A reminder that the parents/carers of children in Year 3 and Year 4 are invited to a meeting in school on Tuesday 15th January at 5.30pm to find out more about the upcoming Space Camp.

A reminder that Spring term starts today, Tuesday 8th January. We look forward to seeing you all today.

I for one am looking forward to February when all of the classes will be in the right places! We have
moved so much furniture around this school over the past couple of years and it will be nice to have
settled and familiar spaces. Once this is done, we can turn our attentions to other improvements.
One change that I imagine will be popular with parents and that we have been planning for a while, is
the introduction of Parent Pay which is a way of paying for all school bills online such as school
lunches, clubs or educational visits. As we are moving the school office and the difficulties with IT and
phone lines, this will start in April 2019 to coincide with the new financial year. Information about how
this system works will be sent out nearer the time.
We have many new ideas to develop our curriculum that I will share in the new year. To give you a
flavour, we are going to have a Space Camp in the school hall and we are fortunate to have access to
some amazing space related resources like a large telescope and expertise to support us. We are
aiming to achieve a Space Mark science award and I look forward to informing you of the different
activities nearer the time. On another note, I have set most of the teachers a local history challenge
which will be a great project for our children and hopefully for the town.

As we approach the end of 2018, it is nice to look back on the year and reflect on the many things we
have achieved. It is hard to imagine the school without a mass of machinery, fencing and construction
workers but the end is in sight! The progress made since March when they started has been
remarkable and we are nearly there! We aim to be completed by February half term all being well.
Like us all, the builders have coped with The Beast from the East and enjoyed the long, glorious
summer. The children and staff deserve huge credit for being able to work as normally as possible
under changing and challenging circumstances and I thank everyone for their understanding. The
new additions were much needed and we are delighted with the spaces created.
This year we have employed several new teachers and other staff who have fitted into the team
seamlessly. Being able to teach in single year groups and being able to put split year groups back
together has had many benefits. Developments to our curriculum have been exciting and innovative,
giving our children broad and balanced experiences and equipping with the knowledge and skills they
will need for the future.
Academic achievement continues to be very strong at Montalbo. Our results at the end of each Key
Stage were tremendous and our children continue to achieve much better than the national average
in each area, including the children achieving above the expected standards. Having a committed and
talented teaching team right across the school allows us to focus on not just English and Maths but
develop talents right across the curriculum.
Our work with you as parents/carers continues to be very important to us. We hope that you have
enjoyed the many opportunities to visit school for assemblies, school performances, World Book Day,
workshops or FOMS events. You have been so supportive of our work and we really appreciate it. On
top of this, we have worked with several parents in their line of work making cakes, sharing
archaeological information and undertaking fantastic science experiments! Parents also helped to
arrange the excellent STEM events at GlaxoSmithKline.
Working with the wider community has been more prevalent this year and we have had some good
workshops and activities at The Hub, The Bowes Museum, The Witham and Scout Hut. We have
supported McMillan superbly and other charities too. We have linked with important organisations
such as the police, fire service, NSPCC and Dog’s Trust to give our children advice on keeping
themselves safe.
The support from Friends of Montalbo School has been remarkable. I think that the events they
arrange for our school are amazing and the children really enjoy them. The funds that they have
raised will provide some excellent resources which can be used by our children for years to come. We
have a really strong core group of people in our Friends group and it would be really great if anyone
else could join to give them a hand! We only meet once a half term to arrange the next event and the
meeting do not last long! If you are interested please see let me know and I will pass it on to the
Friends. Thank you. Friends of School will be collecting old clothing to support school and a firefighter
charity with a collection on Thursday 28th February. A reminder will be sent in the New Year but if you
were having a sort out over Christmas please bare this in mind.

On Friday 28th September we hosted a coffee afternoon in aid of MacMillan and managed to raise £600.44 for the charity. The winner of the Class Bake Off was Nursery who raised the most money – well done to Mrs Patterson and her children! The other class’s cakes were delicious too. Thank you to parents who donated cakes too and to staff and FOMS for their super efforts to make the afternoon possible.

This week we received the great news that we have been awarded the much valued Primary Science Quality Mark.

This is a superb achievement and a result of much hard work by Dr Greenwell, the staff and the children to help improve the way we deliver science. It is important that we spark the children’s curiosity in Science and this year we are planning even more Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) activities as skills in these areas are so useful now and will be even more so in the future.

Important Information

I hope that you have all had a fantastic holiday and that your children are looking forward to returning or joining us!

It has been an incredibly busy time in school with so many workers on site working against the clock to get the school ready for September. I have been in school most days and the progress made each day has been remarkable. There are one or two things that will need finishing off, the odd window, for example, and other snags which are inevitable in a large build but nothing that will interfere with normal school activities and huge credit must go to the construction team led by foreman Nigel Spratt. Well done and thank you!

From next week, the project moves onto Phase 2 which is the new Reception Classroom, Entrance Foyer and School Offices towards the front of school, as well as the completion of the hall extension. This will mean that children, parents/carers, staff and visitors will have to access the site slightly differently.

From the main entrance, come through the pedestrian entrance as usual. From there you will see that you can only go one way which is left around the back of the Nursery building. Signs will guide you around the side.

If you need to go to the School Office or to see me, we will based in Dr Greenwell’s old room and you can find us there. If you need to go on to the playground to drop or pick your child up before or after school, carry on past Miss Lauder’s old room – the way we have been going for the past few months. Staff will be around at various points to help you until everyone gets used to the changes.

Please be aware that this is a slightly narrower path and it is very important that children push their bikes and scooters around, as soon as they get on school site, to avoid accidents. Staff will show the children where these can be left.

Entrance from the Cricket Field side will remain the same.

Nursery and Reception children will be based in the main building – in what was Miss Lauder’s room and Miss Blackburn’s old room. The Staff will be around at drop off time to help answer any questions that you may have.

For the first week, Breakfast Club and Chill Out Club will be in the school hall. Access to this is via the new School Office (Dr Greenwell’s old room) initially. Once I have seen how things work logistically, I will let you know how this will work longer term. Other school clubs will start the following week, week beginning 10.9.18 and a letter will be sent out in the first week back about this.

I hope this makes sense. Please ask any questions that you may have on Tuesday 4th September, when the children return.

I am delighted to announce that we have been awarded the BBC’s ‘Terrific Scientific School of Excellence Award’ today.

This is an outstanding achievement and it shows our commitment to high quality science. Terrific Scientific is a programme whereby Key Stage 2 take part in to a host of experiments and upload their results to give a national picture. Thank you and congratulations also to Dr Greenwell for leading on this.