Dear Parents and Carers

 I cannot believe that this is my final newsletter of the school year and as Headteacher at Tithe Barn – where indeed does the time go?

 It has been an absolute privilege and honour to serve as Tithe Barn’s Headteacher for the last five years. There can be few roles as a public servant that are as fulfilling as being the headteacher of a primary school but above all, being the headteacher of Tithe Barn Primary School.

 Tithe Barn is an especially unique school. There can be few schools where the children are so confident, enthusiastic, well-mannered and high achieving. The children of the school consistently live up to the school’s strapline of ‘Cheerful, confident achievers’ and I have been constantly overwhelmed by the things that they achieve. Our children have again performed brilliantly in the End of Key Stage Assessments this year but their successes and the success of the school runs far deeper and broader than mere test results. The children achieve highly in so many areas, academically, in sport, in music, creatively and socially. This week’s performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the music concerts are real testament to the breadth of the curriculum and their experiences with children performing to a standard that is way and above that of their chronological ages. However, we must never take these things for granted. Children achieve at this level when they have a fantastically nurturing and aspirational environment around them, extremely hard working and dedicated staff and governors and wonderfully supportive parents/carers. Tithe Barn has all of these attributes.

 I would like to pay tribute and give my thanks to our amazing children, my dedicated team and to you as parents. I will miss you all.

 If I do not have the chance to speak to you before the end of term, have a wonderful summer holiday.

 Yours sincerely

 Mr MJ Shaw, Headteacher

 Farewells

We would like to wish all of our Year 6 children a fabulous transition to secondary school when they start in September. This year, we have children moving to Priestnall, Castle Hill, Stockport Grammar, Withington Girls’, St Ambrose and the USA. They have been a remarkable year group and have performed above and beyond our expectations in all areas. They have very bright futures ahead of them indeed.

On Wednesday, we will be saying goodbye to Mrs Babinska who started work at Tithe Barn on 01/09/2006 as a teaching assistant before taking on the role of a class teacher three years ago, working with Year 5 initially and then Year 6. Mrs Babinska has been an incredible and dedicated teacher at Tithe Barn and we wish her well as she takes up her second teaching post at Egerton Primary School, Knutsford in September. Our loss truly is their gain!

We also have a number of children moving to different places at the end of term and we wish them well for the future.

End of Key Stage Assessments

The children in Year 2 and Year 6 attained very high results in their assessments and tests. This year, there was a new assessment regime and the children have been tested on the new curricular expectations for the first time. The results are exceptional and we are very proud of the children (and their teachers!)

End of Key Stage 1 Teacher Assessment – Percentage Achieving Expected and Above

End of Key Stage 2 Results 2016 – Percentage Achieving Expected Standard

These results represent a remarkable achievement given the changes to assessment this year and the raised expectations of the new assessment regime.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Well done to Year 6 for a fabulous production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The audience witnessed excellent acting and singing – we have some amazing thespians! Thank you to the United Church for hosting our end of year performance for the first time.

Friends of Tithe Barn Summer Fayre

We are absolutely delighted to report that our Summer Fair raised a whopping £3,250, dwarfing last years’ total and smashing the £3K mark which I don’t think has been done for many years!! Thanks again to everybody that donated, helped out and flashed their cash on the day, we hope you had fun!

Mrs. Muncaster is a lady with big plans for Tithe Barn and she is happy for us to share with you her priority for our fundraising as quickly as possible – interactive, touch screen whiteboards in every classroom, just like in our Reception classroom and thus building on the ipads and ipad minis across the school that FOTB has already supported. This technology will have a massive impact on our children’s learning and as each class gets theirs you’ll be able to see exactly where your money is being spent and how it will benefit your kids.

More details to follow from school but in the mean time, let’s hope the weather is kind to us again for the Family Festival on the afternoon of Saturday 24th September – with another record fund raising event we could have the first couple of whiteboards installed in school before we know it…..

Summer Term Concerts

Yesterday, our children performed in a concert to parents and to each other to showcase our achievements in strings and brass. The Tithe Barn Strings Ensemble, Brass Band, Year 5 and Year 6 children all performed. The children all did so well and the standard was incredible. Mr South said that most secondary school bands are not as good as our brass band! Well done to everyone and our thanks go to Carolyn Tregaskis and Mr South for their hard work over the last year.

France Visit – Year 6

Our Year 6 children had a brilliant experience in France, travelling on the ferry, visiting the Somme battlefields and memorials, going to a chocolate factory, market, goat farm, the beach, a sea life centre, competing in archery and taking part in water sports! Phew, that was just a few of the things they got up to, as well as listening to French and soaking in a Jacuzzi! We have booked to go again next year, so watch this space. Thanks to Mrs Babinska and Mrs Stewart for being amazing!

Sports Awards

Today, the school has been presented with a number of sports awards for commitment to sport and physical development across Stockport. We have won awards for commitment to high quality PE, commitment to sporting competitions, commitment to leadership and volunteering and for commitment to participation in PE, School Sport and Physical Activity. We are very proud to receive so many awards.

Reception Visit to Stockley Farm

Yesterday, Reception children were very excited to be going to Stockley Farm and had a wonderful time there. Mrs Patton said that the children were very, very good!

Year 2 Visit to Blue Planet

Year 2, not wanting to be outdone by Year 6 going to the sea life centre in Boulogne, had a wonderful visit to the Blue Planet Aquarium. The staff at the aquarium remarked on how wonderful our children are!

Awards Assembly

All parents of Year 6 children are warmly invited to our awards assembly next Wednesday at 0930 in the school hall.

Diary Dates

Dear Parents and Carers

Christmas is finally upon us and the children and staff are filled with festive cheer and excitement! I would like to thank everybody for attending our school nativa… plays and sharing the children’s achievements with us. I am sure that you will agree that the standard of singing and acting in both the Infant and Junior productions was incredibly high. My thanks go to the children and staff for all of their incredible endeavours in ensuring that the standard of our plays was so high.

 I would like to take this opportunity in thanking the Friends of Tithe Barn and Laurel Lane for our festive event on Monday. It was very well received and enjoyed by everyone who attended and I know that a great deal of work had been put into organising the event and all of the fabulous functions this term; Santa was exhausted too! Laurel Lane subsequently went on to carol sing around the Heatons and raised a fantastic £205 for Khensani, our link school in South Africa.

 I would like to wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and thank you for your incredible support this term

 Yours sincerely

Mr MJ Shaw

Headteacher

Staffing Changes

Today we say a sad goodbye to Mr Craven who is taking up a new position at Ashdene Primary School in Wilmslow. Mike has worked at Tithe Barn for just over three years and has made an enormous contribution to the life of the school particularly in the extra-curricular life of the school and music and his support in Years 2, 3 and 4 has been hugely appreciated by the teachers and children alike. We wish Mike the very best for starting at his new school.

This week we interviewed for a replacement for Mr Craven. The standard of the applications was extremely high and we were very impressed by the interviewees who taught some of our children in Year 4, met with the school council and were interviewed by the panel. In January, we will welcome Miss Natasha Daniels back to the school to work predominantly with Year 3 and 4. Some of you may remember that Miss Daniels supported Year 2 for a term last year.

Building Work in Reception Outdoor Classroom

If you have been dropping off and picking your children up from school in daylight hours, you will have seen the work progressing at the front of school. The work on the play equipment will be completed today and the path has also been finished. All the builders have left to do is to put in a new gate by the front entrance and then the path will be ready to use for accessing the school office and entrance.

Play DVDs

Many of you have ordered DVDs of the school nativities but unfortunately we have been unable to secure permission for all of the children who are featured on them. This will mean that we will be unable to sell them and any orders will be reimbursed. We apologise for this as it will be incredibly disappointing for anyone who was expecting a copy or two.

The Heatons’ Trio

This term, the three schools of Tithe Barn, Norris Bank and Mersey Vale have been looking at boys’ writing in the three schools and this week, the maths leaders in each school met to share ideas and discuss progress with the implementation of the new curriculum. Mr Donaldson reported that it was a very useful meeting and that the three leaders had enjoyed the opportunity to support each other. In the new year, the schools will be having writing training on 9^th January.

Toast and Dinner Money

Toast money for the Juniors will be due at the beginning of term and will be £5.80. Mrs Jones will be sending out a text to let you know the cost of school dinners for the term.

Parking

Please could we remind parents that the school car park is not to be used as it is incredibly full and we have had a number of people stuck in the car park and requiring assistance to reverse their cars out.

Admissions Consultation for September 2016

The Local Authority published its annual Consultation on Admission Arrangements, in this case to take effect in September 2016. The documents can be accessed on the Council website www.stockport.gov.uk by inserting ‘Admissions Consultation’ in the Search box. Paper copies can be available on request if you do not have internet access.

It is of particular interest this year because, consequent on the determination from the Office of the School’s Adjudicator in November 2013 and the opening of the additional Key Stage 2 provision for St. Thomas’s at Peel Moat, it proposes to reduce the size of the Tithe Barn and Norris Bank catchment areas. It also proposes to add an additional admissions category for a temporary period for younger siblings of current pupils who live in the area affected by the proposed change.

The closing date for responses to the Consultation is 8 February 2015 and any final decision will be taken by April 2015. It is a public consultation, and individual parents and others can respond to the Local Authority.

The Governing Body will also be considering the likely impact on the School, and responding to the Local Authority in the new year. In order to help inform that response it would be helpful if any parental responses to the Local Authority could be copied to the Chair of Governors (mikefitzjohn@aol.com). Mike will also do his best to answer any questions.

In passing, I would remind parents/carers intending to apply for the admission of a child to Reception in September 2015 that the closing date for such applications is 15 January 2015. All relevant details are on the Local Authority website.

Key Dates for your Diary

Monday 5^th January                             Term starts for Children

Friday 9^th January                                 In-Service Day – school closed

Monday 12^th January                           Visit from Stockport Mayor

Wednesday 14^th January                    Happy Puzzle Maths Workshops

Thursday 15^th January                         Deadline for Primary School Applications for September 2015.