Low Ash Primary

We hope everyone had a restful half term break. The children returned to us full of energy and enthusiasm for the half term ahead.

Well done to this week's Stars of the Week (pictured below) who have all had exceptionally good weeks.

The school calendar is constantly updated on the school website and can be found here Upcoming Events | Low Ash Primary School. You can also find the key dates overview calendar here Key-Dates-Overview-2024-25.pdf (lowash.bradford.sch.uk) We will update this each half term with any additional dates which might arise.

Monday 11th November - Remembrance day - we will mark this in school

Monday 11th November - 6CLG History school trip

Tuesday 12th November - 6LH History school trip

Tuesday 12th November - School book fair

Wednesday 13th November - School book fair

Thursday 14th November - 5B and 5E Shipley library visit

Friday 15th November - 5W Shipley library visit

Friday 15th November - Children in Need non-uniform day

Monday 18th November - Year 6 Shipley library visit

Wednesday 27th November - 5B and 5E History trip

Thursday 28th November - Nursery school trip (morning nursery children and half of all day children)

Friday 29th November - 5W History trip

Friday 29th November - Christmas Fair

Tuesday 3rd December- 1P History trip

Thursday 5th December - Nursery school trip (afternoon nursery and half of all day children)

Tuesday 10th December - FOLA Christmas travelling gift shop (in school)

Tuesday 10th December at 2.15pm - Key Stage 1 nativity

Tuesday 10th December - 3B Geography Trip

Wednesday 11th December at 9.30am - Key Stage 1 nativity

Thursday 12th December at 2.15pm - Key Stage 1 nativity

Thursday 12th December - 3M Geography trip

Friday 13th December - 1B History trip

Friday 13th December - end of half -term 'show case' - You are invited into your child's class to look at their work with them

Friday 13th December - Low Ash Christmas jumper day

Tuesday 17th December - Year 5 Victorian Christmas

Thursday 19th December at 1.30pm - Early Years Christmas sing a long

Thursday 19th December (evening)- Carols by Candlelight

Friday 20th December - School breaks up for Christmas

For the first year, in quite some time, it is looking as though our attendance could fall below the national average. This year so far we have had requests for 177.5 days absence from school (last year at this time, the number was 88). These are requests linked to holidays etc NOT linked to illnesses. The request for time off in term time is hugely affecting our attendance figures.

This week's school attendance is 95.7%.

Whole school attendance so far this year is 94.4 %

Early Years/Key Stage 1 class of the week is 1B with 99.5% attendance.

Key Stage 2 class of the week is 4T with 98.9% attendance.

Once more, here is the link to the attendance page of the school website which has information on the Penalty Notice system. Ultimately, more than 2 penalty notices could result in the council taking you to court and a criminal record. We really do not want any of our families to have to go through this.

Attendance | Low Ash Primary School

Every week, until Christmas, some of our pupils are having the opportunity to spend days on a working farm near Skipton. The first visit was on Wednesday and, as you can see, they had lots of fun!

The link below will take you to the Jamie's farm website which explains more about the work they do.

Skipton - Jamie's Farm

The half term started with the culmination of the Art and DT units, with pupils spending a number of days this week designing, making and evaluating their products. This follows weekly lessons last half term where pupils focussed on specific skills in their sketch books.

Some of our Upper Key Stage 2 pupils have started volunteering at the Wrose Chapel coffee morning. They help to set the session up and then spend time talking, reading and playing games with the local community. The first session this week was a great success. The pupils were a credit to the school! One of the Low Ash pupils even said, 'I am going to think about my behaviour more now after hearing what those ladies said'!

As many of you will know, we teach First Aid skills to our pupils during their enrichment afternoons. The importance of this was highlighted to us this week. Because of the teaching a pupil had received, she was able to recognize the signs of a stroke in her grandmother. Because of the early identification and knowing the need to get her to hospital within a certain timescale, thankfully the grandmother survived. This has served to remind us that teaching the life skills we do is just as important as teaching the National Curriculum.

As you will all know, being a parent or carer has never been easy! There are no manuals for it and, for adults, time has never been more compacted. Family Lives has produced a series of online parenting courses, to make this challenge a little easier. If interested please follow the link below:

https://www.familylives.org.uk/how-we-can-help/online-parenting-courses

Family Lives offers a confidential and free* helpline service for families in England and Wales (previously known as Parentline). They can be contacted on 0808 800 2222 for emotional support, information, advice and guidance on any aspect of parenting and family life. Their website is also a rich source of useful support and advice.

(* Free from landlines and most mobiles)

We are having a Non-Uniform Day on Friday 15th November to raise money for Children in Need.

If your child would like to take part, they can come to school in one of the following:

Dressed as Pudsey

Dressed in spotty clothes

Dressed in yellow

Wear your own clothes

Donations towards Children in Need can be made by following one of the links below;

https://app.parentpay.com/ParentPayShop/Foc/Default.aspx?shopid=15192

https://donate.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/

We hope you agree that this is a very worthy cause and really hope you are able to support it.

Well done to the first Low Ash Pickle Ball team who all played really well last night.

The deadline for choosing a primary school place is approaching fast but there are still a number of tours of the school for prospective parents and carers of pupils who will be starting school in 2025.

All tours will be led by a member of the school's leadership team and will last for approximately one hour. If you would like to book a spot on one of the tours, please contact the school office on 01274582927 or email on office@lowash.bradford.sch.uk.

If you can't attend any of the dates below, contact school and we will accommodate other dates and times.

Thursday 14th November - 10.30am

Thursday 21st November – 10.30am

Thursday 28th November – 2.00pm

Monday 2nd December – 9.30am