Hornby St. Margaret's C of E Primary School

27th January

 Strike Day – Wednesday 1^st February

At Hornby, the majority of teaching staff are members of the NEU.

The union has called for strikes over the issue of pay as well as recruitment and retention of staff. There are further issues around recent unfunded pay rises which have taken money away from our school budget and made it more difficult to provide for your children in both resourcing and staffing.

On this occasion, the staff have informed me that they will be taking strike action on 1^st February and thus, school will be closed on that day. In making this decision I have taken into consideration guidelines from the Department for Education, the different trade unions and the Teachers’ Pay and Conditions as well as compiling a Risk Assessment and reviewing the situation with our Chair of Governors.

I understand that this may cause a great deal of frustration and inconvenience for parents and carers; however, I am hopeful that you will understand the reasons for this decision. I take the opportunity to thank staff for the work that they continue to do in the face of increasing difficulties alongside other public sector workers and hope that a resolution in this dispute is reached soon.

I will keep you informed of the decision regarding the other planned strike days as we move forward.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

KSR

Meet our new Lower Juniors teacher Mrs Baxter

Now that Mrs Baxter has had a few weeks to settle in, we thought we had better introduce her!

“I love being a teacher and am very excited to be teaching the Year 3 and 4s! When I’m not teaching, I enjoy being part of my local church, exploring the great outdoors with my cocker spaniel, Oti, and going climbing with my friends. Reading for pleasure is one of my favourite things and I love finding out what the children are enjoying reading too.”

Mrs Baxter works Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and Tuesday all day, please pop in and introduce yourselves to her, she would love to know who belongs to who!

Infant Trip – Wildlife Oasis

We had a lovely day at the Wildlife Oasis. Dan helped us to learn to classify animals – learning the six main types. We were also allowed to hold a cockroach, stick insect and a snake if we wanted to! We looked closely at a tenrec and a chameleon! We also had a fantastic time touring the zoo and found animals from all around the world. We even found some Arctic creatures such as Arctic Owls and Snow Leopards! We learnt about animals we had not seen before such as Crowned Cranes, Wallabies and Fossa Cats. 

We took photos on our school camera which are on display in the classroom window, have a look and see what we got up to!

Junior Trip – Blackburn museum

We are going to take the Juniors to Blackburn museum on Friday 3^rd February, where our pupils will get the opportunity to find out all about Ancient Egypt by talking to a real Egyptologist! The children will use and handle items from the collection and take part in a craft activity. The PTA have helped to subsidise this trip along with school funds, so the cost of the trip will be £5.00 and this can be paid on School Money.

PTA News

Thank you to everyone who helped organise and run the PTA disco, it was a great success and the children seemed to have lots of fun! Great moves were seen in the dance offs, well done everyone!

We will be holding the PTA AGM on Thursday 9th February at 6:30pm in the school hall followed by a drink in the Royal Oak afterwards for anyone who wishes. We will be electing the committee and planning our activities for the rest of the academic year. Please come along and share your thoughts and ideas, we would love to hear from you.

Proposal to Federate

You should have all received an email last Monday detailing the Schools proposal to Federate with Leck. Please spare a few minutes to complete the feedback questionnaire (link sent in the email) before 27^th February.

Dance ASC

We have Dance ASC starting on Monday 27^th February after the half term break, sessions will run from 3.30pm – 4.30pm for 5 weeks. There will be NO CHARGE for this club. Please let Hannah in the office know before half term if your child would like a place.

Healthy lunches and snacks

We have noticed that the children’s lunchboxes are looking a little unhealthy, please try and include