We are very proud that OFSTED rated our Behaviour and Safety as ‘outstanding’.

 

The pastoral care of our children is very important to us; if children feel safe and ‘worry free’ they are more likely to excel with their learning. At Yattendon, we strongly believe that the best outcomes for young children occur when Parents/carers work in partnership with our school. Our Home School Link Worker Team (Mrs Jo Spindler and Mrs Gill Labbett) is an effective tool through which we can help ensure that your child flourishes in our care.
 

What are the most common issues that the HSLW Team deal with?

• Improving attendance and punctuality
• Supporting parents, carers and families
• Promoting positive behaviour
• Offering support in school

What is their goal?
We want all children to enjoy school and be happy and secure. 

 

Who can Jo and Gill help?

• Children who are anxious or withdrawn
• Parents and carers experiencing difficulties managing their child’s behaviour
• Parents, carers and children who are experiencing change, such as parental separation or bereavement
• Parents and carers whose children are not attending school or who have been excluded
• Parents and carers who may need support on a wide range of issues impacting on their family life, such as illness, separation, domestic violence, bereavement

 

How can Jo and Gill help?

• A chance to talk in a confidential and non-judgemental environment
• One to one support and advice
• Parenting guidance on developing and maintaining positive discipline
• Help to access grants
• Therapeutic sessions with children and families
• Support groups for parents and carers
• Home visits to support families and children
• Links to other agencies

 
How do you contact Jo and Gill, your Home School Link Worker Team?
Parents, carers, schools and children can ask Jo and Gill to become involved. With your consent, they will explore the difficulties your child is experiencing and identify the best way to help. Contact Jo by email (jspindler@yattendon.surrey.sch.uk) or Gill by e-mail (glabbett@yattendon.surrey.sch.uk)

Alternatively, just pop into the School Office and ask if either Jo or Gill are available for a chat. (Jo works Monday to Friday and Gill is in from Tuesday to Friday.)  Jo or Gill will fill in a referral form with you. Before starting to work with children they will obtain parental consent. Jo and Gill offer a confidential service regarding personal issues. If necessary they would seek your permission to share the information with staff at school or with other agencies.  

As usual, it has been another busy and exciting week at Yattendon packed full of rich learning experiences. As a school we continually strive to ensure that we are giving our children the best possible holistic education. We therefore spend a lot of time and energy reflecting on how we can improve what we do. Consequently, we don’t often stand still and ‘smell the roses’ as we are focussed on aspiring to be better. However, this week the school has been contacted by three external bodies in recognition of the school’s work.
We are delighted to inform you that, for the third year running, we have been awarded the Sainsbury's School Games Kitemark - Gold Level – one of only a handful of primary schools in Surrey to achieve this prestigious award. During 2014-2015 we continued to work tirelessly to nurture the understanding that competitive sport needs to be made accessible and enjoyable for all children.  The School Games Kitemark, launched in June 2012, rewards schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community via club links. I would like to acknowledge and thank Miss Watkins and Mr Stewart who work tirelessly behind the scenes to foster such a great sporting ethos at Yattendon. For more information about the School Games Kitemark click here. To learn more about Physical Education and Sport at Yattendon, click on our Sports Premium page.

As a school we are firmly committed to supporting and promoting the physical and emotional health and well-being of our children. Furthermore, we ensure that the links between health, behaviour and achievement are continuously discussed. The school’s work is not aimed merely at our children’s health or school curriculum development but centres around the whole school environment and all aspects of Yattendon life. We were therefore delighted when we were contacted by ‘Surrey Healthy Schools’ who explained that Yattendon had been awarded Surrey Healthy Schools status – Bronze Award. My thanks go to Miss Pirt and Mrs Coulson for their work in this area. For more information about Surrey Healthy Schools click here. To learn more about Spiritual, Moral, Social and cultural provision at Yattendon, click here.

Finally, I received the following email on Monday: Congratulations! Yattendon School has earned a School Guide Certificate of Excellence! As the UK's leading school website, we know how hard it is to run a school with all the demands that the government and Ofsted place upon you. Your four ?star certificate is the result of your dedication to academic excellence and is a great way to show parents how much you have achieved in the last year. This was another nice surprise and an objective endorsement of the school’s work. For more information about schoolguide.co.uk and our certificate of excellence click here.

They often say that bad things come in threes; here at Yattendon we like to put a positive spin on things! Our value of the month for September is Happiness; given these three awards, I think we can pause for a while, ‘smell the roses’ and be happy about what we have accomplished as a school!

Have a great weekend.

Best wishes,
Dave Cole
Headteacher

A message from the Friends of Yattendon. It was great to see some of the new, Year 3 mums at our first Friends of Yattendon coffee morning this week. We will be hosting another coffee morning in the staffroom next Thursday 17th September, from 9.00am to 10.00am, so please come along if you would like to find out more about what the Friends does and how you can get involved. The Friends of Yattendon annual general meeting will be held on Monday 21st September at 7.00pm in the staffroom. All parents and carers are welcome to come along. We will be discussing spending plans for the coming year, so if you would like to have a say in which exciting extras we will be buying for the school this year, please try to attend. The meeting will probably finish by 9.00pm, but if you need to leave at a certain time you can go earlier. If you think you will be able to come to the AGM, please email friends@yattendon.surrey.sch.uk so we have an idea of how much tea and coffee, and cakes and biscuits we will need. Don't forget to join our Friends of Yattendon Facebook group. It is a closed group, for parents and carers of Yattendon pupils only. Find it on Facebook and then apply to join. It's a great way to keep up with news of everything the Friends are doing.

Year 4 Swimming starts next Thursday. Please don’t forget your kit!

Dear Parents and Carers,

A very warm welcome back to the Autumn Term at Yattendon and a special welcome to all the new Year 3 children, parents and carers, as well as those children and families joining us in other year groups. Yattendon is a special school community and we hope that you will feel at home and part of our school as quickly as possible.

Following a re-structure of our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) last year, we are delighted to welcome Mrs K Morgan (previously Mrs White) and Mrs Coulson to the shared post of Assistant Headteacher. In addition, Mrs Spindler will be joining the SLT as Yattendon’s Inclusion Leader and Special Educational Needs Coordinator following the retirement of Mrs Timms. May I also take the opportunity to welcome our six new members of teaching staff: Miss Kelman(Year 3 teacher), Mrs Sims (Year 4 teacher and Year Leader), Miss Dimery (Year 4 teacher), Mr Murtagh (Year 4 teacher), Mr Pavely (Year 4 teacher) and Miss Crowe (Year 5 teacher). 

 

Miss Crowe and Miss Dimery spent last year with us training to be teachers and we are delighted that they both graduated as ‘outstanding’ trainees, like Mr Wretham before them.

In addition, we welcome one new member of support staff: Mrs Bloch.

Mr Bownds will be taking over from Mr Stewart as Yattendon’s new Sports Coach.
We also have Mr Stewart, (last year’s Sports Coach) as a trainee teacher, working with Miss Pirt (previously Mrs Bekusch) in Class 6P, Mrs R Morgan, as trainee teacher, working with Mr Wretham in Class 6W and also Mr Balls as a trainee teacher, working with Miss Burgess in Class 3B.

In order that you can put a face to a name, please visit the ‘who’s who’ page of the school website.

We endeavour to keep our website up-to-date, so please take the time to have a look around to ensure that you are fully informed.

We remain steadfastly committed to an 'Open Door' policy and are always delighted to see our parents and carers on the playground before and after school. It is vital that we blur the edges between home and school and we know through experience that the best outcomes for children occur when parents and staff communicate regularly. If you miss a Friday Flyer, don't worry! You can view all the previous copies on the website.

Yattendon has a fantastic PTA (Parent Teacher Association) which we call FoY (Friends of Yattendon.) FoY raise much needed funds for the school whilst having a great deal of fun in the process. They work tirelessly for the benefit of the school and are always welcoming of new ideas and offers of help. If you are able to give some time to assist, no matter how large or small, please contact them: friends@yattendon.surrey.sch.uk. Alternatively, please come along to the FoY coffee and cake morning on Tuesday 8th September at 9:15am in the staffroom and say hello.

We hope that the children settle in quickly and continue to enjoy their learning.

Best wishes,
Dave Cole Headteacher

Dear Parents & Carers

Welcome to the new academic year. We are very excited to say that our building programme is well under way. The new car park is nearing completion and the corridor at the front of the school has been demolished.

As we communicated back in July, there will be changes to the location of the main entrance to the school building. If you need to speak to members of the school office, please look out for the signs showing you the way to the temporary main door. Please note you can no longer access the reception office through the playground/cloakroom entrance.

The front of the school is now a compound for our builders. The doors to the compound will be kept shut, but please do not enter (or allow children to enter) this compound at any time for obvious health and safety reasons.

For the first few days back, those of you coming from the Oakwood Road direction will not be able to turn right at the end of the school drive and enter the playground. This is due to work on a drainage pipe. Instead, all children and parents need to turn left and walk round the left side and back of the school to gain access to the playground. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. The usual entrance to the playground from Oakwood Road will be restored very soon.

We will keep you up-to-date with anything that may affect you whilst our building work is ongoing. Please keep your eye on the Friday Flyer and school website for the latest news. We will shortly be devoting a section of our school website to the building project so that you can follow its progress. We will also be installing a time lapse camera so that a video journal of the build is created - we believe this will help add to the educational value of the build.

Exciting times ahead!

Look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.

Best wishes
Dave Cole