making each day extraordinary - pour que chaque jour soit extraordinaire

13th September 2016

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to all new families and welcome back to those who are already part of the Wix community. I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer and your children are now settled back into the school time routine. I have enjoyed hearing about some of the adventures you have had, both at home and in other countries, from your children.
As many of you know, the new academic year brings with it changes to the whole-school structure on the English side of the school. This letter therefore provides information about the new leadership team, as well as guidance as to whom you should turn to with specific queries and an explanation of how we will contact you throughout the year.

School leadership team 2016-2017

Executive Head: Mr. John Grove

Mr. Grove has been the head, now the executive head, of Belleville Primary School for the past sixteen years. As such, he has a detailed knowledge of our local community. Under his leadership, Belleville pupil numbers have risen significantly, with the school now running from two local sites. It has also become a National Teaching School, a National Maths Hub and has been recognised as “Outstanding” by Ofsted for nearly ten years. Mr. Grove is recognised as a National Leader of Education due to his wealth of knowledge and experience in effective primary school teaching and leadership. He has very kindly agreed to advise and guide the Wix leadership and staff strategically and professionally and has already been actively involved in our planning and staff training for the coming year over the summer. We are very grateful to him for supporting our school in this way and we are hopeful that this is the beginning of a long, positive and exciting relationship with Belleville.

Acting Head: Mrs. Rebecca Osuntokun

I have worked at Wix for six years, firstly as a bilingual teacher and then as the Bilingual Deputy Head when that role was created three years ago. However, many of my responsibilities have had a whole-school and whole-site focus and I have been privileged to work and be involved with children and classes across all three streams. I have agreed with governors to take up this acting role because Wix is so very important to me. There are more stakeholders than usual in this dynamic and visionary school and I see my role during this tenure as working with all interested parties to achieve together our key shared goals: the happiness, well-being and successful learning of all Wix children.

Acting Deputy Head: Mrs. Alice David-Jekyll

Mrs. Jekyll will already be well-known to many of you. She has worn many hats for quite some time, perhaps her best-known being that she has taught in Key Stage 1 and been our Key Stage 1 and whole school literacy leader at Wix for eleven years. She is also a local authority leading literacy teacher and moderator for the Key Stage 1 SATs and is on the Phonics Advisory Panel for the Institute of Education. Not surprisingly, she is already known at Wix as an exemplary class practitioner with an expert knowledge of Key Stage 1 practice and the Key Stage 1 curriculum. We are very lucky, therefore, to have Mrs. Jekyll as a class-based acting deputy. As such, she will keep her Year 2 class for their teaching and learning of the core subjects in the mornings and will be released from class for her deputy duties in the afternoons. Mrs. Jekyll’s primary focus in her role as deputy will be for the year groups from Nursery to Year 2.

Acting Deputy Head: Mrs. Sonia Binks

Many of you will know Mrs. Binks as Mrs Walker and we congratulate her on her marriage this summer. Mrs. Binks became known to us at Wix a few years ago when she worked as a supply teacher. Her previous experience and expertise in, for example, teaching children with English as an additional language, together with her ability to support less experienced staff, and her ability to engender a confident, ambitious love of learning in the children became quickly apparent. Accordingly, she was offered a role as Teaching and Learning Consultant last year, with a primary focus in Key Stage 2. We are thrilled that Mrs. Binks will be channelling her energy and skills to support Wix as acting deputy this year, with her primary focus being on Years 3 to 6.

Acting Assistant Head: Mrs Kerry Dunford

Mrs. Dunford beats all of us when it comes to Wix longevity as she came to school here as a child! She has also held many different posts at Wix since she first became a member of staff eighteen years ago. In recent years, she has honed her interests and skills in ensuring fair and bespoke learning provision for children with additional needs, be they social, emotional, behavioural, physical, psychological or educational. To this end, Mrs. Dunford has, amongst other things, been our Pupil Premium lead for 2015-2016. She also stepped into the role of SENDCo last term when Mrs. Doidge became sick and she is due to complete the National Award for SENDCo (NASENDCo) qualification very shortly. We are so pleased to be able to combine Mrs. Dunford’s passion with the entitlements of our children who, for whatever reason, need an additional or alternative approach to their learning, to help them to reach their potential and make the very most of their education at Wix.

Who to ask for in what circumstance

Administrative matters: For all administrative matters, including payments, forms, before and after-school provision and questions about dates and whole-school procedures, please call the school office on 0207 228 3055 or call in to the office in person, between 8.30am - 4.00pm, Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can contact the school office by email on [email protected]

Individual child and class-specific questions: For all questions or concerns about teaching, learning, behaviour, well-being, friendships or personal domestic matters which it may help your child’s class teacher to be aware of, please always speak to the class teacher in the first instance. You can either speak briefly to your child’s class teacher at the beginning or the end of the day, or if you feel that you need to ask or explain something in a little detail, you can arrange an appointment with them at that time, or ask to see them by sending in a note, or calling the school office to ask the class teacher to ring you. In order to ensure that your child is most appropriately and immediately supported, it is imperative that his or her class teacher be the first and key point of contact between you and the school. Only if you still have concerns, following discussion with your child’s class teacher, should you consider making contact with one of the deputies.

Questions which are wider than child or class-specific matters: In these circumstances, please contact the following staff, via the school office: Mrs Jekyll: For Nursery to Year 2 issues Mrs. Binks: For Year 3 to Year 6 issues Mrs. Dunford: For SEND and Pupil Premium issues. Miss Ryan (Learning Mentor): For attendance issues Mrs Osuntokun: For child protection, safeguarding and safety issues; for bilingual-specific issues; for école de Wix collaboration issues.

How we will contact you

Highlights of the week: Class teachers will continue to send out Highlights at the end of each week. The format has changed very slightly, but it will remain our main method of keeping you informed of what has happened and what is planned in each class.

Half termly whole-school newsletters: We will write to you at the end of each half term to provide an overview of all that has happened during the half term and to explain any upcoming events.

WIX website: Please continue to refer to this, in particular for key dates and current information.

End of the school day reminder

Can I please remind you (and ask that you remind any other adults collecting your children at the end of the school day) that the school site will be shut at 3.45pm each day. This is for two reasons. School staff are not responsible for your children once they have been discharged from the school’s care. However, the school does potentially carry responsibility for accidents which happen on site and we do not have the human resources to manage the whole site safely after the school day is over. Furthermore, Kids City, our after-school care providers, should be allowed free use of the playground at this time. This becomes impossible and confusing when children who are not in their care are also there. Please, therefore, make use of the Common for after-school downtime with friends, rather than using the school playground.

PTA Coffee Morning

Finally, the PTA would like to invite you to a coffee morning at 9.00am in the canteen on Tuesday, 20th September. Whether you are new to the school, or you would simply like the opportunity to catch up with friends, or you would like to know what the PTA is planning with Wix for the year ahead, you are very welcome. Please remember that you will need to register at Reception before going round to the canteen.

Yours sincerely,

Rebecca Osuntokun

making each day extraordinary - pour que chaque jour soit extraordinaire

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