Our new house point ‘Towers of Triumph’
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New members of staff (from left to right) Mrs Weldon, Mr Hussain, Mrs Smith, Miss Bibi, Miss Hussain and Mrs Rasul.
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Our Champion Learner behaviours
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Year 3 and 4 children begin ukulele lessons
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Welcome back everyone. I hope you had a wonderful summer holiday and enjoyed having the extended time with your children. It was fantastic to see so many well-rested and smiling children returning to school on Wednesday. Their enthusiasm is contagious and they've made a fantastic start to the autumn term.
In particular, I'd like to welcome our new Reception children and their parents to Saltaire Primary School. They seem to have really enjoyed their first few days with us and settled in beautifully. I'm really looking forward to seeing them for full days next week and to watching their learning journey with us over the next seven years.
I’d also like to welcome some new members of staff to our school. Mrs Weldon is our new Year 4 class teacher; we also have several new apprentices in school: Mrs Rasul, who will be working in the office, Miss Bibi, Miss Hussain, Mr Hussain and Mrs Smith (formerly one of our lunchtime supervisors). They are all trainee teaching assistants and we are very pleased to welcome them.
Our School Website
Over the summer, we have redesigned our website, giving it a fresh new look and reorganising the sections. I hope you find it easier to navigate to the key information you require, much of which should be under the heading Parents & Carers. Every family in school can access a secure area of the website using a unique username and password - you should have received information about this earlier this week. If you do not have this information, please get in touch with the office as you will need to log in to access a number of services, including to check letters home and to book appointments for parent consultations. There is also a smartphone app available which can be found by searching for 'eschools'.
I will be updating this news page regularly so do please keep checking in to keep up to date with what is happening here in school.
Our School Houses
This week, we have formally launched our Saltaire Primary School houses. Every child is a member of a house - Concentrate (Red), Cooperate (Yellow), Create (Green) & Challenge (Blue), named after our Champion Learning behaviours. We now have some new collection tubes (known as the Towers of Triumph) which are just outside the main hall. Children are given tokens when they receive a house point. The house with the most points at the end of the half term will receive an extra playtime. Children have been very excited to be part of the new system and I'm looking forward to watching the towers grow.
We are delighted with our new art work, celebrating our Champion Learning values. Sharon Snaylam has been working for several months to create some beautiful representations of them which now have pride of place above the stage in our main hall. Many thanks again to Sharon for her dedication to all things arty at our school.
The Hub - Our new wraparound care offering
I am delighted to inform you that from Thursday 12th September, our wraparound breakfast and after school provision will have a new venue - The Hub @ Saltaire Primary School. This newly acquired space can be found on Carlton Avenue, beneath the main school building. Staff have been working hard over the last week to get the rooms ready and we are delighted with the results. During the day, The Hub will also be used by children for our nurture provision and small-group work.
The arrangements for our wraparound provision remain the same as before however from Thursday 12th, you should bring and collect your children from the dedicated entrance on Carlton Avenue.
If you would like to see our new venue, parents and carers are invited to visit The Hub on Wednesday 11th September from 2:40pm to 3:40pm. You are welcome to come any time during this hour and if you would like your children to see the space too, please do bring them along after school.
School Day Timings
I hope you have found the extra ten minutes at the beginning of the day useful in helping children to enter the building safely. We have certainly noticed a huge difference and the school days have started much more calmly and swiftly. To remind you, doors now open at 8:50am and children have until 9:00am to enter the building. The register closes at 9:05am with children who arrive after 9:20am marked as late (counting as an unauthorised absence). Please let me know if you have any further suggestions regarding the organisation of the school day.
Farewell to Mrs Patterson
I'm sorry to tell you that Mrs Patterson, our Pupil and Parent Participation Officer, will be leaving Saltaire Primary at the end of September. Many of you will have taken part in Mrs Patterson's brilliant workshops and benefited from her support over the last few years. We will miss her very much but wish her well as she takes up a new post as a Stronger Families Key Worker with the organisation JAMES.
Secondary Information Evening for Year Six Children, Parents and Carers
On Tuesday 24th September, we will be hosting an information session for parents considering which secondary school to apply to this year. Bingley Grammar School, Beckfoot School and The Titus Salt School will all send representatives to present information to parents about their schools. The evening will start at 6:30pm in the main hall.
Parking at the Salt Bar
We have received information from the Salt Bar this week that they have installed a system to monitor the use of their car park. They have informed us that during the beginning and end of the day, a 'grace period' will be in place however, cars parked on any of their three car parks will be charged a penalty notice if they remain on the car parks for an extended period of time. I understand that new signs have been installed on the car parks so please do check these to be certain of the arrangements if using the car parks.
What a great first week back. I'm looking forward to sharing an amazing year with all of you. If you have anything at all you'd like to discuss, please do get in touch via the school office.
Mr Rob Whitehead
Headteacher