Newsletters 2011-2012
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July 2012 Bio Blitz Our Year 2 and Year 3 children won the area
competition for the work that they completed following their day visit to
the park, earlier in the summer term. Whilst there they investigated
the wildlife in different habitats and then completed some excellent work
when they returned to school. Three people came in to judge their work
a couple of weeks ago and they were very impressed with what they saw and
what the children were able to discuss with them about what they had learnt.
Well done. Our Olympic Sports Thank you so much for getting the children a
‘T’ shirt in the colour of their team. Despite the weather all of the
children managed at least part of their sports day and we were able to hand
the medals out, as planned, in the afternoon. Griffin won the gold
medal so an extra special well done to them, BUT all of the children were
very sporting and supported each team beautifully. Thank you again for
your support. Texting service in school On the whole this seems to be a success.
However, we Holidays As you already know we break up for the summer
holidays today – I use the word ‘summer’ in a loose term. We really do
hope that the weather cheers up a bit, so that the children can get out and
enjoy some fresh air. All staff are in school on Monday and Tuesday 3rd
and 4th September for training and the children return to school
on Wednesday 5th September. Fond farewells We say goodbye to some of our most loved and
valued staff today. Mr Grey, Mrs Heathcote and Mrs Powell (who have
done nearly a 100 years of service between them) would like to pass on their
sincere thanks for all the messages and good wishes they have received in
the last few weeks. They will be back to visit us often. Meningitis A child in our school has been diagnosed with
Bacterial Meningitis (they are now recovering). We have contacted the
local Health Protection Agency to ask advice about what we need to do about
this in school. Their advice was to do nothing, as the chances of it being
passed to anyone are minimal. This is because it is transmitted by
having VERY CLOSE contact with someone e.g. kissing on the mouth. However, we feel that it would be remiss of us
not to alert you of the illness so that you can be extra vigilant if
your child becomes ill in the next few weeks, although the general
incubation period has passed. As said above the chances of getting the
illness are really minimal, but both ourselves and the parents of the child,
thought we should make you aware. If you have any concerns or queries
then please don’t hesitate to contact myself. Thank you. We look forward to having all of the
children back in school in September ready for another successful year.
Thank you to everyone for your support this year. |
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June 2012
Jubilee Day What a wonderful time we all had (despite the weather). This is because the children were so fantastic. A great big thank you to everyone involved, especially the people who helped set everything up (and moving it indoors very quickly). As parents/carers you did a great job with the ‘dressing up’ theme too. The biggest thank you however, has to go to Alison Moores and her team in the kitchen. The food was delicious and they worked tirelessly for endless hours to make it an experience for the children that they will never forget. This was done with a glad heart and smile on their faces too. Thank you all. Sad times for us but happy for them After years of service at our school (more than 50 between them) Mrs Heathcote and Mrs Powell will be retiring at the end of term. We will be very sad to lose them as they have always been wonderful members of our team. However, I’m sure you will all join with us in wishing them the very best for the future. Mr Grey officially retired 10 years ago, but has kindly continued to do supply teaching for us on a regular basis. His wife has finally put her foot down (well done Jean) and said enough is enough as there are so many jobs for him to do at home. I know everyone will miss him very much. Thank you John. Olympic Torch Relay in Derby The ‘Torch’ will arrive at Markeaton Island at approximately 6.25 pm this Friday (29th). It then continues to the Market Place in the city for 6.50 pm. It then continues up Duffield Road to arrive at Darley Park where the Celebration cauldron will be lit. We are fortunate to know one of the Torchbearers who will be coming in to school during the next couple of weeks to do an assembly for us. She will be bringing the Torch with her for the children to see. Dates for your diary July 6th – Summer Fayre (you have received a PTA newsletter about this). Year 6 special lunch. Each year the Yr 6 children dress up and have a ‘Leavers’ lunch. The Yr 6 only are allowed to dress up as it is a special day especially for them. However, any child can have a lunch on that day. The usual cost of £2 applies. Thank you. Olympic Sports Days Juniors - Tuesday 10th July. There will be the circus of activities in the morning (9.30am) and then the races in the afternoon (1.30pm). Foundation Stage - Mrs Blanchenot Mrs Beck and Mrs Merchant's classes - Wednesday 11th July (9.30am start). KS1 (Miss Small and Miss Wood's classes) - Wednesday 11th July. These will follow the Foundation Stage sports at approximately 10.30am. Yr 1 and Yr 2 will be doing a circus of activities from 9.30am on this day too. Medals have arrived in school and they will be presented to the children during a celebration assembly during the afternoon on the Wednesday (Nursery will get theirs the following day). Please remember about the t-shirts in the children's team colours. Thank you again. |
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May 2012 Holiday Dates Reminder We break up for half term on Thursday 31st
May and return to school on Monday 11th June. We break up for the summer holidays on Friday
20th July and return to school on Wednesday 5th
September. The Monday and Tuesday are the first two INSET days of the
year. Teachers2Parents Texting service We have gone ahead and purchased the texting
service for parent/carers. Year 3 & 5 parents will already
have received a message however we will be sending a trial text to all
parents on Wednesday 16/5/2012 at 1.30pm. If you fail to receive this
text it will mean that we haven’t got your current mobile number.
Therefore, please call in at the office and give it to us as we will be
using this system to communicate with parent/carers in the future.
Thank you. Jubilee celebrations We will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee on
the last day of term (Thursday 31st May). We are
having a street party, dancing and going for a walk around the Waterford
Drive/Albert Road loop during the afternoon. Everyone is encouraged to
dress up in their party clothes for school that day (but no football kits
please). If the children want to make and come in a crown or tiara too
that would be great. Fingers crossed for fine weather. It would be brilliant if all of the children
could have their picnic style street party lunch from our school kitchen on
our jubilee day (this will replace the usual school lunch). The normal
price of £2 will apply. Olympics sports day Our sports days are going to take on an
Olympic theme this year. The children will be receiving gold, silver
and bronze medals and we are learning the National Anthem for the Jubilee
day and the Olympics. We will be making it a special event for the
children and they will all be in their school teams. To make it really
evident which team the children are in we would like them to wear a T shirt
which is the colour of their team (the Nursery children have been put into
teams in readiness for this event too). Sports days are ages away but
we thought we would give you plenty of notice. Thank you. SATs KS1 are continuing with their ‘special’ work
this week and KS2 SATs are taking place in the hall, so thank you for being
quiet around school if you arrive late for any reason. Please be aware
that all of the other children have their assessments this week also. Please remember that
Year 2 and Year 6 are extremely important assessment years for your children
and they have to be in school at this time of year. If they are not
then a fine is automatic given. We haven’t been given the exact dates
for the assessment next year but May isn’t a good time for holidays.
Thank you. |
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March 2012 Sports Relief Next Friday (30th March) the
children are being asked to pay £1 to come to school in a sports kit.
All of the money donated will go to sports relief. Easter holidays A reminder - We break up for the Easter
holidays on Friday 30th March and return to school on Monday 16th
April. There is a bank holiday on Monday 7th
May and then we break up for the half term on Thursday 31st May
and return to school on Monday 11th June. The Thursday is
our last INSET day of the year. Diamond Jubilee We are in the process of organising a street
party and dancing for Thursday 31st May. Watch this space! Building work Nearly there – thank goodness.! All work in
school should be finished in time for the Easter break, so we will be able
to get back to normal. All of the things that have been done can only
add to the children’s learning in terms of provision in the
Foundation Stage and ICT facilities, so we
can’t wait to have them up and running. Thank you for your unending
patience during this time. We will be assessing the state of the
playground when it has been cleaned and will then hopefully organise the
remarking of the lines and games on the playground, which the PTA have
kindly agreed to pay for. Thank you. Congratulations Mrs Horton is expecting her first baby in the
Summer holidays. Congratulations from us all. Recipe book A very old (and we would think valued) recipe
book was given to the school fair. As it may have been put accidently
with other things donated it has been kept to one side in case the family
wants it back. Please see Mrs Morgan. Things to a good home We have been left with an enormous pile of
wood chippings from having the willow tree on the top field trimmed.
As they have stood for 6 months they are now ready to be used. You are
welcome to help yourselves. Please just let us know when you wish to
collect them. We were kindly donated a piano, which for
various reasons isn’t suitable for use in school but would be ideal for
someone to learn to play on at home. It is free to a good home but you
will need to arrange for it to be moved by experts. Happy playing. Leave of absence Please see the back of the newsletter where
you will find a copy the new ‘Leave of absence’ form. The major change
for you to be aware of on these new forms (from the local authority) is that
leave of absence will not be granted if it is asked for in the first half
term of a new academic year e.g. September/ beginning of October. It
is considered to be the most detrimental time for your children not to be in
school. This form has been agreed on by the Governors and takes effect
from September this year. Thank you. |
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February 2012 Dates for your
diary We break up for half term this Friday (10th)
and return to school on Monday 20th February. We break up for the Easter holidays on Friday
30th March and return to school on Monday 16th April. There is a bank holiday on Monday 7th
May and then the half term is slightly later this year because of the
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We break up for the half term on Thursday 31st
May and return to school on Monday 11th June. The Thursday
is our last INSET day of the year. We are sorry for the short notice
of the last INSET day after Christmas, as we always try and give you at
least 6 weeks. Unfortunately there was some asbestos found right at
the end of term and it had to be removed safely, when the children were not
around. We thought it was preferable to have an INSET day rather than
an extra days holiday, which we would have been allowed to do. Thank
you for your understanding.
Contacting parents/carers We have looked at buying the system where
texting is used to notify parents/carers of sudden closures, as we had
problems last year with one of the notified radio stations giving us out as
a totally different school when we had the snow (only two families arrived
at school though so thank you for your networking). Unfortunately, at the present time it isn’t
feasible as too many people are changing their mobile phone numbers without
informing us and we are having difficulty contacting you directly. We
will monitor this situation and if the contactable numbers go up to at least
90% we will be able to look at it again. Please can you let us know if you are going to
be late collecting your child from school, as it is upsetting for them
having to wait, especially when we can’t get hold of you. Thank you.
Building work The Reception class will be moving back into
their own room by the end of the week and then the work starts on the shared
area. The spare classroom, which will now become a meeting room, will be
completed at the same time. The ICT suite is well on its way and we are in
the process of buying the equipment for it. We are also going to have
trolleys for lap tops so we can have computers in classes. Roll on Easter,
when it should all be completed. PTA There are discos coming up directly after the
half term. The PTA is looking to spend some of the money
raised by you at fundraising events. The children will be discussing
this at class and school council. Please chat with your children about
the ideas you and they have. We will be looking to have things in
place by the summer half term. Thank you again. |
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December 2011
Concerts Thank you to everyone for your support with
these. All of the children were brilliant. Remembering all of
the songs from around the world and the juniors (particularly Year 5) doing
an excellent job with the difficult script of Robin Hood were a credit to
themselves, you as parents and the school. A big well done to
everyone. Thank you for your generosity during our
collections at the end of each performance. We raised a magnificent
£272.96 which we will be splitting between the charities associated with
Autism, Parder Willie Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy. Royal British Legion We have received a lovely letter from the above
thanking us for the £103.51 donation, which was collected from the sale of
poppies. Again, thank you for your generosity. Holidays We all break up from school this Wednesday (21st)
and the children return to school on Friday 7th January. We
have got an INSET day on the Thursday. Building Work The Nursery are in the process of moving into
their new area. Mrs Merchant’s class are moving into the old
Nursery today and Wednesday, as the work is starting in their classroom on
Thursday morning. Hopefully this will be completed early in the New
Year although there is a new outside area, with a shelter to be completed in
addition to the above. The ICT suite should hopefully be finished by
the end of January too. This will leave the shared area and the new
store room to be completed by Easter. Parties These have been a great success and Father
Christmas has made an appearance at each of the FS and Infant parties.
Thank you for your donations towards the food for these. Christmas Fayre This raised approximately £500. The PTA
are looking for suggestions for spending some of the well-earned profits.
They will send out a list with ideas on in the New Year and the children
will discuss these in class council too. Thank you for returning the smarties packets
too – this raised nearly £400. Not a lot of news but lots of thank yous on
this newsletter. We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year.
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November 2011
Can you believe it’s only four weeks to Christmas! There’s lots going on in school before we break up
for the Christmas holidays on Wednesday 21st December (then only
4 sleeps left before Father Christmas arrives). F/S and INFANTS - Songs from around the World on
– Tuesday 13th at 1.30 pm and Wednesday 14th at 9.30 am. JUNIORS - Production of Robin Hood Saves the Day - Monday 12th December at 1.45 pm and Tuesday 13th at 9.30 am. The letters for tickets for these are coming out
tomorrow. CHRISTMAS PARTIES F/S – Mrs Beck, Mrs Blanchenot and Mrs Merchant on
Friday 16th. Yr1/Yr2 – Miss Small and Miss Wood on Monday 19th. Yr3/Yr4 – Mrs Horton and Mrs Kay on Tuesday 20th. Yr5/ Yr6 – Miss Mills, Mrs Hallam and Mr Moore on
Thursday 15th. Thank you for your donations for these which really
do help to make them such a success.
CHRISTMAS DINNER This is Wednesday 7th December. Please can
you indicate if you want your child to have a dinner by Friday this week
(that’s if they normally have sandwiches). School dinners
have gone up from approximately 80 per day to 115 per day and we are
expecting 200 for Christmas dinner so please let us know so we can
accommodate everyone. I’ve already had a try of what is
on offer – I want Miss Moores to be cooking my dinner for me on the 25th! Children in Need Your kind generosity enabled us to collect over £100.
Thank you. Unwanted Clothes collection It’s amazing what a good clear out can do.
PTA were given over £350 by the company who collected the bags from
us. Again a big thank you. SAT’s results An excellent year. The value added
score this year puts us in the top 13% of schools Nationally for English and
the top 4% in Maths. Value added measures where the children have started
from and where the children have got to whilst being at our school
(regardless of their ability). Our score was over 101%
for English and over 102% for Numeracy and shows that all of our children
really can achieve their very best because they all have excellent staff who
work tirelessly for them. Well done to everyone. Building work The builders seemed to make a slow start, and the
start of the ICT suite was delayed, but they are getting back on track now.
Luckily the weather has remained fairly dry and it’s not too cold so,
fingers crossed things will continue at a pace. All we
can do is remain patient – so thank you for yours too. Christmas post box This will be in the entrance (inside) from Thursday 1st
December. Please ensure the full name of the child and
the class they are in goes on the envelope. Please let
your child put them in the post box as they love the delivery each afternoon
and the classes love being the sorting office too. (Not sure about Mr Grey’s
thoughts on this though!) Christmas Fayre Friday 9th December – straight after school in the hall. Thank you.
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October 2011 Building work This is starting during October half term and continuing for twenty two weeks, finishing at the end of March. We are having an ICT suite built and a new Foundation Stage developed where the current Nursery and Reception classes are. There are a few bits and pieces being undertaken as well to bring school the school up to date in relation to fire regulations. The final thing is to build a new ‘terrace’ on the playground, as the current one is crumbling away after the heavy winter we had last year. Our biggest problem during this period will be access and managing with a much smaller playground. Access for the builders will be through the Children’s Centre, so we will be able to use the Albert Road and Foyle Avenue entrances as usual. There will however be a large compound cordoned off on the playground and this will have a space in the fencing, which will be open first thing in the morning and at the end of the school day for people to pass through. Your patience during this challenging time will be very much appreciated. Thank you. Injuries Following feedback from a small proportion of parents/carers before the summer holidays we said that we would look at changes that we could make to our system of reporting accidents that your child may have whilst they are at school. This applies particularly to head and facial injuries. Currently when a child bumps their head during the school day a cold compress is applied, it is written in the accident book and if no further attention is required, because the child is fit and well, a bumped head sticker is given to them so that parents/carers are aware of what has happened. This is what happened to a child earlier in the term but because a sticker wasn’t evident when they later vomited the parent wasn’t informed that their child had bumped their head earlier when they were phoned to collect them. Therefore we have added to our reporting as stickers can obviously be lost, covered with a jumper when the sticker has been put on a shirt or, when put on a jumper not seen because the jumper has been taken off. All head injuries are now reported to the office as well, so that if a child falls ill and a parent has to be telephoned we can report that a head injury has taken place earlier. Regarding ‘boxer’ bumps on eyes and around the mouth we will ring and inform the parent/carer, as although these are often nothing to worry about they look unsightly for you when you pick your child up and it is better to know beforehand. We will do the same with grazes to the face too as although they look insignificant at the time, when they begin to scab over they look unsightly. We have very few accidents here and when the children do have accidents they are very well cared for, but hopefully this will go some way to improve communication. Please ensure your child informs us if they have a bump or a bang as often nothing has been done because we don’t know anything about it. There isn’t a requirement to have everyone trained in first aid but we take this matter seriously and therefore everyone here is a named first aider (renewal during INSET this half term). In addition to this we have three fully trained paediatric first aiders. Thank you. Half term We break up for half term on Friday 21st October and the children return Tuesday 1st November. It is INSET day for teachers on the Monday. |
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September 2011 Welcome back The children have come back to school looking really smart and ready to learn. Well done everyone. A busy year ahead and there’s lots to tell you about already. Harvest Festival Saint Mary’s church are coming into school on Monday (26th Sept.) to do an assembly for us in school. The produce bought from home will be given to the elderly in the area and any surplus goods will be given to the Padley Centre to feed the homeless. If you know of any elderly people in the area who would appreciate a gift of food then please write their name and address on a piece of paper and hand it into the office. Thank you. Individual School Photographs The photographer will be coming to school next Tuesday (27th). This is the opportunity to have photographs of siblings taken too. The photographer will be in school at 8.30 am to take family photographs. School kitchen Our new kitchen is now up and running and the kitchen staff are producing wonderful meals. Last term’s menu is still being used until all of the equipment has been tried and tested and you can look on the website to see what is being offered each day. New menus are being created and will be available shortly. The new combi oven and dishwasher are causing a great deal of excitement! Paying for dinners Please pay for dinners each Monday in order that we don’t have to keep money in school. Place the money in a sealed envelope with your child’s name on and the days they wish to have a lunch. This then needs to be given by your child to their class teacher. Thank you. INSET day and holiday Our next INSET day is the Monday after October half term. Therefore the children break up for half term on Friday 21st October and return to school on Tuesday 1st November. Bikes and helmets The children are more than welcome to cycle to school, but they must wear a helmet. As I’m sure you know wearing a helmet saves many lives a year. Sadly, a few children have been unkind enough to say you look stupid if you wear one and this obviously isn’t the image we want to portray. Please discuss with your child why helmets should be worn. Thank you. Clothes collection This was a great success last time. If you are having a sort out then please donate the clothes to school. Bags will be sent out soon. The rag man is coming on 8th November to collect them. Again thank you. Breakfast club Please ensure the children are only attending if they are purchasing breakfast from us. PTA AGM This will take place on Tuesday 18th October at 2.30pm. All parents welcome! |
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