Latest News
World Book Day 2023
Children at Pinfold Primary came dressed to school in their Pyjamas to have a fun yet relaxing day with a focus upon books and reading for pleasure on World Book Day. They enjoyed getting cosy with hot chocolate and a cookie whilst sharing and reading books together.
Children designed book covers from blurbs to compete for prizes of story books creating winners across school.
KS2 classes joined for a special pupil forum assembly to enable pupil voice to be captured in response to the big question of the day ‘what is the purpose of reading?’ Staff swapped classrooms to read stories and across the day different year groups spent time with each other to read and share books.
Wednesday 14th December
School is closed today Wednesday 14th December due to an issue with the heating, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you.
Online learning provision will be added on both the school website under Children > Class Pages and on Teams. If you do not know your child's username and password (this is the same as last time) then please just use the information on the school website.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Monday 19th September as you will be aware is the date for the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
This is now a bank holiday and school will be closed on this day. We return next week to school on a Tuesday 20th September.
Curriculum Support
Maths
White Rose Maths who we use for resources and who you may remember from lockdown have created a new app called 1-Minute Maths this app is aimed at KS1 at the moment but their intention is to add to the app to allow it to be accessed by more age groups.
The link for there website is https://whiterosemaths.com/resources/1-minute-maths where you're able to find links to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
COVID Updates
Parent Information Update - 04/01/20
Important information for all parents/carers.
Following the government announcement tonight, school will unfortunately be closed to all but the children of Key Workers and Vulnerable Children with immediate effect.
If you believe you are a Key Worker and you have no alternative, your child can attend school tomorrow at 9am and will enter through their usual classroom door. All pupils will need to be collected at 3pm. We would ask that your child is brought to and from school by an adult.
All Key Workers will be asked to complete an eligibility form and return this by 10am tomorrow (Tuesday). Please see the link for this form below.
Link to form (Please click this link to complete the form)
Forms will be checked and organised tomorrow and you will be notified if your child has a Key Worker place from Wednesday onwards. Attending school tomorrow does not guarantee a Key Worker place.
Children classed as vulnerable, parents/carers will be contacted directly tomorrow by telephone to discuss their situation further.
Further information about home learning, FSM and answers to your questions will be sent once we have clarity of further information.
We ask that you don’t contact school tomorrow by telephone but email admin@pinfold.tameside.sch.uk
We thank you for your support and understanding in what is a challenging time for all.
Free School Meals
You can automatically apply for free schools meals if you think you may be entitled, even if you aren't sure you can still apply and the system normally gives you an instant response.
If the system says you are not entitled, but you believe you are please contact school and we can help with this.
You can apply using this link https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/sims/
School also receive a notification that you are eligible so there is no need to contact school if you are proven to be eligible.
Voucher Update
17-07-20 FSM - Update
Over the summer holidays children who are entitled to Free School Meals will continue to receive the vouchers. It is changing slightly due to how the government wanted this to happen and date restrictions. You will instead receive the full amount over three dates instead of 6.
Your first payment will be 27th July 2020
Your second payment will be 3rd August 2020
Your third and final payment will be 10th August 2020
After this date you will no longer receive any further payments. As always please contact fsm@pinfold.tameside.sch.uk with any queries.
07-05-20 FSM - Update
There has been an issue with the Free School Meal vouchers this week and they have not been delivered as they should have been. The vouchers were entered into the system for delivery on Monday, but there has been a failure by the Edenred system to deliver these to you.
It is not just our school which has faced these issues this week and I am trying to contact them to see about any issues which may be causing this.
Please rest assured that the vouchers are there waiting and we apologise in the delay in you receiving them.
16-04-20 FSM - Update
Another update for you, after a very long week the vouchers are currently in the process of being fulfilled which means they should be finding their way to your email very soon.
Some of you have already redeemed them and others it has already been delivered to so please check your inbox and junk mail folders.
If you're having any issues please email fsm@pinfold.tameside.sch.uk
14-04-20 FSM - Update
We have another update for you all. The website where we process the vouchers has finally allowed us to access it and place the order after 5 long days.
This now has to be processed by Edenred before the vouchers are issued. The current guidance is within 72 hours but this varies and could be as little as three hours.
Please keep checking your email as well as your junk mail for the email. I will update you all again when the vouchers have been issued.
Thank you for your understanding on this matter and hopefully things will be better from now on!
13-04-20 FSM - Update
There has been an issue with the system the DfE have enlisted to process the Free School Meal (FSM) vouchers. The company Edenred have had unprecedented volumes of traffic to their website and they are trying to process 1000 orders per hour and therefore the system failed to work as it should.
As of yesterday they have taken the system offline for the bank holiday weekend. Please rest assured that I have been trying to issue these vouchers since Thursday of last week at all hours to try and get them to you.
We apologise for any inconvenience and we hope we can get these processed as soon as the system is up and running again.
Free School Meals
Tameside Council has committed to ensuring no child on income based free school meals goes hungry this half term (October 2020).
The scheme will provide a £15 supermarket voucher from Tesco or Asda (whichever you choose) for food products for each eligible child. The scheme is open to all children up to year 11 who attend a Tameside school and are entitled to income based free school meals. Those children in reception and years 1 and 2 who receive universal (i.e. not means tested) free school meals are not eligible.
The voucher scheme is for one week of the half-term holidays (October 2020) only. Applications must be received by 8 November 2020
Follow the link below to access the website to apply for the voucher.
Returning to school updates
Dear Parent / Carer,
Please see below letter for all parents on the preparation for returning to school and guidance with answers to frequently asked questions. Please read all of the information carefully.
Thank you for your continued support.
Returning to school updates continued
Dear Parents/Carers, our plans for re opening next week are still going ahead.
The letter detailing all the arrangements is on our school website plus it was sent out with the end of year reports. Please study the information carefully.
We will let you know on Tuesday if there are any changes to the information and our social media pages will be updated regularly also.
There will be no need for your children to bring PE kits or book bags next week, please wait to hear further arrangements from your child's class teacher.
We look forward to seeing you all next week, until then take care and stay safe.
Latest updates on COVID-19
We would really appreciate if you could please take a few minutes to complete this survey on Covid-19 reflection.
Thank you for your support.
Thanks
30-06-20 The DFE have released updated guidance for parents and carers: Coronavirus (COVID-19): keeping children safe online
Advice and guidance to help parents and carers to keep children safe online during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-keeping-children-safe-online
05-06-20 Wider School Opening - Update
Due to the R rate in the North West having increased above 1, school will NOT be opening to the additional children in Rec/Y1/Y6 as planned next week. Further information will follow on Monday. This information has only just been given to schools.
Sorry for the short notice.
School continues to be open for key worker and vulnerable children only.
Following the Government announcement this week there are no imminent changes to school provision. This may change after half term but it is still dependent on the ongoing impact of COVID-19.
We will continue to update you as soon as we know more. Please check the website for home working resources and stay safe.
Thank you for your continued support.
We Miss You
From everybody here at Pinfold, we miss you lots! Stay safe and we will see you soon.
From some donated acetate binding covers that we had in school, East Manchester Academy DT Dept have made these visors for NHS frontline hospital & care workers. Fantastic work that will be so appreciated by those who need them ⭐️
#workingtogether #sharingsuccess #keepsafe
Young Writers Competition
The deadline for the consent forms has been extended due to COVID-19 please find the details in the image below to give your permission for your child's animal adventure acoustic poem to be published in their next book!
Easter
Year 5 children were due to hold their Easter service today at St. Barnabus church, unfortunately as we’re not in school we are unable to do so. Luckily Mrs Matthews recorded one of the children’s rehearsals of the song Father. Listen to it below!
Father
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
School is working hard to prepare for any events which may arise and we appreciate all of your support at this critical time. We understand the impact this has on everybody and we are working with everybody to try for the best possible outcome.
Thank you for your continued support.
Updates
08/04/2020 Here is some information about school closures, it includes some fantastic information for parents and carers.
22/03/2020 Just a reminder - school is closed from tomorrow until further notice.
The only children which should be attending (for childcare purposes 9am-3pm) are those where parents have received confirmation that a place is available. No other children can be accepted.
An adult must bring and collect children daily.
Please come to the main hall doors. Please space out from others who will be waiting to enter too. Please be patient as it will take time to organise as children arrive tomorrow morning.
It must be stressed that the government have said the safest place for children is to be cared for at home where absolutely possible. This includes where a key worker is able to work from home or has alternative care arrangements that could used.
For the vast majority of children and parents, further links and support for helping your children at home educationally will continue to be posted regularly.
Please check regularly on home working, the class pages (where classroom staff will update and communicate information) as well as of course the latest news section for further updates (including on FSM as soon as it is confirmed)
Thank you for your continued support.
20/03/2020 Today school will close until further notice to the vast majority. We will of course still be here to communicate and support where we can.
In these uncertain times we must ensure we lift the spirits of and care for our most vulnerable including all of our children❤️
We are strong as a community and as a nation and we will weather this storm together and await the rainbow 🌈 at the end.
Thank you to everyone associated with Pinfold ⭐️
20/03/2020 The guidance is now out on key workers. Please be patient with us as we want to get this right and make it as clear and helpful as possible. In the meantime, can we remind you that the school closures are to protect us all from the spread of the virus. We have been really fortunate so far within our region and only if we follow the guidance of the government can we continue to reduce the risks.
Therefore, we ask that if you are able to find childcare for your children, work from home or take time off work then please try to. Some key workers can also make these arrangements and are strongly encouraged to do so by the government guidance. We know you will not all be able to arrange this and we will help where we can. The government advice is clear on one thing: 'If is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be'. This is particularly important if your children or anyone in your household fall into a vulnerable category, even if you are classed as key workers. Thanks for your support.
19/03/2020 Information will be given via our website & on social media once details are confirmed. We would ask that you please avoid phoning the school office unless it’s an emergency to allow us the time to coordinate next steps following the government’s announcement and to enable the phone lines to be used where we need to contact parents for children who may become unwell. We understand that this is an anxious time for everyone and want to reassure you that we will keep you updated with all developments. Once again, thank you for you patience and support.
Social Media
Be sure to follow our social media pages. Our school Facebook is Official Pinfold Primary School, Hattersley and if you're a parent you can also join our closed group to see even more of what's happening around school.
If you're on Twitter you can follow us on there for updates and @PinfoldPrimary
30 hour Nursery places
Alongside the funded 15 hours for all 3 year old’s, we now offer 30 hour placements in our Nursery. This can be funded if you are eligible, alternatively you can pay a fee of £25 per week. To check if you are eligible for the 30 hours funded childcare click on the following link:
Application forms for our Nursery can be picked up from the school office or you can telephone school for more details.
Christmas Comes Early to Pinfold!
Inspector Danny Atherton, Neighbourhood Beat Officer Steve Carroll and PCSO Dean Fozard came to Pinfold School last week to deliver hundreds of presents for our children! The presents have been donated as part of Hit’s Radio Manchester Mission Christmas Campaign. Pictured below the three GMP officers with Head of School, Mrs. Hughes and Assistant Head, Mrs. Burlinson all proudly holding some of the donated presents. Staff at school were delighted with the kind donation and every child has now received a present
Anti-bullying Week
There’s been some great conversations and activities this week across all year groups based upon anti-bullying. Children across school were able to discuss the intended messages from wearing odd socks at the start of the week.
#chooserespect
Hattersley Christmas Light Switch On
It's nearly time! It comes round far too quickly every year, but the children are excited for Father Christmas and parents look forward to their Christmas treats.
This year some fantastic things are happening at our own 'Hattersley Christmas Light Switch On' there's a Santa's Grotto, Christmas Indoor Market, Hot food and mulled wine for the grown ups and the chance to win a massive prize of a Toshiba 55inch Smart Ultra HD TV kindly donated by Tesco.
Healthy Gems
Want to know more about keeping your kids healthy? Come and book on a free course. Further details can be found on www.tameside.gov.uk/healthygems
Solihull online - free course for parents
Tameside Council have invested in 3 award winning, quality marked, online courses by the Solihull Approach (a national NHS organisation for parenting approaches).
These courses are for ALL parents-to-be, parents, grandparents or carers of any child from the antenatal period to age 18 years. This course is relevant to parents of all children, including those with special needs, autism, ADHD etc.
We would encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity. These courses are normally £19-£39 per person, but are FREE with the access codes below to all residents of Tameside.
Please take advantage of this fantastic resource while you can. Once you have accessed the courses using this code you will have non-expiring access even after the code expires.
Go to www.inourplace.co.uk and apply the relevant access code:
• Understanding your child – Access code: SUNFLOWER
• Understanding your pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby – Access code: SUNFLOWER
• Understanding your baby– Access code: SUNFLOWER
You will be asked to create an account so that you can resume the course where you last left off. You will also be asked to verify that you are legitimately entitled to use the access code by entering your postcode. Personal information supplied by you remains private. Your responses to the monitoring questions are anonymised. You will not receive any marketing emails. You will receive congratulatory emails when you complete a module. The Solihull Approach may very occasionally email you to tell you about updates to the course.
For technical queries email solihull.approach@heartofengland.nhs.uk or ring 0121 296 4448, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
Make your lunchbox healthier!
For different ideas of what to include in your child’s packed lunch, have a look at these websites.
https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes
https://www.schoolwellbeing.co.uk/resources/475
The Bread and Butter Thing
An excellent new food shopping scheme will open up at the end of the month. The Bread and Butter Thing launches in Hattersley Hub at the end of September. It already runs successfully in other areas and has had great feedback from families. For £7 a week a family can receive 3 full shopping bags of fridge foods, cupboard foods and fruit and veg, sourced from stock over ordered or rejected by supermarkets. You can’t choose the contents but you can save a fortune, all while reducing food waste. It allows different foods to be cooked by families each week depending on the contents. Just register now and then opt in by text if you want it each week with no commitment. Individual orders are just £3.50 and extra large families can pay £14. Well done to the local activists and councillors who have brought this to our area - it will help support many local families.
Any questions please call in and speak to Mrs Burlinson.
Meet the Teacher
On Tuesday 8th September, it's our annual meet the teacher after school session where you get to meet your children's new class teachers and ask all those questions that you might like to know.
What you'll find out...
- New routines (playtimes etc)
- Curriculum (What's are your children going to be taught this year)
- P.E days
Plus many, more more things... Come along and 'Meet the teacher'!
Tops Tips - to help your child be ready for secondary school
In the document below are some top tips for preparing yourself and your child for the next big adventure of secondary school. As well as practical tips there's also some great tips about dealing with the transition emotionally.
Top tips for keeping children safe online
With Safer Internet Day fast approaching (7th February) we think that's it's important that you're aware of some tips that can help you keep your children safer online. Below are some links to a few websites explaining a bit more about keeping safe online.
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2017/tips-and-advice-parents-and-carers
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
