Gainford Church of England Primary and Pre-School

Dear Parent/Carers

Please find below a letter on behalf of Durham & Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust

Thank you Mrs C Riley

Headteacher

Letter re Leadership of Gainford Primary School

On Tues 26th March our Y5s visited Staindrop Academy for a  secondary taster afternoon. While they were there they made yummy pizzas.

This Term our school missioner Sarah led a Diary of a Disciple workshop where children learned about Luke and his teachings through fun quizzes, crafting and drama.

During the spring term, Class Tees have been developing new skills (learning Djembe African drumming) with Mr Preston from Durham Music Services and prepared a performance for the school and parents on the last day of term.

Open the Book –The Last Supper delivered by the Open the Book  team -friends from  St Mary’s Church  including grandparents , governors  our  Children and young peoples missioner  and children

World Book Day 2024 was fantastic, with children working in their houses and were very creative and listened to various stories. Here is just a small selection of the photos of the day!

We were inspired by The Gainford Cross stones in our church from 1200 years ago. We sketched lines and patterns from the stones, printed using polystyrene tiles and arranged them into the Gainford cross shape. The stones were originally decorated with red,yellow,blue,black,white and green and we used these colours to print with.

Jacob asked if we could put our crosses on display in the church. We added a label with our illuminated lettering, inspired by Anglo Saxon lettering. Isobel had the idea to add our School badge to the centre of the cross to show who had created it.

We ended the project with a visit to church to display our project. The children enjoyed seeing the stones, feeling the stones and sharing what they had learnt about the symbols carved into the stones. Joey asked if we could put our crosses up on the wall opposite the door as everyone could see it as they walked into church.

Dear Parents and Carers

Consultation on joining the Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust.

You may be aware that the Government had in its ‘White Paper’ originally stated the aim that all schools should be part of, or in the process of joining, strong multi-academy trusts by the year 2030.  The Schools Bill, which was intended to implement the White Paper, has now been abandoned on the whole but the government has confirmed it remains committed to the objectives outlined in the White Paper and will continue to progress academy plans as much as it can without legislation.

The governors and I have been discussing this potential scenario for some time now, and we want to make the right decision for our school and our community, particularly in light of falling population numbers in the area and the importance of ensuring our school remains sustainable.

We feel that it is imperative that the school is part of a strong group of schools where there is the opportunity to learn from each other with sufficient support and challenge to enable our school to continue to grow and develop. However, we also want to ensure that we retain our unique ethos and curriculum and our close partnership working with our church community with continued input and control over these decisions at a local level.

As a church school, we are already closely aligned to the Diocese of Durham and have always received excellent support from them and would continue to be able to access this as an academy. An opportunity has arisen to join the Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust multi-academy trust (the ‘DNDLT’) and, having visited schools within the trust and talked to other heads, the governors and I are interested in exploring this further.  We feel that joining this Trust would give us the opportunity to benefit from effective support and wider networks but will still enable us to work in close partnership with our local community and school neighbours.  Seventeen other Church of England Primary schools are already part of the DNDLT and three more are due to join. The DNDLT is experienced in working with several small rural primary schools.

The DNDLT schools include Ingleton CE Primary which is very nearby and being part of the same Trust would enable increased partnership working.  There are also several other DNDLT schools which are geographically close to our school.  There is more information on the DNDLT on its website at www.durhamnewcastledlt.co.uk.

However, before making any decisions, we need to know what you think and what questions you might have.  I am attaching an FAQ document which explains some more about this proposal.

So, we would like to invite you all to a discussion meeting on 6^th February at 4.45pm  in school.Representatives from the school and from the DNDLT will be at the meeting so you can discuss any queries you may have and hear more about the proposal. The purpose of the meeting is to gather your thoughts and views on the possible future direction of the school before governors make a final decision about whether to proceed.

We want and value your feedback and would urge you to attend the discussion meeting and/or complete the attached feedback form which we request that you complete and return to us, this discussion period will continue until 26^th February so please ensure you submit any responses before then.  As we expect the meeting to be popular, could you please respond to the operoo message we will be sending  out  – stating if you are planning to attend so that we can get a feel for numbers.

We are passionate about ensuring Gainford CE Primary  School and Preschool is in the best possible position moving forward. We want and value your feedback and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at this initial discussion meeting

Mrs C Riley

Head Teacher

Consultation Response form 22.01.2024

FAQs Gainford doc 22.01.2024