Termly Headteacher Update!

I am humbled when I see the efforts that the children put into raising money for charitable causes. The amount of money that they raise is a testament to the compassion that they feel for those less fortunate, it is a real honor to be the headteacher of such a remarkable school. I would like you all to recognize the efforts of your children and praise them for the kindness that they show towards others.

Nadeem Haque- Chair of Governors Finance and Fundraising

Asif Ali- Vice Chair of Governors Compliance

Usman Ahmed– Safeguarding, HR, and Legal

Florence Angole- Education

For anyone who is interested we are still advertising for the following two roles: Facilities + IT and Islamic Ethos.

Curriculum and the Leads

Over the last year, we have been working hard developing our curriculum and programmes of study. The overviews are emailed to all parents and can be found on the website. These provide an insight into the concepts covered each term.

This term the curriculum leads have been conducting lesson observations and book scrutinies. We have been evaluating the provision through the use of audits and ensuring we are maintaining high standards in all areas. It is important that we cater for the needs of all the children, the schemes of work are adapted and the work is differentiated. The support staff assist the class teachers and provide intervention during lessons.

The new Ofsted framework is built around 3 main areas; intent, impact, and implementation. We have reviewed our assessments which will now provide a more accurate picture of the progress and attainment of each child. This data will be used to create targets and adapt the schemes of work if necessary.

Pastoral

We have been working very hard trying to ensure that all the children remain safe and comfortable whilst in our care. This is done through conversations with their class teachers, within PSHE lessons, assemblies and through daily activities. We are constantly reinforcing good behavior, but there will always be incidents where children fall short of what is expected of them.

We have a robust behavior policy that allows us to monitor and assess the trends in behavior around the school. It is important to remind children of how their behavior affects others.

We recently conducted a survey with the pupils we asked them to complete questionnaires. One questionnaire focused on how safe they felt at school, the other was based on their studies, we had a positive response. In Sh Allah, we will publish the results of the survey in the new year.

Premises

We have installed ACs in each class allowing us to monitor the temperature and ensure that it is running at a comfortable level.

During break times we have many supervisors on duty who patrol the grounds and ensure that the children play safely. Despite this, there will still be occasions where children will fall and scrape themselves.

We have assessed the situation and found that most of the injuries are occurring around the climbing frame so we have made the decision to install soft flooring around that area. This should help in reducing the number of injuries that we are experiencing.

Safeguarding at the school

At Al-Khair we strive to keep all children safe under our care. We provide a nurturing environment where we develop relationships with the children where they trust and respect the teachers. We would like all parents to also play a role in this at home. Our termly safeguarding newsletter the first of which you received last week will be sent each term. This will serve as a reminder and will provide you with the latest in statutory guidance.

It is important that parents are equipped with the relevant knowledge for them to support their children in all aspects of life. As educationalists, we will endeavor to provide you with the latest information and statutory guidance. This may come in the form of newsletters or workshops.

Parental involvement

We have held some educational workshops for KS1 over the last term. These have been very successful, and the parents have greatly benefitted from the advice and guidance provided. It is difficult for parents to always know how to approach concepts, especially in this ever-changing climate. We are happy to arrange workshops in safeguarding or in education, please do let us know if there are any specific areas of training that would benefit you. We will try and accommodate these in the new year.

If you as a parent feel that you can add value to the school by either supporting us in a voluntary capacity or providing advice and guidance in any of the areas mentioned this is welcomed. Please do contact us and we will arrange a meeting.

The PTA has been working on the library project. We are hoping that this will be up and running next term. Jzk to all those parents who have given up their time for this.

Weather

The winter season is upon us and I hope that we will not have to close the school due to snow or other adverse weather conditions. A decision to close the school is not undertaken lightly and we will only close the school for health and safety reasons. It is an extremely difficult decision and we have to take into consideration a number of things including how safe it is for pupils and staff to travel to and from school safely.

We also need to ensure that we have enough staff on site to teach and supervise pupils for the full day. Many staff does not live locally and travel a distance to school each day so they are not able to walk to work. We will endeavor to make a decision regarding any closure by 7.00 am in the morning and will post a message on the school web-site/send out a message to parents/carers.

Please do not ring school as we may not have anybody available to answer the telephone as they may not be able to get to the school. If the school is open, but you are unable to get your child to school due to the conditions on the roads or if public transport is severely disrupted, you must use your judgment as to whether to send your child to school on that day. We want everyone to stay as safe as possible in extreme weather.

Jazakallah for your continued support.

Almas Iqbal

Headteacher

Al-Khair Preparatory School