent start to the school year. This week we have been learning about partitioning in Maths and have started our class text: Greta and The Giants. We have enjoyed learning about the environment and thinking about what we can do to help with climate change.

Year 4

What a fantastic final week of Year 4! You presented your theme parks as your groups and did it clearly and confidently, including lots of detail about how your park will be inclusive for all. In P.E., we played a big game of rounders to finish off our unit. We revisited equivalent fractions in Maths and finally, you created a powerpoint explaining all of the things the new year 4s will learn about and presented them to the class. I am super proud of everything you have accomplished in year 4 and it has been a pleasure being your teacher. I wish you all the best in year 5!

Year 5

The children have returned settled and ready for Year 5, which is amazing! We have been recapping in English, making sure we are clear when to punctuate sentences correctly. In addition to this, we have started learning about who Sir Ernest Shackleton is as this is our core text for autumn 1. In Maths, we have consolidated learning from Year 4, whereby the children have been rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000. We are all very excited for a great year ahead!

Year 6

Fox Class have had a really good first few days back: so many of the class are trying hard to improve their work and effort. We have created static electricity with balloons in science, studied the Battle of Britain in history and have begun to read a great non-fiction book called Dare To Be You.

Achievement Awards

Rabbit Class - Star award and achievement award for the whole class for settling in so brilliantly and having such a successful start to Reception.

Squirrel Class – Charlie - Fantastic reasoning in maths, explaining his answers.

Hares Class – Aurora - for taking your time and writing some excellent sentences ensuring they made sense, had a capital letter, and a full stop.

Fawns Class – Emily for always being ready to learn.

Otter Class – Emme for your resilience in maths. You gave all of your effort into the questions you found trickier and even completed some on your own!

Badger Class – Teddy - for producing excellent creative writing - well done!

Fox Class – Bea for working really hard on her handwriting and using it in other lessons

Star Pupil Awards

Rabbit Class - Star award and achievement award for the whole class for settling in so brilliantly and having such a successful start to Reception.

Squirrel Class – Stanley - Excellent teamwork with his partner in PE.

Hares Class – Freddie for showcasing ready, respectful and safe rules so fantastically.

Fawns Class - Donnie for being kind, caring and supportive of other pupils.

Otter Class – Evie - for always being ready. You have your pen down and eyes front before Miss Walker even asks!

Badger Class – Kelsey - for working amazingly well as part of a team - well done!

Fox Class – Noah for making a very positive start to the school year with his effort and behaviour.

Congratulations to you all - we are very proud of you!

Attendance Update
This week's whole school attendance

95.8%

Our whole school attendance this week was 95.8%. In first place is Year 6 with 100%, in second place is Year 4 with 97.8% and in third place is Year 1 with 96.6%. Well done to all the children arriving at school on time, ready to learn!

A reminder that the school gates will continue to be open from 8.30 am. Registration is at 8.40 am and school finishes at 3.25 pm.

Please note that the DFE are making changes from August 2024 with regards to term-time holidays and fixed penalty notices. See link below for further information.

Fines for parents for taking children out of school: What you need to know

Remember that every day counts!

Reading Mornings

Continuing on from the success of our Reading Mornings last year, we would like to invite you in to share a book with your child, one morning each week at drop-off time.

This will be a short 15-minute session where you can come into class and either be involved in listening to a whole-class story with your child in Reception, or in sharing a story with your child in year 1 and 2. We will endeavor to change the day of these sessions each half term in order to allow as many parents and carers as possible to attend across the year. The days for this half term are as follows:

Reception Tuesday 8.30am – 8.45am

Year 1 Thursday 8.30am – 8.45am

Year 2 Thursday 8.30am – 8.45am

These sessions will start from next week (week beginning 9 th September).

We look forward to welcoming you!

After School Clubs

A reminder that free after-school clubs start next week. Letters went home this week. Spaces for some clubs are already full, but if you would like your child to go on a waiting list please speak to the school office.

For Autumn Term 1, the following free clubs will be available.

Premier Sports Gymnastics KS2 Club - Tuesday
Premier Sports Gymnastics KS1 Club - Wednesday
Miss Walker's Art Club KS1 - Tuesday

We will also be continuing to have our external paid club on a Monday. Please visit https://cookieskitchen.co.uk/ for more information. It was a great success last year.

Rocksteady lessons will also continue on Friday afternoons. We look forward to seeing who will take part in the live performance later this term.

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Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 25th April 2025

By ashley.coley • April 25, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. The children have come back to school in good spirits and have settled back into the ‘Lingwood Way’. Last term I wrote to you about uniform expectations at Lingwood and it has been useful to hear some feedback from parents. Further to what I wrote in my last newsletter, please note that black or dark grey pinafore dresses can be worn and that plain hoodies are ok for outdoor PE. I hope that clears a few things up. All Unity Schools are sending surveys to parents, staff and pupils this week. This type of feedback is really useful, and I would be grateful if you could spend a few minutes filling this survey in. As always, if there are any big issues please do not hesitate to contact the school so we can work things through. Our weekly attendance has dropped a bit to 94.4%. The simple fact is that the higher the attendance for your child the more learning they can do. Often our absences are because of unauthorised holidays. I understand the frustrations around expensive holidays, but your child is missing crucial learning if they are going away in term and it is highly unlikely I will authorise the absence. Well done to year 6 who managed 100%attendance for the week. Year 6 have SATS on the w/c 12th May and it is crucial they are in every day. Have a good weekend and enjoy the mini heatwave which is set to come. Regards, Mr Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 4th April 2025

By ashley.coley • April 4, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, What a lovely way to end the term with. The children had a great service at the church. They sang beautifully, walked sensibly to and from the church, and the readers did a great job. We were also fortunate to hear the bands from Rock Steady in the afternoon. It is important to be able to offer opportunities like this to our children and we will be sending some information out after Easter about the chance to learn an instrument. Next term, we are having a big push on school uniform. School uniform helps us have a sense of identity and belonging and I am a firm believer in taking pride in your appearance in school (even when I am dressed as a penguin). Once standards start to slip with uniform, it is a battle to get them back up. Also, by allowing one child to wear a hoodie, for example, opens this up for every other child to ask why they can’t do the same. Our big push for the first few weeks of term will be shoes, the correct PE kits (not hoodies) and proper school shorts and trousers. On our website it says children must have proper school shoes, but after speaking to children, parents and staff, I have decided to allow plain black trainers. For more information, please see the link below and if you are unsure or if you have any questions please contact your class teacher of Mrs Tubby. Uniform at Lingwood Primary I hope you and your families have a brilliant Easter break. A reminder the first day of term is Tuesday 22nd April. Regards, Mr Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 31st March 2025

By ashley.coley • March 31, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, I hope you had a lovely week. We are nearly at the end of the Spring Term but still have a busy few days to go. On Friday we are heading to St Peter’s Church in the morning for our celebration service. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help. Your child’s class teacher will let you know if we need you to help walk down. As much as we would like to have everyone there, please don’t turn up at the church as there is not room. We are keen to have share what happened at Lingwood on social media and have brought the Lingwood Primary Academy Facebook page back to life. Please click on this ling to follow us. (1) ‪#‎lingwoodprimary‬ – Explore | Facebook FOLPA met last Tuesday. I am pleased to let you know about some important dates: We have two non-uniform days in the summer term. Children can bring in £1 or tombola donations. Dates will be 16th May and 26th June. This is to raise money for our summer fete which be held on 11th July at 3.30pm. There is a quiz on 16th May at the Village Hall. Once again, our attendance is above the national average for Primary schools. A big well done to year 5 and Nursey for 100%. Have a great week.

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 24th March 2025

By ashley.coley • March 25, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, It has been quite a week at Lingwood. We celebrated and raised money for Comic Relief on Friday including lots of exercises in assembly. The year sixes have been on their residential trip for three days. I am writing this having just experienced kayaking in March. Thank goodness for the sunshine. On Wednesday, we filmed our promotional video of the school. Once we have checked it through we will put this on our website. Many of you have been asking how Mrs Laycock is. It was lovely to see her visit the school on Wednesday. Please see an update from Dr Tim Coulson (CEO Unity SP). Mrs Laycock has successfully had surgery and has recovered well. She is now moving onto the next phase of her treatment plan. Once she has fully recovered from this, she is looking forward to returning. It has been agreed that Mr Jeffery will continue as interim Headteacher until her return. Please see this week’s attendance below. Well done to year 3 again for getting 100%! Have a lovely week. Mr Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 17th March 2025

By ashley.coley • March 17, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents, It was great to see such a good turnout for parents evening last week. If you didn’t manage to come your child’s class teacher will be in touch because we think it is important you know how they are getting on. Mrs Brighton is running the London Marathon on Sunday 27th April and raising money for Neuroendocrine Cancer UK in memory of her mum. To help with the fundraising we will be holding a CAKE SALE! When: Wednesday 2nd April Where: School playground Time: From 3.25pm All items will be 50p If you are able to donate any baked goods, homemade or shop bought (and importantly nut free!) then please drop these off on the morning of the cake sale. If you would like to sponsor Mrs Brighton directly, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/stephanie-brighton-run-for-mum?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL Thank you for your support :-) I have had a few eagle-eyed parents who have pointed at that it said underneath my newsletter that children return to school after the Easter holiday on Monday 21st April. This is a mistake and is in fact Easter Monday. Children and staff return on Tuesday 22nd April. Another reminder to please not use the staff car park but to use the one at the Village Hall. A solid week with attendance. Well-done to year 3 for 100% attendance. Have a lovely week ahead. Mr Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 10th March 2025

By ashley.coley • March 10, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, Firstly, I would like to apologise that you received last week’s newsletter so late. We are having a few IT issues, but I am hopeful they have been resolved. It has been lovely to see the sun shining and the children continue to enjoy using the play equipment at lunch. It was also wonderful to see the effort put into World Book Day costumes. Last week I met three wonderful members of FOLPA (Friends of Lingwood Primary Academy). FOLPA is our PTA, and they help raise much needed and appreciated money for our school. This includes holding discos, non-uniform days and fetes. They are keen for more parents to join and help out. They are keen to stress that any help is welcome, and by signing up, you are not signing your life away! The next meeting is on 25th March at 7.15pm at the village hall. We are having a big push on reading at Lingwood this term. We are asking to children to read at home. Please support your child and the school by signing their reading logs and even better by listening to them read. We expect all children to be reading at home at least three times a week. Our weekly attendance is a cracking is 97.2% with the highest attending class being year 1 with a whopping 99.3%. Have a great weekend Mr Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 3rd March 2025

By ashley.coley • March 4, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, I hope you all had a wonderful half-term break. The children have come back to school with brilliant attitudes to learning. It is always great to see their enthusiasm for school when I open the gate in the mornings. We have had out write up from our attendance review. Here is part of the summary written by someone from the DfE: Overall, Lingwood has developed excellent, relationship-based practice, tight daily follow up processes and good monitoring and tracking processes in place in a short period of time. There is strong leadership and significant change in a short period of time since the school moved across to USP. This is a real team effort. Currently our school attendance stands at 95.3% and our current overall winners are Year 3 with 96.3%. One of the actions was to clear up what time the register is taken. The school gate will continue to open at 8.30am. The register will be taken at 8.40am. Please can I remind you not to use the car park at the front of school. We are fortunate to have access to the Village Hall car park. Have a lovely week. Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 14th February 2025

By ashley.coley • February 14, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents / carers, As we head towards half-term, I wanted to say a big thank you for all your support over these past few weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed working at this lovely school. I must admit having a broken wrist has been challenging, and I have seen a little too much of trains and Premier Inns, but it hasn’t stopped me feeling very much at home at Lingwood. I will continue to lead the school until Miss Laycock is well enough to return. It’s good to see that class dojo is being used with parents now but as I explained last week we are not currently using it for contact between home and school. Please contact staff through office@lingwoodprimary.org.uk. As I mentioned in a previous message, we are working on ensuring there is consistency in what both staff and children do. You will be sent a document that we are calling the ‘Lingwood Way’. Please have a look at our expectations for the school day. Attendance hit a record high last week with our weekly school attendance hitting an impressive 97%. Well-done to everyone for this fantastic achievement. Have a wonderful half-term break with your amazing children and we will see you back at school on Monday 24th February. Regards, Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 10th February 2025

By ashley.coley • February 9, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents / carers, It has been really useful speaking to children, staff and parents about how we can improve our behaviour systems and communication at our lovely school. I believe it is so important to praise, recognise and reward excellent effort and behaviour. At Lingwood, we award ‘dojos’ when a child has worked hard and/or demonstrated one of the values of the school. We would like parents to see this recognition and therefore we need you to be set up on class dojo. Today, your child should have come home with a login sheet with simple instructions on how to set this up. If you have not received this, please speak to the class teacher or Mrs Tubby. We are resetting children’s dojo scores at half term. When they earn 100 dojos, they will receive a silver badge to wear on their school jumper. This will be celebrated and awarded on a Friday assembly. If a child reaches 200 dojos they will be given a gold badge. Some schools use class dojo to communicate between the teacher and parents. For now, we are not going to use this facility. To speak to the teacher, please do one of the following: Catch them at the start or end of the day for a quick chat. This can’t be a long conversation because the teacher will need to have eyes on the rest of the class. Ring Mrs Tubby in the office on 01638 to arrange a meeting Email the office ( office@lingwoodprimary.org.uk ) and your email will be forwarded to the teacher We will continue to send out our weekly newsletter on a Monday with an update from me and your class teacher as I know this is appreciated. However, this week, we will send the final newsletter for the half term out Friday. Regards, Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy

Lingwood Primary Academy Newsletter 3rd February 2025

By ashley.coley • February 2, 2025

Headteacher's Update Dear parents and carers, We seem to have had four seasons of weather in one week at Lingwood, but our children are hardy souls and don’t seem to be bothered by a bit of wind or rain. We had our first school council meeting of 2025 on Tuesday. It is always good to hear from our pupils. They were particularly keen to get some more equipment to use outside and had interesting ideas about our reward systems. As a staff, we have been working on having tight routines, so children are able to be ‘ready, respectful and safe’. We are striving for consistency and our focus for next week is the start and end of the day. Except for our Nursery pupils, children will be dismissed at the end of the day when they are sat down at their desk or on their carpet space. The teacher will call them up one at a time. Please be patient next week as this may take a bit of time to get right. In the winter months, the grassy areas around our paths and playgrounds become muddy and slippery. Please try and keep to the paved and concreted areas for your own safety. Please can you take a few minutes to complete the SEND survey for Norfolk County Council as this will give you a voice in SEND provision in Norfolk. Please follow this link. SEND survey 2025 - Norfolk County Council - Citizen Space Have a great week Regards, Ben Jeffery Interim Headteacher Lingwood Primary Academy