In school, May is one of our busiest months with lots of children participating in various tests. Our Year 2 children have been working especially hard with Mrs Betts and Mrs Lindley over the last couple of weeks- we are super proud of all your focus and determination. Also a big well done to all the children in Year 6 who have worked so hard in preparation for their SATs. They have been really mature and sensible in approaching this challenge and Mrs McCue couldn't be prouder. 

As the good weather approaches, please remember to ensure your child has a hat and is wearing sun cream BEFORE they arrive at school. We are unable to reapply sun cream during the school day. It would also be helpful to ensure that your child's water bottles are named. On hot days they are taken outside during lunchtimes so this helps to prevent any going missing. 

The arrival of summer means that productions, sports day and residentials are just around the corner; such an exciting time of the year! Please check the school calendar and get dates in the diary!

Attendance

You are aware that we have updated some of our procedures around children’s attendance including requesting time off in Exceptional Circumstances.

We class exceptional circumstances as the following:

1)      Service Personnel returning from a tour of duty abroad where it is evidenced the individual will not be in receipt of any leave in the near future that coincides with school holidays

2)      Where an absence from school is recommended by a health professional as part of a parent or child’s rehabilitation from a medical or emotional issue.

3)      The death or a terminal illness of a person close to the family.

4)      Out of school programmes such as music, arts or sport operating at a high standard or achievement

5)      Religious observance – The Education Act 1996 S444(3)(c) states ‘on any day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which his/her parent belongs’.

6)      To attend a wedding, funeral or ‘special’ family event (up to a maximum of two days)

Please take this in to consideration when booking any holidays for later this year. A reminder that the children will return to school on WEDNESDAY 4^TH SEPTEMBER. School is also closed for TWO weeks for October half term holidays (finish on FRIDAY 18^TH OCTOBER and return to school on MONDAY 4^TH NOVEMBER. Finally, we break up on FRIDAY 20^TH DECEMBER for the Christmas holiday. Any holidays should be booked during these periods of school closure.

We are aiming for every child to have attendance of 95% or better (which equates to no more than 1 day absent every 4 weeks). If a child does not have attendance above 95%, and there is an unauthorised absence due to holidays, a fine will definitely be issued. 

Weekly attendance figures for each class will now be available on the school website 

Blogs

Please remember that you can subscribe to class blogs AND the Safeguarding and Sports & Enrichment by going in to the ‘Blog’ section along the top horizontal bar and then clicking on the relevant blog. The option to subscribe is then at the top of the blog. We've discovered that you cannot subscribe if you simply access them from the home page.

Playtime Dressing Up Box

We are currently putting together a dressing up box for the children to use at playtimes. If you have any accessories that we could include, such as hats and gloves, then we’d really pleased to find them a home! Thanks in advance!

Message from The Office

Please remember to make sure all payments are up to date in time for the half term holiday. If there are any problems then please speak to Mrs Buttery and she will support with this where she can. 

Jewellery  and Uniform

We've noticed that some of our children have been arriving at school wearing jewellery which should not be worn during the school day. A reminder please that the only jewellery that can be worn are watches and plain stud earrings. An exception would be a piece of jewellery worn for medical or religious reason. Children are also expected to be able to take out their earrings by themselves for PE and sporting activities. Unfortunately, we are unable to assist them with this. 

At KPNS we pride ourselves on being smart. Please ensure that your child is coming to school in the correct uniform. On the odd occasion we appreciate that there may be circumstances that prevent your child from following our uniform policy. If this is the case, please speak with a member of the leadership team. 

Thank You Friends of KPNS

You may have noticed that there have been some improvements happening around our school grounds. The Friends of KPNS have been nipping into school to paint walls, keep on top of the gardening and help the children design new flags. A huge thanks to all our lovely parent volunteers- You are doing a brilliant job!