Once again, we will be using My Happy Mind to support the children to a better understanding of how their brain works and their wellbeing. We piloted it last years and Essex County Council have agreed to fund it again this year. As well as resources for teachers to use, My Happy Mind also produces a parent app that you can use at home. Please see the letter below on how to sign up and use the same techniques at home. 

Attendance

Attendance has started very well this year, with many days seeing 99% of children attending school. However, as we head towards the cooler months, many of the seasonal and childhood illnesses will increase. Below is a guide from the NHS about various illnesses and how they may impact school attendance. The attendance target for this year is 97%. 
 

Homework
Following the homework consultation that was conducted last term, we have updated and finalised the new policy to reflect the views of the people that participated in the consultation, including children, staff and parents. 

The full policy is available on the school website, but Mr Jinkerson has put a quick reference summary together which I will post on Class Dojo. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Mr Raraty 

Report from the Governing Board

On Monday 28^th September the Governors met for the first time this academic year.  We would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our new staff, children and their families to the school.  We hope you are settling in well and are already feeling part of our Rodings family.

At this point we form our committees and appoint Chairs and Vice-Chairs.  We were delighted that Steph Green was re-appointed Chair of Governors with Leeann Goddard re-appointed as Vice-Chair. 

Each governor is linked to a class and these were confirmed together with links to other areas such as safeguarding, SEND, inclusion, training and attendance.

Mr Raraty took us through last year’s formal assessment data which shows we are broadly in line with national average results with upward trends.  We also looked at the School Development Plan and discussed the priorities for the forthcoming year.  At our next meeting we will be having some training on the new Ofsted framework and look at what this might mean from a governance point of view.

Further reports on safeguarding, SEND, premises and health and safety were received.  First aid and paediatric training had been undertaken by staff along with a number of them attending positive handling training.  With the reduction in overall pupil numbers the school will be considering utilising the areas so they have a purpose and we saw the newly decorated areas of school.

As part of our collaboration with DEEP we are pleased to be able to have two trainee teachers in training through our own teacher training programme.  Teachers and leaders within DEEP will be working together on writing as every school has this as part of their development plans.  This week they will be hearing how a writing framework for assessment is going to be put together to create a new standard for them all to assess against.  There are also lots of DEEP enrichment activities to look forward to this year.

We had several policies to agree and have a timetable of school visits in our diaries as well as training sessions to attend over the coming year.  Our school visits during the day are important for us to be able to monitor the curriculum and school in general and the first of these is next week.

We are all looking forward to the year ahead, to face new challenges and see the children grow through their learning and school experiences.

Andrea Beard

Partnership Governor

Save the Dates:
The Friends have already been busy behind the scenes setting the dates for all the events for the year. See the poster below and get the events in your diaries so you and your children don’t miss out.

Bingo Night:
On that note our first family event is NEXT week! Bingo Night is on Friday 9th October, tickets are on sale now via Arbor Shop – this is a fantastic chance for everyone to get together, meet new families and enjoy a fun night together. If you are planning on coming, please book ASAP so we can give the caterers an idea of numbers – the deadline is Tuesday 6th October. Please see the poster below for menu choices and email them to: friendsofrodings@gmail.com

Pre-loved Uniform Shop:
You may have noticed the shed next to the pick-up gates leading to the playground. This is our new uniform shop. This will be opening on a regular basis, so take advantage of good quality uniform for a small donation – helping to recycle and raise funds, a win-win! Thanks to our volunteers helping with this.

The Shed will open from 3pm to 3.30pm on the following dates:

• Tuesday 13th October
• Wednesday 4th November
• Thursday 19th November
• Friday 4th December

AGM:
The Friends held their annual AGM this week – thanks to those who came along to support us. We were able to reflect on the achievements of the past year and vote on this year’s committee members. The following members have been elected:

Chairperson: Lucy Reeve
Treasurer: Rosie Radford
Secretary: Hannah Radley

We very sadly had to say goodbye to Jane James who has had to leave the committee as both her boys are now at secondary school. Jane has done a fabulous job as our Treasurer for the past couple of years and as a committee member before that – for how many years, none of us could remember! So, thanks for all your hard work and dedication Jane – but we still hope to see you and your boys at some of our school events!

We also heard about the fantastic fundraising year we had that enabled us to raise an amazing £20,526.72 and some plans from Mr Raraty on how we could spend some of that money – which includes more play areas for the children and to update and expand the library and reading opportunities for all our children. Watch this space!

None of our fundraising would be possible without the support of the school, staff and our Rodings families from donating, coming along to events or giving up some of your time to help us. And in order for us to carry on with this work…

Will you join us?
The Friends of Rodings are your school’s PTA. We are a friendly group of parents who put on events to raise money for the school. Funds which go some way to giving the children that bit extra during their time at the Rodings.

Over the past few years we have contributed to new play equipment that the children have been enjoying, lights and sound equipment in the hall to give the children’s performances that extra star quality, new spaces within school grounds to help with group work, drama group visits to ignite the children’s imagination, new bags and books to set our children off to the best start for their education and we have plans for more!

As you’ve heard, through our events, this past year we have raised over £20,000 - a phenomenal amount!!

But we’re in a bit of a rut! As many of our volunteers had children in year 6, over the last two years we have lost a significant number of volunteers who have been with us for a number of years, and we haven’t had the same number of new members join us.

So, we are on a recruitment drive!

Being on the committee isn’t as much of a commitment as you might think and the more members we have, the less there is for each of us to do. To give you an example, we meet approximately once every half term, which normally runs 8-10pm and is often in the pub or we bring a drink to enjoy.

Then each committee member is appointed as a lead on an event with a few sidekicks to help. We all muck in for the bigger events including the Christmas Fayre and Summer Fete. If you can’t help on any particular event there is no judgement on that, everybody works and everybody has busy lives so we just each do what we can.

So, it’s really not that much work and we would welcome some new members with fresh ideas!

If you don’t think you could commit to being on the committee itself, we also have a ‘Helpers’ group who come along and help when they can, and we’re always looking for more people to join this group as well. Everyone who helps at events always tell us what a good time they’ve had.

Please consider joining us. We just can’t raise the £20,000+ this year again, and moving forwards, unless we have some new faces join us. And none of us want our children missing out.

If you want any more information or to get in touch, please email: friendsofrodings@gmail.com