League tables

Dear Parents,

You may have seen the Primary School League tables published in last week's Bristol Post. If you didn't, then I have copied a link to the website. Our position is judged on the percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 in Reading, Writing and Maths. In 2013, 70% of our pupils achieved this standard. These are the highest results ever achieved by Cabot pupils and puts us somewhere around the middle of the table. This is a great achievement for the school and wider community and a strong indication of the positive direction the school is moving.

Mr Burton

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/PRIMARIES-BRITAIN-S-BEST/story-20312321-detail/story.html

School Disco

Cabot does Strictly Come Dancing!

We all had a great time at our PTFA Discos last night. Lots of smiles and great dancing form pupils, parents and staff. Thank you all for making it such a success.

Please be sure to say a big thank you to Shakira when you see here. Shakira you did a great job getting this idea off the ground.

Special thanks also needs to go to Mr Copley and Miss Baker for their DJing and MCing skills.

Mr Burton

Lunchtime serving procedures

Dear Parents,

I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you the improvements we have made to our food serving systems. We use colour coding to help make the different dietary options very clear. Halal meals are served on blue plates, using blue serving equipment from the blue section of the counter. We have green colour coding for Vegetarian food and yellow for Traditional meals. We also have staff on hand who know your children very well to make sure the systems are working properly.  The meals are very well received by pupils and staff. If you have any further questions about the food we serve at meal times please make an appointment at the office to see either Mrs Green,  Marlon from the kitchen or myself.

Best Wishes

Mr Burton

Humph the Camel

Dear Parents,

Key Stage 1 and Reception will be performing Humph the Camel at 9:15 am tomorrow morning. Please arrive in good time to find a seat and get comfortable. We will not be able to admit anyone to the performance after the play begins at 9:15.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Mr Burton

Christmas Play

Today was the last rehearsal of Humph the Camel. On Monday the Key Stage 1 and Reception pupils will perform to the rest of the school. Parents are invited to come and watch our main performance at 9:15 on Tuesday 17th December. We look forward to seeing you there.

Mr Burton

Welsh Birds of Prey

We had a visit yesterday from the Welsh Birds of Prey Centre. The children were fascinated by the birds themselves and the interesting information given by Mike. I am sure many pupils have been inspired to find out more. My favourite fact was discovering that a Peregrine Falcon can dive at speeds of over 200mph.

But I think the highlight for most was holding the Eagle Owl. I know this was an experience that won't be forgotten by pupils or staff.

Mr Burton

School Meals

Dear Parents,

I will be holding a meeting at 8:45am in the community room this Friday (6th December), to share with you the improvements we have made to the systems we have for serving school meals.
Everyone welcome.

Mr Burton

Prokick Challenge

This morning we have an enormous inflatable goal in our hall. Children are seeing how hard they can kick the ball. Everyone will receive a certificate. The boy and girl with the highest recorded speeds will be awarded a special prize.

All your donations will go towards the Sports Connection Foundation who do great work for children in developing countries.

Mr Burton

Parent Coffee Morning - Behaviour Policy

Cabot Primary School Parent Coffee Morning Tuesday 19^th November

Discussion Topic – School Behaviour Policy

8:50 – Community Room

All parents are welcome to come and help review our Behaviour Policy over a biscuit and hot drink. Hope to see you there.

Mr Burton

Children in Need

What a fun day we had today! The children made a great effort for our Children in Need pyjama day. I'm glad so many of them chose cosy snuggly outfits for such a cold day. I've never seen so many onsies in one place before. We had good fun in our assembly pyjama fashion show.

As well as having some good fun we learnt about some of the good causes the money raised goes towards. I am very pleased to tell you we raised £122.50. 

Thank you all for your generosity. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the evening's fund raising activities.

Best Wishes,

Mr Burton

What fun we had in

Children in need

Dear Parents,

We will be supporting this years Children in Need appeal on Friday 15th November by having a pyjama day. Children can bring in a donation of 50p and wear their pyjamas and dressing gowns for the day.

All money raised will go to Children in Need. Please click the link below for further details about the appeal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008dk4b

Best Wishes

Mr Burton

Cabot Discovery

Dear Parents,

You have probably been told about this week's our unusual discovery. Children have been using their writing skills to compose detailed reports and descriptions about the mysterious skull found on our field. We can assure you that although very strange there really is nothing to worry about! 

Our imaginative children have come up with many explanations for what it might be and where it might have come from. It is great to see them so enthused to get their ideas down on paper. A group of pupils did a special workshop with Michael Maudlsey, a writing specialist, and came up with a song which they performed in assembly today.

PC Wright from Avon and Somerset Constabulary came to help pupils with writing  reports. They have now heard from an expert what details to include and how to report accurately.

It has been a great week to end a great term.

We look forward to seeing you all after the holiday.

Best Wishes,

Mr Burton

Eid Mubarak

Thank you for joining us in our Eid Celebration last Friday.

We have added up all the money taken in from selling the delicious food you donated. I am very pleased to tell you we raised the impressive sum of £329!!!

Thank you for your generosity in donating both money and food.  We are passing the funds on to Islamic Relief with a special request that it is used to help child refugees affected by the issues in Syria.

Thank you and best wishes

Mr Burton

Eid Mubarak!

Eid Mubarak to all our families celebrating this week. We hope you have a peaceful and happy time.

Don't forget we are having our Eid food sale at 3.15 on Friday afternoon.

Best Wishes

Mr Burton

Strike Action 17th October

You have probably heard that the country’s two biggest teaching unions the NUT and NASUWT have called its members to go on strike on 17^th October. Many teachers here at Cabot are members of those unions and will be striking on that day. This means we will have to close to some year groups.  We will be open for Years Two and Six only. I understand this will cause disruption for you which is why I am trying to give you as much notice as possible. More information about why teachers are striking can be found on the BBC website –

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education

Eid Celebrations

Dear Parents,

Next week will be the Muslim festival of Eid. This is a very important religious celebration and I understand families will want to spend it together with their children.  As we have done in previous years, the school will authorise one day of absence for this religious celebration for our Muslim pupils. I have been told that it is likely that our Somali community will be celebrating Eid on the 15^th October and our Pakistani families on the 16^th October.  The school will be open for pupils on both of these days. We would like to share in the celebrations. After school Friday the 18^th October at 3.15 we will be holding an Eid Celebration Food sale. We would like contributions of food to sell, either traditional Eid food (pakora is my favourite!) or cakes and party food.  Money raised will be donated to the Islamic Relief Charity.

More information about the good work this charity do can be found at this website –

www.islamic-relief.com

Eid Mubarak!

 We have decided to reschedule our parents evening meetings for the following week on the 22^nd and 23^rd October.  Time tables for these will go up in classes next week.

Possible Strike Action October 17th

Dear Parents,

You may have heard in the news that the two largest teaching unions, the NASUWT and NUT are calling on its members to strike on October 17th.  Some of our teachers at Cabot or members of those unions. It is likely that if the proposed action goes ahead there will be a consequence for Cabot. It is not possible to just replace striking teachers with supply teachers. However, senior leaders is the school can cover classes. We will make every attempt to stay open but it is very likely we may have to close the school to some year groups.  As our oldest children have their end of Primary School SATs coming up in May we will make sure we stay open for them. WE WILL BE OPEN FOR YEAR 6 PUPILS. If their lessons cannot be covered by their regular teachers than a member of the senior leadership team will take the lessons.

I hope you understand our reasons for prioritising Year 6. I am consulting with staff next Tuesday and I will update you with more information next Wednesday.

Best Wishes

Mr Burton

For more details about the proposed strike action please see the link below to the BBC news website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23970281

Parent group meeting reminder

Look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the community room at 8:50 tomorrow morning for our meeting about progress last year and targets for 2013/14

Best wishes

Mr Burton

Coffee Morning

Dear Parents,

I will be holding a coffee morning in the Community Building on Wednesday 2nd October. I will be presenting data and information about the school's progress over the last year and what plans we have for 2013/14. I will also be talking about how you can help your children and the school to continue to improve.

There is plenty to celebrate. As I have already shared with you, our Year 6 SATs results last year were the best our pupils have ever achieved. School attendance has improved from 90% in 2009 to 95.4 in 2013. These are just some of the indicators of the progress we are making.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Best Wishes

Mr Burton

New Term

Hello and Welcome to Term 1 2013 at Cabot,

It's great to see you all again after the Summer break.

Many of you noticed the new equipment in the outside area. The old play equipment has been removed and new activity structures installed. It does look rather impressive! New turf has been laid to give the children a better grass area to play on. There is aslo a decking area with seating that will be used for all kinds of outside learning from story telling to drama productions.

 I am very pleased to tell you that we had 100% puntcuality on the first day back. Maintaining this will be a key priority for this term. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Best Wishes

Mr Burton 

In the news

Nice story about our Summer School in the Bristol Post.

Great picture too!

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/School-s-taking-extra-lessons-stay-ahead/story-19654257-detail/story.html

Summer School Fruit Salad

Today we learnt how to write instructions to make a fruit salad. We also learnt that fruit salad is yummy!

T

Eid Mubarak!

Wishing a happy and peaceful Eid to all our Muslim families celebrating these next two days. Best wishes from Cabot Primary School.

Wild space

Miss Hunter, Miss Pearce, Miss Thorne and I went to the launch of Wild Space last night. It's area of and with some fascinating animals including lemurs and okapi. We plan to start asking children there from September. I'll post some photos here when I've transferred them from my camera. In the meantime, you can see some pictures of us on our twitter feed:
@cabotprimary

Summer School

Excellent start to Summer School for our Year 5s. Miss Pearce and Mrs Green have prepared some great learning which we know you'll enjoy and will help you make the best possible start to Year 6.

End of Term

Apologies for the late blog but there were problems with the computers last week, as well as the water.

Apart from the sudden St Paul's water shortage on Tuesday, it was a very smooth end to the term. We said goodbye to our Year 6s. We are so proud of their fantastic achievements this year, not least their SATS results. Early indications suggest they have achieved the best results Cabot has ever known.  78% of pupils achieved level 4 or higher in Reading and 43% achieved level 5. 78% of pupils achieved level 4 or or higher in Writing and Maths. 70% of pupils achieved level 4 or higher in all three subjects.  Last year 54% of pupils managed this.
The pupils have done fantastically well and have proven what they can achieve when taught well by our good teachers and with your fantastic support.

Have a good holiday.

Mr Burton

Ramadan!

Dear Parents,

It's the first day of Ramadan and there is excitement in school and among our wider community about this very important time of year. I know many of you were up very early for breakfast at 2.30 am and will be fasting until sometime after 9pm tonight.

Some children have said they are joining in with fasting. Whilst I understand why they want to do this I am very concerned about the impact it might have on their health. Getting up to eat very early in the morning and then facing a very long hot day working hard without food or drink is challenging for an adult. For young children it is potentially very dangerous. I understand that some children may say they want to fast but can eat or drink if they need to. We need to ensure every child has food available to them.  If your child usually has a packed lunch, please send one in with them. If they normally have a school dinner then we will book them in for one. Any child that comes to school without a packed lunch will be booked in for a school dinner. We have water available in school throughout the day if children need to drink.

I hope you understand the school's comment to the health and wellbeing of your children. During the hours the school is responsible for pupils we will make sure their health needs are being met.

Best Wishes

Mr Burton

Fantastic Carnival!

What a fantastic day at Carnival!

Well done to all the children and staff who did sch a great job representing Cabot Primary School. Thank you to all our families and friends who supported us along the way. Hope you enjoyed the show.

Carnival

Our carnival preparations are almost complete. Miss Heppner has done a fantastic job of leader our carnival team. There have been late night and weekend sewing meetings for staff to prepare the costumes as well as the dance practice classes.  All this has been led by Miss Heppner.
An ITV film crew was in this morning reporting for the news programme tonight. Tune in to ITV at 6pm to see our fantastic pupils.

Mr Burton

Summer Fair

Dear Parents, 

Apologies for not getting photos of the School Fair up sooner. Mr Ross was about to put them on the website when his wife went into labour. I am very pleased to tell you that Mr Ross has had a baby girl.

We look forward to hearing more news from him soon.

Meanwhile... here are some pictures from last week.  I am so grateful to Shakira and the whole PTFA team. Last Friday was one of my proudest moments as head teacher at Cabot. Thank you everyone who ran a stall or made a contribution to the fantastic event.  I can also tell you that £127 was raised. This is a very useful amount of money that can be invested in future school projects.