As a Church school, our celebration of the major Christian festivals is an important part of our community life.

Egglympics competition Monday 18^th – Tuesday 19^th March

This is a fun Easter competition from the PTA to decorate an egg along the theme of celebrating the Paris Olympics this year.

This rich theme asks the children to decorate an egg representing any sport that is in this year's Olympics. For inspiration, you can see this full list of sports that are included this year: Olympic Sports - Paris 2024. Please label your entry with your name and class, and think about how your egg will be supported and displayed. The egg can be playing the sport or representing the sport.

Eggs should be brought into the school library between 18th and 19th March for judging on Wednesday 20th March. There are prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd for EYFS, KS1 and KS2. Now it's time to get creative!

Easter service

We will be holding our traditional Easter service for the children in the hall on the afternoon of Wednesday 27th March.

Easter holidays

We break up for Easter on Thursday 28th March and return to school on Monday 15th April. Please see our newsletters and below for details of holiday activities which may be of interest to families.

Easter walking trail

The PTA is arranging an egg-citing Easter trail around Saltford for families to do during the Easter holiday. It is designed for you to enjoy getting out and about in the village on a buggy-friendly trail to find art created by the children, funny jokes and to piece together a code that you can crack to claim a prize.

Maps and prizes are available for £2 from Saltford Community Library (open Mon – Fri 9 – 1 & 2 – 5 and Sat 9 – 12).

The trail will run from Tuesday 2nd to Monday 15th April.

Holy Week services in Saltford, Corston & Newton St Loe

Multi Sport Fun Days at Saltford School from Matt Analts

This camp will include a variety of sports including Basketball, Football, Tennis, Dodgeball, Hockey, Rounders and many more! The days will be aimed at all abilities and work on improving all skills, throwing, catching, kicking, striking, hand/eye co-ordination. Learning different games and have an enormous amount of fun! The three days are open for all pupils currently in Year 2-6. Plenty of competitions and prizes to be won!!

Venue: Saltford Primary Playground/Badger room and Hall (if wet weather).

Dates: Tuesday 2nd , Wednesday 3rd, Thursday 4th April 9-3pm

Cost: £30 per day or £80 for all 3 days. Mornings 9-12pm and Afternoons 12-3pm available at £15 per session.

Please see the flyer here for full details of how the days work and how to book.

World Book Day is always a special event in the school calendar where we get to share everything we love about books and reading. This year it takes place on Thursday 7th March.

Free Book Tokens and books

Every child in the UK and Ireland will receive a free £1 World Book Token (to be sent home in reading folders in the week beginning 5^th February). These can be redeemed at all participating bookshops from Friday 15^th February – Sunday 31^st March 2024 (Minimum redemption £2.99, one transaction per Book Token). We will also be able to accept them towards the cost of a book at the forthcoming Travelling Book Fair at school. The token can also be directly exchanged for any one of a variety of special £1 titles. Please see the full list here: www.worldbookday.com/books-and-tokens/books/

Travelling Book Fair

The fair will be taking up residence in the school library between Thursday 14th and Wednesday 20th March. It will be available for browsing and buying between 3.15pm and 4.15pm on each of these days. We earn free books for our school when you buy your children's books through the fair. Please see further details and payment arrangements in our letter to parents here. Payments can be made through the book fair website also using this link: bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/pay/1276735. You can see the flyer here for a reminder of some of the titles that will be on offer 

Poetry competition for WBD

As part of our World Book Day celebrations, we have launched a poetry competition for all our budding creative writers. We would like the children to write a short poem (one side of A4 maximum) on a theme of their choice. It would be lovely to see some poems on the theme of books and reading, but this is not essential. The top entries will be featured in our school newsletter and will win some fun, writing-themed prizes.

Please give entries to class teachers to pass on to Mr Styles. The deadline for entries is Friday 1st March.

In order to provide some extra inspiration, please follow the links to the activity sheets below. Our youngest children may want to simply decorate a poem or rhyme that they enjoy.

What is poetry?, Rhymes and limericks, Haiku activity sheet.

Dressing up day

We are excited to announce that this year we will be celebrating by having a dressing up day on Thursday 7^th March. Get ready to show off your love of reading by coming in dressed as your favourite character. This can be as simple or as extravagant as you wish and the adults will be joining in too!

If you would like some ideas about what to dress up as, please visit www.worldbookday.com/resource/dressing-up-ideas-for-parents/

Celebratory school dinner

There will be a special school dinner menu on Thursday 7^th March to celebrate World Book Day. Please see the menu here and book your child’s school lunch in the usual fashion.

Author visit

We are thrilled to have an award-winning author visiting our school as part of our World Book Day celebrations. On Tuesday 19^th March, we will welcome author PG Bell who will be talking about his book series 'The Train to Impossible Places'.

There will be a special assembly about being an author, as well as a workshop with some of the children. There will also be a book signing at school, and all parents have been sent details of how to order a book. For your book to arrive in time for the book signing, orders must be emailed through by Friday 8^th March, although books can also be ordered after that date. Ordering these books in this way will mean that the school will also benefit from some free books for our library.

Please read this letter for a reminder of the information that parents have been sent regarding PG Bell and the process for and benefits of ordering his books.

Our popular Film Night is fast approaching (Friday 22nd March) and we are pleased to confirm the movie choices are:

EYFS/KS1 - Trolls Band Together (U)

KS2 - Elemental (PG)*

The ticket price includes a small bag of popcorn and chocolate for each child. We are asking children to bring their own reusable water bottles to help reduce plastic waste.

As usual they can come in their pyjamas, onesies or comfy clothes and bring a sleeping bag/blanket and teddy so they can snuggle down and enjoy the film with their friends.

EYFS/KS1 should arrive at 4.30pm. The film starts at 4.45pm prompt. Collection at 6.15pm

KS2 should arrive at 6.45 pm, film starts at 7pm prompt. Collection at 8.30pm.

Tickets are on sale online (www.pta-events.co.uk/saltfordschoolpta) for £4 each from 6pm on Monday 11th March.

*Please note that by purchasing a ticket you are agreeing that you are happy with your child watching a PG rated film and any content contained within.

We will also need helpers so please sign up when you are purchasing your ticket if you can help out!

We will be holding our traditional pancake races on the last day of term, Friday 9th February. Children should bring in a pan and a pancake (in a named carrier bag) and we will hold pancake events on the playground for FS/KS1 and KS2 pupils.

These races celebrate Shrove Tuesday which falls during the school holidays this year, on Tuesday 13th February.

There will also be a special pancake dessert on the school lunches menu available on Friday 9th. Please order following the usual process for school lunches.

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent begins. Lent is the period of six weeks 40 days (not including Sundays) leading up to Easter, the most important festival in the Christian calendar. Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day because this day was traditionally the last chance to use up the foods Christians would not be eating during Lent.

The PTA are very excited to be holding their second disco of the year, on Friday 26th January. The disco is split into Foundation Stage & Key Stage 1 (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) followed by Key Stage 2 (Year 3 - 6 ) later in the evening.  This will be our first disco for our Reception children, so parents are invited to stay in the library if they wish to support their children during the event.

Due to the fire limits of the hall, it is not possible for parents to stay with their children during the disco. There are sufficient parent helpers attending to ensure full supervision. Pick up and drop off are via our Claverton Road entrance only – accessing the Hall via the front door (which leads to the office). For Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 you will need to drop them at the hall at 5.30pm and collect them at 6.30pm. The disco for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will start at 6:45pm and will end at 8:00pm. If you wish to stay at school, there will be refreshments for parents in the library (for a small donation to PTA funds).

The tickets for FS/KS1 include a small bag of sweets, so they do not need to bring any money into the disco. There will a tuck shop for Years 3-6 so please bring your pocket money (change is always helpful). All children will need to bring a labelled water bottle as drinks are not provided as part of this.

We appreciate that a disco is not something that every child wants to take part in. If your child receives one to one support or adjustments at school to support sensory overload and they are attending – please see Mrs Sage to plan support needed.

Tickets are available online from Wednesday 17th January – please click on the following link to purchase your tickets: www.pta-events.co.uk/saltfordschoolpta. Parent helpers are needed on the evening so please sign up online if you can help. Prices of tickets:

£3.50 – FS/KS1 (including a small bag of sweets)
£2.50 – Years 3-6 (these tickets do not include refreshments). 

We hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year break. We are looking forward to starting the spring term on Wednesday 3^rd January 2024.

As always, there is a lot to look forward to in the new term. We will be sending out regular news in our weekly newsletters and we encourage parents to follow us on Twitter for quick updates, pictures and videos of the many exciting activities that are happening regularly around school.

Please also read on for a few reminders of the practicalities of coming in to school well prepared to make the most of the learning day. 

Panto Friday 12th January

The pantomime is coming to school on Friday 12th January. Children are invited to come to school dressed in fancy dress as their favourite characters. There will be prizes for the best dressed pantomime dame and the best of the rest. If your child would rather not dress up, they are welcome to come to school in mufti for the day.

Free parenting course for parents/carers with children aged 3 – 12.

This free parenting course (with online and in person options) is offered by the Bath and Bristol Parenting Hub and starts on January 16^th online and January 19^th in person.

They say “we know that parents want to create the happiest home life they can, and some may have a few concerns about their child’s behaviour – perhaps there’s disobedience or you simply want to find out how to set up better routines for mealtimes or bedtimes. Whatever it is, if you’d like to learn more about positive parenting and how you can apply it with your own family, you can do so with us, in a safe, non-judgmental, fun and relaxed way. We show you parenting strategies that really work."

If you think this could be useful for you and your family, please go to the Parenting Hub website here for lots more information and to register.

Parent/carer online safety information sessions

These sessions are offered termly to parents. They are are designed to support parents/carers in protecting their children and to help them understand the risks associated with using technology. You only need to attend one session, as the content will be similar, albeit updated over time. We will send you more information ahead of each session. They are 30 minutes long, followed by a 15 min Q&A if required. There is also always lots of help available on our online safety page here.

Sessions will cover current trends (what children are doing online, what apps/ games are popular amongst children); understanding the risks, in particular when using social media, online gaming & live streaming; what you can do to support your child with their online life and what parental controls are available to help you. There will also be signposting to services that are available to help you if you further support.

Sessions are as follows:

Spring: Wednesday 31st January 2024 – 9.30am – 10.15am
Summer: Wednesday 8th May 2024 – 4pm – 4.45pm

NB: No pre-registration is required before any session; a meeting link/instructions will be provided before each session by school; a recording of each session will be provided following each session.

Drop-off and pick-up routines

Our arrivals and departures guidelines contain lots of detail about daily routines for coming to and going home from school. We aim to minimise congestion around the school site and ensure the children arrive settled and ready for learning.

Please note: children must be in their classrooms by 8.50am. School ends at 3.15pm.

Class information

On the relevant class on the classes page of the website you will find a link to your class letter and your child's curriculum overview for the term. There will also be links to other information specific to your child's year group. Class pages give information about the term's topics, homework, swimming and PE arrangements. Classes are known by their tree names. 

School lunches and free school meals

The menu for January and the beginning of February is already available here. You can always find a link to the current menu in our Office section, along with information on costs, how to pay and how to order your child's lunches. Please remember to order at least one day before your child requires a meal.

There is a special menu for the children on Thursday 18th January for census day. The menu is on MCAS. Please try out a dinner on this day, even if you don't usually, as our school funding depends on numbers registered for dinners on this day.

Please check whether you think your child may be eligible for free school meals. There is full guidance on our website here.

Uniform

Please check all uniform requirements here, including how to purchase uniform and PE wear bearing the school logo.

Parking

We regularly receive messages from concerned parents and neighbours about the dangerous and inconsiderate parking by some parents. We encourage active travel, even if you park further from school and walk/scoot/cycle the rest of the way. However, if you have no choice but to drive a car and park near school, please do consider the well-being of the rest of the school community when you park, especially on these darker mornings and evenings.

Anyone who wishes to report a parking infringement should please do so, to B&NES or the Police. Please refer to this useful guide for information and links and numbers for reporting: www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/report/parking-issues/

December will soon be upon us and in homes across the country, cardboard doors will be opened in the traditional countdown to Christmas. But just as some look to luxury, the children of Saltford School are once again hoping to reverse things this advent - with a calendar which gives back. The idea is simple; instead of opening the door to a chocolate or picture, we do the giving.

Some of us are lucky enough to be able to spend December preparing for the festivities with happiness, not dread. Christmas is going to be a time for celebration.  But for many, this time of year proves to be very difficult when families struggle to put a meal on the table, let alone begin to think about any of the little extras that so many of us will enjoy over the festive period.

And so, following past success and the overwhelming gratitude of the Keynsham Food bank, we would once again like to invite the children to take part in our reverse advent calendar and in doing so, help a family in need this Christmas. 

This means from Monday 13^th November, we will be collecting items for the class box. Please send these in with your child. Then on Thursday 7^th December, we can deliver the donations down to our local food bank, where it will be gratefully received by the Trussell Trust.

This year we are looking to fill the boxes with non-perishable items such as jam, cereal, tinned goods or festive treats such as biscuits, mince pies, panettone, chocolate yule logs etc (Of course, please make sure anything you donate is in date). You don’t have to spend a lot, all donations will be gratefully received.

For more information about how to access help from the Keynsham and Saltford food banks, see our Pupil premium page. If you would like to know more about the Keynsham food bank, you can see their website here.

Remembrance at school

On Friday 10th November the whole school will mark Remembrance Day with an assembly. We will also all go outside to observe tw minutes' silence at 11am. Mrs May will play the Last Post before we fall silent and she will mark the end of the silence by playing the Reveille.

In their classes, children will learn about Remembrance Day, why people wear poppies in November and why we are observing the silence. Remembrance can bring people of all ages and backgrounds together to reflect upon the service of the Armed Forces and join together in hoping for a peaceful future.

Poppy appeal

From the first week of term, we will be selling poppies and a choice of poppy appeal items in support of the Royal British Legion's poppy appeal. The extra items and suggested donations are listed below. You can see what they look like on the RBL poppy shop here. You can also donate direct to the poppy appeal here.

Zip pull, suggested donation 50p
Wrist band, suggested donation £1
Ruler, suggested donation £1.50
Poppy reflector, suggested donation 50p.

It is that time of year when we enjoy our traditional harvest festivals and think about our community and where our food comes from. We are also really looking forward to seeing the children perform.

Reception/Key Stage 1: there are two Harvest performances for FS/KS1 in the School Hall on Wednesday 4^th and Thursday 5^th October, each starting at 9:15am. The services will last approximately 30 minutes.

Key Stage 2: there are also two Harvest performances for KS2 in the School Hall on Wednesday 4^th and Thursday 5^th October, each starting at 10am. These services will last approximately 45 minutes.

Donations: this aspect of the celebration is "caring for our community" in practice. This year's donations will go to Julian House in Bath. Julian House supports vulnerable and at-risk individuals. These include adults and young people experiencing homelessness, escaping domestic abuse, adults with learning difficulties and people who need support after leaving prison.

If your family would like to make a harvest donation, please send a tin or packet of food or toiletries (they do not require soup, however, as they currently have a large supply). Please remember that fresh goods are not required, and just one item per family is enough. Please send donations to school with your child from Monday 2nd October and leave them in the crates that will be provided at the front of the school. We will collect them and make a display on our stage as part of the festival.  The collection will close at the end of the day on Thursday 5th October.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

If you wish to make a personal donation or find out more about the charity please go to: www.julianhouse.org.uk/

Tickets: each family has been allocated two tickets. Please collect them after school. Parents in FS/KS1 should collect their ticket from the teacher of the youngest sibling in FS/KS1. In the same way, KS2 parents should collect from the teacher of youngest sibling in the KS2 phase. The final deadline for ticket collection is Friday 29^th September.  If you don't collect your child from school, please send a named envelope in with your child with the required day and number of tickets (maximum two). Staff will put the ticket in the envelope and send home with your child.

Please have your ticket with you on the morning of the performance to show Mrs Sage on the door and please do double check the day of the performance on your ticket so we can ensure the right number of seats are available.

We hold welcome meetings for each year group starting at 5pm in the hall so that parents can meet the class teacher and talk through the year ahead.

The meetings start at 5pm in the hall and the dates are as follows:

Y6 Wednesday 6th Sept
Y5 Thursday 7th Sept
Y1 Monday 11th Sept
Y2 Tuesday 12th Sept
Y4 Wednesday 13th Sept

The "Welcome to KS2" meeting took place on 3rd July for parents of children going into Y3 in September 2023.

The presentations from the meetings, as well as the usual class letters and subject overviews, will all be available on your child's class page.

The money raised from each cake sale goes to that class who can then choose the toys and games they would like for their classrooms, so please support your class. The PTA will also be selling nearly new school uniform at very attractive prices and there will be a free book swap available at the same time.

For the book swap, children can donate their pre-loved books anytime in the box outside the school office. On the cake sale days, children can come into the hall and help themselves to a new book of their choice for free. This is not a fundraising event, just a way to encourage the children to share books and encourage recycling.

Friday 22nd September 2023: Year 1
Friday 20th October: Year 6
Friday 24th November: Year 3
Friday 19th January 2024: Year 2
Friday 8th March: Year 4
Friday 3rd May: Reception
Friday 7th June: Year 5

Classes are paired in year groups for the sales which take place monthly on a Friday in the hall from 3.15 – 3.30 pm. The uniform sales and book swap take place in the hall at the same time.

Please bring in cakes on the morning of the sale. The children should leave them on the left hand library shelf. If you need your container back, please ensure it is labelled and collect it from the library the followiong Monday.

There are children in school with severe life-threatening nut, lentil and seed allergies so please do check your cakes carefully. If you are donating gluten free/ dairy free or vegetarian cakes, please ensure they are clearly labelled.

Please bring change if you are purchasing cakes and encourage older children to go along to the cake sale independently to keep the queues down to the minimum. Thank you for your support.

On 28th February and 1st March we welcomed His Majesty's Ofsted Inspector (HMI), Kelly Olive and her team to our school when we were pleased to be able to share with them all that makes our school the special place that it is. They were hugely impressed with the children at Saltford, describing them as welcoming, extremely well-behaved, eager to participate in all aspects of school life and passionate about their learning.

In the final report, inspectors said pupils and staff were rightly proud of their inclusive school, where all children are encouraged to be the best versions of themselves. They added that headteacher Dawn Sage and her team pursued excellence at all times and had constructed a curriculum that was exceptional.

“Staff share this continuous drive for improvement across all aspects of the school. Together, they are aspirational for what pupils can achieve,” Ofsted said,

“The school’s vision, ‘Caring for our Community,’ informs the development of pupils’ characters. They are kind and look for ways to help others,” the report noted.

“Pupils are highly motivated. They try hard in lessons and show resilience when faced with a setback. When attempting work that they find challenging, pupils persist until they are successful. Pupils strive to meet the high expectations set by staff.”

Other areas the inspectors highlighted included the welcoming library and the strong culture of reading, the wealth of opportunities for children to take on leadership roles, the many clubs and activities and the extensive choice of outdoor play activities.

“Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the education and care their children receive at the school,” Ofsted said.

The school was rated Outstanding for quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and early years provision.

The inspectors praised the high-quality training for staff, tailored to support the school’s priorities. This meant that children, including those with special educational needs or disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, were able to flourish. Staff morale was said to be high, with leaders, including governors, placing importance on wellbeing.

The support provided by Futura Learning Partnership, which Saltford school joined in 2016, was also highlighted.

Ofsted said: “The trust’s support has been instrumental in developing the expertise of staff. The trust, combined with an effective local governing body, share the vision of leaders. They

support and challenge in equal measure. As a result, the pupils at this school receive outstanding provision.”

Mrs Sage said the inspection outcome was thanks to the efforts of the whole school community, including children, staff, parents, wider families, the local community and the trust.

“We are so proud of our school, where children are challenged in their learning and are nurtured to develop personally and academically. Saltford C of E Primary is a place where children value their strong friendships and feel safe and happy in school. We all strive every day to make sure the school is a place where everyone can thrive,” she said.

Andrea Arlidge, chief executive of Futura Learning Partnership, said: “We are delighted that the consistently excellent education and care provided at Saltford CofE Primary School has been recognised by Ofsted. This wonderful report is a tribute to the hard work of everyone connected with the school – congratulations to all.”

Further information

Ofsted report 2023

Saltford School letter to parents

Ofsted Parent View. Ofsted Parent View gives you the chance to tell Ofsted what you think of your child’s school. In addition, they publish the overall summary of the responses to Ofsted Parent View.

Ofsted report May 2019