In-FocusPrincipal: Stuart Williams

Vice Principal: Kelly Jacksonwww.catmoseprimary.com

24 SEPTEMBER 2012 Good Start To New Year

Librarians

Focus on: Ash Class

Welcome To Mr Wallace

Jack Hubbard Sports

Harvest Tea

Open Evening

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MUCH TO CELEBRATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .There is much to celebrate this year. Staff, students and parents should be congratulated for their part in what has been an exciting year which has led to the school’s best ever set of KS2 SAT results and fantastic improvements to the fabric and teaching facilities of the school.

The KS2 results met the Ofsted target of 80% level 4 and 40% level 5 which was an ambitious target that required considerable work from Mr Smith, their class teacher, and the support of Mrs Jackson to achieve. The earlier report from an educational consultant and these results, alongside the other improvements at the school, lead Mrs Jackson and myself to conclude that the school would be considered as at least Good by Ofsted and Outstanding in a number of areas.

In the last academic year, the school’s physical appearance has changed almost beyond recognition; work on the roofing, electricals, refurbishment of every classroom and the hall, the installation of new IT systems and, in the last break, a new reception area. These have brought significant improvements to the environment the children and staff work in every day and I believe have contributed to our continued success this year. My thanks to the federation site team led by Si Mellors and our federation manager, Natalie Ray, who were instrumental in this work.

The children have benefited from the addition of a new interactive teaching screen to each room and the availability of iPads for them to use during lessons. This year will see the introduction of instrumental music tuition at the school and an even wider range of clubs during lunches and at the end of the day.

The physical environment is a critical aspect of any school, working in a comfortable environment helps people to do their best. However schools are ultimately about people and in this respect we have also seen improvement. The schools strong financial position and increasing popularity has led to the employment of three new teachers and a return to six classes, all of which are much smaller than the average class size you might expect in a state school. The competition for these new posts was significant with over 40 applicants for each post. We were therefore in a strong position to recruit very talented teachers

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who are able to offer specialist sport, drama, music and languages teaching this year. This year will also see specialist teachers in art, design, music and English teachers from the College, working alongside their primary school colleagues.

We started the route to federation between Catmose College and Primary nearly three years ago and we now know that both schools have benefitted from this relationship. Mrs Jackson’s expertise in early years education has helped support Catmose Nursery to offer amongst the best EYFS provision locally. The College has also begun the process of modifying its key stage three curriculum to support the transition of students from primary to secondary, a direct result of our working together. The employment of a teacher at the Primary who is qualified to teach dance was only possible because of the federation as she will also deliver GCSE dance to College students, allowing us to share costs between the two schools.

It was therefore a natural step for the governors of Catmose Primary and Catmose College to agree to the creation of a single academy trust, Catmose Federation, to oversee the work of both schools and ensure the Federation is best placed to ensure the continued success of both schools whilst preserving their own ethos and vision.

The single greatest test of the Federation is when the children from Catmose Primary join us at the College. It was particularly noticeable how relaxed and ready the year 6 children were for the move to the College. This was to such an extent that staff at the College thought they were year 7 on their induction day and asked them to help the children from the other primary schools!

We are not complacent however and our ultimate goal is to secure an outstanding provision that is recognised, locally and nationally, as the best possible provision for primary education. This plan is a critical part of our development process which will help us to achieve this objective.

Stuart WilliamsPrincipal

We have made a fantastic start to the new academic year at Catmose Primary. The children are enjoying the new look reception area, using the new iPads and have reported that they like their new classes via the School Council. Thank you to all parents who attended our ‘meet the teacher’ evening. If you were unable to make the evening and wish to speak to your child’s new teacher, please make an appointment to meet with them.

Kelly JacksonVice Principal

GOOD START TO A NEW YEAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LIBRARIANS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Four of our Year Five children have been chosen to act as librarians. They will be responsible for keeping books in order, allocating books to pupils and returning books. Congratulations to:

• AlyssiaHearth• CharlotteFrost• KaceyRobson• SallyHerron for being chosen to carry out this responsible role.

FOCUS ON: ASH CLASS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Well done to all our Ash Class children on making a super start to school life. All the children have settled in well and are enjoying their days. The children have been working hard to make a Gruffalo forest for their book of the week, special glasses enabled them to see through the eyes of the Gruffalo and they have created wonderful displays for the classroom and main hall. Mrs Hatherley, Miss Dixon and Miss Skervin are very proud of all the children in Ash Class.

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WELCOME TO: MR WALLACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fact file by Eloise Green and Emily Bell.

Name: Andrew Wallace Class: Oak

Teacher Training: GTP at Saffron Walden

Best Teaching Memory to Date: We held a World Sports Day at my last school on the 28 June with over 353 people taking part. It was wonderful to see so many joining in sports.

If you were to describe yourself in three words, they would be: Competitive, Understanding and Content

Best Joke: What’s brown and sticky? A stick!

RUTLAND ROCKETS NETBALL CLUB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .There is an exciting Rutland Rocket Netball Club for all Year 5 and 6. The club runs each Monday 4pm till 5pm at Catmose College. Please contact Catmose Sports on 01572 490030 for further details.

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HARVEST TEA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .On Friday 12 October, Catmose Primary will host its annual Harvest Tea. Parents and Carers are welcome to join the celebration from 2.30pm. The children will sing Harvest songs and read Harvest poems.

From 2.00pm a Harvest tea, prepared by all children, will be served to VIP guests. VIP guests are our older community members. If you have a gran, grandad or elderly neighbour who would enjoy an afternoon tea and entertainment, please give their name and address to the school office. They will receive an invitation written by the children.

We hope you can join us in this special event.

The KS2 club, which will run each Monday after school till 4.30pm in the school hall, is now open to all KS2 classes. Letters were sent out this week to invite all children to sign up. Take advantage of this free sporting club with a trained coach – Jack is a super coach who plans exciting and fun games developing sporting skills.

Our Mums and Tots (with Dads also welcome) also started this week – please do come along to this free session for children aged 3 and above. More than one child per adult is welcome! Sessions run each Wednesday from 2.00pm in the school hall.

JACK HUBBARD SPORTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .