Keep up to date with all the news happening in the school at the moment. Articles are added during the week. Parents are encouraged to check regularly. Our weekly bulletin, emailed directly to parents, summarises content for the week.

• Quiz Night - tickets on sale Tue 21 Jan

  Thu 16 Jan 2020

  The PTFA's Quiz Night is back by popular demand and will take place on Friday 28 February - so make sure you get the babysitter booked up early as they will be in demand!

  Tickets will cost £11 per person or £66 for a team of 6 (plus 50p booking fee per ticket). Your ticket will include a very scrumptious Mexican meal cooked by our regular Quiz Night chef (meat and veg options available). We ask that you bring your own drinks/alcohol (including recyclable cups) snack and any pudding for your teams as usual.

  Tickets for the Quiz Night will go on sale at 8pm on Tuesday 22 January. The ticket link is  https://buytickets.at/fieldingptfa/338866

  We are very much aware that tickets are in huge demand for this event. However we have noticed that often several members of a team will be booking the same table at once - which means tickets are taken off sale while the ticket system plays catch up - so don't despair. Tickets often come back on sale 30-40mins later.

• Hearing Dogs for Deaf People - 1st April

  Mon 13 Jan 2020

  Each year, we ask our children to choose three charities they would like to support. We choose one local, one national and one global charity to support throughout the school year. This year’s national charity that the children chose to support is Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. This charity works to train dogs to allow deaf people to access things (including live-saving alarms) that many hearing people often take for granted. The dogs that they train also work to reduce isolation and provide companionship for deaf people who are at risk from loneliness.

   

  On Wednesday 1st April, Children are invited to dress up as a dog for the day to raise awareness of this charity. We are asking for a small monetary contribution on behalf of the charity, allowing it to continue its important work. Fielding is also in contact with Guinness World Records to see if we would qualify for a record attempt!

   

  Thank you.

  

• Years R -6, bookings for parent consultation ARE NOW LIVE

  Mon 13 Jan 2020 Clare Haines

  Bookings for parent consultations are now available. This is for years R - 6 only. 

  Consultation meetings should be booked via MCAS (My Child at School).

  Click here to book: MCAS

  Relevant links

  • Parent guide to MCAS
  • My child at school (MCAS) news article
  • Sharing your child's progress news article

• What are our strengths?  Where might we need to improve?

  Mon 13 Jan 2020 Clare Haines

  Each year we carry out an annual survey to find out parents' views. Your views are important to us.  We add your views to our own evaluation enabling us to identify our strengths and areas for improvement.   We would appreciate it if you could take the time to complete the survey by following this link:

  • Annual Parent Survey link

  Anonymous responses are possible.  However, whatever your views, it helps us to know who you are so that we can better understand and/or follow-up on any concerns raised. 

  Last year we received only 276 families responded representing 362 pupils.  We would like an even stronger response this year. You told us that the things you most like about Fielding are:

  Parents most liked (261 responses):

  • Teaching and learning including the ‘quality’ and ‘commitment’ and ‘the calibre of teachers who seem dedicated, professional and focused on bringing the best out of their students, and themselves’ (90 comments);
  • Outdoor space and environment, including the ‘lovely new kitchen garden’ chickens, forest, field and all of our facilities (67 comments);
  • Values-based education, including the care and compassion that all adults show to children, our welcoming, friendly ethos (63 comments);
  • The caring, nurturing environment, including warm and friendly staff (46 comments)
  • Opportunities for sport, music, teams and specialist teaching (29 comments)
  • The sense of community, including a ‘small school feel’ but all the opportunities and benefits of size (29 comments)
  • Variety of clubs and childcare (23 comments)

  Parents would most like to change or improve (194 responses):

  • Communication, majority recognised this has improved but would like to see it more streamlined, some would like more communication with teachers, others about progress. (34 comments in total related to communication)
  • Nothing! (19 responses)
  • Clubs, including availability and booking arrangements (23 comments); 15 comments related directly to booking system, Others to variety of clubs available.
  • More support for teachers in class (16 comments)
  • Implementation of the behaviour policy, consistency (12 comments)

  Following your feedback, we have:

  • Continued to increase the number of Specialist Clubs and spaces available for each year group. We have looked at a number of alternative providers and methods for communication including for clubs booking and have started to move across to Bromcom.
  • We recruited a 'Leader of Play' who oversees all play provision and opportunities for pupils offering a much more varied menu or play. Improving the facilities for pupils, including equipment, zoned areas and activities available.
  • We reviewed our approach to Values-based education and launched 4 core values during the summer term. We revised our behaviour and anti-bullying policies to be in line with these core values. Linking on our new reward token system and rewards and sanctions. We worked with all staff around consistency of implementing our behaviour policy.

   

  This year we are particularly interested in your views on healthy lifestyles.

  The governing board are responsible for the provision of school food and embedding a great food culture throughout the school day. It is also their statutory responsibility to ensure the School Food Standards are being met. In the current inspection framework for schools, Ofsted have a greater focus on how schools are creating a culture and ethos of healthy eating and lifestyles.

  Over the past few years the range of opportunities to eat/prepare/bring food into school has grown. We have not produced any guidance on this. 

  This includes:

  • School meals and packed lunches
  • Breakfast club
  • After-school club
  • Cooking club
  • Break-time and after-school  snacks
  • Cooking lessons
  • Home learning
  • Constellation treats
  • PTFA events and sales
  • Birthday treats
  • Food tasting as part of other curriculum areas eg French and MindUp

  Over the next year we will be exploring this further with the aim to producing a 'Food in school policy' and  associated guidance. In particular we will be focusing on  healthy lifestyles and how we meet the needs of pupils who have specific dietary requirements (eg intolerance, allergies, medical conditions)  through inclusive practice.

   

  Questions 25-32 of the survey directly relate to this.

   

  The survey will close on Friday 31st January at 11.45pm.

• Do you know what your child is learning? Find out more...

  Sun 12 Jan 2020 Clare Haines

  Our curriculum is designed so that pupils develop their knowledge and skills in each of the National Curriculum subjects.

  As well as regular updates on each year group noticeboard about English and mathematics, you  can also find out what your child is learning in other subjects by looking at our curriculum maps:

  • Reception and Nursery
  • Years 1-6

  (Please note, these documents are  saved in .pdf format. They are A0 in size and not intended for printing. You will need to download and zoom).

   

  Each year group has a yearly overview which maps out what will be taught when. The must-know knowledge and skills for each 'learning challenge' is carefully mapped out on our knowledge organisers.

  You can find the overview and knowledge organisers here:

  • Year group overviews and knowledge organisers.

  To find out more head to our curriculum page here:

  • Curriculum 

  or read out news article from September:

  • An exciting time for Fielding's curriculum

• Minutes of November PTFA Meeting published

  Fri 10 Jan 2020

  At the last PTFA meeting held in November, it was agreed that the minutes would be published in the weekly newsletter.  These are now available to download.  The next meeting is being held on Monday 13 January in the school house at 9am and 8.30pm.  Feel free to add your voice to our activities.  

  PTFA Minutes

• Recommended Reading List Fund up to £3,701

  Fri 10 Jan 2020

  The PTFA Recommended Reading List Weekly Tracker has been updated this week and now stands at £3,701.  This follows last years' announcement that 80% of Fielding's Library Books were classified as 'Condemned' and Mr Dunmall has stated that this is the school's number one priority.
  We have a target to raise an extra £5,000 on top of the £40,000 the school has already paid to buy new books for our children.  Thank you to the 68 donors who have allowed us to get to this point, but it would be wonderful if we could find more donors.
  If you are able to donate, either scan the QR code with your phone on the weekly tracker banners at each school entrance, donate via https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8gmxwZI8ZG or purchase one of the books yourself and ask your child(ren) to bring it into the school office and highlight the value of giving.

• Sharing your child’s progress

  Fri 10 Jan 2020 Clare Haines

  As you know SPTO (school pupil tracker) has closed. We wrote to you in May last year to explain the changes we have made regarding how we assess your child’s progress. Please see our assessment page for more information:

  • Assessment at Fielding

  Pupils in Years 1-6 will be taking part in mathematics and reading assessments during the first two weeks of this term. Teachers will use these tests to assess what children know and what they need to teach next. Teachers will also be assessing your child’s writing against the criteria of the National Curriculum. The outcomes of these assessments will be available to you on MCAS (My Child at School) from the 22^nd January.

  We will no longer be using ‘golden codes’ and ‘hashtags’ as these were part of our old assessment procedures.

  Standardised scores

  In MCAS you will see your child’s ‘standardised score’ and whether they are working ‘below’, ‘in-line’ or ‘above’ expectations for their age. We will use the following standardised score ranges:

  • 70-84 - Working well below
  • 85-94 – Working below
  • 95-115 – Working at age related expectations
  • 116+ - working above (greater depth)

  Standardised scores are not the same as ‘scaled scores’ these are used at the end of key stage 2. They are also not the same as ‘age-standardised’ scores. These are similar but are adjusted to take age at time of test into account.  We are not using age standardised scores because pupils take end of key-stage tests at the same time with no allowance for age.

  Standardised scores from most educational tests cover the same range, from 70 to 140. Therefore a pupil's score in mathematics and reading can be compared directly using standardised scores. A pupil’s standardised score can also be tracked from test to test to monitor whether progress is being made. 100 is ‘average’.

  If a pupil’s standardised score goes up significantly, it means they are making more than average progress. Conversely, if a pupil’s standardised score falls significantly, they are making less than average progress and may need to be monitored more carefully.

  Measuring progress

  Your child's progress from the end of the previous key stage (end of reception or Year 2) will be described as:

  • Well below expected
  • Below expected
  • At expected
  • Above expected

  Children in our Nursery and Reception classes will continue to be assessed by their class teacher against the different areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile.

  MCAS

  Read our article on MCAS, to find out how to log on:

  • My Child at School (MCAS)

   

  Parent consultation meetings

  Parent consultation meetings for pupils in Reception to Year 6 are scheduled for 3^rd and 10^th February.  You will be able to discuss your child’s progress at these meetings. Slots for parents’ consultations will be available to book from Friday 17^th January on MCAS.

• Updating how we communicate. New ‘My Child at School’ website and App

  Fri 10 Jan 2020 Clare Haines

  We are starting to make changes to the way we communicate to you. You may recall that we have published several news articles explaining that School Pupil Tracker was closing and that we were using this as an opportunity to review all our information and communication systems in school, including Laser.

  We are now ready to launch Bromcom. We have moved our internal information management systems across to Bromcom. We are using this system to store key information about your child in line with our data protection policy.

  Going forward we will also be using Bromcom to communicate with you through its ‘My Child at School’ website and app, also known as ‘MCAS’. We will have a phased approach to moving all of our communication systems across to Bromcom.

  In summary MCAS will provide:

  • access to real-time Attendance, Assessment and Behavioural information;
  • communication facilities to improve contact between you and us;
  • instant access to published reports.

  To start with we will be use MCAS to store and share your child’s assessment and behaviour (rewards and sanctions) information. You will have access to this information as it is completed by your child’s class teacher.

  We will also be asking you to book your Spring Term parent consultation meetings through the MCAS app or website.

  We will continue to use our Year Group Noticeboards on the website for information relevant to the whole year group.

  We will continue to use the calendar on the school website for events.

  For now, childcare, specialist clubs, trips and events should continue to be booked via Laser. We will let you know when we are ready to use Bromcom/MCAS for these bookings.

  How to access MCAS website

  You will be emailed your username and password on Friday 10^th January. Please check your inbox for this email, and check that you can log-in before the parents’ consultation booking opens for pupils in Reception to Year 6 on Friday 17^th January.

  From within your web browser type http://www.mychildatschool.com This will open the login page.

  Enter the details you have been supplied, this will be the School ID, your User ID and your Password. Ticking the Remember School ID and Username box will retain these details for future logins leaving just the Password to be entered. If you have forgotten your login details, click on the Forgotten Login Details link.

  You will then be asked to enter a new password, do this and click on the Update Password button, this will be confirmed both onscreen and via another e-mail. Note: If the e-mail has not previously been verified the first e-mail received will be for verification and setup of Memorable Question.

  Please see the document below for further details on how to navigate the MCAS website.

  • Parent guide to MCAS website

  We have also added quick link to the MCAS website on the front page of the school website.

  How to access the MCAS app

  This app is available through Google Play store or Apple Apps.

  Please watch the video below to find out how to access this.

  • YouTubeLink

  Please note, unfortunately  there  are in-app' purchases linked to advertising. These are not linked to the school in anyway, any costs linked to these does not come to the school.

   

  If you do not receive your password by Tuesday 14th January this means we do not have your current email address, please contact us at admin@fielding.ealing.sch.uk

• January Values

  Thu 09 Jan 2020 L Stabler

  January Values

  The first month of the decade sees the Core Value focus going back to Respect with Key Stage 2 looking at Responsibility alongside Respect. Last year, we reviewed our Values structure to give opportunities to teach the Values in more depth. The result of this was the 4 core Values of: Respect, Resilience, Empathy and Reflection. We also wanted to ensure Key Stage 1 pupils had more time to develop a stronger understanding of our core values so they are now learning about each of the core values 3 times a year. Please see our Values page on website for our Values overview for this year.

   Pupils in years 4, 5 and 6 can also develop their understanding of Values by working towards their Values Baccalaureate. There are three levels of this that children can work towards, showing their Values at school, at home and in the local community. Please see guidance on the Values Baccalaureate on our Values webpage.

   

  During this half term, Reception and Nursery will be focusing on the core Value of resilience with a focus on keeping trying and being patient.

   

  Please continue to talk about our Values with your children as they help them develop both morally and support their academic work. Please see our Values page and the specific webpages on Respect and Resilience for our resources.