Keep an eye on our Facebook page @coopsmithies to see what's been going lately. 

As the term is near to ending I wanted to give you some updates ready for next year. We have had an incredibly busy autumn term and the children and staff have been working hard on developing their knowledge in all areas of the curriculum.

Staffing update

We say a fond farewell to Miss Austwick and Mr Watkins-Smith, who will be leaving us at the end of term.  We wish them both all the best for their future and thank them for their hard work and commitment to the children and families in the community.

Miss Burns, who is a trust executive teacher, will continue to teach in Year One in the new term. Mrs South will be joining Smithies Moor from January 2024 as Early Years Leader, leading the Early Years team in reception and nursery.

Kind Donations

Christmas Fair and raffle- Thank you to all who attended the Christmas Fair and bought raffle tickets. This was a great success. Staff and parent partnerships have been made and hopefully more events are to be planned for the future terms. As a result of the parent and staff commitments we have made £1000, which will support more exciting academy activities over the Spring term.

Thank you for your kind donations over the past months towards all the good causes. We supported the poppy appeal, Children in In Need and the local Food Bank.

Bridge Breakfast Club

Bridge Breakfast Club is continuing to open from 7.30am to support families who need an early start to the day.

If you are entitled to Pupil Premium your child has a free place at the Breakfast club each morning. This is a project led by The Trust that will continue over the foreseeable future.

Please email the academy office (smit-office@coopacademies.co.uk) to book your child in for Bridge Breakfast Club, so that we can make provision for the number of children who will be attending before academy hours.

Attendance

Attendance matters!

It is important that your child gets to school on time to start lessons at 8.50am and aims for 100% attendance!

Our current whole school attendance is below the national average at 93%.

Being late to school can negatively affect your child’s attendance. Also taking holidays in term time will have a negative impact.

Miss Pickles, our academy attendance officer, and myself, as attendance leader, will continue to invite parents to meetings to discuss attendance concerns and offer guidance and any support needed in early January 2024. Plans will be put in place and monitoring of pupil’s attendance will always be a high priority for all in the academy.

After School Clubs

This term the after school clubs have been a great success. We will be offering different clubs after the holidays. A letter will be sent out in the first week back and your child can select from the options available. The clubs will start on the second week back.

Christmas Concert

The children performed fabulously at the Christmas concerts and brought Christmas spirit to us all. Thank you to all who supported the concerts and also brought children back to the after school performances on bitterly cold evenings.

Thank you for your continued support over the last term. I personally would like to wish all families and all staff a safe, restful and happy holiday time for the next 2 weeks. The academy closes at the end of the day on Friday 22nd December and reopens to pupils on Tuesday 9th January 2023 at 8.50am.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best wishes

Mrs Catherine Brackenbury

Head of Academy

Well done to all the children in Year 6 who completed their SATs tests last week. They were all amazing, showing a fabulous commitment to their learning. We are so proud of every one of them!

Staffing update- Last week, the academy leaders interviewed candidates for an Assistant Headteacher to join the senior leadership team at the academy. We had a strong group of candidates and we are incredibly pleased to announce that Mr Sandwith will be joining us as the Assistant Headteacher at Smithies Moor in September.

Thank you to the parents who completed the Your Voice survey earlier this year. The results have been collated and we are looking at how we can make improvements from your suggestions. One area was to make it clearer who the Chair of Governors was and how to make contact with governors. Our Chair of Governors is Tracey Darley. You can find out more about the governors on our website . If you wish to contact Tracey you can find her details on the contact page.

Thank you all for your commitment and support over the past Spring term.

Staffing update- In March, academy leaders interviewed candidates for a permanent teacher vacancy in the academy. We are incredibly pleased to announce that Mr Watkins-Smith, who is currently teaching Year 3, will be joining us as a permanent member of staff at Smithies Moor.

Parent Governor – We are pleased to announce that through the parent governor elections, we received one parent governor application. As an academy and as a trust, we welcome Peter Bellwood as our new parent governor to join Richard Lupton on our Governing Council.

Over the past year we have taken part in  the DfE Behaviour Hubs program with support from a Lead School- Spring Grove Primary School, Huddersfield. This has been a great success in developing behaviour rules and routines across the academy. In the Summer term, we will be launching our new Behaviour Curriculum. Like all curriculum areas this will have a long term plan and areas of behaviours will be explicitly taught to all our pupils. The children will have behaviour objectives to focus on each half term. Through staff training we are developing a behaviour culture where behaviour is seen as communication. This is having a positive impact on supporting all pupils in the academy. This is supporting our co-op ways of being through succeeding together and doing what matters most.

If you are struggling for any reason, please come and share Christmas Day with us.

We are now taking bookings for our Christmas Day Lunch 2022. Contact us on 07398 735 530

We will also be delivering to housebound people where needed.

For all Bookings and donations please call into 34-34a Cloth Hall Street, Crackenedge Lane, Dewsbury WF13 1QE.

Opening Days

• Wednesday 11 am – 2 pm
• Saturday 11 am – 2 pm

Fully supported by the Longcauseway Church Dewsbury – Merry Christmas!

Single parent? Worried about funding everything for Christmas?

Dewsbury Cares Community Group is here to help out… We can deliver to your door* FREE Christmas day meals and gifts if you or someone else cannot collect them. Or please join us at Longcauseway Church in Dewsbury where there will be children’s activities and entertainment, plus a visit from Santa. Transport can be arranged.

Book in with us by calling 07398 735 530. All we need is your name, address*, ages, and gender of children then you can leave the rest to us.

We normally deliver to addresses in Batley, Dewsbury, Mirfield, and Spen – If you live further afield, please give us a call and we’ll let you know if it’s possible to deliver to you on Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas!

We could supply your family with a gift for children aged 0 – 16 years.

Email : fundraising@yccuk.org.uk

Text : 07761 339 284

Call : 01484 519 988

Let us know your full name, how many children you require a gift for, their age, and gender.

Please find details below of all organisations who can help you should you need any support.

Foodbanks

Batley Food bank

26 Wellington Street, Batley, WF17 5HU

info@BatleyFoodBank.org.uk

01924 474 999

You can also click here for more information.

There are some great sessions available to parents and carers taking place in our community.

At the Church in Roberttown, the sessions are free for parents and carers with their babies to enjoy some gentle yoga-type exercises, peer-to-peer support from other local parents, and a chance to do something local to where they live.

These are every Monday afternoon (1:30 pm until 2:30 pm).

The same sessions are available at Salvation Army in Heckmondwike every Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 11.30 am.

There is also a Chill and Chat cafe at Northorpe Hall on Wednesday 19th October for families with SEND needs. You do not need a diagnosis. The sessions are for parents and carers to gain support, relax with professionals on hand etc.

The Department for Education will start a project to replace or refurbish one or more buildings at the school, as appropriate, setting the school up for high educational standards for all its pupils for decades to come.

Co-op Academy Smithies Moor, supported by Co-op Academies Trust will work with the Department for Education to agree the educational design of the project and the timeframe for delivery. Over the course of the work there will be minimal disruption at Smithies Moor, ensuring all of the children get the best education possible.

The details of the development have not yet been agreed, though the school plans to share updates as they approach the building work. 

Head of Academy at Smithies Moor, Catherine Brackenbury said:

“We are so excited to have a new building on the horizon. We have long felt that our building does not match the forward thinking approach of our school. To have a state-of -the-art facility will better reflect our ethos and will be wonderful for our children. 

It will be transformational not just for pupils but for our whole school community. It will add an excellent facility to the local community for all to benefit from for many years to come.”

Chris Tomlinson, CEO of Co-op Academies Trust said:

“It’s wonderful news that investment in education is happening through projects like the School Rebuild Programme.  The building is the old Heckmondwike Secondary school, which was repurposed for Smithies Moor in the 90’s. This new building will be purpose-built with primary education in mind, and is fantastic for the community.”

Across the School Rebuilding Programme, the rebuilds and refurbishments will create modern education environments, providing new facilities from classrooms and science labs, to sports halls and dining rooms.

The new school buildings will also be net-zero carbon in operation, helping meet the government’s net zero target.

The programme is due to deliver 500 rebuilding projects over the next decade, which will benefit tens of thousands of pupils over their lifetime.

This school is part of an announcement of 61 new projects, including primary, secondary and special schools, levelling up opportunities across the entire country.

Education Secretary James Cleverly said: 

“Our School Rebuilding Programme is already making a difference to the lives of pupils and their teachers. It is creating greener school sites that are fit for the future and that local communities can be proud of. 

“We know how important it is to have high-quality school facilities. That is why we continue to invest billions in our rebuilding programme.”

Co-op Academy Smithies Moor will be revealing detailed plans in the near future.

Andy Gibson- Head of Early Career Framework with Initial Teacher Training

It’s a really scary thought to not know where your child is, so they’ve shared some helpful ideas to help make sure everyone is safe. 

• Have a plan for when your child spends time at their friend’s house and speak to their parents
• When your child’s friends are at your house, make sure you’ve spoken to their parents

Read more in their letter

Join their very special Halloween Big Clean Up. They’ll have a picking station set up in the town centre for their spooky clean. Come along in optional Halloween fancy dress and take part, they’ll have Halloween treats for kids too!

Sunday 31st October 2021

Town Centre 10am – 3pm

• Help with jargon
• SEN support information
• Help with EHCP
• Support with reviews, meetings, mediation and appeals