Welcome back parents and carers!

We have enjoyed welcoming your children back at school this week. During our 2 days INSET before they returned, staff have celebrated our OUTSTANDING Ofsted report, sent to you earlier in the week. We are delighted with the report and how well it captures what we do at Dawn House School.

https://www.dawnhouseschool.org.uk/2025/09/02/dawn-house-school-rated-outstanding-in-all-areas-by-ofsted/

We also revisited and updated staff training around literacy – an area that we have worked really hard with the improve outcomes for children; and just what Ofsted recognised that we have done! We also updated our safeguarding knowledge, our approach to supporting children’s behaviour and had reminders about approaches to dyslexia. A busy and productive few days.

Over the holidays there have also been many improvements to the school site. Not all up front and visible but all vital to maintaining the quality and safety of our buildings and resources for children. Our site team clearly thrive when the site is empty of students and staff, so they can actually get on with ‘the big stuff’! I do think they’ve been glad to have us all back though!

As we have lots of new parents joining us, I thought it might be timely to use the first few of my Friday parentmails to share some of the basics about life at Dawn House, starting with communication, which is always a tricky thing to get right for everyone.

As parents, your first contact with any concern/information to be shared about your child should be with their form tutor/core team (tutor, TAs, therapist). They are obviously usually working with your children between 8.50 and 3.30 so please be mindful of this if you call in to school. If it is a wider issue, or if you do not get a response when you need one, please contact:

…the education Lead Practitioner for your child’s Key Stage…

• Kyley Hudson- Scott- lower school
• Alex Rose- KS3
• Abigail Hallam- KS4
• Jayne Dutton- 6th Form
• Michelle Smith- Chimes

…the therapy Lead Practitioner if it is therapy related…

• Sarah Throup- SLT
• Nicole Khosla- OT
• Krissy Walker- Mental health and wellbeing

…the Residential services manager if related to residentials, after school clubs and extended days…

• Niamh Ankers

You will meet all of these Middle leaders at some point in your child’s time at Dawn House School. They, along with Senior Leaders all chair Annual Reviews and the chair of your child’s Annual Review should also be the first contact for anything specifically SEN related. We do have a SENCO at Dawn House (Lauren Henlor, Assistant Principal) but all of the above leaders can respond to your SEN queries too.

You will receive regular updates from your child’s core team about how they are getting on and what they are doing; Weduc provides information about upcoming events etc that you need to know about and has the ‘parentpay’ facility for things like school dinners (£3.25 a day) and the Food Tech contributions, which I’m sure you will all agree is well worth the payment, to receive the lovely food that your children make at school!

The school website also holds all information from term dates to policies to Ofsted reports to what the children have been up to- a great source of information and photos and is always kept up to date, and there is also the closed Facebook page to keep updated: https://www.facebook.com/groups/908804063760717

We use all of these ways to keep you informed , especially if there is urgent information to share, particularly around the weather and road conditions.

I send this weekly parent mail home with information about what’s been happening in school, upcoming events and anything else that I think is relevant to share.

Handle with Care – if there is something you need us to know about your child, maybe a tricky morning, or something you don’t have time to call or email about, just send an email with this as the title, to any of the named relevant people above, or a member of the SLG (Senior Leadership Group) or wellbeing team,  and we will at least know that we will need to meet and greet your child carefully and be aware that they may need a different start to the day. This information will be shared in our morning briefing so all staff who need to know, will get the message.

This week in our assembly, Mr Norman shared our welcome back message and priority for the year ahead, about being brave and being kind. We think this aspects of school life shine through in our Ofsted report, and it is important that we remember them.

https://www.dawnhouseschool.org.uk/2025/09/04/welcome-back-living-our-values-be-kind-be-brave/

Dates coming up !

Saturday 20th Sept- Dawn House School Outstanding Family Fun Day! Inflatable fun with stalls and music for all! £10 per car, invite friends and bring family. (weather permitting!)

• Friday 10th October- INSET day
• Monday 3rd Nov- INSET day
• Saturday 29th November- Parents Day and Christmas Fayre
• Monday 1st Dec- School closed
• Thursday 18th- Christmas performance

Staffing changes- FYI

Emma Oram, our Health and Wellbeing coordinator, has moved roles and is now working in Chimes. She will still respond to and forward emails and contact to the relevant people in the interim period, until the role is recruited to.

Have a great weekend- we all plan to RELAX!

Jenny

If your child leaves home in the morning a little unsettled and you want to quickly tell us, so we know to expect a tricky start to the day, a quick email (that we can follow up later) to the tutor and/or core team with ‘Handle with Care’ in the email title will ensure that we are aware.