What a wonderful week at Dunalley!  Your children have been truly amazing.  The way in which they have swiftly said goodbye to you at the beginning of the day, and come into school with their characteristic enthusiasm, confidence and smiles has been truly incredible.  There has been a positive and productive buzz throughout the school and nursery all week.  In the coming weeks we look forward to welcoming you into school so that you can experience the excitement.  We will also be sharing curriculum plans so that you are fully aware of what your children are learning about in school.  Please watch out for updates! 

Following yesterday’s very sad news regarding the passing of our Queen, each class held its own assembly in which this significant event was shared and discussed with sensitivity. This was supported by the Newsround report attached below.  

Newsround Report

We hope you can attend our parent/carer event on Wednesday 14th September from 1.45pm – 3pm.

Play time is a hidden part of the school day for parents and carers, so a special event allows you to see the site developments that have occurred during the school’s OPAL journey, how the children are playing and, also, gives context to the requests and communications that you have received from the us e.g., welly requests, loose parts donations, fundraising efforts.  

You will get to play with your children on the school site. This is a great opportunity for your children to be the experts and show their competence and creativity! 
In our first parents’ event, parents and carers get to meet our school’s OPAL mentor (Rachel), hear directly from her about the OPAL programme and get the opportunity to ask questions. 

This meeting will include a presentation from the OPAL mentor to give the background behind OPAL, talk about the importance of play and how the school is being supported through the OPAL programme. This can then be followed by an outdoor play session supported by school staff. 

Timings: 

1.40pm - 1.45pm Arrival 
1.50pm - 2.15pm OPAL presentation in hall (OPAL mentor) 
2.15pm - 3.00pm Outdoor play (supported by school staff) 
3.00pm Event ends and pupils line up with their class teachers and return to classrooms for dismissal. Parents can stay on school grounds until pick-up 

Bring a loose part 

This is a great opportunity to collect new loose parts as part for our OPAL initaive. We will have a donation box outside of reception from this Friday, as you arrive you can add anything ou wish to donate into the box.  Look out for this weeks newletter for further information. 

Top tips for you:

Let the children show you around 
Let the children lead the play 
Help yourself to resources 
Join in if invited! 
Have fun! 

We are pleased to let you know that our weekly Family Tea n’ Chats will start next week.  Having dropped off your child(ren), feel free to join us in the hall for a cup of tea or coffee.  Pre-schoolers are most welcome to come along – there will be toys and books for them to play with.   

We hope that these weekly informal drop ins will give you an opportunity to meet other parents/carers and help you to get to know school staff.  Sam Ashton and Phoebe Wilcox (members of our family support team) will be there and Alison Godfrey and Pippin will regularly pop in.   

Thank you for your support in making this work.  Your prompt arrival and quick goodbyes are very much appreciated as they enable the school day to get off to a flying start.   

Year 1 and 2 families 

Given that our younger children are walking into school so happily and confidently, from Monday year 1 and 2 teachers will stay in their classrooms to welcome the children.  This will mean that the children can be registered more quickly and that their lessons can start at promptly at 9am.  Please be aware that the staff that welcome your children when you drop them off at the main entrance (usually Sam Ashton and Alison Godfrey) are very happy to pass on messages to class teachers as soon as front doors close.  It helps if you hand them a clearly labelled note, or ideally send the note in with your child. 

Collection at the end of the day also appears to be running smoothly.  Thank you for arriving on time and exiting the grounds as soon as possible.  This has meant that children who attend Lates have been able to enjoy the school grounds at the earliest opportunity (they need to remain in the building until the field gate and main entrance is locked). 

As is the case with most schools, at drop off and pick up times, the road outside school can become extremely congested and therefore potentially less safe for families.  To keep congestion to a minimum, we urge families to walk/scoot/bike to school if at all possible.  As well as being a healthy and environmentally friendly start to the day, it greatly reduces the chance of road related accidents. 

If you must drive your children to school, please consider parking in the roads close to Central Cross Café, and using the conveniently located pedestrian crossing to walk towards school.  You may well find that this leads to a calmer start to your day as finding a safe, legitimate parking space in West Drive is often difficult. 

Please note that we always expect all families to follow the requirements of the Highway Code and park considerately.  People should not be parking close to junctions, or blocking off the driveways of houses.  The police and parking attendants regularly monitor the situation as the safety of children and families is of paramount importance. 

Timing your approach towards school is also extremely helpful.  The main entrance will open just before 8.40am for our younger learners, and the main field gate will open just before 8.45am for older children who do not arrive with younger siblings.   

Please note that from Monday the 12th September our new Reception starters will see a slight change to their start and/or finish times for the next two full weeks.

Morning group 8.40am - 11.30am

Afternoon group 12.30pm - 3.10pm

Many thanks.

Dear Families,

Please be advised that from Monday 12th September 2022 there will be a price increase to the cost of the school meal.

The current price is £2.20 for a main meal and a dessert. This will increase to £2.38 from next Monday 12th September. Our catering company Alliance in Partnership (AiP) has not implemented a price rise for several years but due to the continued pressure on the cost of wholesale food, fuel and general inflation they are unable to avoid this price increase any longer.

Our school meals provide excellent value for money, this will not alter. Our prices remain amongst the lowest when compared with other local authority schools and we continue to work closely with Alliance in Partnership who provide the catering service at Dunalley. They continue to offer a varied range of meals which are both healthy and nutritious. Our menus are developed in line with the nutritional standards set by the Schools Food Trust and the Government’s Food Policy in Schools. 

There will be no need for or our families in receipt of Free School Meals to do anything at all as with families with children in our Reception, year 1 and year 2 classes; their school meal provision will remain as it is now. 

We hope that you understand the inevitability of these price increases and know that we fully appreciate that times are hard.  We would fully encourage any family currently not in receipt of free School Meals to apply via this link: APPLY FOR FREE SCHOOL MEALS HERE

Please remember that class teachers are always pleased to meet with you to discuss your child and their experience at school.  Please don’t hesitate to let them know, if you would like to arrange a mutually convenient time to talk. You can do this by 

• asking them when you pick up your child (sometimes an immediate impromptu chat will be possible, but not always. This is because teachers often run clubs or need to go to team meetings) 
• phoning the school office (01242 512391) and leaving a message with a member of the admin team  
• Emailing [email protected] – the message will be passed on.  

The weather this week has confirmed that wellies and waterproofs are essential items to have in school every day.  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 will the swap work? 

• Bring wellies and waterproof coats that no longer fit your child(ren) to the main entrance (there will be a drop off box near the double doors) 

• If you would like to exchange items for larger sizes when our ‘swap shop’ is open, collect a voucher (these will be attached to the drop off box) 
  
  
• Having collected and sorted the donations, families with vouchers will be invited pop into school to exchange them for new wellies and/or waterproofs.  We hope that you will find sizes that suit. 

A wonderful opportunity has arisen for an outstanding professional to join our Dunalley Nursery and Pre-school team.

We are looking to appoint a dynamic practitioner for 5 days a week (30 hours) PLUS additional hours within our wrap around care facility.
Full details are avaliable via the links below:

EYFS Practitioner - Vacancy Details here

EYFS Practitioner  - Person Specification here

EYFS Practitioner  - 30 hours per week Job Description here

Application form - here

No Nuts
We would like to remind families that we have a NO NUTS policy at Dunalley Primary School and in our Nursery and Pre-school. It is very important that we follow this rule as we do have children in our school with severe nut allergies.

Healthy Snacks
Reception and KS1 children receive free fruit at for break time and we like to encourage all children in KS2 – years 3-6 - to follow the same healthy eating habits during their breaks too. Please encourage your child to bring any of the following for break times: 

• Cubes of cheese 

• Fruit or veg 

• Mini box or tub of plain dried fruit 

• Savoury rice cakes or bread stick 

If these can be placed in a re-usable, plastic box (named) then we can also do our bit for the planet. By not having items in wrappers or plastic bags we can minimise litter and prevent hazards for wildlife and Pippin our school dog who will try to eat wrappers and cling film if it is on the floor!