A warm welcome to our September 2024 Reception Class new starters!

You will be given a pack during the New Starters Parents' Information Evening meeting. This contains important forms that will need to be completed and returned to school as soon as possible in order for us to get everything ready to welcome your family properly in September. If you are unable to attend this meeting we will arrange to get the information pack to you another way. 

In the meantime, please have a read of the information and links provided below. This will help you learn more about Wistow School and the organisations that we work with. There are also some links and information here to help you prepare your child for their transition to primary school. 

It might seem like a lot to take in, but please don't feel overwhelmed. We are here to answer any questions along the way and are always happy to do so. 

As you will be providing us with your data, please take a look at our Privacy Notice, located here: Wistow School Policies. There is also a list of other school policies on that page, which you might find useful during your child's time with us. 

A wealth of information can be found in our School Prospectus, which can be viewed by clicking the link on this page: School Prospectus.

There is also a lot of information across this website, but we have tried to give you a summary on this page of the items most relevant to you right now.

If you would like to view our latest OFSTED and SIAMS reports you can find them here: OFSTED, SIAMS and Performance Data

Preparing Your Child for Primary School

These two documents will help you talk about preparing for Primary School, so please take the time to sit and share these with your child.

The first document talks about things you can do at home to prepare your child for starting with us. These are the types of things that might crop up in every day family life that you can be practising over the coming weeks. Don't worry if your child isn't quite there yet by the time September comes though, Miss Bellerby and her team in Selby class are there to help with the transition and will support you and your child as they learn. 

The second document is all our Wistow School and Selby class. It is a simple document, that shares images of the setting and you can talk through these things with your child, which will hopefully get them familiar with some faces and places and support transition.

You will have been given a copy of this "All About Me" form in your information pack, but here it is again as a printable PDF in case you would like another copy. Please work through this with your child and hand in to school as soon as possible. Miss Bellerby really enjoys looking through these and it helps her to gain a more personal understanding of your family and child. She particularly enjoys the pictures!

Snack Time

Our key stage one children enjoy a healthy fruit snack as part of their daily routine, which is taken at 10.30 am each day. This fruit is free to you until they move up into key stage two at which point you can choose to pay a very reasonable amount - usually around 13p per day - for them to continue. 

All children are entitled to free milk until they turn five. We use a company called Cool Milk to manage this service, and they deliver fresh cartons of milk to school for the children to enjoy. 

If your child is under 5 and you would like them to receive free milk, please register with Cool Milk by following this link: Cool Milk Registration. Once your child turns five they will still be able to continue to receive milk which you can pay for directly through Cool Milk.

If your child is already 5 or over when they start with us and you would like them to have milk every day you can use the same link - Cool Milk Registration to register them and pay Cool Milk directly. 

Cool Milk provide us with a list each week of the children in each class who should be offered milk to drink.

All children who are entitled to means tested free school meals will be offered free milk and fruit in school regardless of age. 

School Meals

Dinners are freshly cooked in our own kitchen and served ‘family service’ style in the hall.  In line with government legislation, all children in key stage one are offered a free school meal on a daily basis. Meals are booked by completing the electronic menu form that is sent out every 3 weeks, via ParentMail.

From September 2022 we will be offering a vegetarian main meal choice as well as the standard main meal and also a choice of either jacket potato or sandwich. With three options to choose from and a good range of seasonable vegetables, potatoes, homemade bread and desserts, there is usually something for everyone. 

Our kitchen maintains a food hygiene rating of 5 after a recent inspection in June 2022 and our Cook and Kitchen Assistant are proud to provide healthy and nutritious meals to the children and staff at Wistow School and Smart Start nursery. 

A copy of our latest menu is available as a printable PDF here: School Meals

Applying for Free School Meals

If you receive certain benefits, your child could also qualify for free school meals during all their school years. If you would like more information about the criteria and how you can apply for free school meals for your child online please follow this link to the NYC website: NYC Free School Meals. When you apply for Free School Meals (FSM), school receives some additional funding to help support any FSM children in the school setting. So please apply for FSM for your child/ ren if they are currently in KS1 (and receive FSM anyway) or KS2 and you think they are eligible, as not only do you benefit from your child having FSM status, but school does too!

If your child would not eat a school meal for any reason they are welcome to bring a packed lunch.

A healthy packed lunch will give children the energy and nutrition they need to get the most from their school day – helping them to stay healthy, feel good and be ready and able to learn.  Just like school meals, packed lunches should be made up of foods from the main food groups in the Eatwell Guide and portions should be appropriate for a child’s age and size.  This will ensure every child has a healthy and nutritionally balanced lunch.  For inspiration of what to include in your child’s packed lunch visit - North Yorkshire Packed Lunch Guidance - Healthy Schools North Yorkshire

Please be aware that we have children in school with nut allergies and therefore nuts of any kind may not be brought into school.  Please check the ingredients on all packaging prior to sending food for packed lunch in with your child/ren.

Have a look at some of these healthy packed lunch ideas prepared by our children in older year groups.

Allergies, Intolerances and Dietary Requirements

Please let us know if your child has any dietary requirements.

It is vitally important that we are informed of any allergies your child might have as soon as possible. If your child does have an allergy or intolerance please state this on the admissions form you received in your new starter welcome pack and complete an SD1 Form, a copy of which can be found below. 

Once we know about your child's allergy we can work with our catering team - North Yorkshire County Catering - to create an individual risk assessment and management plan. We cannot offer your child a school meal until we have completed this process, which is why we ask for the SD1 form to be returned as quickly as possible. 

ParentMail

You will have already received an email inviting you to join ParentMail so that we can begin sending you communications through this incredibly useful portal. ParentMail is used for the vast majority of our home-school communication. We use it to send emails and texts and also forms to collect information such as trip consents and school meal choices. 

ParentPay

We use ParentPay to take payment for almost everything that requires payment in school. If you prefer to pay for things in cash you can use PayPoint to make payments for items in your ParentPay account.

An activation letter will be sent to you within the first couple of days of your child starting with us. This letter will contain details on how to activate your child's account. If you have more than one child at school you can add them to a single account, providing one log in for all children at ParentPay schools. 

For more information on ParentPay, including how to activate your account and how to add another child to an existing account, see their FAQ's page, here: ParentPay Parent FAQ's

School Uniform

Full details about our school uniform can be found in the School Prospectus or on this page of the school website: Uniform Information

Uniform can be purchased from Classroom Clothing which is located in Selby town centre. You can find a leaflet giving more information about how to order below. 

Parent-Teacher Association - FOWSA

The Friends of Wistow School Association (FOWSA) is the name of our PTA.

You can find out more information, including who to speak to if you would like to join by visiting this web page: FOWSA.

“We strive to support the school in any way we can and aspire to grow as a group, continuing to help the school grow and blossom!”

Operation Encompass is a multi-agency initiative that has been designed to provide early reporting to schools of any domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of normal school hours and that might have had an impact on a child attending our premises the following day. This information will be shared at the earliest opportunity between Monday to Friday and when an incident occurs on weekend the school will be notified on the Monday by the police.

A nominated member of school staff, known as a key adult, will receive the information from the police. They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that our school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. Information will be shared where it is identified that a child or young person was present, witnessed or was involved in a domestic abuse incident.

Operation Encompass has already proved to be very effective in providing appropriate support to children.

We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our children and we believe this is initiative is extremely beneficial and supportive for all those involved.

The National Child Measurement Programme

Wistow School supports the NHS in carrying out their routine healthy weight checks for children. If you have a child in reception (ages 4 and 5) or year 6 (ages 10 and 11), you'll receive a letter with more information from your local council before your child is measured.

For more information on this programme visit the NHS guide, here: National Child Measurement Programme

Support for you and your child

If you find you are struggling with any aspect of school or family life, please reach out to someone at school. Any problems to do with the curriculum and school or homework can be addressed to your child's class teacher.

If your concern is to do with early signs of social, emotional, learning, health or behaviour issues then please contact our amazing Home-School Link Worker, Sue Sampson. Mrs Sampson has worked at Wistow School for many years and is trained in counselling. She provides a confidential and trustworthy sounding board and can help direct you to the right organisations who can help you further. For more information on this please go to our HSLW page, here: Home-School Link Worker

Behaviour

Our children have created a Behaviour Brochure so you can see how they are supported in making the right choices while at school. 

More information on our Behaviour Policy can be found on the Policies page of our website, here: Wistow School Policies

Early Learning Goals

Take a look at the document below to see what our children work towards during their time in Reception class. If you have any concerns about your child's learning please speak with Miss Bellerby, who will be happy to clarify anything that you are unsure of so that we can best support you and your child in their learning. 

Working at Home With Your Child

Please have look at the leaflet below. It contains lots of fun recommendations for working with your child at home. So many good ideas here, and most of them are games to play and conversations to be had which don't even feel like learning!