Dear Parents, Carers and School Community

Well it’s been a very, very busy year and we are now counting down the last few days to the holidays. I think we can safely say that all the children and the whole school team deserve a well-earned rest and a huge thank you for all the work they have put into making this year a great success!

This year we have seen lots of changes at Tithe Barn School and some great new initiatives. First and foremost, we have welcomed the drive, innovation and enthusiasm of Mrs Muncaster. Mrs Story has successfully joined the team, and we look forward to benefitting from Mrs Kelly’s IT and English skills in September. We wish Miss Boffey success in her new role as teacher. Good luck to Miss Brown starting her new adventure as a Mum and thank Mrs Maher for her contribution in providing the school’s Stay and Play over many years.

The whole school team have really focused on improving progress through assessment, monitoring and support, especially in reading and SPAG. This has led to great progress at KS1 and KS2. Indeed, our SPAG results were fantastic, with nearly 60% of Year 6 children working at greater depth – one of the top scores in our local authority, let’s see if not the country! Well done to all. We have introduced Growth Mindset and talk partners and will continue to embed next year. As a result, we are all learning that mistakes just mean you’re trying hard and there is no such thing as ‘I can’t do that!”

On a different level, the new school meals have been very well received by all. The children and staff are enjoying the tasty dishes.

Next year we will launch new initiatives to further improve progress, with Team teach in Year 5 and 6 and a whole school focus on writing – The Big Write, which I know you will be hearing lots more about. We want to ensure that Tithe Barn Primary School continues to grow and develop, constantly improving teaching, learning and the school environment. we want to help our cheerful, confident pupils develop a lifelong love of learning and have fun whilst progressing. On reflection, next year may be just as busy!

As you all know, being a small school with big ideas, but a very small budget can be very challenging! The current funding formulae and cuts in real terms have a marked impact on single form entry schools in non-disadvantaged areas. But we do not want our pupils education to suffer. As a Governing Board, we have to be more creative with what we do have and also make some tough decisions about how our limited budget is spent. We couldn’t do this without the support of Friends of Tithe Barn and the efforts of the whole school community, so thank you so much for your continual support.

In order to maintain improvement the Governing Board have decided to take a loan from the Local Authority, to be repaid through the funds raised from managing the Breakfast and After School clubs. We shall invest much needed income into improving the whole school environment and learning. For example, over the summer holiday we will be rewiring the whole school’s IT network and improving security. This will enhance the computing skills of all pupils and allow the teachers to harness IT for effective learning. So – fingers crossed – we will have a new computer suite for September, allowing the AVIVA bid computers, the interactive white boards and the chrome books to be effectively used.

We shall also be improving the security throughout the school and at the front entrance and perimeter fencing, to ensure we have a safe and secure environment for our little learners to grow.

Finally, we wish all the Year 6 pupils success and happiness as they move to secondary school, and the warmest greetings to our new reception children starting their learning journey in September. For everyone else, we wish you all a very happy restful summer holiday and look forward to seeing you all at the start of the new school year.

With best wishes on behalf of The Governing Board,

Trudy McLindon

As the summer term is drawing to a close, I have been reflecting on all the different things we have done throughout the year. It has been a fantastic year and it has been a privilege to be the head-teacher of such a wonderful school.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you; thanks to all of the staff for their hard work and support this year, the governors, who work tirelessly to support the school, the children for working hard and being a pleasure to teach and to the parents for being so supportive and working in an effective partnership with the school.
I am looking forward to September and all our exciting plans but in the meantime I hope you all have a lovely summer break.
Katherine Muncaster
Sports Day
On Wednesday 12th July Mr Blackburn arranged a fantastic day of sport and amazing weather. In the morning the children worked in mixed age teams completing a wide range of activities. It was fantastic to see the children all effectively working together.
This was followed by a fantastic family picnic and a visit from the very popular ice cream van. Then in the afternoon the children had races in their classes whilst being supported by different year groups. Again, it was wonderful to see the children’s positive sporting attitudes whether they won or lost.
It was the best sports day of my career and I would like to thank Mr Blackburn for organising it.

Mobile Phones
The Eco Warriors are collecting any old mobile phones for recycling. Please send any unwanted phones to school and we will use any funds generated towards a new Chrome Book.
Key Dates
27th July- Year 6 Leavers Assembly (9.15am -10am) 6th September- School reopens for all children
22nd September- Jeans for Genes Day
23rd September- FOTB Family Festival

Manchester Games
Having come through as champions at Davenport Tennis Club , we set off to the Manchester Games at Sports City full of hope that we would do equally well at the Regional finals.
The team took their place in the opening ceremony and then walked the short distance to the tennis venue.
We played as we had in the previous games. In our opening group we won all but one of our games. Sadly, this meant we finished second in this group. As there were 4 groups and the winners of each group went on to play for first place, the highest we could come was 5th (well worked out Elsa!)
Finish 5th we did! We won every game in our second group. Of the 8 games we played, we won 7. A fantastic team performance.
Not only was the quality of the tennis the children played outstanding, but the way the children encouraged and supported each other was fantastic too. I was very proud to say they were representing Tithe Barn.
Thank you to Mr Blackburn who has written a detailed account of a very exciting day.
A Fond Farewell
It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that two members of staff will be leaving us at the end of term. Miss Brown is leaving to have a baby and has been a fantastic teacher in Year 4 this year. We are all looking forward to meeting her new arrival in September.
Miss Boffey will also be leaving us this year to take up a teaching post in Reception at Ludworth Primary School. Miss Boffey has been a star and has taught all of the children across the school covering PPA this year.
We would like to wish both the ladies all the best for the future and thank them for all their hard work.
Toy Day
On Wednesday 27th July we will be having a toy day at school. Children are allowed to bring a toy to play with. However they are not allowed to bring in any electronic toys such as a DS or anything that is valuable or has lots of small parts.
Thank you for your support with this matter.
Reading Challenge
This week we had a visit from Stockport Library who came in to school to share this year’s exciting reading challenge.
This year’s theme is Animal Agents and children have to read six books over the summer holidays to complete the challenge. Along the way the children will receive exciting rewards and very smelly stickers. This is a fantastic opportunity and I hope that many of our children will participate and visit their local library.

The school year is drawing to a close and we are all looking forward to a well deserved rest. But we all know that the 5 weeks fly by and we will be dashing about getting new school uniform and the all important name labelling. Whether you use a permanant laundry marker or have named labels made, getting everything organised is essential to make sure the right clothes come home with the right children.

If you do want to get your name labels made Stitkins do an easy stick in version and give the school 30% commision. So you can generate funds for the school whilst labelling your clothes if you wish! click on the link below
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Summer Term
The children are all busy enjoying their learning and it is exciting to see the range of exciting opportunities they have in school. We are looking forward to the next few weeks and further adventures including Year 1 trip to Swashbuckle, Year 2 trip to Manchester United, Year 3 trip to Manchester Art gallery, Sports Day and the Summer Fair.
I would like to thank all the parents who have taken the time to respond to our recent survey about After School provision. Your feedback was very helpful and we will be utilising ideas to help us further enhance the provision over the next year. We will be sending out a general parental feedback questionnaire towards the end of term to gather your views further.
Thank you for all your support and have a lovely weekend
Katherine Muncaster
Campfire and Story Teller
On Wednesday 28th June we will be having a visit from Eric Maddern, a professional story teller who will be telling stories around a campfire to every class. This visit has been rearranged from last term due to illness.
Mr Blackburn has arranged this special day with support from Mrs Morton and Jane Sebire. It is being funded by a grant from the Ernest Cook Foundation. We are looking forward to an amazing day.
Mobile Phones
The Echo Warriors are collecting any old mobile phones for recycling. Please send any unwanted phones to school and we will use any funds generated towards a new Chrome Book.
Key Dates
7th July– FOTB Reel to Reel Cinema Evening
12th July– Sports Day

14th July– Year 5 class assembly

16th July– Summer Fair
Year 6 Residential
This week, Year 6 had an amazing time on their residential at Great Tower in the Lake District. They have been taking part in a wide range of activities including abseiling, hill walking, canoeing and rock climbing in the glorious weather.
The children were all extremely well behaved and the tidiest room competition was extremely competitive! I would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Donaldson for organising the trip and to Mrs Stewart, Miss Jackson and our teaching student Miss Lyons for making it such a fantastic trip.
We will share photographs with parents next week and hope they all slept well on their return home.
Reel to Reel
On Friday July 7th we will be having another cinema night in the school hall. We will be watching Boss Baby.
Doors open at 6pm and the film begins a 6.30pm. Bring cushions and bean bags and join your friends for a night of fun. We will be selling popcorn and crisps.
Tickets cost £4 if bought in advance and £4.50 on the door. If you can please buy in advance as it helps us to ensure we don’t run out of popcorn!
E Safety Workshop
Thank you to all of the parents who attended our recent E-Safety Workshop, we have received some very positive feedback and intend offering the workshop again in the next academic year in an evening.
I would also like to thank the staff volunteers who ran the crèche as this enabled more parents to attend.
Sports Day
On Wednesday 12th July it will be our annual Sports Day (our reserve date is Tuesday 18th July). All children will need to wear their PE kit all day and can arrive in school ready to go.
Sports Day will begin at 9.30am and finishes at 11.30am all of the children will have a packed lunch (either provided by Dolce or home). The children will work in mixed teams from Reception to Year 6 and move around different activities. This will then be followed by a parents’ race.
In the afternoon the children take part in more traditional activities as a class such as an egg and spoon race. Parents will be informed of the timings of these activities nearer the day and are very welcome to stay for the afternoon. We look forward to a great day and hope you can join us.
Garden Day
On the weekend of the 8th and 9th of July we will be spending time in Lucas’ Garden preparing it for the Summer Fair and Year 6’s Leavers Party.
If you are available to join us at any point over the weekend please contact Mrs Bridgehouse or Karen Garrity.

The online payment system for school clubs trips and payments is now up and running on the new website.

https://tithe-barn.eschools.co.uk/website

Please log in to my account – the green button top right. You will have received a letter from school with your log in details.

Then select epay on the blue navigation bar.

While we are developing the new website not all the information has been transfered over so both websites are available. We apologise for the appearance  but the new website will be fully operational next term.

If you can not find specific information please contact school.

Tithe Barn Primary School
Mauldeth Road,
Heaton Mersey,
Stockport, Cheshire

SK4 3NG.

Tel: (0161) 432 4941

Email: admin@tithebarn.stockport.sch.uk

Wishing Everyone a Wonderful Half Term.

Once again, another half term has flown by and it has been a privilege to watch the children blossom and grow both personally and in their learning.It’s been a busy term with lots of fantastic things happening in school, Reception are really enjoying their weekly Forest Crew Sessions, Year 1 had a great trip to the Hat Museum, Year 2 are enjoying creating 3D sculptures of famous people, Year 3 have been planning their designs for a giant tapestry, Year 4 have been working hard on challenging problem solving in maths, Year 5 have enjoyed their swimming lessons and making masks for the Brazilian carnival and Year 6 had a great trip to Decathlon and are now preparing for their end of term production and residential. All of the children have also been working hard on their gymnastics with our visiting teacher Gina who has been working alongside the staff to develop their skills.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone after the break.

Have a lovely holiday.

Katherine Muncaster

After School Provision

Dear Parents and Carers

The Governing Board is reviewing the out of schools provision at Tithe Barn Primary School.

We are looking at the possibility of expanding the out of school service e.g. adding a before School Breakfast Club and opening the out of school facility for in service training days.

We would value your ideas and opinions on what your children and families would like from such a provision and would like everyone to contribute by completing a small survey.

We would love to know

What is important to you and your children that currently use the facility?

What would you like to see stay, change or improve with our childcare provision?

If you can take a few minutes to fill in the questions, your input would be very much appreciated, please also email any additional thoughts not covered in the survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/K2RBCBY

Thank you for your support

The Governing Board

Key Dates

13^th June- School reopens after the holiday

15^th June- Class photographs

16^th June- Year 6 start swimming lessons

16^th June– NSPCC On-Line Safety Workshop

7^th July- Year 6 Induction at Priestnall

7^th July- FOTB Reel to Reel Cinema Evening

12^th July– Sports Day

Fantastic Fund Raising

On Wednesday 24^th May Abby, Pippa and Sophie from Year 2 organised a stall including a tombola and a range of exciting gifts to raise funds for their chosen charity The Mustard Tree which supports homeless people. They raised an amazing £64.62.

Sickness

Please can parents remember that if your child is sick or sent home because they have been sick in school they must remain absent for school for 48 hours. This is part of the protocol agreed by the LA. Thank you for your support with this matter.

Great Tithe Barn Bake Off!

Isabelle in Year 6 recently ran a cake stall at school to raise money for Christies. She baked over 200 cakes and the cakes were delicious! She raised an amazing £110! Well done, Isabelle.

E Safety Workshop

You should have recently received an invitation to an E Safety workshop that will be taking place on Friday 16^th June at 3.30pm. This session will be led by the NSPCC and will provide invaluable information for parents. It should last approximately 1 hour.

We will be providing a crèche during the workshop to enable as many parents to attend as possible. Please return your slip to school if you are interested in attending.

Year 1 trip to the Hatworks

This week Year 1 had a fantastic day visiting the Hat Works. They travelled on the 197 bus to Stockport and they learnt how hats were made and made their own felt.

They also had the opportunity to try on a range of hats as can be seen in the photograph. The children were all extremely well behaved and they had a fantastic day.

Have a Lovely Christmas

Last week saw magical performances from Tithe Barn’s children, as they performed their Christmas Nativity show, ‘Wriggly Nativity’ and the KS2 Carol Concert to proud smiles, cheers and rapturous applause from the audience.

The staff worked their Xmas socks off to ensure children knew their songs and the words and could deliver them crisply, as well as where to stand and when/how to deliver their lines. They were excellent performances and all the better for giving a fresh, bright ‘wrapping’ of the show to the Christmas story within.

As the term draws to a close, I would like to say a huge thank you to the children, parents, staff and governors for making me feel so welcome and well supported. It is a privilege to be the head teacher of such a fantastic school and I look forward to working with you next term to continue to develop the school and enhance the children’s education.

Katherine Muncaster

Fond Farewell

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that our school cook Christine is leaving us today after sixteen years of service to the school.

She is moving to a new position that is nearer to her new home and will be greatly missed. We wish her all the best in her new position and thank her for all her hard work and dedication over the last sixteen years.

Website

We are in the process of creating a new school website which we are hoping to launch in February. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for what you would like to see included on it.

Key Dates

9^th January School re-opens

13^th January Year 4 begin swimming lessons

20^th January FOTB Film Night (Further details to follow in the New Year)

Wishing you all a very happy holidays from the Governing Board

The Governors would like to say a big thank you to everyone for their continuous and very positive support throughout the Autumn Term. I’m sure you will all agree that the past 15 weeks have been very exciting at Tithe Barn Primary School.

A special thank you for your contributions of time, effort, support (and money!) to raise the funds to buy the interactive whiteboards. Friends of Tithe Barn and the whole school community should be very proud of this massive achievement.  All the children were delighted to get the whiteboards installed in each classroom and have quickly started to use them to enhance their learning.

Throughout the Autumn term Mrs Muncaster has been listening to the children, teachers, staff, parents and carers to find out what we can improve at Tithe Barn School. We would like to thank everyone for their positive input. The children have contributed lots of ideas and they have all been working very hard, especially at learning how mistakes and effort really help your brain to grow. It’s been a very busy time for all, so we hope everyone gets a much deserved rest and enjoys some festive fun.

There is still a great deal of change and uncertainty in the educational world generally. One thing we can be sure of is that 2017 will be an action-packed year. We are a small community school, but we have big ideas. Working together, we can make the coming year a great one

With best wishes for the Christmas break and a very happy New Year.

The Governing Board

Football Boots

Can you help? Mr Blackburn is collecting old football boots to send to a team in India. Please can you bring in any that you have grown out of to school.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

We are very proud of George from Year 5 who is currently appearing in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Lowry Theatre. He has been working very hard, learning his lines and practicing the songs.

Cross Country Runners

On Saturday 10^th December some of our children represented school at the Stockport Harriers Schools Cross Country League. Year 5/6 team did brilliantly – Tom M came an amazing 7th place completing the course in 10 minutes 29 seconds. Harry D, Billy B and Jonathan H all put in strong performances.

The Year 3/4 cross country squad did brilliantly in the mud and sunshine. Especially Grace in Y4 who has never run before but put in a great effort – you would never know it was her first time. Ellena W came in 5^th place completing the course in 6 minutes 45 seconds. Hamish M and Felix B also put in fantastic performances. They should all be really proud.

Thank you for taking the time to read the newsletter. Have a lovely Christmas.

Katherine Muncaster

Dear parents/ carers

As you are aware there has been cases of Flu confirmed at a Stockport school. While there are no cases in our school at this time we want to ensure that our children remain healthy and take every precaution against the spread of the virus. We have increased the cleaning levels in school and have given pupils information on good respiratory hygiene regimes. The following link gives further information on Flu.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/winterhealth/Pages/Fluandthefluvaccine.aspx

In our school children are given the advice

CATCH IT – Cover your nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing and use a tissue

BIN IT – Dispose of dirty tissues and bin them immediately.

KILL IT – Maintain good basic hygiene e.g. wash your hands frequently with soap and water

I would be grateful if you could continue to promote these messages in your home.

If your child has any of the following symptoms: fever (37.8⁰C or higher) and any one of the following: tiredness, cough, sore throat, muscle pain, runny nose or congestion, wheezing, please ring to inform us of their absence and keep them off school for at least 5 days.

Thank you for your support

Mrs Muncaster

Busy times

It has been another busy few weeks at school. The children have had some great opportunities from fund raising for charities, to exploring the world using technology and starting to prepare for our Christmas celebrations.

I am looking forward to sharing my first Christmas with the staff and the children at Tithe Barn.

During this week you will receive an invitation to take part in a survey about school. I look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions on how to further enhance our school.

Thank you for all your support this term.

Katherine Muncaster

Google Expeditions

On Tuesday 22^nd November, all of the children from Years 3 to 6 participated in a workshop delivered by the team from Google Expeditions.

The workshops related to their topics and saw children exploring the rainforest, the moon, the ocean and Mayan Civilisation. The feedback from the children was fantastic and they produced some inspirational writing following the experience.

Key Dates

December 4^th FOTB Christmas Fair 11am                                

December 5^th Pantomime Trip

Reception Parents at 6pm

December 12^th Christmas Dinner

December 13^th and 16^th KS1

Nativity 1.30pm and 9.30am

December 14^th 1.30pm and 6.30pm KS2 Nativity (Heaton Moor United Reform Church, Stanley Road)

Christmas Fair

Please come and support our school by attending our Christmas Fair on Sunday 4^th December 11am till 2pm.

We hope to publish the menu soon but it will be wonderful, home-cooked food from around the globe, Pia’s famous waffles, Santa’s Grotto, Bottle Tombola, lots of Christmassy games, biscuit decorating and a Secret Present Room where everybody can buy and wrap presents for all the family. This will include lots of new and nearly new donated items but we will also be running a stall selling brand new pocket money priced stocking fillers (everything under £5 and all guaranteed to be cheaper than you can buy them on Amazon).  This year we have taken the decision not to invite outside traders in so that everybody can shop with the knowledge that every penny of profit will go directly to the Interactive Whiteboard Fund!

A trip to see Santa in his Tithe Barn Grotto costs £3 and tickets must be booked in advance so he can get his presents organised…. Monday is the last day to book and timeslots can be booked via email – amylaw22@gmail.com.

On Friday 18^th November we raised a fantastic £197.67 by wearing spots and collecting small change. Thanks ever so much for all your support.

Fashion and Fizz

Thank you to everyone who attended the Fashion and fizz night and made it a huge success. There was beautiful clothing and jewellery to buy, a pop up nail bar, exciting stalls and a fantastic raffle.

In particular I would like to say thank you to Karen Bexley, Vicky, Katie and Amy. To the local businesses that supported the event -.Caroline at Weave Womenswear, Katie Armstrong, Sian Davies, Natalie Gorse, Fiona Stephenson, Laura Ashley at Beauty and the Ink and the brave models who took to the ‘cat walk’ for the evening Janet Lavayssiere, Rachel Freeley, Lydia Allen, Gay Majoni Kowo, Sara McFall, Alison Kellett and Carolyn.

Christmas Discos

Friday 9^th December- KS1 5-6pm and KS2 6.30pm- 8pm

Tickets cost £3 and will be on sale all next week but please note they need to be bought in advance to help things run smoothly.

Drinks will be provided for free but the children may also want to bring a small amount of spending money to shop at the Tuck Shop and Glow Stick stall.

Help at either disco is much appreciated but we are particularly in need of helpers for the KS2 disco.  Please email Amy if you are able to lend a hand.

amylaw22@gmail.com.

AVIVA BID

A huge thank you to everyone that has voted for us. We have been selected for the final and now await the judges’ decision in January.

As part of our submission we now have to provide additional information to support our bid. We will keep you posted but thanks again for all your efforts in getting support for our bid.