Dear Parents/Carers,

I am writing to inform you of some building work that will be taking place over the Easter holidays.

As part of our ongoing school improvement plan, we are going to be replacing the roof on the 4GD classroom. Most of the work will take place over the two week break. There will be scaffolding in the playground when we return and children will use the walk way at the top of the playground to access year 3 and 4. Staff will be in the playground on Monday 16^th April, to direct children and parents. The work is planned to be complete by Friday 20^th April, weather dependent.

This is phase one of several improvements to our school roof. Further information will follow in the summer term for the next phase of the planned works to take place during the summer break.

Coffee morning

I will be providing parents with another opportunity to come into school and share their views and opinions about what is working well and areas we need to develop. This will be on Friday 4^th May at 9.00am in the school bungalow.

Working parent group

At the last coffee morning a decision was made to create a useful information sheet for new parents into school. This will include all the little bits of information that are often missed in the official school induction material. Anna Hawksley our parent Governor will be leading the group on Friday 27^th April at 9.00am. Please join us in the school bungalow and share your ideas.

The Royal Wedding

On Friday 18^th May we will be celebrating the royal wedding. Children will be able to come dressed in red, white and blue for a special street party lunch. More information will follow when we return after the holidays.

SATs

Next half term is a busy 6 weeks. Year 2 and 6 will take their SATs and at St Matthew’s we pride ourselves on preparing the children to ‘do their best’. We are very proud of the effort being made by all the children as they prepare for their SATs papers and we would like to thank you for the support that you are giving your child at home with their homework.

To enable the children to come into school and feel relaxed we will be running a breakfast club each morning and dates will be provided after the holidays.

Parking

As many of you will know we have had issues with traffic outside school for a number of years. This has improved but some car drivers are still putting our children at risk by driving too quickly down Wood Lane, parking on double yellow lines, parking on pavements and corners which restricts visibility and parking across residents’ driveways.

This is now become even more serious due to cars mounting the pavement when children are walking to and from school. After the Easter holidays the police will begin to issue tickets and we will be organising a parent group to support the monitoring of parking and dangerous driving around school.

Drivers’ Code of Practice

Whilst we want to encourage people to walk, we recognise that some parents will have to use the car for at least part of their journey to school. We have developed this code of practice that we encourage all drivers to observe.

Our aims are to:

• Reduce congestion around school.
• Make the route to school safer for children.
• Be mindful of local residents.

With these in mind, we would ask you to remember the following:

1. The yellow zig-zag lines before and after school are designed to allow a clear view up and down the road for children to cross safely, especially with the school crossing patrol. You should not park on these lines.
2. Keep the view around junctions clear so that children can cross safely.
3. Parking on a bend can cause difficulties, making visibility difficult.
4. Be considerate to local residents by avoiding parking across driveways or on the grass verges.
5. Try parking further away from school. This has several advantages – you will find it easier to find a parking space and you will probably find it easier to find a place to turn your car round for your return journey. It will also be an opportunity for your children to learn pedestrian road safety skills.
6. Keep pavements safe for children - keep your car, whether moving or parked, off the pavement. Avoid using driveways to turn.

1. Avoid using the junctions as turning circles – children crossing cannot tell the difference between a car that is turning to go up the road and one that is going to swing round for a turning circle.

Thank you for helping to make the school journey safe, healthy and better for the environment.

I hope you have a lovely Easter.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Crawford

Headteacher