2006 / 07 Number 02 . September 22nd    2006

 

Dear Parents,

 

Welcome to our second newsletter of the new term with dates and news of several events that are coming up soon.

 

School Website

We are eagerly awaiting the launch of our school website in the next few weeks. We hope that this will be a great addition to what we offer as a school. The site will be packed with news, pictures and documents relating to all aspects of school life and will develop further as time goes on. You will be able to access newsletters and lots of other information. We and want the website to be a showcase for the school and hope that you will tell lots of people about it. The new website will incorporate the previous PTA website which is still active at the moment. As soon as we have a launch date I will let you have the address!

Many photos of the school and our activities will appear on the site however no individual children will be named. If you do not wish your child’s photo to appear on the site please let me know so that we can remove any photos before the launch date.

 

Tea Party Afternoons

Blue Class held its tea party this week and those for Orange, Purple and Yellow classes follow next week. The tea parties for Red and Green Classes will be held during the first week of full time school. 

During this time the teacher will be able to give you more information about those school routines you may not be so sure about, the curriculum the children will be following, ways you can support your child and other details the teacher feels you may need to know.  A reminder of the dates and times for each class are at the end of the newsletter.

Please do your very best to attend.

 

Behaviour in School ………

To start the new school year we have involved the children in reviewing our Golden Rules. The last time we did this was when the current Year 2s had just started school. The children and adults felt that the rules were a bit long and tricky to remember. We have decided upon five rules which can be used in school, the playground and canteen. The School Council have finalised the rules and decided on their order.

Our Golden Rules

1. Care and share

2. Be Safe.

3. Enjoy Learning

4. Be helpful

              5. Be Polite

 

Don’t forget to look out for our weekly whole school behaviour target displayed by the entrance doors.

This year the children will be awarded special ‘Behaviour Bear’ certificates for success in following the behaviour targets and golden rules.

 

 

An exciting new partnership with ‘the egg’ !

As many of you will know ‘the egg’ is Bath’s very own children’s theatre linked to the Theatre Royal. It is a fantastic place and we have already been able to take a few lucky children to a couple of events last year.

This year we are planning to visit the theatre to see some performances, but the most exciting news so far is that the Year 2s have been invited to stage a performance of their Nativity Play there this Christmas.

We will have more news of this as the plans progress next term.

This term we have arranged to take the Year 1 and 2 children to the theatre to see a play called ‘How to Hug Trees’ which has an environmental theme.

Year 1 will be going to the 1.30pm performance on  Thursday 12th October and Year 2 to the 10am performance on Friday 13th October. A letter with further details and a permission form will follow next week once we have finalised all the arrangements.

 

Walk to School Week October 2nd to 6th

To mark this week we are going to hold a Wacky Welly Walk on Friday morning. Get out your wellies, decorate them in any way you like and walk all the way (or part of the way) to school in them ~ hopefully it won’t be raining. Why not arrange to meet with friends and walk together ?

We’ll meet on the playground at 8.45am and hold a Wacky Walk around the playground for a few laps so that we can all see the wellies.  So if you can’t walk to school still wear your wellies and walk around the playground instead. The whackier the better ~ and I daresay we’ll find a few stickers, prizes  etc to reward everyone’s efforts.

Please make sure your child has a pair of shoes to change into after the walk.

 

 

  Ted’s Mega Music Day Out : Friday October 13th

  Each  year we raise money for the R.U.H. Forever Friends Appeal and we will be doing the   same this year.

This year’s event has a ‘musical’ theme and Miss McKenzie our music expert will be helping us to have a musical day in school!! For Year 2 this will include their trip to ‘the egg’. We’ll be collecting donations for ‘Ted’ and will have further details ready for the next newsletter. In the meantime start saving up your spare change to bring on the day and help fill some mega musical notes on the playground.

 

 

Free School Meals

Just a reminder that any parent entitled to  Child Tax Credits( but not Working Tax Credits)  and has an annual  income that does not exceed £13910 is entitled to apply for free school meals. This does not mean that your child has to have school dinners. However, we would urge everyone who is eligible to apply. One of the reasons is that some of the money that we receive as a school from B&NES is allocated on the basis of the numbers of children having free school meals and this can make quite a difference to the money we have to spend on your children each year.

 

 

Positive Parenting

UK Parent Coaching is running a Positive Parenting Programme in Bradford on Avon on Sunday 8th October from 10am to 4pm. For further information please contact UKPC on 01225 864840

 

Rainbow Guides and Brownies

For more details of Rainbows for 5 to 7 year olds (meeting on Tuesdays)and Brownies for 7 to 10 year olds (meeting on Wednesdays) in Oldfield Park please contact Sarah Lewis on 07795106668 or 01225 312279. Places are available. There are some fliers available in the red pockets outside the office.

 

Permission slip for out of school activities

A letter is attached for all children in Red and Green Classes plus children who have joined school in other classes. Please complete and return the permission form which allows us to take your child on local trips (which do not use a coach) without having to ask for you to fill in a form on every occasion. We will always let you know that the trips are taking place but as we like to use the local area as much as possible this form which lasts for your child’s time in school saves us all a lot of time.

 

 

 

 

P.T.A. (Parent Teacher Association)

This voluntary group is led by parents and teachers in the school and everyone is welcome to join in a variety of fundraising / social activities. The group is a really valuable part of our school and helps us offer lots of extra activities to the children such as visiting theatre and music groups, and to buy additional equipment for the classrooms.

Our first meeting of the new school year is on Friday September 29th  at 2.30pm in the canteen when we will be planning activities for the term ahead. All parents plus pre-school and reception children are welcome.

 

Gardening help required ~ do you have green fingers ?

We would be grateful for some more help in our organic garden. We are looking for parents, grandparents or other adults who would enjoy helping small groups to grow fruit, vegetables or flowers in the class planters. Please let us know if you are interested.

 

 

Data Collection Forms : Years 1 and 2

With this newsletter  we have  attached a copy of the data form for your child. Please can you check it carefully, make any changes especially to contact numbers, and return it to us. Forms that have no changes should be returned clearly marked ‘no changes’.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Jo Claridge

Headteacher

 

For important dates please see overleaf.

 

 

Dates for Term 1

 

Orange Class  Tea Party                    Monday September 25th                                 2.30pm to 3pm

Purple Class    Tea Party                    Wednesday  September 27th                          2.30pm to 3pm

Yellow Class   Tea Party                    Thursday  September 28th                              2.30pm to 3pm

Red Class       Tea Party                    Wednesday October 11th                               2.30pm to 3pm

Green Class    Tea Party                    Thursday  October 12th                                  2.30pm to 3pm

 

Walk to School Week                         Monday October 2nd to                                              

                                                            Friday October 9th

Y1 Trip to ‘the egg’                              Thursday October 12th

Y2 Trip to ‘the egg’                              Friday October 13th

Ted’s Mega Music Day Out                Friday October 13th

 

School photographer                          Tuesday October 17th

Harvest Celebration                            Wednesday October 18th

 

End of term break school finishes      Friday October 20th

School re-opens                                  Wednesday November 1st