Swavesey Primary School Parent Portal - Newsletter 75 (08.10.2023)

Updates from Mrs Norden

Thank you to those who were able to make our PTA AGM. We had hoped more of our parents and carers would have been able to join us to hear about the PTA's efforts, in particular what their fundraising has achieved for the school. The PTA will shortly publish a newsletter which will detail this but I want to again thank the small committee and their event helpers for all they do. Despite being a small group, they have achieved an in year profit of just over £9,000, which, along with a carry forward from last year, has supported us in purchasing much needed IT equipment (previously detailed), maintaining subscriptions such as Purple Mash to support curriculum provision as well as supporting the purchase of new phonics materials and books. This has very much left their 'coffers bare' and so we hope that the events already planned (please see the diary dates) will be well supported to enable the PTA to again achieve such a fantastic sum to assure continued provision for the school.

Our Autumn parent/carer consultation meeting letter went home via email on Friday. If you missed the letter you can access it here. The letter has a link to the instructions for booking appointments through Scopay, as well as attending the online meeting through Scopay's video calling facility. You can also access these instructions by clicking here. Please note the booking system will close at 12pm on Friday 13th. The second link in the letter is a reminder of safeguarding protocols for online meetings which can also be found here.

The Local Authority have issued updated H&S guidelines for PE and as a maintained school it is important we adhere to these, especially as the LA provide our insurance cover. As part of this, the guidance sets out that 'no jewellery' can be worn in PE lessons. This means that whilst we allow children to wear small studs, earrings must be removed for PE, and so we recommend that children do not wear earrings on PE days. If they do they will need to remove these by themselves, otherwise they will not be able to take part in PE lessons. The covering of earrings is not permitted within the new guidelines and so it is vital for children to have their ears pierced during holiday periods with enough time so earrings can be removed during term time. Hair which is long enough to be tied back, and therefore could be caught in equipment, must also be tied up for PE, and we would recommend during the school day generally.

No other jewellery is permitted to be worn at school as a safety measure to prevent injury and, so please ensure your children are jewellery free before coming to school. Additionally, please can I remind you that we are a nut free school due to both staff and children having significant allergies and, as a healthy eating school, morning snacks should be natural items and not processed, e.g. fruit, vegetables. We would also encourage consideration of packaging to support our environmental work.

Please take time to keep reading as there is new information below, updates for signposted links to support you and some requests for specific donations.

_{Anna-Claire Norden}

_Headteacher