Newsletter - January 2023

 

Happy New Year  to all our children and families!

 

Dear Parents/ Carers,

 

Happy New Year – we hope you have all had a wonderful holiday and a fantastic start to 2023! At the start of this new year, I thought I would send out some information to you all and some reminders for this term. To save paper, most of the updates about school are shared on our school website and links are sent out to parents via text message. Please make sure you keep us updated with your current mobile phone numbers and email addresses so that you don’t miss out on important information.

 

Start of the day – Before the holiday, I messaged all parents to let you know that the Start of the Day was being shortened to 10 minutes from the beginning of this term. The start of the school day continues to be 8.40am - this is when learning begins in school and when we expect ALL children to arrive at school. Previously, the school gates closed at 8.55am; however, from this week the gates will close at 8.50am after which children will be marked as late on the register. Please make sure your child is not late and that you aim to get your child into school by 8.40am every day.

 

Traffic & parking near school – We continue to politely remind parents not to create traffic problems on the roads near to school when dropping off and collecting children. However, we do continue to see parents parking/ stopping on zigzag lines, double parking or stopping in the middle of roads to drop off children. We also have to speak to parents about pulling up on to pavements and about turning vehicles around where children are crossing. At the beginning of this new year, I’d like to encourage parents not to drive up to the school gates but to park away from school and walk the last 5 minutes to school instead.

 

Attendance & trips abroad – Before the pandemic, we were very proud of how good our attendance was at Regents Park – in many years we were above the national average of 96.5%. However, since the pandemic, we have seen a significant drop off and our attendance has fallen alarmingly, particularly towards the end of last term. On the last day of term, the attendance was 69.3%! We know that there were a lot of illnesses going around which had an impact; however, what is also a concern is the number of children being taken on trips abroad during school term time. I have to remind all parents that we do not authorise trips abroad during term time. Each parent of a child who is absent due to unauthorised absence (such as trips abroad) will receive a fine from the Local Authority. In the last term, 39 penalty notices of £60 were issued to parents. Every school day is important for your child’s learning – please make sure they are in school on time every day.

 

School uniform – It is important that all children come to school every day in their school uniform. Wearing the uniform promotes pride, self-confidence and a sense of belonging within the community of Regents Park. It is also cheaper for families than buying designer clothes and shoes which parents can feel pressured into doing if there was no uniform. It is important that all children and parents know what the uniform is and make sure children are wearing it every day (other than on PE days).

• Every child should have a bottle green jumper/ sweatshirt/ cardigan (preferably with a school logo on it)

• All children should be wearing black shoes (not boots or trainers)

• Children should be wearing white shirts or polo shirts

• Trousers/ skirts should be black or grey

• Socks/ stockings should be black, grey or white

• Headscarves should be grey, black or bottle green

• Children should not be wearing jewellery other than ear studs

 

PE kit – We are allowing children to come dressed for PE on PE days only. They shouldn’t wear the same clothes they wear for the rest of the week.

• Children should wear a plain white t-shirt or polo shirt

• A school jumper/ sweatshirt/ cardigan – no tracksuit tops or other hooded sweatshirts

• Grey or black tracksuit bottoms or jogging bottoms

• Grey, white or black socks

• Black trainers

• All children should have plain black plimsolls for indoor games

• Children may be asked to do some indoor PE activities, such as gymnastics, in bare feet

• For outdoor Forest School activities, particularly over the winter, children may need to bring old clothes and shoes to wear, as well as warm clothing

 

Reception places for September 2023 – The closing date for making applications for Reception places for September 2023 is on January 15^th 2023. If you or someone you know is looking for a Reception place for this year, it is important to get your application in to Birmingham City Council as soon as possible. Apply after this date and you may miss out on your preferred choice. If you need any help please contact the school office and someone will speak to you or call you back. If you know of anyone else looking for a place, then please let us know.

 

Parents Evenings this term – We will be holding Parents Evenings again this term on Tuesday 7^th and Wednesday 8^th February from 3.15 – 5.45pm. It is a good opportunity for you to catch up on how your children are doing so we hope to see you all attend on one of those dates. We will send out email invites for parents to book appointments during the week beginning 23^rd January 2023 – please contact the office to make sure we have an up to date email for your child as soon as possible.

 

Dates for your diaries/ calendars:

 

Don’t forget to keep in touch with latest news and everything that is happening at Regents Park by visiting our school website (www.rgntpark.bham.sch.uk) and by visiting our Twitter page (@rgntparkschool).

 

Mr A Beale

Head Teacher