Weekly Newsletter

We wish Mrs Gill Parkin all the very best as she starts her retirement. Gill has worked in school for over 20 years, with the after school club, with Phasers and as a lunchtime supervisor. She is going to be enjoying some very well-earned rest with her family as well as more travelling. At the end of her final lunch duty today we presented her with flowers, cards and gifts along with a huge round of applause and lots of hugs!

Emergency closure Monday 18th March Thank you so much to all families for being able to make arrangements to collect your child(ren) on Monday when we lost our water supply! We had reports of some people not getting our messages. We sent these via email, text and Dojo to try to reach everyone but if you have a new mobile number you will need to let us know so we can update the systems used.

Contacting school Please can we remind you that all messages about absence, medicine, appointments & changes to after school picks ups must come through the school office either by phone 01757 704308 or email admin@bp.starmat.uk. Messages through Dojo don't work if a member of staff is absent, and also staff do not have their phones with them in the classrooms while they are working with the children so they can't always pick them up.

Term dates 2023-24 & 2024-25 The term dates for this year and next year are on the school website at https://brayton-cofe-primary-school.secure-primarysite.net/term-dates/

Jewellery No necklaces, bracelets, rings or other jewellery should be worn to school. If your child has earrings, these must be removed for PE sessions, or earrings can be left at home on PE days. Earrings for school should be small stud types so they don't get caught and cause any injuries.

Free school meals: save up to £450 a year With so much in the news about the cost of living and now energy prices going up, you can check whether your child could be eligible for a free school meal, whatever school year they are in. All the information is on the NYCC website at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/free-school-meals Some of this information may be out of date, especially around eligibility, so please get in touch if you are unsure.

If you would like any advice or support with this, please contact the school office. We treat these matters with complete confidentiality and are always happy to help if needed.

Attendance is hovering back around the national level after some challenging weeks. Thank you for your help with this: we can work to get back on track and pull it back up again. The DFE is taking an increasingly tough stance on school attendance, with previous guidance becoming law from September 2024, bringing a bigger role for the Attendance Enforcement team.

Please remember, we will always contact you if your child is unwell during the day, so please make sure they are here as much as possible. With your help we made massive improvements in attendance over last year and this is now better across school than it has been in a very long time!

We would also remind you that, according to the new guidance for schools, ANY leave for holidays should be unauthorised: there is no longer the 'up to 5 days/10 sessions' which can be authorised at the Headteacher's discretion. Last year we put forward 38 requests for Fixed Penalty Notices to be issued, which the Local Authority have advised us that they have actioned.

Thursday 21 March - School closes for Easter

Friday 22 March - STAR MAT training day (school closed to children)

Monday 8 April - School opens

Monday 6 May - May Day Bank Holiday

Thursday 23 May - School closes for half term

Friday 24 May - Training day (school closed to children)

Monday 3 June - School opens

Friday 19 July - School closes for summer

Monday 22 July - Training day (school closed to children)

Eleanor W

Evie Mc

Lois G

Emily R

Beatrix H

Riley S

Albie C

Hope C

Heidi P

Stars - Ivan A

Moon - Harper PI

Mercury - Mason C

Venus - Sienna C

Galaxy - Daisy T

Earth - Emily S

Mars - Phoebe S

Saturn - Arthur S

Jupiter - Regie P

Neptune - Iris M

Meteor - Scarlett M

Asteroid - Evie B

Pluto - Bethany H

Nebular - Lewis HS

Constellation - Daisy B