NewsletterFirbeck Times

This half term seems to have whizzed by. We continue to be proud of all those who attend Firbeck Academy. It is always humbling when visitors comment on the calmness around school and the positive attitude to learning they see across school. 

As a school we are extremely proud to have achieved Bronze Level for the Rights Respecting School Award. This award demonstrates that we have child's rights at the heart of many aspects of our school. We will continue to work towards achieving the silver level over the next year- intertwining it into all aspects of school life and deepening our pupils and communities knowledge around the convention. 

This half term has seen some exciting opportunities for our pupils. Some of the opportunities they have had include: 

• participating in the the county wide Nott Alone Children's Mental Health Event
• participating in AIM - a Science event
• attending theater productions such as Coming to England
• engaging in the Freedom Factory - a programme to develop self-confidence and build resilience
• learning about classical artists such as Monet, Renoir and Pissarro by attending the exhibition at Nottingham Castle

As a school we will continue to broaden the extracurricular and enrichment opportunities available to all of our pupils. If you have any ideas or suggestions please do let us know. 

As a school we recognise that we are only able to achieve what we have so far and plan to do in the near future,due to the hard work of our pupils, the staff and the positive support we receive from our parents and the wider community. Thank you.

Thank you for working with us to continuously improve school attendance. We are extremely pleased with how much this has improved. And that is due to school and parents working together. 

A little reminder that home visits will be carried out for any child not in school by 9.00am, particularly if their current attendance is below 93% and we have had no contact from parents.

It is a legal requirement that children attend school and as parents/carers it is your responsibility to ensure your child attends school every day. Remember, every day matters.

Daily attendance is crucial for your child’s academic success and overall well-being. Pupils who arrive on time and attend every day achieve better outcomes at all key stages and are more confident. 

Absence during term time WILL NOT be authorised under any circumstances unless there are significant exceptional circumstances supported by documentation and evidence.

We will continue to working closely with all stakeholders to identify and address barriers to attendance in the following ways:

• Each day a child is absent telephone calls will be made by the school office to establish reasons for absence and what support could help.
• If a child is absent for 2 consecutive days and no contact is made with parents by 9.15am on the second day, home visits will be made and support from outside services may be sought if appropriate.
• If a child has less than 93% attendance and has not arrived in school by 9.00am a home visit will be carried out.
• Parents will receive regular messages detailing the number of sessions absent their child/children has had.
• Class Teachers will engage in supportive conversations and meetings with families where attendance is an early concern.
• Any child presenting as at Risk of Persistent Absence (10 days absent from school over the academic year) will be placed on formalised attendance support and parents will be invited in for a meeting with a member of the School Attendance Team. the purpose of the meeting is to explore how both parents and school can work together to improve attendance. 
• At the end of each half term parents will receive a copy of their child’s current attendance report and details of any further actions the school may be considering.
• The school will adopt the new National Framework for Penalty Notices in regards to attendance to ensure consistency.
• Penalty Notices will be issued to both parents when a child has had 10 sessions (5 school days) of unauthorised absence in a 10-week period.

Unauthorised absence is any absence from school which has not been agreed in advance or can not be explained and evidenced by a parent.  In the event of a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued this will be sent to both parents.

Late arrivals after the register closes (at 9.30am) are considered an unauthorised absence and count as 1 session towards a penalty notice.

Due to there being a significant number of children being collected late at the end of the day please find below the new process for these collections to enable us to ease the burden on our staff:

• School ends at 3.20pm
• Any child not collected by 3.30pm will be taken to a key stage two classroom to wait with 2 members of staff.
• If arriving late to collect your child you will need to go into the school grounds and walk down the path between the dining hall and the main building to the blue door.
• A member of staff will check who you are collecting and direct your child out to you.

This new process will start on Monday (10th February) and from this point there will be no late collections from the dining hall or school office.

The school day ends at 3.20pm, if your child is not booked into an after school enrichment club they must be collected at the correct time.  We appreciate sometimes circumstances can be out of a parents control which can result in a child being collected late.  However cases of persistent late collections will be referred to the Attendance and Safeguarding team.

Many thanks for your support with this.

Over the last couple of weeks there have been a number of concerns around some of the items coming in children’s packed lunches so we would like to clarify our expectations on this.

There is an increasing issue with childhood obesity and tooth decay and we want to support parents as much as possible to make healthy choices for their children’s meals. There is also a clear link between a high sugar intake and poor behaviour, which we seek to protect our children from.

We recognise that this issue can sometimes be confusing and would like to clarify this further.

School kitchens must adhere to very strict nutritional guidelines about what can and cannot be included in school meals. This includes any salt, sugar and saturated fats. All menus compiled by school kitchens must meet these standards and all recipes are scrutinised for their nutritional content before being approved. This means that although the children will sometimes have puddings, cakes or chips for example, these are sourced and cooked in a healthier way and are presented as part of a balanced menu over the week. 

In the past, we have tried to ensure that packed lunches are of a similar healthy standard to school meals, but we recognise that it can be difficult to navigate the array of different types of foods and still ensure variety in packed lunches.

Therefore, to clarify our rules for packed lunches, they can include anything so long as there is no:

– Nuts (to safeguard those with allergies)

– Fizzy drinks

– Sweets and chocolate bars

Please note that:

– Cakes and biscuits are allowed – but only 1 of these per day please

Please see the following link for healthy lunch box ideas: Healthier Lunchboxes

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Our Parent's Evenings will be held on Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th February, 3.30pm - 6.00pm

Please ensure you book a convenient appointment via MCAS.

Arrangements will be the same as previous events, please come to the Annex via the entrance on the lower playground.  Refreshments will be available while you look at your child's books and wait for your appointment, which will take place in the annex hall.

Please can we ask that where possible you leave children and siblings at home as we do not have facilities to provide childcare or entertainment during the Parent's evenings.

Year 5 will continue with swimming lessons next term until the Easter Break.  This will continue on a Wednesday afternoon at the Harvey Haddon facilities.

Please ensure your child has a full swimming kit with them every Wednesday.

Starting after the Easter Holiday we will be relaunching our fortnightly coffee mornings.  

Every other week one of our classes will host a Coffee/Activity morning, where parents can attend and take part in learning activities with their child and the rest of their class.  The class team and members of the leadership team will be in attendance supported by Lindy from St Leonard's Church. 

These sessions will be held in the dining hall between 9.00am and 10.00am and refreshments will also be provided.

More details will follow in due course, however please find below the dates so you have time to be able to plan to attend:

• Wednesday 23rd April - Year 1 Coffee/Activity Morning
• Wednesday 7th May - Year 6 Coffee/Activity Morning
• Wednesday 21st May - Year 2 Coffee/Activity Morning
• Wednesday 11th June - Year 5 Coffee/Activity Morning
• Wednesday 25th June - Year 3 Coffee/Activity Morning
• Wednesday 9th July - Year 4 Coffee/Activity Morning
• Wednesday 23rd July - EYFS Coffee/Activity Morning

World Book Day this year will be celebrated on Thursday 6th March. The purpose of this day is to celebrate the joy that reading brings to all of us.

In school our pupils will be participating in lots of reading and book related activities.

As part of World Book Day we have an exciting creative competition - a wooden spoon book character. We want our pupils to use their creative skills to recreate a book character from a wooden spoon. But don’t worry if you do not have a wooden spoon we can provide you will one, just ask at the school office.

We have book related prizes for the top three most amazing creations. Adults we know it will be tempting for you to create too but we are looking forward to seeing what our pupils can create independently.

We recognise that some pupils enjoy dressing up as a book character and others are not keen on this. We are therefore making it optional for our children to be ‘inspired by a book character.’ Your child may decide to:

• dress up fully or partially as a book character
• dress like an author that inspires them
• bring the book in that has the character in
• bring a book in written by their favorite author
• simply wear something related to a book character or author, for example yellow to remember Roald Dahl

 

World Book Day Costume Swap

From Monday 24th February to Wednesday 26th February we will be collecting in any unwanted World Book Day costumes, if you have costumes that no longer fit your children or are no longer wanted please donate them to school.  Then on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th February we will be opening up the dining hall after school, from 3.30pm - 4.00pm so families can come and look through and re-home the donated costumes.  We are hoping this will help our families keep the cost down while allowing the children to take part in World Book Day dressing up if this is something they would like to do.

Donations of unwanted costumes can be handed into the school office or sent into school with your child.

After half term we are delighted to confirm we will be welcoming Becky and her dog Hughie (who is a Cavachon) into school on Monday afternoons.

Becky and Hughie will be offering our children the opportunity to spend some time with Hughie either reading to him or learning about him and all about taking care of a dog.

Becky and Hughie will be joining us from Pets As Therapy and more details about this very important charity can be found here: Pets As Therapy

In order for your the children to take part in these sessions and interact with Hughie we do need parents to provide consent.  If you are happy for your child to take part in session of this nature and work with Becky and Hughie please make sure you complete the following online consent form:

https://forms.office.com/e/WC3ugJSZyu

Height and weight checks for children in reception and year 6 in 2025

Every year the height and weight of reception and year 6 children in schools in England are measured. This is called the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). We know how important your child’s health is to you and looking after your child’s healthy growth is an important part of that. We hope you can use this information to add to the full picture that you have of your child’s health. It is also important to know how children are growing so that we can provide the best support.

Maintaining the wellbeing of children during the NCMP is very important. Trained health staff from Nottingham CityCare carry out the measurements. Children are measured fully clothed, except for their coats and shoes, in a private space away from other pupils. Children will not be made to take part on the day if they do not want to.

Staff will work in a sensitive and safe way, in line with your school’s safety plans and national guidance for schools and healthcare. Teachers, other children or other parents will not see the information.

What happens after children are weighed and measured?

Your child’s measurements will be added to their health record which can be seen by their GP and other health professionals. After the information is de-personalised so that your child cannot be identified, it will be submitted for national analysis. More details on how we process your child’s information are provided at the end of this letter.

If your child is a healthy weight, we will not contact you.

If your child is not a healthy weight, we will send you a letter containing information to support your family’s efforts with eating and moving for good health. It is your choice if you share the information with your child.

Whatever your child's individual measurement, taking opportunities to help them be active and eat a healthy diet is good for their future health and happiness. For more information on healthy lifestyle choices visit Healthier Families - Home - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Next Steps: What do parents/carers need to do?

If you are happy for your child to be weighed and measured, you do not need to do anything. 

If you do NOT want your child to take part, or if child has a medical condition that affects their height or weight, please tell your school as soon as possible

If you would like further support or to speak to someone about your child’s weight, please contact the Children’s Health Advice Hub on 0300 300 0040 between 8.30 am and 5 pm, Monday to Friday.

Thank you for your support with this important programme.

As a school we are proud to be a smoke/vape free school, in order to support us further with this please can we ask that you do not smoke (tobacco or any other substance) or vape in the vicinity of the school gates so we can protect our children and respect the wishes of those adults who do not wish to be exposed to or walk through second hand smoke.

We are asking you to support us with this for the following reasons:

• To protect our children from harm.
• Evidence tells us that children are less likely to smoke if they do not see it.
• Two thirds of smokers say they begin smoking before the age of 18.
• Children exposed to second hand smoke are at much greater risk of other health issues.
• A child/adult who already has asthma or other respiratory conditions is at high risk of being affected by second hand smoke.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Please can we remind parents (and children) that toys, gadgets, football cards, trading cards etc. should not be brought into school.

Bringing in these sorts of items can cause conflict between the children, especially when items become lost, broken or misplaced and we as a school are unable to take responsibility for if this happens.

Please encourage your child to leave these types of items at home as the alternative is they are confiscated in school and kept at the school office until an adult can collect them.

 

 

 

Monday 24th February - First Day of New Term

Monday 24th February (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Art, Blindfolded Football, Cooking and Sewing)

Tuesday 25th February - 3.30 - 6.00pm - Parents Evening

Wednesday 26th February - National Child Measurement Program for Recpetion and Year 6

Wednesday 26th February (pm) - Year 5 Swimming at Harvey Haddon

Wednesday 26th February - 3.30pm - 6.00pm - Parents Evening

Wednesday 26th February - 3.20 - 5.00pm - St Leonards Energise Club

Thursday 27th February (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Lego)

Friday 14th February (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Sports)

 

Monday 3rd March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Art, Blindfolded Football, Cooking and Sewing)

Monday 3rd - Tuesday 4th March - Year 6 London Residential

Tuesday 4th March (pm) -  After School Enrichment Clubs (Board Games, Music and Dance)

Wednesday 5th March (pm) - Year 5 Swimming at Harvey Haddon

Thursday 6th March - World Book Day

Thursday 6th March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Lego)

Friday 7th March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Sports)

 

Monday 10th March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Art, Blindfolded Football, Cooking and Sewing)

Tuesday 11th March (pm) -  After School Enrichment Clubs (Board Games, Music and Dance)

Wednesday 12th March (am) - Year 5 and Year 6 Sporting Superstars

Wednesday 12th March (pm) - Year 5 Swimming at Harvey Haddon

Thursday 13th March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Lego)

Friday 14th March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Sports)

 

Monday 17th March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Art, Blindfolded Football, Cooking and Sewing)

Tuesday 18th March - Friday 21st March - Year 5 Bikeability

Tuesday 18th March - Primary Parliament Event

Tuesday 18th March (pm) -  After School Enrichment Clubs (Board Games, Music and Dance)

Wednesday 19th March - Year 6 Discovery Day at Nottingham University

Wednesday 19th March (pm) - Year 5 Swimming at Harvey Haddon

Friday 21st March - Red Nose Day

 

Monday 24th March - Friday 28th March - Shakespeare Week

Monday 24th March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Art, Blindfolded Football, Cooking and Sewing)

Tuesday 25th March (pm) -  After School Enrichment Clubs (Board Games, Music and Dance)

Wednesday 26th March - The Great Orchestra Experiment - Year 4

Wednesday 26th March - Year 5 Swimming at Harvey Haddon

Wednesday 26th March - 3.20 - 5.00pm - St Leonards Energise Club

Thursday 27th March - AIM High Maths Event at Radford Academy

Thursday 27th March - After School Enrichment Clubs (Lego)

Friday 28th March - Mothers Day Afternoon Tea

Friday 28th March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Sports)

 

Monday 31st March (am) - Year 1 and Year 2 Easter Activities at St Leonard's Church

Monday 31st March (pm) - After School Enrichment Clubs (Art, Blindfolded Football, Cooking and Sewing)

Tuesday 1st April - After School Enrichment Clubs (Board Games, Music and Dance)

Wednesday 2nd April (am) - Year 5 and Year 6 Easter Activities at St Leonard's Church

Wednesday 2nd April (am) - Year 3 and Year 4 Easter Activities at St Leonard's Church

Wednesday 2nd April - 3.20 - 5.00pm - St Leonards Energise Club

Thursday 3rd April - After School Enrichment Clubs (Lego)

Friday 4th April - After School Enrichment Clubs (Sports)

Friday 4th April - Last Day of Term

 

Tuesday 22nd April - First Day of Term