Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Dear Parents and Carers,
Industrial Action by NEU Teachers
I hope that you and your families are well. I am following up from the previous information regarding Industrial action by teachers. We now have plans in place for the further two days of action by the NEU, on Wednesday 5th July & Friday 7th July 2023 and want to give you as much notice of this as possible. At Berkeley Primary School, we have 15 teachers (56% of our teachers) in the NEU and I have been informed that some of these will strike.
We have had lengthy discussions about how to try to minimise the disruption to education and at the same time ensure adequate supervision to keep our children safe. We will not be able to have all children in school on this strike day.
We have been notified by those staff who intend to strike, therefore the plan for the strike days on Wednesday 5th & Friday 7th July 2023 are as follows, any changes will be communicated to all parents:
Please note this change to previous Strike Days- Year 1 and 2 are also in school as normal on these two days.
If your child is in school, they will follow their normal timetable.
Where students are working from home, children should complete work from the National Oak Academy (found on https://www.thenational.academy/) ,Numbots and the Bug Club online reading books (both of which parents have log ins for).
Children of critical workers and vulnerable children
The Government has asked us to prioritise places for children of critical workers and vulnerable children. The full list of critical workers can be found in Annex B at the end of the Government’s guidance for schools on emergency planning link below:
If you are a Reception parent and believe that both parents/carers are a critical worker and would like to apply for a place in school on Wednesday 5th & Friday 7th July for your child(ren), please complete the form below by 9am on Monday 3rd July. Please note, only new applications will need to be submitted for these strike days. You do not need to complete a new form if you have already completed one previously, your child will automatically get a place this time.
https://forms.gle/PGMCSMwgHWkLCmpG8
If you have made a new application you will be notified if you have a place on Monday 3rd July 2023. These children will be supervised in school and do activities with our teaching assistants. If your child is in Year 1-6 you do not need to complete this form as they are in school on all strike days.
All students who are on our ‘vulnerable’ groups list (those with a social worker) will be offered a place on the strike days. Parents will be contacted separately to confirm arrangements.
School meals
Those children in school will have a school dinner as normal as the kitchen staff are unaffected by the strike action.
If your child is a ‘means tested’ Free School Meal child, based on income (not universal free school meal offered to all infant children), you are entitled to come to school to collect a ‘lunch bag’ that can be given to your child at home. The parents of those children entitled to this will receive a form shortly to complete if you would like to come to school to collect this between 11:00am and 12:00pm on 5th & 7th July.
Breakfast Club
Breakfast club will be open as normal for Years 1-6 and for those children in Reception that have been given places as parents being critical workers or vulnerable.
I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. The school is trying to ensure that as many students as possible have the opportunity to be in school during these days. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any queries.
Best wishes
Anna Cvijetic
Headteacher
Thursday 22nd June 2023
Dear Parents and Carers,
I am pleased to be able to inform you of the teachers for the next academic year (September 2023). Please see the grid below for who is in which class.
We have restructured the current Reception children before they move in to their new year group, this is the norm for our school. Parents of children in Reception will receive another email in the next 6 hours informing you of your child’s class teacher. If you have not received an email letting you know this by tomorrow morning, please come and ask at the school office.
Current class |
Class in Sept 23 |
Teacher |
Nursery |
Charlotte Bennett |
|
Recp Oak |
Helen Earl (Phase Leader) |
|
Recp Holly |
Jenna King / Alice Dowse |
|
Recp Beech |
Catriona Card |
|
New class organisation – you will receive a separate email. |
Year 1 Oak |
Jayne Elsagood (Phase Leader) |
Year 1 Holly |
Faye Marshall |
|
Year 1 Beech |
Jacqui Drury |
|
1 Holly |
Year 2 Oak |
Rachel Jones (Phase Leader) |
1 Oak |
Year 2 Holly |
Sam Nunes |
1 Beech |
Year 2 Beech |
Jo Bielby / Iryna Fowles |
2 Holly |
Year 3 Oak |
Craig Goodall (Phase Leader) |
2 Beech |
Year 3 Holly |
Alison Woods |
2 Oak |
Year 3 Beech |
Angie Humphrey / Teresa Suddaby |
3 Holly |
Year 4 Oak |
Rahela Sultana / Bruce Spencer (PL) |
3 Oak |
Year 4 Holly |
Simon Leek |
3 Beech |
Year 4 Beech |
Iain Dalgleish |
4 Beech |
Year 5 Oak |
Caroline Harling (Phase Leader) |
4 Holly |
Year 5 Holly |
Judith Grinhaff |
4 Oak |
Year 5 Beech |
Paul Newsome |
5 Beech |
Year 6 Oak |
Amy Marsh (Phase Leader) |
5 Oak |
Year 6 Holly |
Tom Fell |
5 Holly |
Year 6 Beech |
Lucy Burnett |
We have a thorough transition programme in place, to ensure the children get many opportunities with their new class teacher and to get to know each other before September.
We are delighted to have recently appointed Jacqui Drury to our teaching team. Mrs Drury is an experienced teacher and will be teaching in Year 1. Alice Dowse will be returning from her maternity leave in September 2023 and we will be pleased to see her back in the reception unit.
Ryan Woods will be leaving us at the end of the school year. He will be much missed by children, staff and parents and we wish him well in his future teaching career and thank him for all his hard work at our school.
Howard Rea, our caretaker, will be retiring at the end of the term, after nearly 5 years at Berkeley. Howard has looked after our school premises so well over the years, keeping us all safe and making sure our environment is lovely. We wish him a long, happy and healthy retirement.
If you have any queries regarding any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher.
Best wishes
Anna Cvijetic
Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that you and your families are well. You may be aware from the media that members of the National Education Union (NEU) have voted for strike action again. Other teaching unions (NASUWT and NAHT) did not receive the required number of ballot papers and so will not be striking at this point.
The NEU has identified a further two days of strike, which will possibly affect Infant children of our school. These are:
The leadership team are currently planning for the strikes. We will continue this close contact in the coming weeks in order to reduce the impact on pupils’ learning as much as we can. In line with Government guidance, it is our intention to keep Berkeley Primary School open; however, it may be the case that not all classes / year groups will be able to come into school, depending on which teachers in school do strike. I am hoping to give you more information shorlty, but unions do not disclose which staff are in which unions and the staff themselves do not have to tell us in advance if they are going to strike.
Where possible, I would urge you to consider arranging childcare provision for your child(ren) in case they are not able to come to school. Our aim is to keep you, the parents and carers, updated throughout this period of uncertainty. We will do our utmost to give you as much notice as possible. Nevertheless, please be prepared for short notice on possible class or year group closures. We will contact you with further details as and when we have them.
Best wishes
Anna Cvijetic
Headteacher
Miss Card and I were honoured to be invited to join the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for the Inauguration of the Baitus Salam (House of Peace) Mosque tonight. We were made most welcome.
We listened to their Caliph, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad; Head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Comminuty who was spreading a message of peace and harmony.
Some of our lovely children were very proud to show us around their beautiful mosque.