FARNEY CLOSE SCHOOL
PARENTS’ AND CARERS’ NEWSLETTER
Autumn 2024
I hope that this finds you and yours well. I write to bring you up to date with changes that have occurred since my last Newsletter back in the summer.
As half term is slightly later this year we will return after the break to find Christmas fast approaching so please check the end of this Newsletter for more detailed information. As always, we are really looking forward to celebrating Christmas with the children at FCS. Plans are in place, trees are on order and rehearsals for our Christmas show will start after half term. However, before we go into full Christmas mode we would like you to join us for our annual firework display. We hope that this will take place on Thursday 7th November but it will be weather dependant. The evening will kick off with a BBQ at 5pm. Families of both day and residential pupils are invited to join us. If you wish to purchase from our BBQ we would ask that you bring cash with you to enable this. All pupils and staff will not be charged for their BBQ.
Day pupils that have family attending can stay in school to save them travelling back and forth. They are welcome to bring clothes in with them so that at the end of the school day they can change out of their uniform. Day pupils that do not have a family member attending will unfortunately need to go home via their usual means of transport at 4.15pm. Phone calls home on our inset days will inform you whether we are going ahead with the Fireworks or whether rain halts play. Please confirm at this point whether you will be attending or not. Thank you.
As usual this has been a busy term with our numbers having doubled in the last two years. Luckily, we have plenty of space and lots of dedicated staff to ensure that this has not impacted on the high-quality education and care that we offer.
We now have a dedicated Forest School areas and staff trained to undertake these lessons which are occurring in the evenings at present but will be offered during the school day as we move forward. It is proving to be a very popular option with a variety of skills being learnt as a result of this. One very popular one was a group cooking chicken curry over an open fire with other activities such as chalk paintings, shelter building, caring for the wildlife and numerous crafts also taking place.
Swimming lessons continue to take place throughout the year to support those that require extra input other than the Primary children who all have lessons over the summer term.
A school day trip to Bletchley Park took place and was thoroughly enjoyed by the pupils and staff members that went.
The new half term will also see us celebrating Anti-bullying week with various activities already planned to ensure that we continue to raise awareness of this issue. This year the National Anti-Bullying Week takes place from Monday 11th November to Friday 15th with the theme being “Choose Respect”.
Our Kindness awards continue to be sent home in the form of a post card each week with Attendance post cards and Principal postcards sent out at the end of each term.
You will see at the end of this term that we have decided to change the format of our reports for the end of the Autumn and the Spring terms. These reports will appear shorter, but we hope will be more focussed with regards to how your child has performed both academically and socially this term. The end of summer term reports will contain their usual detail.
This term tutors and the teaching assistant allocated to your child’s group have started a new way of tracking all children’s social emotional learning during the school day. Information surrounding this will appear on their reports.
Parent/carer consultation days are yet to be set in stone but our initial thoughts are for them
to be:
• Years 10 and 11 on Friday 7th February from 1.30pm
• Years 5,6,7,8 on Friday 25th April from 1.30pm
• Year 9 Parent/carer consultation and option evening on Thursday 22nd May at 4.30pm.
Should anyone be interested in supporting the school’s fundraising team, with fundraising events or applications moving forward, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We are busy getting together raffle and tombola prizes to support us with our Christmas fundraising. As always if you are able to donate a raffle or tombola prize this would be much appreciated.
Please send in with your child anytime after half term. Sussex trees and Goddenwick have kindly donated Christmas trees for our reception area and dining room with various other parents, carers and organisations also having been very generous.
Please note these dates for your diary concerning Christmas. I hope that you are able to join us for the relevant parts of our festivities:
• Wednesday 11th December – Christmas Jumper day – all children, staff and visitors are encouraged to wear a Christmas Jumper during the school day (uniform trousers/skirt and school shoes.) A donation of £1 from their pocket money will be donated to the Ankoma Outreach.
• Thursday 12th December – School Disco& buffet. All FCS pupils in years 7 to 13 are invited to join in with our School Disco from 4.30 until 6pm. Watch this space for news about year 5 & 6’s celebrations.
Day pupils are invited to join us for the evening. They would need to attend school in uniform but bring in their “disco” clothes to change into after school. They will need collecting via taxi or parent/carers at 6.30pm.
• Tuesday 17th December – Our school Christmas lunch. All pupils are encouraged to bring in smart social clothes to change into for our whole school meal. Day pupils will need to come in uniform and bring their change of clothes with them. Day pupils will need collecting, via their normal mode of transport, at their usual time.
• Wednesday 18th December – Parents, carers, friends and family are invited to join us for our Christmas show. Mince pies, tea, coffee etc will be served from 10am and fundraising events will take place (please bring cash 😊). The show will start at 11am after which we ask that you take your child home with you, for the Christmas break.
Those children who have no one attending the show will get their usual transport home after the show (midday).
Further dates for 2025:
o Monday 6th January – No school – inset day for staff only.
o Tuesday 7th January – Children return for the start of the Spring term.
o Friday 14th February – Last day of the half term.
o Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th February – No school – inset day for staff only.
o Wednesday 26th February – Children return for the second half of the Spring term.
o Friday 4th April – Last day of term.
o Wednesday 23rd April – No school – inset day for staff only.
o Thursday 24th April – Children return for the first day of the Summer term.
o Friday 23rd May – Last day of half term.
o Monday 2nd June – No school – inset day for staff only.
o Tuesday 3rd June – Children return to school.
o Friday 18th July – Last day of term for the children.
o Monday and Tuesday 21st and 22nd July are inset days for staff.
o Wednesday 3rd, Thursday 4th and Friday 5th September are likely to be inset
day for staff only – this is yet to be confirmed. September?
o Monday 8th September – Children return for the start of the new academic year – this is yet to be confirmed.
Thank you:
I hope that you will join me in thanking all the staff that work at Farney Close for their commitment and hard work. Without every member of our team we could not provide the service that we do.
Thank you, also, for the support you have offered the school and for the dedication that you show your child that makes our job that much easier.
Kindest of Regards
Sara
You can download the newsletter by clicking here.
