This week has seen the last of our initial round of parent engagement activities, where primary parents have come in for a parents evening to discuss the initial progress of their child this academic year. I believe that the school has begun to implement and embed a number of small changes to our procedures and processes, and am pleased with the number of enrichment opportunities we have provided so far. Last week we have begun to collect student survey information about the start of the year, and today I would like to invite parents to share their feedback with the school. I would encourage all parents to complete this survey so that we can ensure that our next steps are the most impactful: https://avanti.wufoo.com/forms/afs-parent-survey-questions-202324/.

With one week to go before the October half-term, I want to thank our teachers for their efforts in settling into the new academic year. This first term is always packed with information evenings, open evenings and for new staff, a wide range of training. Every staff member has begun to forge positive relationships with their pupils, kept a clear focus on the teaching and learning and have volunteered their time to support the wider aspects of school life.

SSC Parent Elections – update

I am writing to inform you that there was a technical error with our online voting form for the SSC parent member elections. I was unable to declare an outcome and will be reorganising for a revote after the half-term. Please look out for a printed, paper ballot on Tuesday 31st October.

Year 11 Mock Interview Volunteers

We are looking ahead to our planned Year 11 mock interviews, which are scheduled for January. The mock interview process allows our students an opportunity to practice their interview skills prior to attending sixth form or college application interviews.

We are looking for any volunteers who would be interested in helping run interviews with our students on either 15th or 19th January 2024. If you are interested, please email [email protected], for the attention of Laura Bigginton by 1st November.

Lunch cards and lunch payments

Over this last week, we have been working 1:1 with our secondary students who either don’t have their ID card or don’t have sufficient funds on their ParentPay accounts. While we are still offering students a meal, we have been communicating with parents changes to our processes, which will come into effect after the October half-term, from Tuesday 31st October.

We are implementing the arrangements listed below for a number of reasons. Firstly, when students don’t have adequate funds, or their ID card on hand, they significantly slow down the service queue, which results in longer (unnecessary) wait times for other pupils. If a child doesn’t have their ID, the catering staff have to manually type in a child’s name before serving. Secondly, if a child continues to have a negative ParentPay balance, this can begin to accrue a debt for the family, but also for the school. As we tender out to a catering service, if there are negative balances left unpaid, the school is required to make up the difference. This means that money which should go towards educational resources within the school instead go to cover parent debt.

Lunch arrangements

• £5 replacement fee for a lost ID card
• No lunch will be provided to students without their ID card
• No lunch will be provided to students with a negative balance

Should your family be experiencing any financial difficulties and may find the new arrangements a challenge to meet, please use the website contact form, select Concern/Issue and a member of our admin team will be in contact to discuss any interim support measures we might be able to offer.

Secondary Calendar

• Wednesday 11th October: Y10 and Y11 Careers Fair
• Thursday 12th October: Y7 & Y8 House Competition: General Knowledge Quiz
• Friday 13th October: Y11 GCSE Drama Devised Performance
• Friday 13th October: Y9 & Y10 House Competition: General Knowledge Quiz

Primary Calendar

• Saturday 7th October: Primary Open Day (9:30 to 11:30)
• Thursday 12th October: Spiritual Insight workshop (3:00 pm)

We are readers

Avanti Fields prides itself on the reading offer we have for all pupils. Please explore the ‘We are readers’ page on our website to learn more about reading at home and how to support your child with reading.

We also have Storytime videos on there too!

Link: https://avanti.org.uk/avantifields/primary-school-life/wearereaders-2/

Spiritual Insight Workshop

We will be holding our first Spiritual Insight Workshop this year on the 12^th October @ 3.00pm. We have a total of 3 workshops which will be held by our PRE primary expert Mr Gajjar. In each session he will explore 2 of the 6 core principles of the Avanti Way.

If you would like to attend this workshop please complete the following form:

https://avanti.wufoo.com/forms/q12dy9e70zy79t9/

Applying for a Reception place at Avanti Fields?

You may be aware that the deadline for applying for a Reception place is 15/01/2024.

Please ensure you have applied via your local authority by this deadline.
We would hope that you are all looking to continue your child’s learning journey with us at Avanti Fields School.  We have an open day on 07/10 at 9:30am till 11:30am.

Please note that per the admission policy  having a place at Avanti Fields Nursery does not  guarantee your child’s reception place at Avanti Fields Primary. 

Career Fair

Please find attached information regarding our upcoming Careers Fair on Wednesday 11th October.

It is recommended that all Year 11 students attend the event and Year 10 students are optional.

All students attending the event must be accompanied by an adult.

Please click on the link below to book:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ks4-careers-fair-2023-tickets-717121629097?aff=oddtdtcreator

Please see the link below for further information:

Careers Fair Poster 11th Oct Link GC Tile

Y10 and Y11 parents and pupils have been invited to attend the annual careers fair which will be in the sports hall, please find a list of the providers below:

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff & Pupils

PTFA continues to bring you lots of community events and initiatives over the next few weeks. The exciting line-up of events in our calendar reflects festival season. That means lots of celebration and, hopefully, lots of fundraising for our school.

You’ll be receiving posters and promos via email, and can also check out details about forthcoming events on our social media pages (Facebook & Instagram) as well as on display around the school premises.

Her’s a look at what’s coming up:-

NAVRATRI – October 20, 21 & 22 (Oct Half Term)

Attached our details about our Navratri events, which we’re bringing you bigger and better than ever before!

FOUR events of full-on celebration and dancing, with something for everyone!

Friday 20^th Oct – Daytime 1.30pm – 5pm – Children’s special session with live music by Jungle Band from India, Special Price at just £3 each, Normally £5.

Friday 20^th Oct – Evening Disco Dandiya Nite (7pm – late) with Live DJ – don’t forget your glowsticks!

Saturday 21^st Oct – Daytime Navratri event 1.30pm – 5pmwith live music by Jungle Band from India

Sunday 22^nd October – Daytime Navratri event 1.30pm – 5pm with live music by Jungle Band from India

Tickets are £5 each for all Navratri events and a limited number of package deals for Fri Evening, Sat & Sun at £12 for all three. Navratri at the school is extremely popular, and we expect to sell out to capacity very quickly.

Click Here to Book Tickets

DIWALI BAZAAR – Sunday 5^th November 2023 11am – 4pm

For the first time ever, the PTFA is proud to bring you a special Diwali Bazaar at the school. There’ll be a wide variety of stalls selling Diwali-related items such as gifts, sweets, snacks, arts and crafts, rangoli, fashion, etc.  There’ll also be special demos and workshops on the day. Free entry!  If you’d like to have a stall at the Bazaar, please get in touch with the PTFA on [email protected].

We are also excited to announce the Hot Potato Shop will be bringing there food truck to the event so we can enjoy there ethos friendly hot food on the day.

We have also arranged our popular HANUMAN CHALISA, MAHA-ABHISHEK & BHAJANS 3pm – 6pm on the same day as the Diwali Bazaar on the 5^th November, For sponsorship, donations and registering as Laadoo or Maha-Abhishek Yajman please complete the form on this link.

This is a FREE event and Prashad will be served, for us to cater accordingly please let us know if you are attending by booking your free tickets here. Click Here to Book

As you can see, we have been extremely busy arranging the above events, we strongly urge you to book asap as we expect all of the to sell out.

For those of you that are new to the school the Avanti Fields PTFA (Parent, Teacher, Friends Association) is a registered charity and consist of volunteer parents who work together to arrange these types of events to raise money for the school and provide fun opportunities for the school and wider community to get together. If you would like to join us or find out more about what we do, please email [email protected].

We are also looking for sponsors for events to keep our cost down so if you would like to contribute individually or through a company then please get in touch.

We look forward to seeing you all soon.

 Bollywood Zumba Dance Sessions

Communications – Wherever possible please use the contact form on our website to get in touch. This is detailed on the website at https://avanti.org.uk/avantifields/contact-us/. The appropriate member of staff will pick up the message and get back to you as soon as possible.

Absence

To report an absence to the school, parents should contact us by 8:00am (primary) and 8.30am (secondary) 

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0116 326 6813 (Option 1 to leave a voicemail) 

Please remember to state your child’s full name, tutor group and reason for absence. If your child is unwell, please could you give a brief description of the symptoms. 

All education research highlights how crucial it is to a child’s academic progress and wellbeing they attend school , on time, all of the time. Therefore, a reminder that it is important that families organise events or holidays outside of school time to ensure that their child is at school as often as possible.   

The school works closely with the Education Welfare Officer at LCC, and we do seek to ensure that any requests for authorised absence are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, in a sensitive manner. However, the school can never authorise a family holiday or a trip abroad to visit family members during term time.   

This academic year, families will have two weeks at the October half-term, three weeks at Christmas and two weeks at Easter for extended family holidays. Please do ensure that if booking holidays, they fall within the holiday periods.