It was great to welcome all our pupils back to school last week.  It’s always amazing to see how much they’ve changed in just 6 weeks!  All of our new year groups have got off to a flying start, getting to know their new teaching teams and adapting to new routines.

We now have only 3 simple rules throughout the school:

• Be ready
• Be respectful
• Be safe

The idea behind having only 3 rules is to enable greater consistency across the school when dealing with inappropriate behaviour.  We understand that behaviour is a form of communication and, as a school, want to build good relationships with the children and address poor behaviour in a kind, positive and supportive way.

Parent survey

58 parents replied to our summer term survey with the responses being overwhelmingly positive (see below).  We are constantly looking for ways to improve our provision in all areas so that our children can enjoy and make the most of their school experience.

Parent Survey Results

No Outsiders!

‘All different’, ‘All Welcome’

In Willington Primary school, there are no outsiders. We are all different and we know that this is something that should be celebrated!

We need to prepare our young people for life as global citizens in a changing world.  As a school it is our intent to adopt the ‘No Outsiders’ ethos in all aspects of life; with our children, in communication with parents and in our wider Willington community. ‘No Outsiders’ is a programme which aims to educate children about diversity within our communities and addresses issues such as sexism, ageism, race and different types of families. By embracing these principles, our school will become a safer place for all, where no child or member of our community will be treated as an outsider.

If you want to find out more about the ‘No Outsiders’ ethos, please follow the video link in our Facebook feed.

It is that time of year again when the nasal flu vaccination will be offered to all primary school children.

The NHS team will be in school to deliver the vaccines on the morning of Thursday 6th October.

It is important to complete the online form to give your consent, or if you do not want your child to receive the vaccine to select the NO option.

You can do this by completing the form on the link

https://www.hdftsais.co.uk/Forms/Flu

You will need a code to find your child’s school.

Willington Primary School code is HD114066

Flu Immunisation Programme – Parent Information

Application for a School Place – September 2023

Dear Parent/Carer

As you will be aware, your child is due to transfer to secondary school in September next year.  The application process will be open on 5 September 2022.  You will need to read the School Admissions online guidance for parents which is located on the School Admissions web page. This contains essential information that will help you in making your child’s application. The guidance is available on our website www.durham.gov.uk/schooladmissions  You must only complete one application and this must be to the Local Authority to which you pay your council tax (i.e. Home Local Authority).

If you live in County Durham, you need to complete an application to tell us which school you want your child to attend.  You should list up to 3 school preferences and applying for just 1 school Does Not improve your chances of gaining a place at that school.  You can apply for any school/academy in County Durham or in another Local Authority area

Please apply on-line at www.durham.gov.uk/schooladmissions  When you apply on-line you will receive an acknowledgement and you will be offered a school place for your child by email on 1 March 2023.  Please save your log-in details as you may need these at a later date.

Please note that school places are allocated according to specific criteria which are different depending upon which school you apply for your child to attend.  One criterion is “nearest school”.  If you wish to know your nearest school, please contact us.

If your child’s offer of a school place is for an oversubscribed school (i.e. where there are more applications for a school than places available) we will offer your child a school place based on the child’s/parent’s address.  We may request information on the child’s/parent’s address when we offer a school place and the onus will be on you to prove your address if asked.

If you do not wish to apply on-line, you can contact the School Admissions Team by email or telephone to request a form. Email: schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk or telephone

03000 265 896. Your application must be received by us at the address below by the closing date.  We strongly advise you to return the application form to us by “Royal Mail Signed for™” or “Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed”.  If you complete a paper application form you will receive a letter to inform you of the school place offered to your child on the 1st March 2023.

Please note for both on-line applications and paper application forms, you will be required to read the disclaimer and sign/tick the box to agree that the information you provide on the application form is complete and correct otherwise the offer of a school place will be withdrawn.

The closing date for receipt for on-line/paper application forms is 31 October 2022.

Yours sincerely
School Places and Admissions Team.

Everyone is starting to feel the affects of the cost of living and energy price hikes.  Please find some information on energy saving tips and how you can start to reduce some of your household costs by clicking the link below.

Energy Saving Tips

Please contact the organisations and service below if you need support or would like further information in relation to the above.

CITIZENS ADVICE

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Durham County Council Help With Money

www.durham.gov.uk/helpwithyourmoney

Simple Energy Advice

www.simpleenergyadvice.org.uk

Saving Money Tips

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)

www.epcregister.com

Food & Fuel Bank Referrals

For Willington Primary School, St Stephens Church of England Primary School and Sunnybrow Primary School please contact Julie Bray, Parent Support Advisor (PSA) on 07825 341 243 or via email j.bray100@willington.durham.sch.uk

This school year has brought many challenges. Just when we thought we were over the worst, COVID came back with a vengeance and ran riot through staff and children before and after Christmas. Supply teachers were in such high demand that they were impossible to find so our staffing was stretched to the limit for several weeks! Teaching is a challenging job at the best of times so I’m sure you can all imagine the effect that teaching a class of thirty with no support, and in some cases no breaks, had on staff! However, thanks to our staff’s incredible efforts, we were able to keep all classes from Reception to Year 6 open throughout this challenging period.

Losing two terms of school in 2020/21 obviously created significant gaps in children’s learning. We made the decision to ‘go back to go forward’, meaning teachers had to completely change their teaching sequences to ensure that the gaps were addressed. Whilst our end of year assessments may show that overall attainment is slightly down, our children have a solid foundation on which to build future progress and accelerate learning. However, Willington Primary is about so much more than just academic attainment – it is about making children feel good about themselves and helping them to maintain friendships, deal with conflict and develop resilience.

2022 has been a year of sporting success! Both our boys and girls football teams were unbeaten, winning their respective leagues in style! Well done to all the children involved and thank you to Mr Littlefair for being a fantastic coach.

Goodbye and Good Luck Mr Lawrence! Mr Lawrence is leaving his position of IT manager to pursue his love of gymnastic coaching. Mr Lawrence has looked after our IT systems for over 20 years and you will have seen many of the wonderful photos, videos and DVDs that he has produced. Just about everything we do in school involves technology and we would like to thank Mr Lawrence for all the hard work he has put into keeping our system running – as Mr Lawrence knows, a teacher without working technology is not a happy animal!!

On behalf of all staff at Willington Primary I would like to thank you for following the rules through the COVID periods and for your continued support of our school. We hope you all have a great summer and look forward to welcoming the children back into their new classes in September.