It has been an extremely busy week with the Fun Sports Days for all year groups, the Key Stage Two Competitive Sports Evening, Year 3 at Leicester Tigers and a few other great events. The weather was extremely kind to us and some may say, a little too hot. These events are brilliant, providing the opportunities to engage with parents and the community – thank you very much for coming along where you were able to and connecting with us again.

This week we have welcomed several past students who are now in Year 10 and on Work Experience placements. Some of these fabulous young people were with us from the very start and were Krishna Avanti Primary School’s first Year 6 children. They have impressed greatly and been a huge asset over the past week and we wish them well in the future.

With just two weeks of school left, it will remain busy with various events, learning and for Year 6 especially, the end of year performance. Thank you in advance for your support over the next couple of weeks with the numerous events as detailed on the website calendar (also below).

Restorative Practice

Building Relationships, Improving Behaviour and Creating Stronger Communities

Sometimes you read a book and you can keep delving back into it for little nuggets of inspiration. Mark Finnis‘s book is one of those such books. I opened the book today, randomly at page 129 and read the heading, Making Change Stick. Change is a natural part of life and change happens. We have all been in situation where we know we need to make changes, but to make them requires courage in some instances and people willing to embrace them. Mark writes, “People are the hardest part of change.” Linking this to something that Leicester City goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, said in a The High Performance Podcast, valuing people and taking the time to connect with them makes a huge difference, enough to win the Premier League. He talked about the way the late Leicester City owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, treated everybody with respect and humility being the reason that the club is so different to any other he has known.

As the principal of a school, it is of paramount importance to me that we do show respect. It is important that we are humble and connect with all. In doing so, we make the world a better place and enable change to happen, for the better, for the benefit of all. Mark always uses the phrase, ‘only connect’ which is emphasising (my interpretation) the importance of connecting with people and be genuinely interested about them, before the ‘content’ of any subject we need to address.

If you have not bought Mark’s book, I highly recommend it. If you have not yet discovered The High Performance Podcast, explore it. You will get from it what you wish and for me it has been highly positive and great reflections on what I do, how I behave and what I seek to change for the children, staff and parents I connect with.

People are the hardest part of change.

Mark Finnis

#OnlyConnect

Parents’ Questionnaire and Comments 

Thank you to those that have completed the questionnaire so far. There have been two comments since last week, as follows (responses also)…

Very happy with how my daughter is progressing in the school and the support provided. The teachers and all staff are very friendly and approachable. She has made great progress and I can see great changes in her. Would it be possible to look at (subject to teachers) adding clubs such as Maths, English etc so that we can help the children ie year 1 currently moving to year 2 next term where they need some more support please.

To receive such a positive comment fills us with pride. Being friendly and approachable are what we talk about and obsess on – being kind and caring. This is not at the expense of expectations as we aim high and want he best we can possibly have – long may it continue.

The request regarding clubs has been noted and shared with appropriate staff for next year.

I am extremely proud of my child attending this fantastic school. He has made great progress, especially with reading and writing following the sudden ‘break’ due to covid19 in 2020… I felt that his learning was ‘robbed’, However due to the wide range of home schooling activities and appropriate materials provided by KAPS, I do not feel that he actually lost in his educational journey. I am also very happy for Mr Kite and Miss Benson acting promptly and effectively in the bullying incident which occurred in Year 1 first term. They reassured me that it will be dealt with and it put my mind at ease as a concerned parent, it is worrying to have to see your child go through a horrible experience. It all resulted well in the end and the boys in question became friends again with my son, which I was happy to learn. Please continue to support parents and children in the future, we appreciate it always. I am sad that Mr Kite is departing from the school… he is super at his role and is always welcoming and supportive… its is a shame he is leaving… as it would have been lovely to have him present throughout my child’s journey at KAPS. I wish Mr Kite all the best in his future endeavors. Kind regards.

Again, very pleased to be providing an effective education and environment. When things get difficult, such as pandemics, we do our best and are very proud of what we managed to provide considering the difficulties. When children have difficulties with others, we talk, challenge and engage all to recite the situation with the aim being it is everlasting. We ‘work with’, not ‘do to’. This helps the children make better choices in the future, understand why certain choices are better. Thank you for your warm wishes and as stated many times, Krishna Avanti Primary School is a special place with great people (children, staff and families).

By clicking the toggle below, you can see all comments and responses to date.

Thank you. We will continue to listen, work hard and do all we can to ensure Krishna Avanti Primary School is the best it can be for all (children, parents and staff).

Very happy with how my daughter is progressing in the school and the support provided. The teachers and all staff are very friendly and approachable. She has made great progress and I can see great changes in her. Would it be possible to look at (subject to teachers) adding clubs such as Maths, English etc so that we can help the children ie year 1 currently moving to year 2 next term where they need some more support please.

To receive such a positive comment fills us with pride. Being friendly and approachable are what we talk about and obsess on – being kind and caring. This is not at the expense of expectations as we aim high and want he best we can possibly have – long may it continue.

The request regarding clubs has been noted and shared with appropriate staff for next year.

I am extremely proud of my child attending this fantastic school. He has made great progress, especially with reading and writing following the sudden ‘break’ due to covid19 in 2020… I felt that his learning was ‘robbed’, However due to the wide range of home schooling activities and appropriate materials provided by KAPS, I do not feel that he actually lost in his educational journey. I am also very happy for Mr Kite and Miss Benson acting promptly and effectively in the bullying incident which occurred in Year 1 first term. They reassured me that it will be dealt with and it put my mind at ease as a concerned parent, it is worrying to have to see your child go through a horrible experience. It all resulted well in the end and the boys in question became friends again with my son, which I was happy to learn. Please continue to support parents and children in the future, we appreciate it always. I am sad that Mr Kite is departing from the school… he is super at his role and is always welcoming and supportive… its is a shame he is leaving… as it would have been lovely to have him present throughout my child’s journey at KAPS. I wish Mr Kite all the best in his future endeavors. Kind regards.

Again, very pleased to be providing an effective education and environment. When things get difficult, such as pandemics, we do our best and are very proud of what we managed to provide considering the difficulties. When children have difficulties with others, we talk, challenge and engage all to recite the situation with the aim being it is everlasting. We ‘work with’, not ‘do to’. This helps the children make better choices in the future, understand why certain choices are better. Thank you for your warm wishes and as stated many times, Krishna Avanti Primary School is a special place with great people (children, staff and families).

I would like the school to be more involved with children that have difficulties in learning. Different strategies should be in place , extra time, different methods etc. If these children are not supported from an early age ,it only gets more difficult as they get older.

We totally agree with this and for any child not making the progress that we would expect them to, we work hard to work out why, and where right to do so, involve external experts. There are so many strategies, programmes and different types of provision that are used for various children that benefit from it. We do this automatically at school, differentiating work, time, space and resources appropriately.  Sometimes sadly, getting the support from external agencies can take time but we push for this and argue the need.

It would be much appreciated if the weekly updates could be emailed to parents like previously.
We will revert to emailing the link as before. Thank you.
We are blessed to have our child at the school. Thank you for all your hard work.
Very welcome.

I would certainly recommend this school to other parents. I think it’s great how the principle, deputies and other staff are so approachable. The school teaches very well as I can see the development in my child. I also love the way the school makes an effort with various activities & festivals whether it be Holi or Christmas or Science week they get everyone involved which is great. I have no complaints whatsoever. Keep up the great work and Thank you to all for making the school the right place for my child.

Thank you for sharing your experience – greatly appreciated.

I have previously requested my child to be added to the waiting list for Piano lessons. I have been informed they are in a waiting list but with no indication on the status of the queue or how soon they can begin lessons. We’ve now passed two terms and no update and no status of the queue . It would be helpful if somebody could email me the details on how soon my son can begin.

Thank you for raising this. We will connect with the piano teacher and seek to clarify the position.

There have been times that school arranges paid activities like Easter Activity, we paid money via Arbour but my child wasn’t allowed to take part in the activity and was told that she isn’t on the list. she was very sad and my child thought that the parents are not giving her money which wasn’t the case. if things like these get managed well then it would be helpful for kids’ mental health also. no kids like to be left out. I appreciate that the school is trying there best. we love the school otherwise. and we feel lucky to have been part of the school community. keep up the great work. kind regards,
We certainly do not want the opportunities that we provide to result in some children missing out. Will look at how these are set up so that in the future, these mistakes do not happen or are at least immediately resolved o all are happy. We always appreciate you sharing these instances with us so that we can improve what we do. Thank you also for the kind words.
So ,,pure environmental school all over
My child loves going to school and she is always looking forward to it. Though her class have had a few changes recently in terms of Mr Wheat leaving and then being taught by various teachers her experience had been joyful. All the teachers that led the class until Miss Ferdush joined did a brilliant job and I wouldn’t say my daughter missed anything much. So very well organised. The only area I would like to be improved on is more feedback of what topics are going to be covered in a school year in range of different subjects so we are able to help at home too. I am not sure if this is already on the website and I don’t know where to look for. Apologies if this the case please guide me.
Thank you very much for the positive feedback and with regards the different subjects at school please use the following link, as share previously. http://avanti.org.uk/kapsleicester/curriculum/
It touched me the other day to see how Mr Linnet helped my child when she was rushing to entering the school gates in the morning and struggling to carry her Chelo and her school bag, he ensured she is comfortable carrying both. Wonderful staff with good sense of humor. To describe Krishna Avanti in few words would be a great school with lots innovative ideas to make learning fun, very accommodating, lots of positive vibes and happy faces!
Thank you. We will continue to listen, work hard and do all we can to ensure Krishna Avanti Primary School is the best it can be for all (children, parents and staff).

School lunches are inconsistent. Feedback from kids have been that the standards have dropped. Resulting in them not eating properly and being super hungry after school. I feel there is still work to be done in ensuring that standards are consistent.

We check this on a daily basis and various staff have a school meal. If you would like to get in touch so we can talk specifically about which days and meals and we can then work on specific issues. Mr Kite takes many opportunities, whether eating with the children or in passing at lunch, to ask how the meals are to specifically check children’s views and their satisfaction with meals and the consistent message in person is a positive one. 

We are very happy with this school, everything about it from great leadership, great teachers and there’s always a positive vibe. I’d like to share my father’s pride (who’s no more) his view of this amazing school….he had a busy routine daily with swimming and long walks. Keeping fit & spending quality time with his grandchildren was his thing. He used to pick up my eldest son on Tuesdays (youngest was at nursery at the time) and sometimes on those days, if any of his friends asked my dad if he wanted to make other plans with them, my father proudly used to say with the biggest smile: “ No thank you because today is my turn to pick up my grandson. ” I have never heard anyone say that with so much pride. He always experienced positive and happy vibes just like us, each time he walked through those gates & I am really happy my dad got to be a part of this school too before he passed. With covid and now the sadness about Ukraine, there’s always this school as our pillar of strength, hope, and kindness, so a big thank you for everything that you do, always much appreciated, from myself & behalf of my family.

Thank you for that lovely feedback. We care very much about the children and also the family and wider community. Taking time to share this means so much to us. 

Mr Kite is fantastic and leads by example, we will always see him in the morning with a great big smile this makes such a difference and why Krishna Avanti school stands out.

We have a wonderful staff who have some wonderful smiles and we will continue to (smile). We smile so much in part, due to the wonderful relationships with our child and parent community. We have shared in previous posts about how smiles can help in many ways. Thank you. 

Big concern after chasing information regarding raising money for PE sports equipment. My child never received any updates of bands or parents didn’t receive any updates as to where the funds are gone or total funds raised. Chasing and emailing for updates staff seem unresponsive . Not ethical to ask to raise money then avoiding updates or children recognition! My child was very upset and still asks why teachers are not saying anything.

We are very sorry that you missed this communication. Click here to read the Friday Update of 25 Feb 2022 where this information was shared. £2152.55 was raised in total and the school share of £1062.33 will be actioned shortly. Bearing in mind the communication was received by the organisers on the 25th February and we announced the amount raised on the same day, the timescales are reasonable. Because we do so much (such as the CORAM Life visits in and World Book Day, some appreciation that follow ups and orders will take time, would be appreciated. We will try harder though. Apologies that this has evidently been unclear for some of you.

Great teaching and the school is being led and managed well. Communication is still an issue and although there are endeavours to improve unfortunately the issues are continuous. I would expect emails/letters/newsletters to be checked for spelling and grammar before being issued. Unfortunately nearly all communications have errors which shows there has been little/no improvement in this area.

As an educational establishment the communications should be perfect, although occasional errors will happen.There will be times when communications are sent under pressure, however the errors should be very few and far between. Thank you for your raising of the issue – we will give this greater focus to improve the communications. Please do come back to let us know whether it has improved or not. 

This school is a great school two of my children attend this school in different year groups and they love it. The only thing is we all know there is parking issues but parents need to be mature and handle this from every parents view instead of being children and fighting over parking. Those that come in with parking permits they have valid reasons otherwise they wouldn’t be parking inside , when I come and park inside as I have a valid permit, once I step out of my car after parking I am being stared at in such a horrible manner by parents that are queued up like I have done something wrong. Also when some people without permit has parked in our bays it does make it difficult for us with permits as we are left with no parking.

We are pleased to know your children love the school. 

With regards parking, there is a section in this week’s update about parking and we hope all use their integrity to do the right thing. 

I think the school really need to work on the communication levels. For example if there is a change in a week where children have to wear pe kits. The children tell us one thing, the reception something else, email something else. If children are required to change or bring uniform for additional days this needs to be fed back to parents. Even when homework changes children are not shown correctly which results in them not knowing what to do. Please work on your communication, parents are more than happy for changes that give our children opportunities but abit if notice and clarity is much needed. I’m a full time working parent and changes at the last minute really does not work for me.

This is a fair point and something we have spoken about recently. Expect to see an improvement. Thank you. 

A fantastic school, very friendly and approachable staff. I feel I have made the right decision for my son. I would highly recommend Krishna Avanti to other parents. Thank you for everything you all do and the dedication to always do better for the children.

Please can the children be given butter with their bread at lunchtime? I have raised this 3 times, but nothing has been done and nor has anyone come back to me about it. Thank you

Apparently, spread should be restricted due to nutritional guidelines. However, I personally would want spread with my bread/roll and as long as in moderation (some people do put far too much on), I support the request. This has been raised numerous times and has resulted in spread being added to the jacket potatoes. We will continue to press the point on spread for bread. Thank you for your patience with this and let’s hope it changes very soon.

While Krishna Avanti has many positive points, it also has a few negative – just like any other school. I have personally recommended the school to a few friends and am aware they have moved to Leicester, specially to have their kids in the school. It is great that our children can worship and take darshan of the deities regularly and this instils devotional life in them from a young age. The prasad is fresh, hot and children are satisfied with options available. Thank you for allowing a safe environment for my child to flourish educationally and spiritually.

Thank you

With regards to the comment on bullying, there have been a few incidents with other children, one even involving a teacher, while the one with the teacher was dealt with by the school, the ones with the other children was not, and we as parents had to speak to the bully’s family and sort it out that way. I would have preferred for the school to get involved rather than having to take matters into my own hands, but that’s water under the bridge now – and hopefully, future incidents, should they ever arise, will be dealt with promptly by the school.

We would fully expect any unwanted behaviours are dealt with by school and always prefer parents not to go direct to other parents as it does not always finish well. Please always raise concerns, no matter how small, so we can ensure our issues are only ever minor.

the after-school clubs are so limited that we have not had any chance to get a space. my expectation was that these clubs would be available every day and that all children would have an equal opportunity to attend. such uncertainty also does not allow parents to plan in advance their work hours to pick up a child if they become enrolled to an after-school club. a possible solution is when the next round of clubs are announced, to prioritise those children who have had the least enrolment to any clubs.

Clubs are offered by staff free of charge and are run on good will. Whilst we aim to have a variety of choices, there is no way to ensure there is something every day. Throughout Covid we adapted what we did to enable us to still offer clubs safely. As we get back to mixing, albeit cautiously, opportunities and variety we hope will increase. There will not be a guarantee however as we are here to educate the children, not child mind them. That said, we are looking to appoint a member of staff with additional hours to run the Library Club again because we do want to help where we can and appreciate, whilst we are not a childcare service, parents do struggle with working commitments. I hope this can commence after Christmas.

My only concern or complaint is the lack of notice when there are events. The school should provide either a text or email 7 days prior to children dressing up or having the option not to wear uniform. I don’t feel the school takes into consideration that there are parents that work 40 hours a week and need notice for changes.

All events should be in the calendar and details made know to you are far as possible in advance. We have the online school calendar on the website and a message given internally last week was, “If it is not in the calendar then it is not an event that is happening.” We have added the live calendar to this weekly update (below) and we will endeavour to have all events in with details included. What we ask parents to do is, read the updates and check the calendar. We will not be sending out separate, specific reminders all of the time however, for that to work, we must ensure it is up-to-date.

Please note however that we do get invitations at very short notice and whilst sometimes such invitations result in a tight turn-a-round, we would rather accept them and give the children the opportunity. This should not be too often however so be assured, this will be an immediate aim to rectify.

There is so many cars have parking inside without any disability or any strong reason so why we not allowed like who have under 2 year kids and also I work in the evening and some shifts in the morning it’s very tight for me to pick up or drop off my kids and strat my duty if I have that facility as well so it can be very easy for me . There is no one coming outside to checkout who is parking there car in parking space many people taking disadvantage of this and like us who is really struggling they don’t have any facilities I just want to request on this please be fair with everyone thank you .

and

Parking is the biggest negative about this school. I do not know what reasons people have given but the people that are turning up in their cars, look fit as a fiddle – young and healthy?…as soon as the gates are open they are literally power walking to fetch their kids…some sort of check is required, and a random check now and then to ensure the people picking up with a car park space is the person named in the request for parking in the first place.

There are cars with passes and to get a pass, very good reasons must be given and evidenced. With the electronic barrier now, cars should not be able to enter without a fob. We are not going to share reasons for passes being given as that information is private and confidential. We will however look to check that cars are not getting in when they should not. The places for good exceptions are limited and I believe we are now at the limit so. 

I am very happy my child attends krishna Avanti as I have not seen a school like this before. The level at which my child is at I am very happy with his learning from when he started in foundation and the level he is at now in year 1. The school staff and teachers are very nice and helpful I would recommend krishna Avanti to anyone I know. I would like to thank you for the questionnaire.

School should start drive through in the morning as it makes a difference with parents who has to start wrk early and avoid traffic in the morning. I agree walking is really good for children. When weather is dry is good to walk school but when it’s wet and windy it’s difficult with 2 kids to walk school.

We have mentioned before, the many issues with allowing cars to drive in. A reminder to all that the police have stated they do not want cars driving in as it has an effect on the traffic on the A47 which causes them issues with emergencies. We do appreciate the difficulties for all and continue to hope that drivers will be considerate and obey the Highway Code. Sadly some do not, such as those that park on the zig-zags and turn in the entrance.

My child started school in Sept 2021 in FS2. I am pleased with my choice of school and I think my child will thrive here.

The variety of subjects and topics she has covered so far has been a pleasure to hear about. I would definitely recommend this school to fellow parents.

One area that I feel could be improved upon is the introduction of the way the school operates to parents of children new to the school. There are many tasks for parents to keep up with that I feel we had to figure out on our own, or were kindly informed of by parents with kids in older classes. Let me be clear, I’m aware the website has all the links and information to these areas, but I personally would have felt more prepared with a ‘heads up’ letter with all these topics in one communication letting us know that this is what parenting a child at Krishna Avanti Primary School entails. One aspect, as a new parent, that I was especially pleased with was the initial zoom conference that detailed what our FS2 children would be learning and what we could do as parents to help them. I am proud to say my child attends Krishna Avanti Primary School!

It is pleasing to hear about the positives and how children thrive. For the ‘new to school’ points, that is useful to know. In the new year we are looking to restart the Workshops for Parents and will explore possibilities for similar opportunities, especially for new parents.

I am so happy with this schools. When people ask me which school is yours boys going I probably say krishna avanti this is the best school.. When my son come home tell me all the pre stories that makes me feel so good. My odder son got some health issue. But I always got support from the school.!!!! Thank you

Very welcome.

I think there needs to be more staff to offer SEN support as Mrs Carillo is very busy and doesn’t get much time to carry out the SEN activities and that worries me. My son needs additional support and this is not always available.

The number of staff at Krishna Avanti Primary School matches the recommended number for both the children and need. Teachers are well trained and contrary to belief, are very capable of teaching a class of children alone. We do have some Teaching Assistants to support where it is needed.

Extremely pleased with my child’s progress at this school. Happy with e teaching and communication

Thank you

I am really happy with my child’s progress so far. I really feel proud when my child sings krishna prayers. My girl is in foundation stage. Teachers and staff are kind and helpful. I would highly recommend this school to all.

my child is in FS this year, i have seen major transformation just in few months. Not only educational but in every curriculum activities also. I am genuinely satisfied with school atmosphere, food, study programs and so on.. I have heard before, “ kids are not allowed to take packed lunch, yours will might get struggling.” Honestly saying, i am shocked that mine is trying and eating so many things in school which i tried hard to feed her. KEEP IT UP guys, You deserve much more appreciation!!!.

We want all to enjoy school and give our best. A broad and balanced curriculum is our aim, along with a  great opportunities to learn vital social skills. Thank you for your kind words.

There is a discrepancy between the homework set between classes – some get a great deal of work set literally everyday for the next day and others don’t. Before covid when the kids had to do there work in their homework books it was so much better! Setting work on google classroom and not asking for evidence or simply asking to discuss the topic rather than write about it means my other child in year 1 doesn’t have the same practice compared to how much my older child had. Why is this work not set over the weekend instead so they have time and energy to do it?

Homework is on this year’s school development plan and something that we want to make very beneficial without being onerous. We will explore this further and respond soon.

Please can you give more notice for things such as dress up days and school photos rather than 24-48 hours notice!!! Is becomes very very difficult sometimes as a working parent to organise things when you’ve been given very little notice. It seems that the school thinks that mums do not work and can drop what they are doing to sort the children out! I’m sure thats not the case but that’s how it feels, those of us who have demanding jobs like yourselves need notice to sort things out so we don’t let our kids down and they can fully take part in activities.

I expect all events to be on our school calendar on the website well in advance. There are occasions when we are invited with little notice and do accept to enable your children greater opportunities – this however should not be often. We have added the calendar to these updates (at the bottom). We will also work very hard to ensure that full details of events are shared in advance as we do very much appreciate the difficulties of finding things out late. Apologies wherever this has happened.

We genuinely could have not asked for a better start. Our son has settled in so well and we are extremely pleased. This school is great and I would highly recommend to ALL parents. To be honest, we have already recommended to parents with newborn babies and young kids (2 and 3 years old) to ensure that they at least come and see this school before exploring their options elsewhere! 

Keep up the excellent work and we look forward to better and brighter future.

Thank you, Such kind words make a positive difference. We will keep doing our best and strive for that very bright future.

parking for pickup is a really big issue (the morning drop-off is not though). there are vehicles littered all along the main road in undesignated spots. speaking to many parents, we are forced to due to to schedules/commitments. some parents may be lazy but other parents have to rush against time. if there were more after-school clubs, there would be fewer vehicles rushing to do pickups. last academic year, due to the staggered lockdown release, pickup times were split over two time points across different year groups (2:30pm and 2:45pm). i realise there may be some education rules and guidelines normally in place, but a similar setup would help reduce the rush of parked vehicles on the main road, which also would help safety. this is something i can easily compare with my memory.

please start the drive through drop off again! I appreciate with covid things have changed but the crowding and ramming at the end of the day at the gate on exiting the school does not adhere to social distancing and the kids are mixing now so its irrelevant anymore. Wouldn’t morning drop off work better like it use to and ease the terrible traffic caused by stupid parking outside the school?

Parking in all schools is problematic, even where purpose-built drop-off points are part of the build. It must be appreciated that there are more after-school clubs here at Krishna Avanti Primary School than most schools – I certainly am not aware of any school that does as many. Please also remember that staff volunteer their time without payment to give the children as much as they can. Regarding staggered finishes, complications that arise during the school day which during Covid, we got on with due to the huge need to help with social distancing. The flexibility and adaptability of staff able to help in different classes and year groups becomes harder with staggered times and all considered, the same finishing time works better for most, especially those parents with more than one child at the school.

We have received far more positive comments about the walk to drop off and pick up than we have from those preferring cars. We do it cruciate the issues with parking but the highways agency, the police, and local schools have strongly made the case for cars not being able to come in.

Why does yr 1 not have teaching assistants? I asked regarding this at the last parents evening??? Surely 1 teacher cannot appropriately manage that many kids in a class and give attention fairly to each child in a day?

There are two points to note here: there are a number of teaching assistance employed to work across the school and they are deployed depending on the needs of the children in the year group. This is also related to the age of the child. In the simplest terms, Younger children need more help than older children when for example tying laces and doing up their coats. For this reason in our earliest years at school, although not link specifically to a class, there are more teaching assistants (such as two for the two Foundation Two classes.

As the children get older and their general needs reduce, so do the number of teaching assistants – as a general rule we have two teaching assistance for the key stage one classes, where children are much better at putting on coats and shoes and other key activities. Moving into key stage two, there are again to teaching assistants, but for the eight classes; we would not expect these children to need help when getting dressed, tying laces and other key tasks.

You will appreciate that the teaching assistance are not there just to do up coats and tie laces and work very hard with the teachers in all of the lessons across the curriculum, as required. There are some additional teaching assistants to those already explained who work with specific children on specific tasks according to specific needs.

The second point to note is one that many parents possibly realised during lockdown: teachers undergo a great deal of training so that they are in fact able to be with classes of children all on their own to appropriately manage behaviour in a positive way and give the required attention to every child. I appreciate that can be very hard to imagine when having just one child (or a few) at home. When it is safe to do so and we can invite parents in again to experience life in a school today, you will be able to see how the art of teaching is not something that just happens.

There use to be a note written or at least a txt when a child had an injury at school? 

If a child hits their head you should receive a text, a note and be told by a member of staff at the end of the day. We deliberately have the three methods so that if one does not happen, you are still informed. If the child is fine to remain at school they will do and we will monitor them. All staff are first aid trained. This will be discussed as a reminder for all staff to ensure we follow the procedures.

If you need to cancel clubs on the same day- can you send txt messages instead please- those parents that work cannot check our emails every 5 minutes incase you’ve contacted us whereas a txt msg is received and read straight away.

Unfortunately the system we now have does not include text messages without additional payments. If clubs are ever cancelled on the same day we do appreciate that you may not pick up the message. We will explore our procedures for these instances and hope to improve this issue.

Please can you give more notice for things such as dress up days and school photos rather than 24-48 hours notice!!! Is becomes very very difficult sometimes as a working parent to organise things when you’ve been given very little notice. It seems that the school thinks that mums do not work and can drop what they are doing to sort the children out! I’m sure thats not the case but that’s how it feels, those of us who have demanding jobs like yourselves need notice to sort things out so we don’t let our kids down and they can fully take part in activities.

I expect all events to be on our school calendar on the website well in advance. There are occasions when we are invited with little notice and do accept to enable your children greater opportunities – this however should not be often. We have added the calendar to these updates (at the bottom). We will also work very hard to ensure that full details of events are shared in advance as we do very much appreciate the difficulties of finding things out late. Apologies wherever this has happened.

We genuinely could have not asked for a better start. Our son has settled in so well and we are extremely pleased. This school is great and I would highly recommend to ALL parents. To be honest, we have already recommended to parents with newborn babies and young kids (2 and 3 years old) to ensure that they at least come and see this school before exploring their options elsewhere! 

Keep up the excellent work and we look forward to better and brighter future.

Thank you, Such kind words make a positive difference. We will keep doing our best and strive for that very bright future.

Please can the children be given butter with their bread at lunchtime? I have raised this 3 times, but nothing has been done and nor has anyone come back to me about it. Thank you

Apparently, spread should be restricted due to nutritional guidelines. However, I personally would want spread with my bread/roll and as long as in moderation (some people do put far too much on), I support the request. This has been raised numerous times and has resulted in spread being added to the jacket potatoes. We will continue to press the point on spread for bread. Thank you for your patience with this and let’s hope it changes very soon.

While Krishna Avanti has many positive points, it also has a few negative – just like any other school. I have personally recommended the school to a few friends and am aware they have moved to Leicester, specially to have their kids in the school. It is great that our children can worship and take darshan of the deities regularly and this instils devotional life in them from a young age. The prasad is fresh, hot and children are satisfied with options available. Thank you for allowing a safe environment for my child to flourish educationally and spiritually.

Thank you

With regards to the comment on bullying, there have been a few incidents with other children, one even involving a teacher, while the one with the teacher was dealt with by the school, the ones with the other children was not, and we as parents had to speak to the bully’s family and sort it out that way. I would have preferred for the school to get involved rather than having to take matters into my own hands, but that’s water under the bridge now – and hopefully, future incidents, should they ever arise, will be dealt with promptly by the school.

We would fully expect any unwanted behaviours are dealt with by school and always prefer parents not to go direct to other parents as it does not always finish well. Please always raise concerns, no matter how small, so we can ensure our issues are only ever minor.

the after-school clubs are so limited that we have not had any chance to get a space. my expectation was that these clubs would be available every day and that all children would have an equal opportunity to attend. such uncertainty also does not allow parents to plan in advance their work hours to pick up a child if they become enrolled to an after-school club. a possible solution is when the next round of clubs are announced, to prioritise those children who have had the least enrolment to any clubs.

Clubs are offered by staff free of charge and are run on good will. Whilst we aim to have a variety of choices, there is no way to ensure there is something every day. Throughout Covid we adapted what we did to enable us to still offer clubs safely. As we get back to mixing, albeit cautiously, opportunities and variety we hope will increase. There will not be a guarantee however as we are here to educate the children, not child mind them. That said, we are looking to appoint a member of staff with additional hours to run the Library Club again because we do want to help where we can and appreciate, whilst we are not a childcare service, parents do struggle with working commitments. I hope this can commence after Christmas.

My only concern or complaint is the lack of notice when there are events. The school should provide either a text or email 7 days prior to children dressing up or having the option not to wear uniform. I don’t feel the school takes into consideration that there are parents that work 40 hours a week and need notice for changes.

All events should be in the calendar and details made know to you are far as possible in advance. We have the online school calendar on the website and a message given internally last week was, “If it is not in the calendar then it is not an event that is happening.” We have added the live calendar to this weekly update (below) and we will endeavour to have all events in with details included. What we ask parents to do is, read the updates and check the calendar. We will not be sending out separate, specific reminders all of the time however, for that to work, we must ensure it is up-to-date.

Please note however that we do get invitations at very short notice and whilst sometimes such invitations result in a tight turn-a-round, we would rather accept them and give the children the opportunity. This should not be too often however so be assured, this will be an immediate aim to rectify.

There is so many cars have parking inside without any disability or any strong reason so why we not allowed like who have under 2 year kids and also I work in the evening and some shifts in the morning it’s very tight for me to pick up or drop off my kids and strat my duty if I have that facility as well so it can be very easy for me . There is no one coming outside to checkout who is parking there car in parking space many people taking disadvantage of this and like us who is really struggling they don’t have any facilities I just want to request on this please be fair with everyone thank you .

and

Parking is the biggest negative about this school. I do not know what reasons people have given but the people that are turning up in their cars, look fit as a fiddle – young and healthy?…as soon as the gates are open they are literally power walking to fetch their kids…some sort of check is required, and a random check now and then to ensure the people picking up with a car park space is the person named in the request for parking in the first place.

There are cars with passes and to get a pass, very good reasons must be given and evidenced. With the electronic barrier now, cars should not be able to enter without a fob. We are not going to share reasons for passes being given as that information is private and confidential. We will however look to check that cars are not getting in when they should not. The places for good exceptions are limited and I believe we are now at the limit so. 

I am very happy my child attends krishna Avanti as I have not seen a school like this before. The level at which my child is at I am very happy with his learning from when he started in foundation and the level he is at now in year 1. The school staff and teachers are very nice and helpful I would recommend krishna Avanti to anyone I know. I would like to thank you for the questionnaire.

Thank you. We will continue to listen, work hard and do all we can to ensure Krishna Avanti Primary School is the best it can be for all (children, parents and staff).

Lunch and Payments 

We currently have £335.79  owed for lunches, a very slight drop from the previous amount of £340.80. Several children have amounts of a little over £20 owing and this easily adds up. It really is important that this is kept on top of otherwise the school gets charged for outstanding amounts which then means less of a budget for resources that children use. If you are owing money, you should receive a letter today – please do make every effort to get into credit before Monday otherwise you will need to pick your child up for lunchtime – they will not be fed at school. We do not want to have children go home due to payments not being made.

If you are having difficulties, talk to us so we are aware and can advise.

Images of the Week

Attendance

Good attendance is a cornerstone of education so thank you for all of the efforts to get your child to school. Attendance for individual classes is shown below so far this year. It has been a very difficult year with high rates of absence due to Covid earlier in the year, a later, Chickenpox. For the remaining two weeks and next year, let us try to get back to attendance of near 98% – what we had pre-covid. 

Class Attendance

  • F2 Bees – 91.86%
  • F2 Butterflies – 91.4%
  • Y1 Doves – 93.36%
  • Y1 Parrots – 90.39%
  • Y2 Peacocks – 91.91%
  • Y2 Swans – 93.63%
  • Y3 Moon – 95.16%
  • Y3 Sun 94.28%
  • Y4 Comets – 93.8%
  • Y4 Planets – 94.37%
  • Y5 Sharks – 96.62%
  • Y5 Turtles – 96.06%
  • Y6 Mayapur – 95.95%
  • Y6 Vrindavan – 94.87%

Rathyatra

We will be celebrating Rath Yatra on Monday, 27 June 2022, the oldest street festival in the world. Normally, people would need to go to the temple to see the deities but this is the only time in the year that the deities of Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra come out to see the people.

We would like children to come dressed in traditional clothes. Parents are invited to the main procession between 13:00 and 14:15 where the children will pull the chariot around the field and will have a grand kirtan after. There will be an opportunity for face-painting – if your child would like to have their face painted, they can bring in £1.00 for it.

Children are welcome to bring in a piece of fruit or flower for the chariot decorations and offerings. Children are also able to bring in their own instruments such as kartels or mrdangas for the procession however, it will be their own responsibility to look after them.

The lunchtime menu will be as follows:

  • Samosa
  • Spring roll
  • Paneer sabji
  • Naan
  • Chutney
  • Dal makhani
  • Rice
  • Ras
  • Cheesecake

We hope this will be an enjoyable experience for the children as we celebrate the final school festival for this academic year.

Soccer Aid for UNICEF

Krishna Avanti Primary is excited to be on the Soccer Aid for UNICEF Schools Challenge team.  By kicking, bouncing, sprinting, skipping, dribbling and hopping around our obstacle course, we will be helping children around the world to have a childhood full of play.
It would be greatly appreciated if your child can donate £1 or £2 on Tuesday, 28th June 2022, so we can collectively raise money to help equip a primary class in Cote d ‘Ivoire with the tools they need to learn and play (Article 31: All children have the right to rest and play). Every pound raised really does have the power to help change children’s lives.
Children can come to school on Tuesday in their physical education kit for the activity.
Thank you
Rights Respecting Warriors

End of Year Assessments

Towards the end of the year there are various assessments made and reported, including Year 1 phonics tests, Year 2 SATs, Year 4 Multiplication Tests and Year 6 SATs. Having not had them over the past few years due to covid, we are back with full assessments, tests, marking and reports. Very soon, depending on your child’s year group, you will receive the results. As a school, we too are waiting and once received, we will share them with you.
Before the covid pandemic we would typically expect our Year 1 phonics scores to be in the high 80s and 90s, as a percentage. We would expect our Key Stage One results to be similar to that, and Key Stage Two results likewise. When the results do come back we are hoping the pandemic does not mean a huge drop, but we are certainly expecting lower scores this year for our younger children who have not as yet had a ‘normal’ year of school since starting. Even for our Key Stage Two children, whilst we hope for percentages in the mid 80s, we understand that the past few years have not been normal and if the results were the same, if not better, then disrupted and remote learning is maybe the way forward.
When the results do come I suggest one thing for your child, who is an individual with their own strengths and areas for development that are personal to them; say “Well done” and respect the journey that they have made. There will be varying scores across the country and having seen the quality of work our children at Krishna Avanti Primary School produce, I know they are in a great position. Their learning during the pandemic continued to cover all subjects and their behaviour and resilience, well developed. We have at no point narrowed our curriculum despite the pressures to do so to solely get higher scores in phonics, reading and mathematics. In all we do, we should be able to hold up a mirror and look at ourselves knowing we have done the right things in the right way, regardless of what others may think.

Summer Fair & Picnic on the Park

On Friday 8th July, the last day of school this academic year, we will finish with our usual ‘Picnic on the Park’. There will be some fair rides and an ice-cream van, so bring along some money to enjoy what is on offer.  

We hope that many of you will join us and bring along a picnic (in line with our ethos). Family members are all welcome and let’s hope for more sun. It has been a great success on recent occasions and a lovely way to end the year. 

School will officially close at 12:30 by which time you need to be here for your child if not already with us for the picnic.

Thank you once again for your continued support.

Yours sincerely   

Mr Kite

Principal

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