Coniston/Keswick to Barrow
Following the success of last year, we would love to be able to enter a team of walkers in the Coniston and Keswick to Barrow walk. The walk is taking place on Saturday 2nd of May. For the last five years we have also supported the event by marshalling the C2B, assisting with the start of the walk at Coniston Sports Club. If you would be willing to walk (the K2B or C2B), marshal the Coniston start, or be a support car for walkers, please let us know.
This year we are raising money to have the tarmac playgrounds replaced with a new surface, which is a £20,000 project, so the more support we receive, the better.
Packed Lunches
We have a continuing problem of children not taking their lunch boxes home. The boxes are left at the end of the day, usually containing uneaten food, which, if not noticed by a member of staff, is then left to grow mould. We are constantly asking children to take home water bottles, clothing, and other belongings that are left around school that no-body takes ownership of. If you know your child has something missing, then please feel free to pop into school to retrieve it for them. The building is usually open with staff inside from 8am till 6pm.
Dinners
Dolce, our hot meals provider, have written to give notice of an increase to meal prices from 14th April 2020. The cost of a school meal will rise from £2.30 to £2.35. Dolce have stated that increases are due to a number of factors which include the increase to the National Living Wage, an increase to employer pension contributions and a significant increase to food inflation which is predicted to reach 5%.
As you know, the school receives a government grant which enables us to provide school meals for Reception, Year and Year 2 pupils. However, this grant does not cover the full cost of providing these meals and so this is supplemented from the school’s main budget. There is currently an issue of parents ordering a hot meal for their child but still sending them with a packed lunch. This results in the school paying for a dinner which then gets thrown away. Because of these increasing costs and food wastage, if a child now has a school dinner ordered and brings a packed lunch, they will be given the school dinner and sent home with the lunch.
Attendance
Our overall school attendance is currently below our target of 96%. Whilst I am confident that by the end of the academic year, the attendance figure will rise, I am very mindful that there is an increasing number of children being taken out of school for holidays and being absent for ailments such as a cough or cold which, as adults, would not prevent us from going into work. This is a trend occurring across the county and not just specific to our school. In order to improve attendance levels and ensure that our procedures are similar to those of neighbouring schools, I will be working with the governors and other head teachers to review our current practice and procedures. When our Attendance Policy has been updated and approved, I will be sending a copy to each family and uploading it onto the school’s website for future reference.
Diary Dates
These are useful dates for your diary that will be added to each week. More information about each event will be provided nearer the time. New dates are highlighted, changes to any date/time are in red.
| Date | Event |
| 28-01-2020 | Climbing Competition Final @ Kepplewray |
| 30-01-2020 | Dance Teacher in to work with Class 3 and Class 4 |
| 31-01-2020 | Cumbria Cricket working with Year 1 and Year 2 |
| 05-02-2020 | Jester for Jesus Assembly |
| 05-02-2020 | Siemens Workshop – Class 1 and 2 |
| 06-02-2020 | KS1 Ulverston Voices |
| 07-02-2020 | Year 5/6 visit to Dowdales to watch Aladdin |
| 07-02-2020 | Key Steps Gym Comp @ Dowdales, selected pupils |
| 11-02-2020 | Dance Workshop @ UVHS – Class 3 and Class 4 |
| 12-02-2020 | Siemens Workshop – Class 3 and 4 |
| 14-02-2020 | Finish for half term break |
| 24-02-2020 | Return to school |
| 25-02-2020 | Year 5 Language session @ Dowdales |