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Dear Parents

We all recognise that parents have a profound impact on their children's learning and development. At Hydesville Tower, we know children make better progress when their parents engage with them and their school and are fully involved in their child's education and school life. This is fact echoed by Ofsted which says pupils do better in schools where parental engagement is deemed to be excellent.

Since the beginning of June, many of you have commented to me quite informally that you would like to join in school events but didn't really wish to join the PTA. For many, the committee meetings have been at difficult times and the perceived formality of its structure has seemed to put many parents off.

I sense that many parents throughout our school would like to help organise events to bring parents together and especially welcome new ones. You only have to attend a weekly Infants School coffee morning to feel the warmth and enthusiasm of so many!

So it has been decided to disband the existing arrangement and start a new initiative which will be called the 'Friends of Hydesville'. You will no longer be charged £7 a term for its membership and it is hoped this will open up opportunities to a wider audience. In this way, there will be no fundraising to support the delivery of the curriculum just a group of people with a shared aim to have a jolly good time through friends at school!

With no committee, as a school we must offer a 'link person' to liaise with parents to drive your ideas forward. Miss Rosie Eynon is looking forward to performing this important role. Miss Eynon currently teaches Science in the Senior School but as many of our Infants parents know, she has a son, Nicholas in Year 1. I will of course be helping Miss Eynon as I am keen for this idea to be successful.

Our first task is to establish some kind of feedback from you. This can take two forms :-

• What do you think of this idea?
• What sort of interests/skill set do you have to offer?

It really needn't be onerous. You can have the flexibility of just joining in activities that interest you and supporting the school in whatever way you wish.

I have attached a brief feedback form, inviting all parents to offer help and ideas. If you prefer to feedback to us by email, then please contact us at the following addresses:-

Rosemary.Eynon@hydesville.com

Fiona.Hims@hydesville.com

The future of Hydesville Tower is very bright and with your support and interest we can only enhance our children's futures through positive parental engagement.

With warm wishes,

Mrs Fiona Hims

Headteacher