Latest News | Regents Park Community Primary School

Parents' Evenings - Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th February 2023

Tue 24 Jan 2023 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I'm pleased to let you know that we are organising Parents' Evenings to take place before February half term so parents can meet their child's class teacher and get an update on the progress that they are making this year.

We are organising two after-school Parents' Evenings, one on Tuesday 7th February and the other on Wednesday 8th February. Parents' Evenings on both afternoons will begin at 3.15pm with the last appointment being at 5.35pm (3H, 3SA and 4N will begin at 3.05pm).

As before, parents will be asked to use an online booking system to book a 10 minute appointment with their children's class teachers on one of the two Parents' Evenings.

We will have to be quite strict about the timings of the appointments so please don't be late and please don't be offended if the teacher has to end the appointment after 10 minutes to meet the next parent.

Guidelines for Parents' Evenings:

It's useful for children and parents to attend but please try to keep to a mimumum the number of other family members attending
Parents should arrive at school no earlier than 10 minutes before their first appointment
Entrance to the school site will be via Arthur Street or Dixon Road and entrance to the building will be via the outside door to the main hall under the canopy
Parents will be expected to sign in and then sign out as they leave

Booking appointments with your child's class teacher:

We are going to use the same online system we have used before through the school website for booking appointments with class teachers
In order to book an appointment we will send an email to the email address of the parent who is listed as the First Contact on our school information system
The email will have a link to click on and you will then be able to choose which day and at which time you would like to book the appointment - please make a note of the date and time that you choose
You will receive an email for each of your children so you will need to open each one and book for each child
We would advise that you allow 10 minutes between the end of one meeting and the start of the next, e.g. if you book an appointment to start at 3.15pm which ends at 3.25pm, you should book the next appointment for 3.35pm to give you time to get to the next classroom
If you don't receive an email, this is because either we don't have an email address for you or the email you have given us is wrong. If you don't receive an email by Wednesday 25th January, then please contact the office with your updated email address and a link to book your appointment will be sent out to you
If you don't have an email address at all and don't wish to use one, then you can contact the office and they can assign you a date and time for your appointment

We're looking forward to welcoming all parents into school on either the 7th or 8th February. If anything changes, we will let you know so please look out for any messages we send via text.

We look forward to seeing you all,

Mr Beale

IMPORTANT REMINDER: We are a nut-free school!

Thu 19 Jan 2023 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I am writing to inform you that Regents Park Community Primary School is a ‘nut free’ school. In the interests of protecting pupils with nut allergies, we request that you do not send your children to school with any of the following:

Packaged nuts
Peanut butter or chocolate spreads containing nuts
Cereal, granola or chocolate bars containing nuts
Cake or biscuits containing nuts
Peanut-based sauces like satay
Any food made with sesame seeds (which can cause a similar allergic reaction)

The above list is not exhaustive. If you are sending your child to school with food such as a snack or a packed lunch, please check the ingredient lists carefully.

Both children and adults with severe nut allergies can suffer from life-threatening reactions if they eat, smell, or touch any foods containing nuts.

Today we have had a situation where a child with a nut allergy was seated near to a child with a packed lunch. The child's packed lunch contained a chocolate bar with peanuts in it. The child with the nut allergy didn't touch the bar but just being near to it was enough to trigger a mild allergic reaction.

We would be grateful for your cooperation in helping to keep all our pupils and staff safe and remember not to send children to school with food which contains nuts or nut products.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Mr A Beale

ADVANCE NOTICE: School CLOSED for Staff Training Day on Wednesday 15th February 2023

Thu 12 Jan 2023 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I'd like to give you some advance notice that school will be CLOSED to all pupils for Staff Training on Wednesday 15th February 2023.

We will reopen on the following day (Thursday 16th February 2023) as normal at 8.40am. We will then close for half term holiday at 3.00pm on Friday 17th February 2023.

Thank you

Mr Beale

Newsletter - January 2023

Tue 03 Jan 2023 Mr Beale

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:

Friday 13^th January	Class Assembly – 3SA Martin Luther King
Monday 16^th January	Year 1 Writing workshop in class
Friday 20^th January	Year 2 Writing workshop in class
Friday 27^th January	Class Assembly – 5H Chinese New Year
Tuesday 7^th & Wednesday 8^th February	Parents Evenings 3.15pm - 5.45pm
Wednesday 8^th February	Safer Internet Day
Friday 10^th February	Class Assembly - 3H Safer Internet Day
Friday 17^th February	Break for half term at 3.00pm
Monday 27^th February	School reopens at 8.40am
Thursday 2^nd March	World Book Day

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

Outcome of parent consultation on Changes to the Start of the Day from January 3rd 2023

Thu 15 Dec 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Thank you to all the parents who gave their feedback on the proposal to shorten the Start of the Day. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of feedback - altogether 30 parents completed a feedback form online and 6 parents attended the two meetings I held in school.

Feedback from parents on the proposal was very mixed with roughly half of parents saying it was a good idea to shorten the Start of the Day to 5 minutes and half saying it wasn’t a good idea.

Most of the positive feedback focused on the fact that children would get more time in school learning.

The negative feedback was mainly from parents who say that they have to travel a distance and find it difficult to get to school by 8.40am. Some said they had to drop off other children at other schools. Others mentioned the impact that a 5 minute period would have on traffic outside school with lots of cars arriving at a similar time.

Whilst I sympathise with parents who have to drop off children at different schools, this can’t be the deciding factor in making a decision on our school starting times and I would remind all parents that we offer a Breakfast Club from 8.00am to help parents in these circumstances.

Also, the issue of traffic, with parents arriving at the same time as each other in the morning, shouldn’t be a factor as all parents arrive at the same time as each other at the end of the school day. We should also continue to discourage all parents from driving up to the school gates to drop off children and encourage them to park away from school and walk.

During the meetings in school, I shared with parents a head count that we did on each gate on Tuesday 29th November. We counted how many children entered school between 8.40am and 8.45am, 8.45am and 8.50am and 8.50am and 8.55am.

We found out that on that day 67% of the children were in school by 8.45am (this included 7.5% of children who were already in Breakfast Club). 27% of children arrived between 8.45am and 8.50am, so by 8.50am, 94% of children had arrived at school.

5.4% of children (23 children) arrived between 8.50am and 8.55am with 0.7% of children (i.e. 3 children) coming in late after 8.55am. This shows that the majority of children can be in school by 8.50am.

I also shared a table with parents that showed that children who arrive at 8.40am gain 15 minutes more learning per day than those that arrive at 8.55am. This equates to an extra 1.25 hours per week, which in turn equates to 48.75 hours per year or the equivalence of 7.75 school days per year.

Arrival time at school	Lost learning per day	Lost learning per week	Lost learning per year
8.55am	15 minutes	1¼ hours	48¾ hours or 7¾ school days
8.50am	10 minutes	50 minutes	32½ hours or 5.1 school days
8.45am	5 minutes	25 minutes	16¼ hours or 2.6 schools days
8.40am	0 minutes	0 minutes	0 hours or 0 school days

Having done this consultation with parents and consulted staff, I have given this issue a lot of thought, and have decided, in the first instance, to compromise – instead of reducing the Start of the Day to 5 minutes, we will reduce it to 10 minutes. This means that from Tuesday 3^rd January 2023, we will open the gates at 8.40am and close them at 8.50am. As such children that arrive at school after the gates close at 8.50am will be late and parents will have to take them to be signed in at the school office.

However, I would remind all parents that the start of the school day is still 8.40am and children begin learning in class at this time. I would urge all parents to make every effort to get children into school by 8.40am so that children don’t miss out on any learning.

Finally, I do also have to let parents know that by September 2023, the Government is expecting all schools to be open for at least 32.5 hours per week (or 6.5 hours per day). Our current opening hours of 8.40am to 3.00pm mean we are short of this figure by 10 minutes per day. It is likely that from September 2023, we will have to extend our school day by either 10 minutes in the morning or by 10 minutes at the end of the school day. I will discuss this further with parents in the Summer term and give you notice about changes to the school day in September.

In the meantime, I hope all parents will support school by ensuring that, from Tuesday 3^rd January 2023, all children arrive at school by 8.40am and no later than 8.50am.

Thank you.

Arthur Street road closure - Monday 12th to Friday 16th December 2022

Tue 06 Dec 2022 Mr Beale

Just letting all parents know that there will be road works taking place on Arthur Street next week from Monday 12th to Friday 16th December which will mean that the road is CLOSED near to Bassets Croft.

Please do not attempt to drive down the road to drop off or pick up children.

There should still be pedestrian access although parents should be careful to make sure that children are supervised when entering and leaving school as there will be work going on.

We hope it will not interfere with children being collected from Arthur Street at the end of the school day - we will update you by text message if there is a need to send children out via a different exit.

Thanks

Mr Beale

Last day of term - Friday 16th December - Close at 1pm

Mon 05 Dec 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Please note that school closes early for the Christmas holiday on Friday 16th December at 1.00pm. Children will have lunch before they leave. They will be available for collection from the usual places at 1.00pm.

Please also note that school reopens after the holiday for all pupils on Tuesday 3rd January at 8.40am. There is no Teacher Training day on this day. Other schools may not open until Wednesday 4th January; however, we are expecting ALL children to be in school at Regents Park on Tuesday 3rd January at 8.40am as usual.

Thank you,

Mr Beale

Changes to the Start of the Day from January 2023

Mon 28 Nov 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents,

I am writing to let you know of some changes I am proposing to the start of the school day from January 2023.

As you know, currently the school day begins at 8.40am when the school gates open. Children walk into class and begin “Start of the Day” activities – these activities can include extra handwriting, spelling or multiplication table practice; children can be targeted in this time to support their phonics, reading or maths or children use this time to complete work or respond to marking.

The school gates stay open for 15 minutes from 8.40am until 8.55am when they are closed.

The problem we have is that some children regularly do not arrive until late - some children arrive just before 8.55am and never get to take part in the Start of the Day activities at all. As such, over 5 days, these children miss out on 1¼ hours of learning per week; this equates to 48¾ hours per school year. Even children that arrive at 8.50am are missing out on 50 minutes of learning per week (32½ hours per school year).

Ideally, we would like all children to arrive at school every day at 8.40am ready to take a full part in the Start of the Day activities in order to support their learning.

As such, I am giving all parents notice that from the start of term in January I am proposing a change to the start of the day. Instead of being open as they are currently, the gates will now close at 8.45am. This means that parents will have from 8.40am until 8.45am to drop children off at one of the 3 main gates we have on either Arthur Street, Camelot Way or Dixon Road. I believe this will give enough time for all children to arrive at school and make their way into class safely. They will then have up to 15 minutes per day for extra learning. Unfortunately, this does mean that any children that arrive after 8.45am will be marked as late.

I understand that we have some parents who are making a number of drop offs to different schools with their children in the mornings who may need to adjust their routines as a result. However, I would remind all parents that we do provide a Breakfast Club every morning from 8.00am so children can be dropped off earlier instead.

Obviously I’m hoping that you will agree with me that by closing the gates earlier there is the potential for us to provide your children with more teaching and learning time. However, I am always happy to hear from parents and it would be good to get your feedback on this proposal whether it is positive or negative.

If you would like to come in and meet with me to discuss the decision to close the gates at 8.45am from January, then I will be available in the school hall to meet with parents from 9.00am and from 2.20pm on Thursday 1^st December. I will also send a link to an online form so parents can also give their feedback - https://forms.office.com/e/bQfH2Li8MZ

I look forward to hearing from you.

Mr A Beale

Parents' Evenings - Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th October 2022

Mon 03 Oct 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I'm pleased to confirm that we are organising Parents' Evenings to take place before half term so parents can meet their child's new class teacher.

We are organising two after-school Parents' Evenings, one on Tuesday 18th October and the other on Wednesday 19th October. Parents' Evenings on both afternoons will begin at 3.15pm with the last appointment being at 5.45pm (3H, 3SA and 4N will begin at 3.05pm).

As before, parents will be asked to use an online booking system to book a 10 minute slot with their children's class teachers on one of the two Parents' Evenings.

We will have to be quite strict about the timings of the appointments so please don't be late and please don't be offended if the teacher has to end the appointment after 10 minutes to meet the next parent.

Guidelines for Parents' Evenings:

It's useful for children and parents to attend but please try to keep to a mimumum the number of other family members attending
Parents should arrive at school no earlier than 10 minutes before their first appointment
Entrance to the school site will be via Arthur Street or Dixon Road and entrance to the building will be via the outside door to the main hall under the canopy
Parents will be expected to sign in and then sign out as they leave

Booking appointments with your child's class teacher:

We are going to use an online system through the school website for booking appointments with class teachers
In order to book an appointment we will send an email to the email address of the parent who is listed as the First Contact on our school information system
The email will have a link to click on and you will then be able to choose which day and at which time you would like to book the appointment - please make a note of the date and time that you choose
You will receive an email for each of your children so you will need to open each one and book for each child
We would advise that you allow 10 minutes between the end of one meeting and the start of the next, e.g. if you book an appointment to start at 3.15pm which ends at 3.25pm, you should book the next appointment for 3.35pm to give you time to get to the next classroom
If you don't receive an email, this is because either we don't have an email address for you or the email you have given us is wrong. If you don't receive an email by Wednesday 5th October, then please contact the office with your updated email address and a link to book your appointment will be sent out to you
If you don't have an email address at all and don't wish to use one, then you can contact the office and they can assign you a date and time for your appointment

We're looking forward to welcoming all parents into school on either the 18th or 19th October. If anything changes, we will let you know so please look out for any messages we send via text.

We look forward to seeing you all,

Mr Beale

Please try to keep Camelot Way Car Free!

Wed 21 Sep 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers

It was wonderful to see so many children and families enjoying the activites taking place in Sara Park and on Camelot Way yesterday afternoon.

Thank you to parents for not attempting to drive down Camelot Way in the afternoon. It really made a difference having no moving vehicles on the road - children were able to leave school safely and parents proved that they could park and walk to collect children.

It would be wonderful if this could happen every day but, unfortunately, this morning we saw lots of cars trying to get up and down Camelot Way with bottlenecks and traffic making it unpleasant and unsafe again for children and parents arriving at school.

You can see from the photos below the difference between yesterday afternoon and this morning.

We really need ALL parents to pledge to cut their reliance on driving children to school. If parents feel they do need to drive, then we need them to park away from school and not feel they have to drive almost up to the school gates.

Parents, please help with this and keep our roads around school safe.

Thank you