2025 Autumn #1

Welcome back

Welcome back everyone!

It has been wonderful to welcome the children back to school today – we are so happy to see them! They have had a great first day and we have really enjoyed hearing all about their summer holidays. We have been so impressed with how well the children have settled back into school life and how quickly they have engaged in exciting new learning. We are also delighted to welcome our new Reception children, who have made a fantastic start to their school journey. In addition, we are pleased to welcome new pupils across the school and are so happy they have joined our Coalbrookdale family.

In today’s collective worship, we introduced our half-term focus of trust. Together, we reflected on the people we trust in our lives and also how we can show trust to others through our words and actions.

We are also pleased to share some staffing updates. Mrs Postance has been appointed as our new Deputy Headteacher. Having worked at Coalbrookdale for many years, she knows our children, families, and community extremely well. Her passion, energy, and commitment to ensuring every child flourishes make her an excellent fit for this role, and we are excited about the impact she will continue to have across the school.

We are also delighted to welcome Mr Johnson as our new SENDCo. He will be working closely with staff throughout this term to complete a thorough handover of SEND and to ensure that our provision for children with additional needs remains strong.

We wish them both every success in their new roles.

A quick reminder that children do not need to bring large bags into school, as we do not have the space to store them. If there is a specific reason your child needs to bring a bag, please speak with their class teacher.

On Friday, we will share in our newsletter the key dates for the year ahead and provide a half-termly overview of what the children will be learning this half term.

We are looking forward to a positive and exciting term ahead.

Mrs Dhaliwal
Headteacher

Open afternoon – Friday 5 September @ 2:45pm

Parents are invited to visit their child’s classroom this Friday (5 September) from 2.45pm to meet their child’s class teacher, see how your child has settled into their new class, look at some books, ask questions and receive this half term’s overview.

Parent Lunches

We are pleased to invite parents to have lunch with their child across this term on a Wednesday.  Lunch costs £3.60 and money should be handed into the school office in a named envelope.  For catering purposes, we will need to know if you will be having a school lunch.  A link will be sent out to parents via Seesaw the week before to confirm numbers.

Parents should arrive for lunch at midday.

17 September – Year 6 Parent lunch

24 September – Year 5 Parent lunch

1 October – Year 4 Parent lunch

8 October – Year 3 Parent lunch

15 October – Year 2 Parent lunch

22 October – Year 1 Parent lunch

5 November – Reception Parent lunch

School photographs

A photographer will be in school on Monday 22 September to take individual photos of the children and siblings.  Photographs of siblings within school will be taken during the school hours along with pictures of individual children.  If you have children with pre-school siblings, these family portraits will be taken before school in the hall.  Please come to the main doors from 8.30am.

If your child has PE on that Monday, they should come to school dressed in their uniform and bring their PE kit in with them to change in to.

Attendance

School attendance is mandatory for all pupils, and it is our priority to ensure that as many children as possible regularly attend school.  Any child who has less than 95% attendance is monitored by the EWO service.  If attendance drops below 90%, an Educational Welfare Officer may visit you to see if there are any ways in which they can help to improve attendance.

If your child is poorly, please telephone the school office (01952 386620) on the first day of absence, giving a reason for the absence.  This should be done for every school day they miss.  If your child is still poorly on the 3rd day of absence, we kindly request medical evidence. Please discuss with the admin team for further support and guidance on this.

The Government introduced a new ‘National Framework for Penalty Notices’ September 2024. This will apply to all Telford & Wrekin schools.

Below are some of the significant changes you need to be aware of:

• If your child has 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a 10 school-week rolling period, you may be issued with a Penalty Notice. These 10 sessions may include any unauthorised absence, including leave in term time and do not have to be consecutive. Unauthorised absences are recorded for children who are late after the register has closed (from 9.15am), do not provide medical evidence or have not contacted school.
• Penalty Notices are increasing to £160 from September 2024. This can be reduced to £80 but only for the first Penalty Notice issued, if paid within 21 days – this reduction does not apply to any subsequent Penalty Notice.
• Any 2nd Penalty Notice, to the same parent for the same child, issued within three years of the date of the first Penalty Notice will be charged at a flat rate of £160.
• A third Penalty Notice will not be issued within a three-year rolling period, to the same parent for the unauthorised absence of the same child, – alternative action or legal measures will be utilised for subsequent offences.
• In some circumstances a ‘Notice to Improve’ may be issued – However, a Notice to Improve will only be used in cases where support is appropriate. They will not be issued in cases of unauthorised leave in term time for holidays, where information for parents is included on school’s website or a simple warning by the school that a Penalty Notice could be issued if unauthorised leave in term time is taken will suffice.
• Absence for leave in term times will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances – please note that holidays or extended leave for family visits cannot be considered as exceptional circumstances. We will be updating our Attendance Policy to reflect this.

We totally understand the challenges of the costs of holidays during the school holidays and of having extended family who live abroad, however the guidance from the DfE is clear that we cannot authorise these absences. As a school we will always consider exceptional circumstances that sit outside these reasons on a case-by-case basis.

We also want to make you aware that there is a tightening of the guidelines around pupils arriving late. If pupils are consistently late this could contribute to their unauthorised absence levels and result in action being taken by the Local Authority.

Maintaining a good level of attendance is not only essential for your child’s day to day learning but is also crucial in setting positive habits and mindsets for their future. If you need support with your child’s attendance, please come and talk to a member of the team.

Attendance – Holidays in term time

It is important that children do not miss school due to holiday as they will miss important parts of their education and assessments that help us to plan their learning to ensure they make progress.  As you may be aware, the government has renewed appeals to parents not to take their children out of school during term time.  The governors of the school support this and have decided that children will only be given permission to take leave in term time if there are exceptional circumstances which prevents the leave being taken during the 12 weeks school holidays.

Request for leave forms are available from the school office.  Any time off in term time will be at the discretion of the Head teacher.

Late / Appointments in school time

If your child is late or you need to pick them up during the day for an appointment, please go to the school office.  Parents will need to sign children in/out of school.

School uniform

Children should bring a book-bag to school to hold their reading book and home-school reading diary (these will be handed out by the end of first week back).

Children can bring in an appropriately sized water bottle. Water is available for all children in class throughout the day.

In line with NSPCC and safeguarding guidance, children should come to school in their school sports kit on the day(s) that they have PE.

Children will be expected to be in full school uniform on the days that they do not have PE.

School uniform is a royal blue sweatshirt or cardigan; royal blue polo shirt (or white/blue polo shirt or shirt); dark grey or black skirt or trousers/shorts; blue check dress for girls in summer; black, grey or white socks and dark, single coloured footwear (not trainers).

PE uniform is a white or navy t-shirt, navy or black shorts, skort or knee length leggings and trainers or black plimsolls/pumps.  NO football tops or sportswear.

NO jewellery apart from stud earrings should be worn.  Children should not bring in toys as these can get lost or damaged.  Headbands (Alice Bands) must be suitable for school – no unicorn horns or rainbow tails!

School uniform can be ordered online with Lads and Lasses Schoolwear via their website at Coalbrookdale & Ironbridge Primary School | School & Work Uniforms | Lads & Lasses Schoolwear.  Orders can then either be posted direct to you (for a small charge), collected from their shop in Bridgnorth (157 Victoria Road, Bridgnorth WV16 4LL) or sent to school.

Naming School Uniform

Please ensure all items brought to school are named.  This includes school uniform, coats, PE kit, shoes, trainers’, book bags, lunch boxes and water bottles.  Any items put in lost property without a name will be sent for recycling at the end of each term.

School Dinners

School lunches are £2.90 (Years 3 – 6 only) and should be paid for online https://www.telford.gov.uk/info/20028/school_meals/8/pay_for_school_meals.  Contact the office if you do not have your child’s Pupil Reference Number.  Please ensure your child/ren’s dinner account/s is always kept in credit to ensure your child receives a school dinner.

Children can order sandwiches (ham, cheese, tuna mayonnaise or egg mayonnaise) from the kitchen for their school lunch instead of a hot meal.  They will also be able to choose from either a biscuit or piece of cake; organic yoghurt or fresh fruit; cheese portion or packet of raisins.  Sandwiches should be ordered in advance.  Please contact the school office for more details on how to do this.

A copy of the lunch menu can be found on the school website.

Meals Payment and Menu – Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge C.E. Primary School

Free School Meals:  Years 3 – 6

If you receive one of the qualifying benefits (see below), school can receive Pupil Premium funding. Even if you don’t want your child (or children) to receive the meals or they receive universal free school meals and you receive one of the qualifying benefits, it is still important to make an application to Free School Meals. This will allow school to receive extra funding, which could then be used to support them.

If you think that you are eligible to claim free school meals (see below for eligibility) for your child but have not applied you can do so online at https://www.telford.gov.uk/info/20028/school_meals/9/free_school_meals.

Your child, or children, may qualify for Free School Meals if you meet the following criteria:

• you or your partner (if you have one) have a child for whom you receive Child Benefit and who is attending a school or college in Telford and Wrekin,

and you get any of the following:

• Universal Credit and your household income is less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get),
• Income Support,
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance,
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance,
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190),
• Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit),
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.

Free School Meals:  Reception – Year 2

All children who are in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 will be offered a free healthy school lunch. However, we would ask that you still apply for Free School Meals as above if you are claiming any one of the income support items listed.  By doing this the school will receive additional funding from Central Government.

Newsletter

We send out a regular newsletter every Friday via Seesaw to ensure that you are kept fully informed as to events and highlights as well as achievements.

Mobile Phones/Smart watches in school

Parents are reminded that children should not be bringing mobile phones into school.

If you feel they need a phone with them, perhaps because they walk to and from school on their own, they should be handed into the office.

Watches with the ability to take photos should also not be worn in school.

Water Bottles

Children should bring in a named water bottle to school every day.  These should contain water only and are kept in class.  Children can have juice in their lunch boxes if they wish.