Really well done to Jan and the team in the Children’s Centre after OFSTED rated the centre as Good! Ofsted remarked on the positive comments from parents and the wonderful activities that the children were doing when they came in to visit at the end of February. We know that there have been a lot of improvements in the Children’s Centre recently -and many more still to come. It is really great to be recognised for the work that our staff are doing.

You can read the full report here: Ofsted Report 2018

Dear Parents and Carers,
Please support us to keep your children safe on their journey to, and from, school. Thank you to all parents and carers who ensure children arrive and are collected from school on time and in the playground. We ask that all children are brought into the school grounds and enter the school before accompanying adults leave the school grounds.

It is important that all children arriving at school and waiting at the one of the gates before 8.45am, are accompanied by an adult. Please inform the school if your child is in year 6 and, as part of their preparation for secondary school, you would like them to travel to or from school themselves. We do not recommend children younger than year 6 travel to or from school alone. You will need to arrange an appointment, through the school office, with a member of the leadership team if you would like to discuss a younger child coming to school without an adult.

It is also very important that all children arriving unaccompanied before 8.45am use the office entrance and sign in to breakfast club if they arrive before the gates open. A number of children are arriving at school early and waiting at the gates unaccompanied. This morning there were 4 children unaccompanied waiting at 8.20am, which I am sure you will agree is unsafe.

The school is working hard with the local community to ensure the roads are safe for our children and families. You will have noticed that traffic officers are regularly monitoring and attending to traffic issues that parents and carers have raised. It has been passed on to us that some parents, carers and children are not using the Zebra crossings and traffic signals and crossing the road unsafely. We have spoken about this with the children in assembly. Please support us to keep your children safe by using the zebra crossings and traffic crossing signals when crossing our busy roads.

We appreciate your support and thank you for working with us to ensure your child arrives at school safely and on time ready to enjoy the school day.

Please speak with a member of staff if you have any further questions or queries.

Best wishes

Michelle Bahn
Headteacher

Islington Headteachers’ Public Statement

A public statement by Headteachers in the London Borough of Islington.

For many years, head teachers, school staff, governors and the education authority have worked tirelessly together to create high-quality provision across the borough which has resulted in excellent outcomes for children in Islington.

An example of this is that in the last decade, the increase in the proportion of children reaching the expected standard for the core subjects at KS2 means that Islington (which is currently the 2nd most deprived borough in the country*) has gone from being 122nd out of 150 Local Authorities to currently being 39th, which puts Islington in the 29th percentile.

We are writing to express our deep concerns that continued inadequate funding of schools will mean that we will not be able to sustain these successes. Instead, we strongly believe that these cuts will result in poorer outcomes for our children, and the same applies for schools across the country.

Unfunded pay-rises, increased pensions and National Insurance contributions have already placed a significant strain on school budgets which have resulted in ‘educational efficiencies’ being made in schools across the country.

The National Audit Office believes that without additional funding, the Islington family of schools will be forced to make cuts equivalent to approximately £15million by 2019/ 2020. That is a reduction of £711 per pupil and a loss of 400 teachers across our Islington schools alone.

This will put our children’s education at risk. We need investment, not further cuts.

What the Government states:

1. The National Funding Formula will make the system fairer.

2. That schools’ funding is now at a record level – more than £40bn this year

3. There is significant scope for schools to make further efficiencies (£3 billion by 2020)

What Headteachers state:

1) The National Funding Formula will simply distribute inadequate funding in a different way

2) School funding is insufficient – there are more pupils than ever before and schools across Islington have already made substantial cuts to provision

3) There is no more scope for efficiencies without this having a significant and detrimental impact on children’s outcomes.

What will continued underfunding and further cuts mean for your children?

 Lower standards and not achieving their full potential

 Less additional support for children who need it

 Fewer opportunities for children to be involved in enrichment activities (trips, extended schools, extra-curricular, therapeutic support for children’s wellbeing and mental health, etc.)

 Fewer resources

 Less choice in school subjects

 Larger class sizes

 

Robert Blair pupils were in the Islington Gazette after their stunning poetry performances in May.

Click on the photo to see the article