Dear parents/carers,

A big welcome to all our new families and welcome back to our returning families. September is always an exciting and busy time of year. We do hope all our new children settle quickly, please talk to your child’s key person if you have any concerns.

We have lots of exciting events and activities planned for the Autumn term so, along with the information in this newsletter,  keep an eye out for text messages and notices telling you what is happening and when. Also please make sure we have an up to date mobile phone number so you don’t miss out on the text messages.

Our Children’s Centre Plus provision is changing: The local authority is moving to a fully delegated budget for our resourced provision for children with complex needs. During the transition period we will have a few changes of staff, initially this will be in Red and Yellow Classes with Julie and Verity moving to another setting and Hafsah Malik and Henna Khan in Yellow Class and Sohail Shapel and Hafsa Ali in Red Class replacing them.  From April there will also be changes in Blue Room. We are using our budget to pay for more staff in order to better meet the needs of the children. Ermina Kesedzic will continue as our specialist teacher and Special Educational Needs & Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCO). Other than the staff changes, you will see little change as we continue to provide the very best education and care for our children.  We will also have a new name, Early Years Enhanced Specialist Provision. Do talk to Ermina if you have any questions.

Last October St Edmund’s entered into the Big Draw competition, the largest drawing festival in the world. The theme was conkers and spiders. We are delighted to announce that our children won an award. On 25th July Ermina and Lou travelled to London with Ibrahim Mir, Adam Khan and their mums to pick up this amazing award. Ibrahim and Adam were most definitely the stars of the whole show, receiving the biggest applause from the audience as they climbed the stage to pick up their well-deserved prize. The work of St Edmund’s children is displayed at Cartwright Gallery. We are very proud of our young artists.

We want you and your child to have a really special experience at St Edmund’s. Please do talk to us if you have any suggestions as to how we can improve, we are always willing to listen.

Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie Merifield (Executive Headteacher)