Rook’s Nest Academy Newsletter
Issue 46 – 4th December 2020
Dear Parent/Carers,
Christmas has arrived!
This year we have made changes to our Christmas traditions, as I suppose you expected. Instead of a large tree in the hall, which would only be seen at lunch times, we have bought two living trees and placed them in the playgrounds. The advantage of these trees is that after Christmas they can be planted in our forest school and continue to grow for future generations. The Y6 children have been given the responsibility of decorating them, as this will be their last opportunity at RNA. We hope you all enjoy our festive display.
Christmas Day at RNA
We are celebrating slightly early by having a fun filled Christmas day on Wednesday 9th December. This will fit in nicely with our Christmas lunch and replace usual parties etc. The children can come dressed in their festive best and we will make it a fun day, off curriculum, and focused on celebration and enjoyment.
Christmas performances
As you can imagine these have been difficult to organize under the strict Covid regulations. We have managed to get each class to perform their own songs, which have been recorded and will uploaded, shortly, to the music page of the school website. Further information to follow.
Christmas hamper raffle
Staff have been busy putting together some fantastic Christmas hampers, which we are looking to hold a raffle for on Friday 11th December. We will draw 2 winners on this day. The first will receive the large hamper, while the second will win the Christmas Eve hamper.
The success of the previous raffle means that we will carry this one out in the same way. The tickets will cost £1 each and there are no limits to how many you purchase. We will collect the money by going around the classes on the Friday and put each child’s name onto the tickets for the draw. It will then be drawn that day and the lucky winners announced. Please continue to support us with these fund raising attempts.
Christmas jumper day
The last day of the term, 18th December, will be our Christmas jumper day. Children can come to school in their festive jumpers. We are not collecting for a specific charity, but if any donations are send it they will be put into the “Spend a penny project” fund.
Thank you!
We have raised a further £132 for our Spend a Penny Project
Reporting illness
Our school attendance, against the rest of the Local Authority Primary Schools, has been fantastically high. A huge “thank you” to parents and children who have made this possible. We know children will become ill and our parents and office staff quick to provide the evidence to support non-attendance. The only problem we are having is that some parents are not specific with the reasons for a child’s absence. As you will appreciate, in the current situation, it is really important that we know the reasons why children are off, so we can check for any Covid symptoms that may be present in the school. Therefore, we are asking that parents provide us with more details than just that their child is “ill” or “unwell”.
SATs meetings
Many parents and children will be starting to think about SATs next year. We intend to hold meetings with parents from Y2 and Y6 to explain the process. We don’t know what format this will be allowed to be in yet but are planning for a recorded message to be placed on the website. We will send out details closer to the event.
Winter Weather
The first snow of the year fell today and caused great joy to all the children, but probably not as much enjoyment for parents. We appreciate that the weather is changing and collection and pick-up times mean waiting around in the cold. As there are no foreseen changes to the Tier position for Wakefield, and the restrictions remain in place, this is the way we will need to continue. Thank you for your support and understanding around this situation and we will all be asking Santa for some warmer clothes this year!