Tomatos
Courgettes
Runner Beans
Broad Beans
Pumpkin
Spinach
Purple French Beans
Bolotti Beans

Also on sale will be products produced from recycling goods, ranging from decoupage chairs through to shiny fish decorations.

There will also be a ‘Cafe’ selling tea, coffee, squash as well as smoothies and fruit kebabs.  Plus home-made cakes.

Dear ParentsIt is been some time since we wrote to you regarding the continuing work of the Longlevens PrimaryPartnership during the year 2013/14. Time has flown by but we have been enormously busy takingforward joined up working across both schools in a number of areas.MathematicsThis year has seen the introduction of the “Big Maths” approach within both schools as a way ofdeveloping a single approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics, providing high qualitymaths experience for children and a continuity of approach. Shared INSET and training has takenplace, along with joint monitoring activity to look at how we can build towards consistency across theschools. Although it is relatively early days, the signs are extremely positive, lesson observations andpupil conferencing have shown a much more positive approach to mathematics by the children and agreater level of enthusiasm and enjoyment of the subject, as well as improved performance inassessments.SEND & InclusionThis is the second year that we have been sharing the development of our approach to supportingpupils with SEND needs. We are collaborating on the Achievement For All programme (AFA) , whichlooks at focussed intervention for the lowest attaining pupils, working alongside parents inpartnership and raising attainment and progress. This has been exciting work for all of us, with highquality, consistent staff development across the partnership. For those parents who have beeninvolved with workshops and parent consultations, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.Leadership and StaffingAs well as Sarah Smith working at the infant school as part of the AFA programme, we have hadseveral other areas of joint working which have been really successful. Firstly our assistantheadteachers have had a joint leadership development programme where they have been able tolearn together and explore areas where we can improve our pupils experiences and opportunities stillfurther across the partnership. We have also given time and opportunity for the subject leads atboth school sites to undergo training and development together as well as have time to identify jointpriorities and areas for common development. The outcome of this for our pupils will mean lessrepetition and a greater level of challenge in their learning.In addition to the above we also have identified further opportunities for the sharing of staff betweenboth schools. We look forward to being able to share some exciting news once these plans arefinalised.IdentityCurrently both schools have their own logos, team systems and identities. We have, as you know,been consulting on the creation of a joint identity for the LPP and a new team system so that whenpupils join the school at reception, their sense of belonging in a primary learning environment will gowith them throughout their seven years with the partnership. Watch this space!PupilsBringing the children together for shared experiences is central to the vision of the partnership andstill remains an area of some untapped potential. However we have been able to set up someexcellent opportunities this year for joint pupil working. Shared performances, dance exhibitions,plays and music have been very successful and we are looking forward to our first joint OutdoorLearning Week. There are also plans to get both school councils together next term as part of ourpartnership improvement planning.Academy ConversionsThe partnership is actively exploring this route now, and we have appointed solicitors andconsultants to undertake feasibility exercises to establish if this structure best meets the needs of thechildren within the Longlevens community.It has been, and remains an exceptionally busy agenda for us all, but we remain enthusiastic andexcited about the fresh opportunities and outlook that the partnership gives us. If you have anycomments or queries we would love to hear from you.Best RegardsKerry & Dave

The Ernest Cooke Trust offers this trip at no cost to the school or the children therefore we ask for a voluntary contribution of £5.20 towards the cost of the coaches. Please note that we must cover the cost of the transport or the trips will not be able to take place. Our visits will run within the normal school day with the children leaving school at around 9am and returning at about 3.15pm. They will need to bring a packed lunch, snacks and drinks for the day and wear appropriate clothing. Pupils will experience the river that flows through the site, the Churn, and identify the features of the river.  Fairford trip 3H 3GS 2013 and Fairford trip 3J 3D 2013

3H and 3GS – Monday 3rd June
3J and 3D – Monday 17th June

Although we have only been working together in partnership since January 2012, we have established some significant changes in our joint working which will benefit the whole school community. We are also aware that we still have a long way to go and are busy planning future developments for 2012-13.

One of our greatest challenges has been and continues to be communication across the two schools’ communities. We now have a large community to serve and one which is very dynamic with a great many diverse activities taking place. Whilst we have made progress with aligning many of our procedures, there have still been occasions when, regrettably this has not been successful. We will be making changes to our systems of diary keeping; aligning on-line calendars across the two schools and enabling access for parents to the school calendar via the school web-sites. We apologise for the times when dates have clashed and will be making every effort to prevent this happening in the future.

Early on in the year we spent some time with the whole staff and governors drawing together our ideas for the Vision and Values of the LPP. It was very rewarding to realise how easily this was achieved because we all do share similar values and what the same for our schools.

School Leadership

Following the initial work on the vision and values, the governing bodies of the two schools formed a joint committee to monitor and support the partnership work of the two schools. The LPP governors then created and signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which will underpin the work of the partnership.

The Senior Leadership Groups (SLG) of both schools meet regularly to plan and evaluate partnership working and have undergone training together to improve the efficiency of our meetings and work together.

The leadership structure in both schools is now more closely aligned and the leadership teams and governors are involved in aligning statutory policies.

Curriculum
There have been two areas of curriculum focus this year for the LPP. These are Mathematics and Special Educational Needs (SEND) and joint subject leadership teams meet regularly to share expertise, plan and undertake joint development work and to align policies and procedures

• Mathematics – Shared In service training (INSET) is planned for the next academic year for the whole staff of both schools to ensure a common language and approach to the teaching of mathematics across the two schools. The LPP Maths team will be undertaking joint monitoring of the teaching and learning of mathematics across both schools to ensure the common approach is contributing to progress across all phases. The team have developed a parents’ Maths booklet and a shared calculation policy

• SEND – The LPP SEND team have agreed a common process for the identification and provision of Special educational need and are developing a common Pastoral Support team which should be better placed to serve the whole community since many of our families have children in both schools.

Forest Schools
Building on the hugely successful Forest School at LJS we are now planning to develop a Forest School at LIS. Mr Dave Jones of LIS will lead this development with support from Mr Shane Gue, the Forest School Leader at LJS. Parents at Longlevens Infants School will be learning more about this development in the new term.

Shared activities

In addition to the strategic development taking place we have enjoyed many shared activities since January and hope that this will go from strength to strength. Here is a flavour of some of the activities we have shared:

• Year 4 children performed their “Where the Wild Things are” dance to the infants
• Year 6 Sports leaders assisted at the Infants School sports day
• Infant School children visited LJS Year 4 Museum
• Year 2 children have visited LJS and shared activities in school and the Library as part of their transition activities
• Year 1 children used the LJS Forest School as part of their mini-beast topic
• Junior children have presented assemblies at LIS to promote their Y4 Museum and Year 6 play
• Year 3 children held an Art gallery at LIS
• Year 3 children watched the Year 2 performance
• Year 6 pupils joined up with reception children for story and reading activities
• A competition has been launched across the two schools to design a logo for the LPP

We are hoping for more shared events in the next academic year for families and staff of both schools; more about that in the Autumn Term!

In the meantime we would all like to wish you an enjoyable and relaxing summer break and we look forward to another successful year in both schools enhanced and enriched by the Longlevens Primary Partnership.

Marylyn Nelson, Kerry Cunningham, Dave Smith
LPP Headteachers