Thank you to all of you who came along to our cyber-safety information session on Thursday evening.

During the session, a consultant shared practical advice and explained how to keep children safer online.

General feedback was that the session was very interesting and informative.  

We enjoyed Wacky Hair Day on Thursday.  Thank you to the School Councillors for organising the event, and families for embracing it with such enthusiasm and creativity.  Angela Pilling (our Chair of Governors) had the extremely difficult job of choosing winners, prizes were awarded in assembly this morning. 

The event raised over £300. Having voted, the children have decided to spend the money on pop-up tents for our OPAL lunchtimes.  They will provide additional shelter from the rain and shade from the sun.

As we have mentioned previously, we are very excited that children can now explore learning opportunities in a number of ways. This year we have organised many school trips and visits that have been highly beneficial and thoroughly enjoyed.

We ask for voluntary contributions towards the cost of school trips and rely on them.  If there are insufficient contributions, trips may sadly need to be cancelled.

Unfortunately, due to lack of voluntary funds we may be unable to go ahead with the Year 5 trip to Skillzone scheduled for next week (8th November and the 10th November).  We have asked for a £5 donation per child and you are still able to pay this via Parentpay. If you would like to contribute more than £5, you are able to do so. We will let the year 5 parents and children know if the trips will be going ahead on Monday afternoon.

We were absolutely delighted to get our trikes out for the children today.

There was an excellent queuing system in place and the children were wonderfully behaved, offering help to other children and being very respectful.
We would love a few more trikes now ...

Coats and Wellies

The children were reminded about the need to be dressed appropriately for wet and mucky weather conditions as we do go outside in all but extreme conditions.

If families are not in a financial position to provide wellies or outdoor shoes please do let us know, or pop into our reception area and look for a pair of wellies (see details below regarding our wellie and waterproof swap).

As you know, in all but the most extreme weather conditions, we enjoy our fabulous grounds at playtime and lunchtimes.  

We appreciate that wellies and waterproofs can be expensive.  Given the success of our welly swap, we will extend the initiative to include waterproofs. 

How does it work?

• Bring wellies and waterproof coats that no longer fit your child(ren) into our main reception. 

• If you would like to exchange items for larger sizes please do so.  We hope that you will find sizes that suit.

OUR SWAP SHOP IS NOW OPEN

We are delighted to welcome Mrs Sarah Gough to the Dunalley Team. 

Sarah has taken on the role as an OPAL Play Partner and is already having a fabulous and very positive impact on our lunch times.

The PTFA will be holding 2 meetings in the coming weeks.  1 online via Teams on Tuesday 8th November and the other face to face on Saturday 19th November.  Please email [email protected] if you would like to attend.

We are seeking to recruit a qualified Teaching Partner who will support the inclusion of our children here at Dunalley. This is a fabulous opportunity for the right individual to join our KS2 team.

The vacancy also offers an opportunity to do additional hours as an OPAL Play Partner.

Always seeking to innovate and improve our practices, this is an exciting time to join Dunalley as we continue to develop and embed our curriculum.  
The successful candidate will be able to equip our children with the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes that will enable them to thrive in our ever-changing world.  We welcome applications from candidates who:

• are enthusiastic, positive, well-motivated and passionate about meeting the needs of vulnerable learners
• is a versatile and flexible team member who uses their own knowledge and experience to provide personalised support and intervention
• are skilled at developing positive relationships and managing behaviour
• keen to learn from others, willing to share good practice and develop their expertise

Further information is available on our school website HERE

The Holiday Activity and Food programme (HAF) will be returning this December to provide you with exciting, festive holiday fun for your family. See below for all the information you need to know.
Click here to watch our latest HAF video!<https://youtu.be/4Fk3OI8zuSc>
What you need to know:
What is HAF?
The Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF) is a Department for Education funded initiative to provide free activities and food for children in reception to year 11 who are eligible for pupil premium free school meals.

When is HAF happening?
HAF will be running for 4 days between 19-22 December.
When will bookings go live?
HAF bookings will go live from 1 December
What do I need to do in the meantime?
To make sure you’re ready to book your activities this December, you need to need to do the following things:
  1.  Make sure you’re registered on our Children’s Activity Booking Site (CABS). This is important as this is the booking system you will use to book your HAF activities. You can register by clicking here<https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/education-and-learning/holiday-activities-and-food-programme-haf/register-for-our-childrens-activities-booking-system/> and completing your
  2.  If you’re already registered to CABS, make sure all details are up to date on your account. This is important as it helps us to make sure we are providing appropriate activities for children attending HAF, and that any additional needs are catered for. We want to ensure children and young people have the best experience possible.
Will food hampers be available?
Food hampers are not available this December, but we will share more details about the Holiday Free School Meal Voucher scheme with you soon.
How can I find out more information?
For more information, you can visit our website at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/haf<http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/haf>
For general queries, you can email us at [email protected]

Families who receive free school meals can also subscribe to our seasonal, bi-weekly newsletter by clicking here.<HERE>