Newsletter November 2014 Issue 10

20 –22 Christchurch Road,

Bournemouth BH1 3NL

(01202) 208370

office@parkfield.bournemouth.sch.uk

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am delighted to inform you that we had a very successful Department for Education (DfE) monitoring visit earlier this month. The purpose of these monitoring visits is to ensure that new state funded schools are providing the quality of education expected by the Government and also that schools are fulfilling all statutory and legal requirements.

The monitoring visit followed the same format as an Ofsted inspection and was very useful in reassuring us that we are doing very well ahead of our full Ofsted inspection, which is likely to take place between January and April 2015.

Our monitoring visit was conducted by two experienced DfE officials, who are also trained Ofsted inspectors. They conducted a learning walk of the whole school with myself, briefly visiting all lessons. This was followed by longer joint lesson observations with either myself, Mr Thurstan or Mr Sears. These lesson observations gave them the opportunity to see lessons across the full age range from Phonics in Reception to Maths in Year 10 and many others in between.

The monitoring team also had lengthy talks with students from both the Primary and Secondary sectors of the school, with the Chair and Vice Chair of Governors, with members of staff and with the Senior Leadership Team. They also checked safeguarding documentation, listened to children read and checked the student’s books for the quality of written work and teacher’s marking and feedback.

Frustratingly, I am not permitted to publish their findings or even quote from the report but, needless to say, I am delighted with the outcome and they were extremely complimentary about how far we have come in such a short time. They were particularly impressed with the positive discussions they had with our students.

Ofsted 2015 – you can help!

As mentioned above we will have our first full Ofsted inspection after Christmas and there is a way that parents can really help the school. There is an online questionnaire that Ofsted collect information from called parentview. Unfortunately the number of parents completing these questionnaires is often quite poor and what is even more frustrating for schools parents who do complete the questionnaire; sometimes using it as a sounding board for complaining, with parents who are pleased with the school often not completing it.

I would be really grateful if you could spend a few minutes to register and complete the questionnaire which

can be found here if you have good things to say. I thank you in advance for any positive comments!

If you do have any concerns please approach the school or a member of the Parent Council (PC) before

completing the questionnaire https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/register

School Principal

The purpose of these lesson observations is twofold:

1. for them to judge the quality of teaching and learning at Parkfield.

2. to ensure that members of the Senior Leadership Team are judging the quality of teaching and learning accurately.

Their report judged the school in the areas of:

Leadership and Management

Student Achievement

The Quality of Teaching and Learning

Behaviour and Safety

Parkfield School

Christmas Carol Concert @ St Peter’s Church, Bournemouth

On Wednesday10th December at 11 -12noon

£1 per adult ticket

Parkfield School presents

‘Sugar Plum’ Wednesday 17th December

4:30 - 5:15pm

The Life Centre, Moordown, Bournemouth (BH9 2NE)

£3 per adult ticket

Tickets for both festive events

will be available from

the school office from

Friday 28th November

PFA Bulletin

Primary Discos, Friday 12th December

We are excited to offer our Primary students the opportunity to have fun at our first school disco.

Ticket price is £3 and will be available from PFA volunteers in the school foyer, between 8:45 - 9:10am each school day from Monday 1st December.

Great Parkfield Balloon Race

Our balloons seem to be travelling far and wide! We will notify you of the final destinations and distances from the school in the December Newsletter.

Reception 2:30 - 3:30pm

Year 1 & 2 3:45 - 4:45pm

Year 3, 4 & 5 5:00 - 6:30pm

Information on events for secondary students to

follow shortly.

Enrichment Activities

Our autumn term Enrichment Activities finish on Friday 12th December, there will be no Enrichment Activities in the last week of term.

Cold weather Attire

As the weather turns wet and cold, could you please ensure your child comes to school with a coat, gloves and hat. We appreciate that due to the very wet weather, your child may wish to come to school wearing boots. If this is the case, could you please ensure that school shoes are available to change in to once in school.

We are pleased to announce that the following parents have been elected by our PC to take up the following posts: Chair of PC - Ivonne Galli, Vice Chair - Lupe Acevedo-Moncada and Secretary - Donna Millman We look forward to working in partnership with our PC on future initiatives. We would also like to take this opportunity to extend our warmest regards to the outgoing Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary, and thank them for all of the time and effort they have invested in the Parkfield School Parent Council 2013/14.

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Dates for your Diary

5th December Christmas Fair - cancelled

9th—10th Dec Primary Parent Evenings

9th December Pantomime Visit - Peter Pan

10th December Carol Concert at St. Peter’s Church

12th December PFA Primary Discos

15th December Student Christmas Lunch

17th December Sugar Plum Concert (Reception & KS1)

19th December Last day of autumn term (school finishes at the

usual time of 2:10pm - Secondary, 2:20pm - Primary)

Well done to the students and

staff for raising an amazing

£370 for all the worth while

causes supported by

Children in Need.

KS2 PE

Years 3 & 4 have been working on their Multi-Skills in PE lessons improving

skills such as Speed, Agility, Balance, Accuracy, & Teamwork.

Year 5 have started their Swimming programme with qualified instructors at

the Littledown Centre on Friday Mornings and are enjoying it very much.

Year 9 Sports Leaders

The Year 9 Sports Leaders have been putting all their leadership skills to the

test by running sessions for our Reception students during their on-site PE

lessons. The Reception students have been loving it!!

Year 8 Girls Cricket Tournament, report, by Angel H and Tilley P

The team had the impression that both Bishop of Winchester School and Highcliffe

School thought we had just come along to make up the numbers, but the girls lead by

Jess were very motivated to do well.

In our first match we bowled out Bishop’s for 42 and batting second we won in the last over, but lost 3

wickets passing Bishop’s total. Some of the girls were very nervous playing our first ever proper match

but winning the match gave us confidence.

In our second match we bowled out Highcliffe for only 30 and batting second we won after only 3 overs

and lost only 1 wicket. The bowling attack of Jess, Tilly, Geavesy, Louise, Erica and Tally bowled

straighter than the opponents, which helped us win, as bowling wide cost 3 penalty runs. Also batting,

Jess and Tally rotated the strike and our fielding by all was better than other teams, with us running out

opponents after good stops and throws!

It was 6 aside and all 10 girls played some part, with great team work, effort and focus during both

matches. Angel was wicket keeper, who gave loads of encouragement and even had the large gloves

on! We wanted to win for Miss Taylor who could not attend, and would like to thank Mr Williamson for

providing the transport and support during the matches. We are now looking forward to testing our skills

with further matches - GO PARKFIELD!

Year 5 Boys Predator Football Tournament

The year 5 boys competed at their first ever football tournament on Thursday 20th November at the Littledown Centre. They had been training really hard in the lead up

to the tournament with extra sessions put on by Mr Journeaux. The team knew it would be a tough test as for a number of the boys, it was their first experience of football matches.

They played 4 matches against Winton, St Marks, Pokesdown and Elm Academy. Although they did not win any games they battled hard throughout and were determined to improve upon their performances in the next tournament. Well done to all the team; Harry M, Maurice, Harry S, Dylon, Finlay, Oscar, Oliver, Gabriel & George - Great effort guys!

Upcoming Secondary Events

Year 7 girls have a football tournament at

Highcliffe school on the 3rd December.

The rowing competition for Bournemouth

schools will take place in early January, so

keep your eyes peeled for practice dates

for any budding rowers.

We are hoping to arrange some more

Rugby fixtures as well as some Football

fixtures for the Boys, but this may have

to wait until the light starts to improve

after February half term.

To celebrate the Festive Season, on Monday15th December students are able to bring to school a Christmas themed packed lunch. As well as the sandwiches etc. that you would usually include within your child’s lunchbox, we would encourage you to add a little festive cheer! This could include items such as a mince pie, a child sized Christmas cracker, a small chocolate yule log or a home-decorated Christmas place mat or a festive hat! Please do not include fizzy drinks, party poppers, ‘silly snow’, ‘silly string’ or any other spray can items.

Chartwell’s - hot school meals

Thank you for responding positively to the new on-line ordering system introduced by Chartwell’s. There has been a great uptake for the Universal Free School Meals for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.

Christmas Lunch: on-line orders for the Christmas lunch on Monday 15th December, will need to be placed by Sunday 7th December and are at the usual cost of £2.05 for Year 3,4 & 5 students and £2.25 for secondary students.

Orders for the first week of the spring term will need to be placed by Sunday 28th December.

AUTUMN 2014

Dear Parkfield community,

Welcome back to our second year of operation, it’s encouraging to see everything swing into place

so smoothly this year. It’s hard to believe that we only opened our doors to children last year!

Before half-term I attended the Open Evening for next year’s Year 7 parents and as I walked

around the school chatting to the teachers and the children who were helping out, I was struck by

how far the school has come in such a short space of time and under such difficult circumstances. I

attended the same Open Evening last year as a prospective parent and the transformation is

amazing, and is a testament to the quality of our teaching staff. The children also did us proud, and

all the visitors were incredibly impressed by their maturity and enthusiasm for the school.

This year is a very important year for Parkfield as we will have our first Ofsted inspection any time

from January 1st. The governors have been busy preparing by having a full governing body

training, focused specifically on Ofsted requirements. In October Mr Conaghan and myself

attended a one-day training event at the Department of Education specially designed to prepare

free schools for their first Ofsted inspection. We are continuing with this focus by organising extra

meetings to ensure that we are fully prepared for the Inspectors when they arrive. In addition to all

this, Catriona McKinnon and myself did a presentation to the staff on the role of the governing body

at one of the Inset days at the beginning of this term.

Amita Sen Gupta

(Chair of Governors)

Royal British Legion

Poppy Appeal

Thank you to the students,

parents and staff for supporting

this very worth while cause.

We will shortly be able to

confirm the final amount raised.