Please help FOY by pre-ordering tickets for the disco ASAP. This helps the FOY team in judging the amount that needs to be ordered.

We have always provided the facility to pay online via Scopay. Next week you will receive a letter about our plan to go cashless (apart from certain fund-raising events) from 1st February. This essentially means that for most requests for payment (such as school trips) we would like you to use your Scopay account. The letter will explain how you go about accessing your own account (each parent and carer receives a login when their child joins the school) if you don’t know how to do this. I would highly recommend that you download the Scopay app onto your phone/tablet if you haven’t done so already. This makes life much easier!

Please take time to look through the resources contained in the “Post presentation parent pack” which is found via the following link https://www.breckfoundation.org/post-presentation . This was mentioned in the talk on Monday. It provides guidance on parental controls, signs of grooming and sources of help amongst other useful information. If you need paper copies, please get in touch.

On Thursday 18th January we extend an invitation to you to attend a coffee morning hosted by our Home School Link Worker, Karen Burgess and our Inclusion Leader and Assistant Head Teacher, Kirsty Morgan. During this time there will be an opportunity for you to talk about any concerns that might affect your children’s success or happiness at school; discuss provisions available within school to support your child; provide valuable understanding and guidance on a variety of topics and put you in touch with services, activities and organisations in the local area; listen and offer support on issues that you and your family may be having; offer support and guidance on changes in family situations; suggest ideas and strategies for behaviour management and for establishing home routines for children.

Please don’t forget that the children return to school on 3 rd January. 2nd January is an INSET training day and the school is closed for children on this day.

Many of you will remember the tragic story of Breck Bednar, a pupil at St Bede’s School in Redhill. The Breck Foundation was set up in his name to help educate parents and young people about dangers they may face online. We are lucky to secure free (age appropriate) sessions for Yattendon pupils together with a parent workshop on 8th January between 6pm and 7pm. I urge you to put this in your diary. Joining instructions will be sent to you in the new year. To find out more about the work that the Breck Foundation do, please see: https://www.breckfoundation.org

In Autumn Term and Spring Term we send out a summary of your child’s attainment in the core subjects of English and maths. This follows Assessment Week last week. The test results are shared along with information explaining how we make judgements about how well children are doing. Of course, we know your children well and understand their different starting points in their learning. The progress they are make is, in many ways the key marker of success.

Once again, Yattendon children proved their maturity in the way they organised themselves in this tournament. They did not lose a match, winning one-nil against Burstow School, one-nil against Langshott and drawing nil-nil against Meath Green Junior School. Unfortunately, they were pipped to the post by Meath Green on goal difference. Once again, Mr Butcher was incredibly proud of the sporting attitude and team spirit on show. Very well done, girls!

We look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Fair on Saturday 25th November(not long to wait now). Don’t forget you can book a ticket to visit Father Christmas in advance: www.pta-events.co.uk/foy - £4.00 per child

The theme of anti-bullying week this year is 'Make a Noise' and the aim is for everyone to speak out and speak up about bullying. Also we will be focussing on children understanding the difference between 'banter' and bullying. The children will be writing poems during the week and we will be sharing some of these in the Friday Flyer. On Monday we would like the children to wear ‘odd socks’ in order to focus their minds on the importance of respecting individuality. See here for family support on offer. Please tell us as soon as possible if you suspect your child is being bullied.