Latest News

School Meal Increase - April 2024

Thu 28 Mar 2024

We were recently informed by our schools catering provider that the cost for provision of their service has increased considerably this financial year, which is no different to the experience we all have at the supermarket at the moment.

As a school we have always heavily subsidised our pupil meal costs and whilst we will continue to do this we cannot cover the full increase.

Unfortunately, because of this, the cost of a school meal will increase by 10p per day to £2.40 (£12 per week). This will take effect from the 15th April 2024 and is still cheaper than meal prices in most of our other local schools.

We hope that if your child currently has school meals, they will continue to do so and if they don’t, then you will consider trying them.

Parking in front of school

Fri 14 Jul 2023

Good news to help to keep our children safe!

Over the holidays, Doncaster Council will be installing parking enforcement cameras on the ‘School Keep Clear’ road markings in front of school. The cameras will only operate during school hours and are designed to promote a safer environment around the school gate.

Please share this information with any family members who may drop children off/ pick up at school, as the council will take action against any motorist illegally parking or stopping on these road markings.

Financial Maths Days

Thu 29 Jun 2023 Mr McDonald

Children have loved the launch of our financial maths curriculum. To find out more, please follow the following link to our video:

Financial Maths Video and Information

At Windhill Primary School, our ethos is to put children at the heart of everything we do. We want our children to not only succeed in school, but in their wider lives into adulthood. One of the biggest areas of maths to impact on people in their lives is in money, and how to handle it. Unfortunately, this is an area which is not necessarily taught to children across the country at the time of writing this intent statement. In fact, according to a survey by Money and Pensions UK, 20.3 million (39%) of adults don’t feel comfortable handling money. By creating this curriculum, we aim to give our pupils the tools to successfully handle finances when they become adults.

Our curriculum will have four main intent statements:

Pupils will be able to manage money and know how to use it correctly in transactions.
Pupils will become critical consumers who can make informed decisions when choosing how to use their money.
Pupils will be able to manage risks and emotions associated with money.
Pupils will be aware of the important role that money plays in our daily lives.

Ofsted Inspection Report

Mon 12 Sep 2022

I am delighted to be able to start this new school year by sharing with you the Ofsted report from our inspection at the end of the last academic year. The inspectors agreed that Windhill Primary is a ‘GOOD’ school, with ‘OUTSTANDING’ support for pupil’s personal development.

This report is a fantastic recognition of the hard work and commitment of all our school community including every member of staff, parents and of course our amazing children. The report reads:

“Pupils are happy at the school. They enjoying
coming to school…”

We are thrilled that the work we put in to supporting pupils personal develop including: access to extra-curricular activities, the wide variety of educational visits and visitors which help enhance pupil’s experiences, the focus on the importance of good physical and mental health as well as our Personal, Social and Relationship curriculum, was recognised to be outstanding with the report stating:

“The school’s personal development offer is
exemplary.”

However, we are aware of the areas we need to improve further and we are already working on these. Covid lockdowns impacted negatively on pupil writing nationally; despite this we have plans in place to engage all pupils with writing and rapidly improve progress and outcomes this area. The second area for development links to the on-going work subject leaders have been focusing on over the past year. The report mentions:

“School leaders have thought carefully about the
curriculum at the school. They have worked
closely with subject leaders to improve their
curriculum plans. These plans clearly set out
what teachers need to teach, at what point and
why.”

Further monitoring by our subject leaders and a review of the assessment are part of the on-going journey as we aim for an ‘Outstanding’ curriculum and quality of education.

I want to take this opportunity to say a ‘Thank you’ to all parents and carers that took the time to complete the Parent View questionnaires and to speak to inspectors at the beginning and end of the school day. Your support for our school came across very strongly and we continue to recognise that working effectively with all parents and carers is a fundamental aspect of our work and contributes greatly to the success of our school.

Your children were nothing short of phenomenal during the inspection and are a credit to you. They carried on as usual and chatted happily, enthusiastically and confidently to inspectors about a wide range of subjects.

As we start the new school year, we will continue to build on the success of this report and address areas that require further development. Our goal is to now be ‘Outstanding’ in all areas!

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Howard

Ofsted Inspection July 2022

Mon 11 Jul 2022

11 July 2022

Dear parent or carer

Inspection of Windhill Primary School by Ofsted

We have just told your child's school that we will inspect it on 12 July 2022. The lead inspector will be James Duncan, HMI. We are writing to you because we would like to know what you think about the school. Please take a few minutes to read the leaflet that came with this letter. It explains why we inspect schools and what happens during an inspection.

Your views about the school are important to us

If you are a registered parent or carer of a pupil at the school (including pupils on sick leave or who are temporarily excluded), you can tell us your views about the school by completing Ofsted's online survey, Ofsted Parent View, at: www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk.

Ofsted Parent View asks for your opinion on some aspects of your child's school, including the progress made by your child, the quality of teaching, how the school deals with bullying and poor behaviour. It also provides a free-text box for you to make additional comments, if you wish. The inspectors will use the online survey responses when inspecting your child's school. Written comments can also be sent to the school in a sealed envelope, marked confidential and addressed to the inspection team.

To register your views, you will need to provide your email address, which will be held securely. It will not be used for any purpose other than providing access to the online survey. Neither schools nor Ofsted will have access to any email addresses.

Please complete the online survey by 11am on 12 July 2022 as this will give the inspection team more time to consider your views. However, we will consider all online responses that are completed during the inspection, although the free-text box facility will not be available after noon on 13 July 2022.

Speaking to an inspector

If you are unable to complete the online survey, it may be possible to speak to an inspector during the inspection, for instance at the start of the school day, or to pass on messages to the inspectors if you are unable to speak to them in person. Inspection administrators will be happy to make the necessary arrangements. If concerns are raised about child protection, we may have to pass the information we receive to social services or the police. You can contact the administrators on 03000130580. Inspectors will be pleased to receive your comments, but cannot deal with complaints about individual pupils or settle disputes between you and the school.

Privacy notice

During the inspection, the inspectors will collect information about children at the school by talking to them, looking at school documents, responses to the pupil survey where appropriate, and observing the everyday life at the school. In most cases, we do not record names. However, some of the information may make it possible to identify a particular child. Ofsted uses this information to prepare its report and for the purposes set out in its privacy policy. Ofsted will not publish any information that identifies a child in the report.

More information is available in Ofsted's privacy notice:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-privacy-notices/schools-ofsted-privacy-notice#parent-school.

The contact details for Ofsted's Data Protection Officer are as follows.

Email:

informationrequest@ofsted.gov.uk

Post:

Information management team

Ofsted

2 Rivergate

Temple Quay

Bristol

BS1 6EH

Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the online survey.

Yours faithfully

Brenda Alexander

Inspection support administrator

Maths in the world around us

Thu 10 Feb 2022

I am delighted to announce that, with enormous thanks to the London Mathematical Society for their generous grant, our children now have a brand-new selection of exciting books relating to maths in the world around us! Every class in school has received their own set of books for our pupils to enjoy and these can also be found in our library, as pictured with our school council. We expect that these books will help to inspire our children to reach the heights we know they’re capable of as talented mathematicians.

If you’re looking for a recommendation, some of our staff have listed their favourite read of the new book. Personally, mine is “Counting on Katherine” which explores the life of famed NASA mathematician, Katherine Johnson.

Mr McDonald

We've signed up to the South Yorkshire Reading Guarantee

Tue 16 Nov 2021

Reading for pleasure is a more important indicator of future success than any socio-economic factors.

The Guarantee

Every child will learn to read.
Every child will choose to read frequently for pleasure.

HOW?

Learning to read...in our school, we:

• Teach with fidelity to a systematic synthetic phonics programme.

• Ensure cumulative progression of sounds and books.

• Build a team of expert reading teachers through regular training.

• Reach the lowest 20% pupils with daily 1:1 tutoring.

• Dedicate sufficient time for the reading leader role.

Creating the conditions for Reading for Pleasure

In our school, we...

• Insist that teachers have an excellent knowledge of children's texts.

• Know our children as readers.

• Are committed to Reading for Pleasure Pedagogy:

- Reading aloud.

- Informal book talk and recommendations

- Reading time.

- Social reading environments.

Parent/ Carer questionnaire 2021

Mon 15 Nov 2021

Thank you to everyone who took the time after Open Evening to fill in the most recent ‘Parent/ Carer Questionnaire’; your opinions and feedback are extremely important to us.

We are delighted with the overall positive feedback however as we strive to be the best school we possibly can, we recognise that we need to be constantly looking at and reviewing our procedures and your opinions form a fundamental part of that process.

Please find a full analysis under the 'Parent' heading on our website or ask for a paper copy from the school office.