On Roald Dahl Day, on Friday 13^th, it was far from being an unlucky day as we all had the chance to go to school dressed up as our favourite Roald Dahl character. I wanted to go as Matilda or Miss Honey but couldn’t find anything suitable to wear, so I went in plain clothes. My brother went as one of Fantastic Mr Fox cubs, wearing a waistcoat, fox ears and a bushy tail. He looked great. Quite a few people dressed up as Willy Wonka and Miss Elsdon did too! Also some of the teachers wore fox masks. Whether you dressed up or not, we did a Dahlicious Day of exciting activities. My class (class 5/6) designed a front cover for a book that Roald Dahl didn’t finish, called ‘The Bloodbottler’.  It was a very fun and energetic day.

By Esther (Class 5)

I hope you all had a lovely summer. Summer has been a busy time here in school as we have had extensive building work carried out at the back of our building which has resulted in the SCAMPS nursery area being reconfigured so that we can offer 30 hour childcare provision. The building project has also provided two areas which will be used for small group or 1:1 interventions and we now have a room which we will be using as a sensory room. The building work has been funded by Durham County Council’s Early Years sustainability fund and we are very grateful for their support. The funding, however, only covers the actual building work, flooring and decoration. As you know, our school budget is extremely tight and we are now trying to find creative solutions to finding funding to kit out the sensory area. If you have anything you could donate to the sensory room project, please see the list below and contact Mrs Cross (SENCO) to discuss any donation.

We are in desperate need of:

• Beanbags (clean and in good condition)
• Lava lamps or other visual lighting (such as strobes)
• Trampette (small trampoline)
• Large plastic boxes for storage or to fill with sensory resources
• Small world toys (small figures, cars, lego, characters, small plastic toys)
• Small plastic balls
• Foam and plastic balls

During the holidays, every classroom has been fitted with new blinds which has made a huge difference in each and every room. Over the last few years the blinds have fallen down or broken and the light coming into the classrooms affects children’s learning as they cannot see the board clearly. Our governing body therefore decided the need to replace the blinds had reached crisis point and we therefore allocated some of our capital budget to pay for this.

We also have a huge School Improvement Agenda this year. At the end of last year, we committed to becoming a Thrive School. Mrs Howes is currently undergoing training to become a qualified Thrive Practitioner and she will be taking the lead on implementing Thrive across the whole school. As part of this project we will be creating a Safe Space in the library which will be used to support and meet the emotional needs of all of our children.

Unfortunately, in the first week back, our outdoor activity trail (on the field) was condemned and therefore is no longer available for our children to play on. We are currently exploring options in terms of replacement or creating an alternative outdoor play area. This will be discussed with our various pupil voice groups in order to take the views of our children into account when making any decision.

This year will see us join the Durham Diocesan MAT (1^st April 2020) which is an exciting challenge. As parents, you will hardly notice any difference, but within school there will be lots of additional work taking place in order to make the transition as smooth as possible and also to implement the new management and financial systems.

Our website is currently undergoing a complete redesign with some new and exciting pages added, including regular blogs by children, celebration of successes and regular updates on what your children are doing in class.

As always, our teachers have planned exciting and innovative lessons and activities for our children. Our theme this term is ‘Our Planet’ and the planning jigsaw for your child’s class is attached for your information.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to join us at 9am on Friday 27^th September 2019 in the school hall for our MacMillan Cancer Coffee Morning. Donations of cakes would be very much appreciated and should be brought into school that morning.

This year looks like an exciting and challenging one for us but as always – our amazing team of staff, governors, children and parents are up for the challenge and I am sure will support us in taking our fantastic school forward.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support. I am incredibly proud of our school community and hope that you, too, take pride in what we achieve here at Stanhope Barrington CofE Primary School.

Yours sincerely,

Mr S. Myers

Headteacher

Welcome Back!

The new school year has begun and we are off to an amazing start. All of our pupils have settled in really well to their new classes and routines. The Staff have all kinds of exciting lessons, clubs and events planned for the year ahead so please visit this site often to make sure you are up-to-date will all that is happening in our school community.

Be sure to check out our new website format to find out about all the fantastic things we do in school and in our community, and to make sure that you have all the information that you need to support your child. From this year, this blog will be written by our pupils…so stay tuned to read about school-life from their point of view.

Wishing everyone a fabulous 2019-2020!