Front page teaser

This term has flown by with lots of activities and progress being made in many different ways. The Larwood Lowdown is always a nice moment to take stock and reflect upon some of the events that have happened during a half term. They include:

• We have a number of new pupils that have earned their coloured shirts. This means that they have achieved at least 90/100 points, over 6 weeks. At the 6^th week, there is usually a target set and quite often pupils have completed 7 or 8 weeks before they earn their shirt. However, they all have one thing in common; they have demonstrated that they can meet our expectations and standards, and therefore can do this in the future as well.
• Medals have been awarded to quite a few pupils. This may have been Bronze for gaining 1000 points or Silver for 2000 points. Again this demonstrates consistency and determination to make better choices and progress and should be applauded. The race is on for Gold which is 3000 points for pupils.
• Trips and visits; I am extremely proud of Mr Jacobs class who have started to visit another special needs school-Greenside and begun to work with some of their children. This is a new venture for us and the pupils have reacted superbly to such a challenge. Our Year 6 pupils continue to work on their weekly Arts Award course, which is also going well.

Well done to all of your sons/daughters for their hard work and achievements, many of which haven’t been mentioned here.

At this time of the year, it always feels a little bit strange, as I have the task of setting a budget for the new financial year 2016-2017 (April-March) whilst still in the academic year 2015-2016! It always presents various challenges and with no extra money coming our way from government (I did hope for an announcement for primary/Special Schools from the Chancellor, but no luck!), the challenge is ever present this year. Our priorities remain unchanged:

• Continue to provide best value for money in all that we do
• Ensure that our school development targets of Progress, Well-Being and Sustainability are met and catered for even in changing financial circumstances. Our curriculum still needs to be fit for our pupils and their needs, as well as prepare for the ever changing society that they are part of.
• Provide your children with the best trained and quality staff to help with the above
• Safeguard pupils and staff in a way which is appropriate for our community and take into account the changing nature of the school site. With Lonsdale School no longer here and the site being sold for housing at some point in time, there are additional factors to consider here.

With all of this in mind, we continue to pursue our aims of becoming an Academy School, during the next school year (2016-17-aiming for October 1^st as a conversion date) and we are also currently seeking to place a gate on the approach to our school. It will be an automated gate and it will be open at key times (start and end of the school day) however there will also be an intercom system and closure of the gate for security of pupils and other adults who may wander on the site. Further details will follow in relation to this but if you do want any other information on this matter, please do contact me directly.

Mr Trimble - Headteacher