Dear Parents,
Thank you so much to all of you who came to our Exhibition Open Evening. I would like to personally thank all of the staff for their hard work in putting the exhibition together. I hope that you enjoyed the occasion and were as proud of the school as we all are.
We are very proud of our Year 6 children who achieved amazing results in their SATS tests and demonstrated outstanding learning behaviour over the past year.
As we approach the end of term and another academic year at Samuel Lucas, it is a time for celebration and reflection. The reflection undoubtedly will bring mixed emotions as we say goodbye to our Year 6 children and to some members of staff. Miss Ribbans, Mrs Johal and Miss Hyde leave us tomorrow and we wish them both the best of luck for the future.
Sports Day
Thank you to all of you who came and supported the children on Sports Day. The weather was lovely and the children all enjoyed the day immensely. I would like to say a big thank you to Mr Smith for his hard work and for making sure that the day ran smoothly.
Athletics
On Monday 9th July our Athletics team travelled to Ridlins Athletic Stadium to compete in a variety of events against other schools from the North of Hertfordshire. The children were a real credit to the school and the team came 3rd overall. Well done!
Transition Day
This year we tried something a little different with class transition. Over the past couple of weeks the children have been visiting their new classrooms and familiarising themselves with their new surroundings and also meeting their new teachers. Last Thursday the children enjoyed a full morning in their new classes, along with our new Reception children who also came to visit. It was wonderful to also welcome the new members of staff – Mrs Fisher, Ms Stickland, Miss Shepherd and Miss Mai.
Questionnaires
Thank you to all of you that have returned the completed questionnaire. A summary of feedback will be given out after the summer. It has been lovely to read so many wonderful positive comments. If you have not yet returned the questionnaire it would be appreciated if you could so before the end of the school day tomorrow.
Results
I am very proud of our childrens’ achievements; we have had some amazing results.
National data is provisional at this stage and subject to minor changes. EYFS National and Herts 2018 results have not yet been published.
EYFS :
| Herts
2017 (%) |
National
2017 (%) |
Samuel Lucas
2018 (%) |
|
| Good Level of Development | 72 | 70.7 | 81.6 |
Key Stage 1 :
| Subject | Performance
Descriptor |
Herts
2017 (%) |
National
2018 (%) |
Samuel Lucas
2018 (%) |
| Reading (Teaching Assessment) | Expected Standard + | 79 | 76 | 85 |
| Greater Depth | 32 | 26 | 39 | |
| Writing (Teacher Assessment) | Expected Standard + | 72 | 70 | 80 |
| Greater Depth | 21 | 16 | 34 | |
| Mathematics (Teacher Assessment) | Expected Standard + | 77 | 76 | 80 |
| Greater Depth | 25 | 22 | 39 |
Key Stage 2 :
| Subject | Performance
Descriptor |
Herts
2017 (%) |
National
2018 (%) |
Samuel Lucas
2018 (%) |
| Reading (Test) | Expected Standard + | 76 | 75 | 93 |
| Higher Standard* | 30 | 27.7 | 47 | |
| Writing (Teacher Assessment) | Expected Standard + | 79 | 78 | 96.7 |
| Greater Depth | 24 | 19.6 | 43 | |
| Mathematics (Test) | Expected Standard + | 77 | 76 | 90 |
| Higher Standard* | 26 | 23.2 | 43 | |
| RWM combined | Expected Standard + | 65 | 64 | 90 |
| Higher Standard* | 11 | 9.6 | 23 | |
| Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (Test) | Expected Standard + | 79 | 78 | 93 |
| Higher Standard* | 34 | 34 | 46.7 |
‘Higher standard’ has been assumed to mean a scaled score of 110 or above. However this will be confirmed by the DfE in the Autumn Term.
I would like to thank all the staff across the school, including our Teaching Assistants for all their hard work and commitment to giving the very best opportunities to your children
Business Enterprise Year Six
As many of you will be aware, Year Six have been developing their skills as entrepreneurs over the last few weeks. We are indebted to Kerry Haynes for being the catalyst to this project and for her time and expertise in ensuring it ran smoothly and efficiently. The classroom resembled various episodes of “The Apprentice” at times, with the children generating ideas, allocating roles and responsibilities including the careful management of the initial amount of money. They worked happily and co-operatively and, as the Lord Sugar figure, I had no need to utter the immortal words: “You’re fired.”
Lemonade, bracelets, fruit kebabs, necklaces, biscuits, ice-lollies, juice, brownies and hair braids were all sold during the penultimate week of term, together with opportunities to pin a tail on a koala bear and score penalty goals!
Many thanks to everyone who contributed in any way and for the support you have shown for this project. The profits covered the cost of the Year Six disco at Cromwells on Saturday as well as enabling us to allocate over £250 to Cancer Research: the charity chosen by Year Six.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Year Six for an amazing year. It has been wonderful to teach such a lovely class and I am very proud of their achievements and the way they have conducted themselves. They will be missed!
Have a lovely summer.
Mr Burgess
Attendance
Attendance at Samuel Lucas continues to be good with our whole school figure at 97.1%. May I remind parents to avoid booking holidays or medical appointments during school times, especially during registration time, wherever possible.
| Class | % Attendance |
| Lilac | 97.4 |
| Willow | 96.8 |
| Hazel | 96.7 |
| Birch | 97.9 |
| Hawthorn | 96.9 |
| Oak | 97.3 |
| Elm | 97.7 |
| Ash | 96.5 |
| Larch | 97.9 |
| Pine | 96.9 |
| Year 5 | 97.0 |
| Year 6 | 96.6 |
Well done to Birch and Larch classes who top the attendance table for this academic year!
SLPA END OF YEAR ROUND-UP
Picnic & BBQ
On Friday evening the school field was packed with approximately 600 people who attended the Picnic & BBQ; it was a fantastic evening enjoyed by all and we are very pleased to confirm we have raised approximately £4,000 a fabulous amount. Well done and a massive thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the evening such a successful event.
Events held this year
Another year has flown by – we wanted to give you a quick update on all the events and fundraising we have once again achieved at Samuel Lucas. It has been a very busy school year where we have hosted the following activities:
- Bags2School – November and June – raised £432 in total Christmas Cards project – raised £541
- Film Night – November – raised £729
- Christmas Fayre – raised £3,325
- Christmas Tree Festival – not a fundraiser but we contributed to this wonderful community project
- School Disco – February – raised £864
- Quiz Night – March- raised £744
- Easter Egg Hunt – April – raised £204
- Waitrose Green Tokens – May – raised £378
- Fair In the Square – May – £TBC
- Circus – June – raised £2,050
- Picnic and BBQ – July – £4,000
TOTAL Raised = £13,267
Spending
We often get asked what do we spend the money on? The money that is raised is carefully spent by the school on equipment, activities and resources to benefit your children directly. This year the school has recently purchased new laptops (£8,400) and is also buying new books for the library (£2,000) and also the following annual events have been paid for too: Reception chicks, Year 6 SATS breakfasts, Year 6 End of Year books and Crucial Crew, plus money towards the summer exhibition, Year 6 sweatshirts and Bikeability (totalling £2,704)
In recent years, the SLPA has funded a huge number of key items including:
EYFS Astroturf, iPads, the outdoor classroom in the infant playground, the outdoor gym equipment on the field, projector for the Key Stages hall, Library books, computer system and training, a new piano, workshops, Lego therapy, Exhibition week resources, Year 6 tables and benches. A very big Thank you! We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone on the SLPA that has given up their time and evenings to attend meetings and organise all these events – every single person contributes. We also thank everyone that has helped on a stall or been involved in some way at the events to ensure they run smoothly. We also thank Mrs Thomas and her team for their support, advice and help in admin. And of course we thank everyone that attended the events and made them a huge success!
New Recruits Please…
A number of the key SLPA committee members are standing down this year after many years of dedicated service. The committee therefore needs lots of new members to sign up and join the efforts in the new school year (we meet once per month term-time only on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening from 8pm at school). If you are able to join the SLPA and help us organise lots more exciting events in 2018-19 please email enquiries.slpa@gmail.com.
Our AGM will take place on Monday 17th September, 8pm at school (review of the past year and voting in of new committee roles). This will be followed by our first full committee meeting of the year where we will start planning our events – so come along get involved!
Thank you very much for your ongoing support – have a fun Summer and look forward to seeing you in September!
The SLPA
2018/19 school year
*Inset Days: 3 & 4 September 2018
Start of Autumn Term for children: 5 September 2018
Half term holiday: 29 October 2018 – 2 November 2018
*Inset Day: 21 December 2018
Christmas holiday: 24 December 2018 – 4 January 2019
Start of Spring Term for children: 7 January 2019
Half term holiday: 18 February 2019 – 22 February 2019
Easter holiday: 8 April 2019 – 22 April 2019
Start of Summer Term for children: 23 April 2019
Half term holiday: 27 May 2019 – 31 May 2019
*Inset Days: 22 & 23 July 2019
Occasional Day: 24 July 2019
Summer holiday: 25 July 2019 – 1 September 2019
*Children do not attend school on INSET days
Diary Dates
| Date | Event |
| Monday 3rd September | INSET Day (no children at school) |
| Tuesday 4th September | INSET Day (no children at school) |
| Wednesday 5th September | Children back to school |
| Monday 10th September | Swimming starts for Year 4 Pine |
| Tuesday 11th September | Swimming starts for Year 4 Larch |
| Friday 14th September | Year 3 trip to Celtic Harmony |
| Thursday 20th September | Year 5 Olympic Legacy event |
| Friday 28th September | Individual School Photos |
Final Farwell
I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you and farewell to our Year 6 pupils. We are all proud of their time at Samuel Lucas and wish them the best of luck in their new schools.
Don’t forget school finishes at 2pm tomorrow. Enjoy your summer holiday!
