King Offa Primary AcademyNewsletter ~ February 2015

Down Road, Bexhill on Sea, TN39 4HS01424 211548

KingOffaOffice@auroraacademies.org www.kingoffaprimaryacademy.org

Dear Parents/Carers

It has been another very successful term forKing Offa. Thank you for all the support yougive us and the children. We continue to growin popularity and have welcomed many newchildren this term. We have had a hugenumber of visits from parents who are lookingfor places for their children in September 2015and we are delighted to have opened anadditional year one class this term. This meansthat we are back to two classes in all yeargroups in key stage one.

Important information about changes to thenational curriculum and assessment isenclosed in this newsletter. There are a largenumber of changes to what children will learnand how the government will ask us to assessand test children. I hope the information isuseful but I am aware that it is difficult toexplain all the changes in a newsletter. Laterin the academic year we will hold face to facesessions where we can explain the changes and

answer any questions you may have. In themeantime please be assured that our numberone priority is helping children to learn as muchas they can in a way that is enjoyable andchallenging.

Thank you very much to everyone whoattended our Paragon events last week. Thechildren really appreciate the opportunity toshow off their learning and love to have mums,dads and carers visiting them in school. Thankyou also to everyone who has supported ournew homework policy. The learning thatchildren are doing at home is really importantand helps us to build strong links betweenhome and school.

Finally please look out for our parent/carerquestionnaires that will be coming home in thefirst week of next term. Your views arereally important to us!

Enjoy the break,

James Freeston ~ Head of School

H������ A��������� A����� ��� A����

F����� A�� & C���� A��������� at Bexhill Museum, Make your own magiclantern slides and shadow puppets.Thursday 19�� February, from 2.00 - 4.00 pm – Adults £3.00, children £2.50Best suited for ages 4 - 11, children must be accompanied by an adult.

M����-S����� at Glenleigh Park Academy.Monday 16�� & Tuesday 17�� February 9.00 - 3.00 – £12Thursday 19�� & Friday 20�� February 9.00 - 3.00 – £12 (All four days £24)Wear your PE clothes and bring a packed lunch. Reserve places and pay at school office.

F��� F�� F����� at St Mary in the Castle, HastingsThursday 19�� February, from 12.00 pm – £4.00(01424 715880 for more information)

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A��������� ��� C��������� C������Since September 2014 maintained schools in Englandhave had to follow the content of the new nationalcurriculum. This change in the content of the nationalcurriculum has come at the same time as changes tothe way schools have to assess and test pupils. As anacademy we have freedom over what we wish to teachbut we make sure that we closely follow the nationalcurriculum because our children are assessed andtested in the same way as in maintained schools. Thetables below show the times of these changes.

A������� Y��� 2014 �� 2015

Key Stage and Year Core Subjects (English,maths and science) Foundation Subjects National curriculum

tests

Key Stage 1Year 1 New national curriculum New national curriculum

No change - nationaltests and reportingarrangements will

reflect current nationalcurriculum

Year 2 Current nationalcurriculum New national curriculum

Key Stage 2

Year 3 New national curriculum New national curriculum

Year 4 New national curriculum New national curriculum

Year 5 New national curriculum New national curriculum

Year 6 Current nationalcurriculum New national curriculum

A������� Y��� 2015 �� 2016

Key Stage and Year All Core Subjects (core and foundation) National curriculumtests

Key Stage 1Year 1 New national curriculum

National tests andreporting arrangements

will reflect the newnational curriculum

Year 2 New national curriculum

Key Stage 2

Year 3 New national curriculum

Year 4 New national curriculum

Year 5 New national curriculum

Year 6 New national curriculum

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A���������The government has abolished national curriculum levels and has asked schools to devise theirown ways of assessing pupils learning. This means that we no longer will use levels 1 to 6.

At King Offa we have worked with our other Aurora Academies, local schools and East SussexLocal Education Authority to devise a system of assessment that we hope will provide clearinformation for parents and pupils about how well pupils are doing.

In reading, writing and maths pupils will be assessed against ‘key objectives’ and will be judgedto be emerging, working at or exceeding expectations. Fulldetails of the curriculum we teach and the framework forassessment can be found on our website in the curriculumsection. Later in the academic year we will be running sessionsin school to explain these changes in more detail.

In the meantime King Offa will continue to do its very best tomake sure that every child in the school reaches their fullpotential and enjoys learning!

T�� N�� N������� C���������The new national curriculum is more challenging than the old one and has been

implemented with the intention of raising standards in primary schools. The full nationalcurriculum can be viewed by visiting this website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum

A summary of the changes for English and Maths can be seen below.

Subject What’s New Subject What’s NewEnglish · Stronger emphasis

on vocabulary development,grammar, punctuation andspelling (for example, theuse of commas andapostrophes will be taught inKS1)

· Handwriting (not currentlyassessed under the nationalcurriculum) is expected to befluent, legible and speedy

· Spoken English has a greateremphasis, with children tobe taught debating andpresenting skills

Maths · Five-year-olds will be expected tolearn to count up to 100 (comparedto 20 under the current curriculum)and learn number bonds to20 (currently up to 10)

· Simple fractions (�⁄� and �⁄�) will betaught from KS1, and by the end ofprimary school, children should beable to convert decimal fractions tosimple fractions (e.g. 0.375 = �⁄�)

· By the age of nine, children will beexpected to know times tables up to12×12 (currently 10×10 by the end ofprimary school)

· Calculators will not be introduceduntil near the end of KS2, toencourage mental arithmetic

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Unit 4 Paragon EventsThis terms Paragon events were a great success and very well received by parents.

This is a selection of the photos taken on the day.

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Unit 4 Paragon Events

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CLUB TIMETABLE

Club Leader Year Day Time

Lunchtime Clubs

Gardening Club Mrs Jenner All welcome Every Day 12.10 - 12.45

Football Premier Sports Yrs 3 & 4 Tuesday 12.30 - 1.00

Country Dancing Mr & Mrs King KS2 Thursday 12.10 - 12.30

Outside Disco Mr King Everyone Friday 12.10 - 12.50After School Clubs

Computer Mr King Yr 6 Monday 3.00 - 4.00

Karate (paid) SAMA Karate All welcome Monday 3.00 - 4.00

Badminton (£1) Premier Sports KS 2 Tuesday 3.00 – 4.00

Computer Mr King 3 Tuesday 3.00 - 3.30

Guitar Club Mr Cutting 6 Tuesday 3.00 – 3.30

Computer Mr King 2 Wednesday 3.00 - 3.30

Gardening Club Mrs Jenner Please seeMrs Jenner Thursday 3.00 – 4.00

Computer Mr King 4 & 5 Thursday 3.00 - 3.30

Festival Dance Mr & Mrs King KS 2 Friday 3.00 - 4.00

Multisports (£1) Premier Sports KS 1 Friday 3.00 - 4.00

NEWCLUBS

World Book Day Cake SaleFriday 6�� March 3.00pm by the library

Spring Bonnet CompetitionDetails to follow

Spring FayreThursday 26� March

from 2.00pm

Pop-Up Cafe - 3.00pm, by the libraryFriday 27�� FebruaryTuesday 3�� MarchFriday 6�� March

Thursday 12�� MarchMonday 16�� March

Watch out for these KOPTA events(King Offa Parent & Teacher Association)

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TOASTERS Breakfast Club and Windmill After School Club

Toasters runs from Monday toFriday between 7:45am and8:45am in the Studio. Thechildren then join their class inthe normal way. Youngerchildren are individuallyescorted to class.The children are provided with

a healthy nutritional breakfast from a choiceof cereals, yoghurts, wholemeal or whitetoast and a choice of spreads including jam,marmalade and peanut butter. Fruit juice,milk or water is also available.Following breakfast children can engage in aperiod of play and activities. If weatherpermits the children also have access to anoutside area where they can play.Toasters is run by qualified staff who arefirst-aid and food hygiene trained.

The cost of each session is £2.50 a day andyou will be given a choice of how to pay i.eweekly, monthly or termly. You may beeligible for financial support towards the costvia Working Tax Credit. If you think this mayapply to you please speak to the school office.

Session Length and Cost3:00pm - 4:00pm £4.50 3:00pm - 5:00pm £7.00 3:00pm - 6:00pm £9.00

Total cost of care from 7.45 to 6.00pm £11.50

Windmill After School ClubWindmill Club runs from Monday to Friday from 3:00pm to 6:00pm in theStudio. Children are collected from their classes at the end of the school dayand taken to the Studio where a member of staff signs them in.Children at Windmill have the opportunity to take part in games and activitiesthat change on a daily and weekly basis.A drink and a snack are provided forchildren.

As with breakfast club, all staff are first-aid and foodhygiene trained.Sessions are available in hourly blocks up to a maximumof three hours a day. The costs are outlined below.Parents wishing to take advantage of Windmill Clubshould enquire at the school office.

We are delighted to be able to offer complete wrap aroundcare at King Offa between 7:45am and 6:00pm

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Remember to check out our Facebook page and ‘like’ it. Youwill then see any updates we make. You do not need tohave a Facebook account to view our page - just search for

‘Facebook King Offa Primary Academy’.

Dates for your diaryFriday 13�� February – Last day of Term 3

Monday 23�� February – First day of Term 4

Friday 6�� March – World Book Day, Children to dress up as their favourite book character

Tuesday 17�� March – ‘A S��� I� T�� R���� D��������’ course starts, further details from the school office

Tuesday 17�� March – Parents’ Evening

Wednesday 18�� March – Parents’ Evening

Thursday 26�� March – Last day of Term 4 for children, Easter Fayre and & Mufti Day

Friday 27�� March – INSET Day

Monday 13�� April – First day of Term 5

Monday 11�� May – SAT’s week for Year 6

Thursday 21�� May – Last day of Term 5

Monday 1�� June – First day of Term 6

Wednesday 1�� July – Sports Day

Tuesday 21�� July – End of Term 6

Monday 7�� September – Start of Academic Year 2015/2016

New Phone Number? Moved house?If you have changed any of your contact details recently please complete the form below andreturn to the office. Thank you.

Child’s name and class: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Address: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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Phone …………………………………………………….. Email: …………………………………………………………………

Mobile: ……………………………………………………………..

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