Kirkleatham Hall School
"Unlocking Potential"
Latest News
This page is used to inform you of our latest news at Kirkleatham Hall School, discuss Apple applications and view our half termly Newsletter
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Ofsted Report - 2023
Mon 04 Dec 2023Dear Parents/Carers
After our recent Ofsted visit, I have now had confirmation that our Ofsted report has gone live. This can be viewed by typing ‘Kirkleatham Hall School’ and ‘Ofsted’ into google and clicking on the most recent report.
Alternatively you can type in the link below which will take you directly to the relevant page.
https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50233470
The Ofsted inspection was a section 8 visit, meaning that it was an ungraded inspection. This means that we were always going to maintain our ‘good’ judgement unless Ofsted found significant reasons to change this.
The inspectors were extremely positive about their visit and we were delighted that the report managed to capture the essence of what makes our school so special and unique.
I must give massive thanks to all the staff who work tirelessly to meet the needs of all of our students. The Senior Leadership Team who keep driving forward school improvement and never rest on their laurels. To the Governors, who give up their time freely to present appropriate challenge and ensure that we are providing the best education we can. To you the parents and carers who help get your children into school every day and work alongside us to care, nurture and educate each and every child. Lastly, and most importantly, thank you to our students, who are just amazing and make this job so worthwhile and help to make each and every day enjoyable.
I hope you enjoy reading our Ofsted report. I will be in touch very soon to send you all the dates over for our Christmas activities. In the meantime, I hope you all have a lovely run up to Christmas, remember it is not the presents that make Christmas special it’s the presence of those you love.
If you require any support or any advice, please remember that we are always here to listen, help and support where we can.
Thank you for your continued support.
Paul McLean
Paul McLean
Headteacher
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End of Summer Term 2023
Thu 20 Jul 2023Dear Parents / Carers
Summer Term 2023
Where has the time gone? Another year draws to a close, with some amazing memories made, and caring, loving relationships developed. It has been a fantastic year in school filled with much joy and happiness. I feel truly blessed to be able to do the job that I do and see such amazing, unique young people every day. May I take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for supporting us and your children throughout the year, we know that it is through working collaboratively we achieve the best outcomes for all of our learners. Remember that if you have any issues or concerns then please raise these with us as soon as possible and where we can improve our practice we will endeavour to do so.
Last day of term/First day back
The last day of school this term for children is Thursday 20th July 2023. Children will return to school on Tuesday 5th September 2023.
Uniform
Due to the challenges of making some students wear uniform we have never had a strict uniform policy. Students are free to wear their own clothes if this is more comfortable for them and less likely to cause anxiety. We have advised that where possible students who can tolerate wearing uniform should wear trousers/skirt and a blue jumper/cardigan in primary and trousers/skirt and a black jumper/cardigan in secondary. However, this has caused some challenges for parents as within school we have some classes at the top end of primary who are a mixture of ages. This has led to some parents being unsure about what uniform their child should be wearing.
From September, our uniform will be the same throughout school. It will be a plain blue jumper/cardigan, white shirt/T-shirt and black trousers/skirt. If a child already has a black jumper/cardigan please do not feel the need to replace this, we are quite relaxed around what uniform our children wear and the new uniform will be phased in slowly over time. We do not want any of our parents to incur any extra costs. In terms of if you want uniform with the school logo on it then we utilise a company called Quickastitch, based in Redcar, however we are more than happy for parents to source a cheaper alternative.
Drop off/ Pick up times
From September, we are returning to pre-covid arrangements to reduce the loss of learning time. Parents will drop off their children at 9:10am and the pick-up will be at 3:10pm. There is some flexibility in this if your child requires a time which is less hectic. Please park off site and walk down so that your vehicles do not impact on the school buses
School Cafe
Our school café is open for parents / carers and their children on Tuesday 25th July, Tuesday 1st August, and Tuesday 8th August 2023. It will be open between 10.00am until 1.00pm on these days.
Dinner Money
Notification that the school dinner monies will be increasing from September 2023. In-line with everything at present, the cost of wages and food has gone up, and we have worked hard with our catering supplier to keep the minimum impact on meal costs that we can. From September 2023, the costs will be:
- Early Years/Primary cost to parent will be £2.50 per day
- Secondary cost will be £2.70 which is a larger meal than primary
- Post 16 student cost will be £2.90 and they will receive a full adult sized portion.
To help support the administration of the dinner money system, it would be ideal if you are able to use the on-line School Gateway payment system for the payment of meals for your child. If not already registered please do so at www.schoolgateway.co.uk and register the same mobile and email address provided to school.
May I take this opportunity to wish you a lovely summer holiday and we look forward to welcoming everyone back in September.
Yours sincerely,
Paul McLean
Headteacher
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Colour Run - Cancelled
Wed 12 Jul 2023We’re sad to announce that today’s Colour Run has been cancelled. The event organisers have been closely monitoring the weather and showers are forecast for this afternoon. If it is wet, it will make the colours from the paint stick more firmly to hair and clothing and can become quite slippy underfoot. The event will be rescheduled for September.
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Strike Action - Update
Tue 27 Jun 2023Dear Parents/Carers
The National Educational Union (NEU) have agreed to further strike action on Wednesday the 5th and Friday 7th of July.
We will have a number of Teachers who will be on strike on these days, but also a number of Teaching Assistants who will be required to stay off to look after their own children as their children’s schools may be closed.
As per our original decision to close a quarter of the school on each strike day to cover for the absence, and having six previous strike days, the following classes will be closed on the next strike days.
Wednesday July 5th – Emerald, Sapphire, Purple, Green
Friday July 7th – Orange, Blue, Yellow, Rainbow, Nursery
If your child is in one of these classes then they will not be in school on the day specified.
We will endeavour wherever possible to deliver your child’s usual curriculum on the strike days, however this may not be feasible in all classes and alternative activities may be provided.
We apologise for the disruption and loss of learning that results from these strike days.
Kind regards
Yours sincerely
Paul McLean
Paul McLean
Headteacher
Kirkleatham Hall School
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Whole School Letter - 24/04/23
Mon 24 Apr 2023Dear Parents/Carers
Strike Days
This Thursday the 27th April, Teachers within the NEU union will potentially be going on strike. There is also a further strike day planned by the same union for Tuesday 2nd May.
There is the prospect of further strike days being announced in the future, which may be supported by even more of the teaching unions.
In order to ensure we have sufficient staffing on these days we have decided to close certain classes on each day. This is based on losing a number of Teachers and some TA’s who will be required to stay off to look after their own children. Similar to last time we will close approximately a quarter of the school on each strike day so as to reduce the impact on our students and families.
The following classes will be closed on the following dates:
Thursday 27th April – Highcliffe, Carlton, Sutton, Wainstones, Roseberry
Tuesday 2nd May – Jet, Amber, Ruby, Diamond, Pearl
I apologise for the impact of these strike days on you and your families.
Leave of Absence
As a school, we have a real dilemma around authorising holiday requests during term time. We want to support our families to take holidays at times that are quieter and more predictable. However, as a school we are externally accountable for our authorised absences and questioned as to why we allow so many holidays in term time. We currently do not have an agreed policy in place for student leave of absence and for that reason I have, with mitigating circumstance, been authorising student’s leave of absence. This will continue until the end of this academic year. However, in September we will be introducing a new policy around student leave of absence. School will grant authorisation for families to take their child out of school for up to one week (five school days) each academic year, providing that the child’s attendance in school is greater than 90%. (As a school we will look at individual circumstances in terms of the 90% attendance for example if a child has a lot of health needs this will not be held against an individual). If a child’s attendance is lower than 90%, without specific health needs, or the request is over and above the five day limit then only five days will be authorised in total.
Cont’d……
Please be aware that this does not mean that we will start chasing or harassing parents who choose to take a holiday in term time, instead it is to justify to external scrutiny that we are valuing school and children being in school and that we are trying to take steps to improve attendance. I hope that you can understand the need to have some guidelines around student holidays in term time and can appreciate the balance we are trying to strike between supporting our families and also promoting good school attendance.
Thank you for your continued support
Yours sincerely
Paul McLean
Headteacher
Kirkleatham Hall School
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Whole School Letter - 18-04-23
Tue 18 Apr 202318th April 2023
Dear Parents/Carers
Welcome back after Easter, I hope that you all managed to make some lovely memories with our precious children.
We have a number of dates coming up that I would like to make you aware of:
Thursday 27th April – Proposed NEU strike day.
This is further complicated as all the teaching unions including the NASUWT and the NAHT rejected the recent government’s pay award and have voted in favour of industrial action. However, at this point in time, only the NEU have confirmed the intention to strike on this day. We will inform you as soon as we can of what impact this strike action will have on school opening and student attendance as soon as we have more information.
Monday 1st May – May Day Bank holiday – All schools are closed on this day.
Tuesday 2nd May – Second proposed NEU strike day.
Monday 8th May – An extra bank holiday to celebrate the King’s Coronation - All schools are closed on this day.
I apologise for the potential for disruption caused by these days and hope that this is minimal.
As an aside, we will be having our own celebrations in school for the King’s Coronation this term. This will include a tea party, along with a number of creative activities that students will be able to participate in within class. More information regarding this event will be sent to yourselves over the next couple of weeks.
Just a reminder that if you have any issues or concerns in relation to your child’s education please raise those issues with us. We would be happy to listen, to reflect on our practice and, where appropriate, make things better for our children.
Wishing you a lovely summer term.
Thank you for your continued support.
Paul McLean
Headteacher
Kirkleatham Hall School
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Easter Celebrations 2023
Tue 28 Mar 2023Dear Parents/Guardians
As you may be aware, as part of our Easter celebrations with the children this year, Kirkleatham Hall School teamed up with our colleagues at the Kirkleatham Museum to give an opportunity to visit the museum and participate in Easter activities. The resulting work will be displayed by the museum curator over Easter to celebrate and support the children’s efforts and creativity.
The display will be available to be seen by the public from Tuesday 28th March and will continue to be displayed throughout the Easter holidays. We hope this will give everybody the opportunity to visit the museum and celebrate the work of our wonderful students. The location of the display is in the museum’s pavilion (opposite the old building’s entrance). If you walk through the entrance and into the large hall our display is by the window. Enjoy.
The classes that partook in the activities are listed below, but please do take time to visit the display over this week or during the holidays whether or not your child’s work is displayed. The display intends to celebrate the creativity of our students with the wider public, share the love of Easter we have with the local community and put our learners’ achievements on the map for others to see.
The display represents all of the learners in our school and demonstrates the beginning of a very strong, fruitful relationship with the museum which aims to promote and celebrate our learners and their achievements first, raising awareness by celebrating publicly the wonderful talents of our learners.
Our next project is not far away so keep vigilant!
Kind regards
Phil Masterson
Purple Class
P.S. The classes displayed are: Purple, Sutton, Blue, Jet, Yellow, Rainbow, Green, Emerald, Orange, Amber, Pearl, Diamond, and Sapphire.
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Transitions Event
Fri 03 Mar 2023
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Strike Action – 28th Feb Update
Tue 28 Feb 2023Dear Parents/Carers
Following on from my previous letter in relation to the strike action that will be taking place tomorrow “Tuesday February 28th” the following classes will be closed – Jet, Amber, Ruby, Diamond, Pearl
If your child is in one of these classes then they will not be in school on the 28th February.
Kind regards
Paul McLean
Headteacher
Kirkleatham Hall School
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Fantastic first set of Reading results!
Sun 26 Feb 2023A huge congratulations to all of our students who have just sat their first set of Reading tests.
80% of all of our students following the Little Wandle phonics scored 80% or more on their first tests! 23% of students scored 100%! A huge achievement! Well done!
