IMPORTANT NOTICES

28 January 2010

Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers

We are writing to inform you that we have four confirmed cases of Scarlet Fever across the Infant and Junior schools.

We have taken advice from the Health Protection Unit about informing parents and although they suggest it is not necessary, we feel that if you have information regarding this disease you will be aware of the symptoms should your child feel unwell in the next few weeks.

The characteristics of scarlet fever are a sore throat and a bright red tongue with strawberry appearance and a fine red rash which appears 12-48 hours after a fever. The rash is the most striking sign of the fever, it usually begins looking like bad sunburn with tiny bumps, and it may itch. The rash generally appears on the chest, armpits and behind the ears and is worse in the folds of skin.

The rash begins to fade three to four days after onset and the skin may start to peel. Diagnosis of scarlet fever is clinical and if you are at all concerned you should contact your GP as soon as possible.

Should you require additional information we have found the following Wikipedia link useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_fever

Could we please ask all parents to inform the schools as soon as possible if children are diagnosed with scarlet fever to help us monitor the situation carefully.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Sue Winn and Mr Simon Wood
Headteachers

 

Welcome

Welcome to the Southwater Junior School official website. It's packed with information for everyone. You'll be able to get a flavour of what the school does and its beliefs. You'll also have the chance to view examples of children's work and hear their comments (which can always be relied upon to have a quality of honesty!). Below you will see 'Our Aims', as well as information about forthcoming and recent events, awards, achievements and our future goals.

Our Aims

At Southwater Junior School we aim to help all pupils develop their capabilities to the full, whilst learning to respect others and understand the world in which they live.

We believe that the only way to achieve these aims is by working closely with parents, pupils and the wider community.

We aim to develop mutual trust and confidence between all parties which is essential in forming a successful partnership in a child's education.

We believe these aims should be visible in the day to day life of the school. They provide the core beliefs for our Teaching for Learning Policy, which in turn informs our Home School Agreement.

Pupil 'Self-Evaluation Form'
This year, 24 children from across all year groups compiled their own Self Evaluation Form for Southwater Junior School which you can see by clicking 'here'

 

 

 

Ofsted 'Outstanding Provider' Award
This award has been granted to recognise our success and to enable us to be recognised as an 'Outstanding' provider

Artsmark Gold
We have been awarded Artsmark Gold by the Arts Council, England, for outstanding commitment to the arts - Dance, Drama, Music, PE & Art, which is a nationally recognised benchmark for arts education provision


Investors in People
Last year we celebrated retaining the prestigous Investors in People award. Following a rigorous assessment, the external assessor praised the quality of leadership from all the staff, partnership with parents and with other schools, all for the benefit of children's learning.
Basic Skills Award
 This year the school received accreditation for the Basic Skills Quality Mark.

This is an externally evaluated award, and recognises the school’s continued focus on the best standards of teaching and learning in English and Maths.

 

Activemark Award
This award is granted to schoolswhere at least 90% of pupils do at least 2 hours of high quality PE and school sport a week

Autism Aware Award
In order to qualify for this award we had to prove that we provide
• An environment that accepts and understands pupils with autistic spectrum condition (ASC)
• Opportunities for the whole school community to continue to increase its awareness and develop its understanding of ASC.
As one of only ten schools in the county who have qualified for this award we feel rather proud of our achievement and hope that any pupils with an autistic spectrum condition will be welcomed and have their needs met in our school.



Travel Mark Award
After much hard work, we were, this year, accredited with the Level Two, Travel Mark Award. The Travel Mark Award is awarded to schools that show a strong commitment to school travel issues.The Travel Mark Award Scheme aims to encourage schools to actively promote sustainable travel to and from school, improve road safety awareness and raise awareness of the impact of transport on environmental and personal health.

DCD Aware Award
In order to qualify for this award we had to prove that we

• Provide an environment that enables pupils with DCD (Developmental Co-ordination Disorder) reach their full potential.
• Have policies in place to ensure that pupils with DCD are not disadvantaged in any way.
• Provide opportunities for pupils with DCD to develop their motor skills in a friendly and non threatening way.
'Investors in Health' programme
Following a year of detailed assesment for pupils and staff, we have been granted an 'Investors in Health' award, for our awareness and the implementation of initiatives to ensure the health and wellbeing of everyone in the school - ranging from the 'Playground Buddies' team who ensure that all children are happy during their breaks to the daily provision of fresh fruit and milk. We are now going for National Healthy School status - watch this space!
Healthy Schools Award
 We have been accredited with 'National Healthy Schools Status' and are continuing our work in this sphere, encouraging pupils to eat healthily, to keep fit and to make healthy living an everyday part of their lifestyle.


'Dyslexia Friendly School' Award
Following a thorough and rigorous assessment we have achieved the 'Dyslexia Friendly School' award for our work to identify and support children with dyslexia.


Eco Schools Award
Following much hard work by pupils, parents and teachers alike, we have now been awarded the prestigeous GREEN FLAG award. Many recycling projects are now firmly embedded within the daily life of the school and include the recycling of all paper, plastics, ink cartridges, florescent tubes and fruit waste - which is enthusiastically composted in our own 'compost corner'. The ECO school council are still working on a number of new projects which will benefit both the school and the environment as well as the continuing the development of the ECO vegetable garden - now entering its second season.

Southwater Junior School 'Learning for Life' fund
We are now a registered Charity (no. 1121997).
This fundraising initiative allows us to develop important initiatives that we have identified, both as a school and a as a community (children, staff, parents, clubs etc.) Click on the logo to take you to the Charities page for further information.



All letters are now sent out via ParentMail®. If you are not yet signed up to this, please leave your email and/ mobile telephone number at the school office and we will add you to the mailing list.

If you need to update your details please click here which will take you directly to the ParentMail®.site .

'Year 3 Parent' teas
 To welcome the Year 3 parents to the school, to enable them to have the chance to ask questions, discuss any issues or concerns or just have a chance to chat with Mrs Hard and other parents, a number of coffee mornings or tea afternoons are arranged.
Areas of discussion have included homework, reports ( what format would parents prefer?), how the home/school agreement works, maths, ICT learning and how we can develop the website to communicate more easily with parents. The meetings are very informal and have been deemed to be both enjoyable and successful. Please see the powerpoint presentation which was shown at the first meeting. view

Parent Workshops
Throughout the year we run a variety of Parent Workshops. These are run both during the day and in the evening and offer parents a deeper insight into areas such as 'Reading with your child', 'Reporting to parents and levels of attainment' and 'Helping your child to succeed'. Presentation documents and information can also be viewed and/or downloaded from links found on the 'curriculum' page of this website.

Year 6 'National Curriculum Tests' Parents' evening
To enable parents to help their children with the NCT tests, a parents evening was held to provide parents with information about the tests - including a timetable of the test week; a copy of the supporting powerpoint can be viewed by clicking here

'A Class Act'
By clicking here you can see the presentation form Mr Wood regarding Class organisation as shared with Parents

MOODLE - our Virtual Learning Environment (V.L.E.)
If you would like to visit the Southwater Junior School Moodle site please click here

Come and Visit Us
This website can only provide a snapshot of what life is like at Southwater Junior School and is no substitute for a visit. We warmly encourage visits to the school and appointments can be made through the school office.