Updates from Mrs Norden

Further to the letter I sent out towards the end of the summer term, the staffing cuts we have had to make for this financial year, to set a balanced budget, have now all come into affect. These cuts impact classroom support, administration/finance hours and premises hours.  Whilst we will strive to ensure that the education for our children continues to a high standard there are aspects of how we have previously worked which will have to change.  As explained in the summer letter, this means there will be changes in how we work, and we will need your support to reduce unnecessary burdens on our systems so that core and key tasking can be prioritised and to fill gaps through volunteering.

Administrative and finance reduction in hours means that whilst our office will continue to be manned from 8.30am on most days, on Wednesdays it will be manned from 8.45am. The office will continue to be open until 4pm at the end of the day. Please use our telephone answering system to leave a message, or email the office, rather than continually ringing as it will not be picked up outside these hours.  During the day, it will not be possible for the office to be manned or phones to be answered to previous levels due to staff tasking priorities e.g. undertaking first aid, supporting unwell children, being on the phone already, and so emailing will be a more effective way to ensure we receive information.  Should you need to update us on changes for pick-ups please do so as early as possible.

We often receive calls and emails asking for information which has been sent out already and can be accessed via the website and newsletters.  Information is often sent out, and sign posted, more than once and is accessible via several different paths. Please check previous newsletters, your emails and the website to find the information (the website has a search tab) before you ask the office.

Each week's newsletter contains a set of up-and-coming dates for your diary, which is taken from the website diary dates pages.  You can access a pdf version of the dates we have set across the whole year, so far, to support your planning here.  All these dates are on the website and new dates will be added to the website once confirmed.  

Letters sent home can be found on the website page called 'Letters home' if they are for the whole school or on specific pages e.g. the 'phase', 'sports clubs' website pages, if they are sent out to specific groups or for specific reasons. These are also often linked directly into newsletters - see phase page links further down.

Our Governing Body work hard to support the school in all aspects of our work, and you can read their annual report for the academic year 2023/24 here.  We are hugely grateful for their engagement and supportive endeavours.  As you will see from their report they have also highlighted the financial implications for the school and suggest other ways in which you can support us through supporting the fundraising of the PTA and volunteering, if you have the time.  

We are so dependent on the funds the PTA raise and their work is invaluable as the money raised enables us to maintain many of our 'entitlements' such as subscriptions for Purple Mash, books for our new phonics scheme and new ipads for the children to use - because the old ones no longer update and support such key needs as ensuring access to software we use and the Year 4s can access the national Multiplication check. So please help where you can and join us on 2nd October for their AGM to hear about their work.

As always, we would be very happy for any time people can give through volunteering in varied ways from helping hear children read to weeding with our gardening club.  This year we are also hoping that our school community may be able to help us with increasing first-hand experiences for our children, through your interests and skills.  Please click here to access our volunteering 'form' and help if you can.  The form has just 10 questions and highlights lots of options, so please click into it and have a read.

You will see below that our Rights Respecting Committee also now has a blog and this will have a permanent link in each newsletter, as our Eco- Committee already does, so you can keep up with their news.  The School Council will be joining our growing number of blogs once we have our first meeting of the new year.  Reading these provide a great way to hear from the children and see what our children's committees are doing.

Thank you for talking time to read our newsletter, which we hope provides you with up-to-date information, regular news of our activities and more.  Today's is quite long as can be seen from my update but please keep reading to find the information you need.  

Thank you also for supporting us with all my asks to help us maintain a good service to you and provide the best experiences for our children. 

_{Anna-Claire Norden} 

_Headteacher

PE days Autumn Term - First half term 

Rabbits and Mice - Thursday and Friday

Yr1/2 Foxes, Squirrels - Monday and Tuesday, Otters -Tuesday and Thursday

Yr3/4 Kingfishers and Badgers - Tuesday and Wednesday, Swans - Monday and Tuesday 

Yr5/6 Owls and Swallows - Wednesday and Thursday, Ravens - Wednesday and Friday

Children need to come to school in PE kit on PE days. Children should not wear earrings for PE and will be asked to remove them as part of our H&S protocols.

Please note that there may be weeks when changes for operational reasons need to be accommodated.  If this is the case, information will be sent out to those classes either in a separate email or set out here in our weekly newsletter.

Autumn Term Clubs

An email will be sent out by Mrs Turian tomorrow night (11th Sept) detailing all the school sports based clubs which will be available this term outside of school hours.  Clubs will start the week beginning 18th September and the email will detail how to book your child a place. 

Please note that places for clubs are limited and we often have a waiting list.  If your child signs up then the expectation is that they will attend all sessions unless there are exceptional circumstances such as illness which prevent them doing so.  If a child does not attend two or more sessions in a half-term for reasons not deemed to be exceptional e.g. 'they don't feel like it', then their place will be given to someone on the waiting list. 

Overview

Monday pm - Yr3/4 Boys Football with Mr Thomson

                        -  Yr5/6 Netball with Mrs Turian (existing members from last year's netball club will be automatically signed up for the new term)

Wednesday pm - KS2 Girls Football with Mrs Namur and Mrs Pipe - groups will be phase groups)

Thursday pm - Yr5/6 Boys Football with Mr O'Neill and Miss Sharp

Friday am (0800hrs) - Golden Mile with Mrs Maloney (entry to school is via the back gate)

Afternoon clubs start straight after school and pick up for afternoon clubs is the back gate.

For clubs which take place at lunchtime e.g. gardening club, children will sign up in school for these and information will come out to you with regard to any specific details which require support from home before the club starts.

Important information from last week's newsletter as a helpful reminder

Changes to our finance systems

Further to communication last term regarding our change from Bromcom (My Child at School - MCaS) to Tucasi (School Cash Office – SCOPay) for finances, we will shortly be sending out log in details for the new system.

Please note Bromcom will remain our database for your child’s information - this change relates to paying for services such as school meals, trips etc. which will now be booked and paid through SCOPay.

Accessing SCOPay

Parents who use our Early Years and Playwork Centre already have access to SCOPay, and the school meal option will be available from 1^st September.

Initial log in details are sent to adults with parental responsibility, with one log in per child initially. Once one parent has signed up, the second parent will need to contact us directly to issue another log in. Please email the office on office@swavesey.cambs.sch.uk

When you first log in, your child may be in their previous class as the system will update until the children's first day back.

For further information about your SCOPay account please see the following guide:

SCOPay Parent Information

School Meals

Those families who have a credit balance on MCaS will see that transferred to their SCOPay account over the next few days. There should not be any debt, but those who do owe money for their meals from previous terms should ensure that this is paid through MCaS before the start of term.

Please remember meals should be paid for in advance, not retrospectively. Schools are not obliged to provide a meal where there is a debt. School meals are free for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. For PreSchool and Years 3 through to 6 they are £2.40 per day.

We ask that meals are booked in advance and that you ensure your child knows what has been booked for them to avoid confusion at registration time. This also aids the caterers in reducing wastage – we are pleased to be able to offer pupils a choice of hot meal when they approach the counter at lunch, but we need to know the total number of hot meals in advance.

Please visit our lunches page on the school website for information from our catering supplier, particularly if your child has an allergy or an intolerance. The current menu continues until October half term.

Lunch Information

Early Years and Playwork Centre (EYandP)

Please take time to read the fees and payment guidance for our EYandP Centre. They can be found on our website EYandP page – through the link below:

EYandP Fees and Funding Page

In particular, please note that we will send you a request for payment when sessions are booked at the start of the month and payment is due on request. It is time consuming and takes us away from other important tasks if we are having to chase payments throughout the month, especially as we have had to reduce our administrative and finance hours as explained last term. With the exception of extenuating circumstances, there is a 4 week notice period for cancellation of sessions.

Voucher payments are received into our bank account, mostly without notification and are applied to your account as regularly as we can – any request for payment will show the last payment made so you can see what has been applied.

SEMH (Social Emotional Mental Health) resources for parents - Please click here to access an overview sheet with signposted resources for you to use at home to support your children.  The overview sheet can also be found at the bottom of the SEND page on our website here.  

We hope you find these useful and easy to access.

SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) information can be accessed through our SEND website pages here

To find out more about Pupil premium and Free school meals, please visit our Pupil Premium page by clicking here. 

Links to each Phase page under our curriculum tab on our website.

Reception    Yr1/2    Yr3/4    Yr5/6