Thank you to everyone who came to school on Wednesday afternoon for our family OPAL event.  Having learnt about the importance of play and they way in which we nurture and enhance it, it was brilliant to see everyone enjoying our fabulous grounds and getting to know each other.

Please be aware that The Department for Education has announced that schools will be closed on Monday 19th September as it will be a bank holiday. 

Class teachers have collated some important information for you. You can access them on the school website HERE.

As well as containing key reminders, the documents give you an overview of what your child is learning in school this term.  We hope that you can use the information to support learning at home. We hope that your children will be keen to share their new knowledge, understanding and skills with you.  Please remember that you can find further information about our curriculum under the learning tab on our website.

We are pleased to invite you into school to meet with teachers at the following times: 

Tuesday 11th October - 2.15-3.15pm - Year 3 and 4

Wednesday 12th October - 2.15-3.15pm - Reception and Year 5 and 6

Thursday 13th October - 2.15-3.15pm - Year 1 and 2

These informal catch ups will give you an opportunity to hear more about what your children are learning in school and how you can help at home.  Your children will also be able to show you their classrooms and share their books and achievements with you.

As you will know, all children in our Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes receive a Free School Meal under the Government initiative “Universal Infant Free School Meals”. 

However, some children will also qualify for Income Related free school meals due to their personal circumstances.  Whilst this does not affect your child’s receipt of a free meal, if you are registered for free school meals via Gloucestershire County Council the school will receive additional funding. This funding is known as Pupil Premium and brings in up to an additional £1,385 per child registered.  

We can use the extra funding to improve the quality of our children’s education. This could include enhancing our curriculum; additional training for staff or employing additional staff to help us meet all our children’s needs. 

We ask that any parents and carers who think that they may be eligible, please apply for free school meals via the following link: 

https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/education-and-learning/school-transport-and-free-school-meals/apply-for-free-school-meals/ 

If you are successful, Gloucestershire County Council will inform both you and the school. 

If you have any questions or if you would like help to complete the application, please contact the school office email: [email protected]  

Thank you so much for the donations received last term, we are now in real need of the following items to fulfil our OPAL experience.

No item too silly, small or irrelevant.

• Paint rollers and brushes
• Small people and small world toys
• Electric cable reels
• Tyres
• Bubble wrap
• Cardboard boxes
• Dolls and Pushchairs
• Toy till and baskets
• Picnic Blankets
• Buckets and Spades 
• Construction Toys
• Lego

At Dunalley, we have around 300 families with 420 children attending school each day and an additional 30 children in pre school.  

Below are a few gentle reminders to help us ensure that the Dunalley day runs smoothly. They also ensure our children are ready to learn and safe at all times which remains our utmost priority:

Entering school

Earlies & Early Birds - Main school entrance

Preschool, Reception, Yr1 and Yr2  - Small field gate

Yr3, Yr4, Yr5 & Yr6 - Main field gate

Lateness

Arriving at school on time is vital. Arriving late to school disrupts the child, their peers and teacher. Punctuality is also essential at the end of the school day and the late collection of children is taken seriously.

Earlies & Early Birds:

Start of the school day:

End of the school day:

Pupil Absence

Please complete the 'Report an Absentee' online form on our app or phone in and leave a message if your child is absent before 9.00 am. Doing this saves the school time, ensures we know where all our children are and helps us quickly identify any safeguarding concerns. 

If your child is ill please do the following:

• Contact school as above on the first day of absence before 9.00 am.
• Update us every 48 hours.
• Please keep your child off for 48hrs from the last time they vomited / had diarrhoea.
• Please keep your child off for 3 days after the first day of illness if they have covid.

Parking Around School

Please consider others, our neighbours and the safety of our children at drop off and pick up. We have had a number of reports of blocked driveways, blocking the dropped curb and parking on the yellow lines all of which makes visibility poor for pedestrians. If there is no space in the designated parking bay when you arrive, please park over by Central Cross and walk across. The Eco Committee would be exceptionally pleased if you chose to park away from the school and support our 5 Minute Walking Zone.

School Car Park

The school car park is only for staff use, unless access to the accessible parking bay has been pre-authorised.  There are limited spaces and staff need to be able to park safely when they arrive. The additional cars and non-staff pedestrians are increasing the risk of an accident or in the worse instance a child being hurt.

Children going home with someone else

If your child is going home with someone else please write a short note to your child’s teacher. If we do not receive a note we will have to call you to confirm that we have permission to allow your child to be collected by someone else. This is paramount to your child’s safety.

Early Birds

Parents are reminded that Early Birds starts at 8.00 am.

Earlies & Lates

If you would like to book your children into Earlies or Lates or make any ammendments to bookings please email [email protected].

Parent Pay

Please ensure all Parent Pay accounts are in credit at all times.  Log onto https://www.parentpay.com/to top up your child's account.  New to Dunalley - see the log in details in the letter sent home this week.

Term Dates

Term dates specific to Dunalley Primary School can be found HERE.

AiP Lunch Menu

Click HERE for this terms menu.

Please do not try to log into Teams.  Homework will be sent home with the children in their book bags.  Teams will only be used if we are required to provide home learning in exceptional circumstances.

Over the coming few weeks there are a number of open days in the local area that we would like to make you aware of.

https://dunalleyps.schoolzineplus.co.uk/secondary-schools-open-days

Our catering suppliers Alliance in Partnership (AiP) have vacancies in our school kitchen, a fabulous opportunity to work during term time to suit yuour family needs.

If you are interested in either post please email your CV to [email protected]