Remember to keep up to date by visiting www.oldfieldparkinfants.co.uk

2006 / 07 Number 12 . February 2^nd 2007

Dear Parents,

At last the mornings and evenings seem to be a little lighter, there’s no sign of snow and our daffodils are beginning to bloom in the school grounds.

Zero Waste Lunches

Thank you all for your fantastic support of this initiative which the children really enjoyed. As you may have read in the letter on Monday the amount of non recyclable waste was reduced from 7 bags to just 1½ ! The main waste was uneaten sandwiches, crisp packets, yoghurt pots and squeezy yoghurt wrappers. We will now continue to make every Monday a ‘Zero Waste Day’ and be awarding stickers for each Zero Waste Lunchbox and to those eating all their school dinner.

We will be unable to collect up all the waste every Monday but we have decided to collect any foil for recycling. From time to time we may sort all the waste to check that we are continuing to improve. So please keep doing your bit to help …… try to use foil or recyclable containers for all foodstuffs.

Healthier Lunchboxes

One of the spin offs of our Zero Waste Lunch on Monday was that there was a wider variety of healthier food to eat. We have noticed however that several children are bringing sweets and large bars of chocolate in their lunchboxes. Although we do not wish to be overly proscriptive we would prefer children not to have any sweets. Smaller amounts of chocolate such as mini bars or chocolate covered biscuits would be appreciated.

Head’s Visit to the Czech Republic

After half term I will be part of a group of head teachers making a study visit to the Czech Republic. The trip is being organised by the British Council and takes place from Sunday February 25^th to Saturday March 3^rd. We will be based in Prague and the group has asked the visit to focus on quality early years education. We will also be involved in making presentations about our own schools to teachers in the Czech Republic. I am sure that I will return with plenty of interesting experiences and information to share with the whole school.

Whilst I am away Peter George will be acting as Head teacher for the week. Whilst he is ‘in charge’ Purple Class will be taught by Rosemary Hansell and Carolyn Glanville both of whom know the children well.

Walk On Wednesdays ………………

Please continue to Walk On Wednesdays as often as possible

These are the results for January :

Green Class ~ 69%

Red Class ~ 68%

Yellow Class ~ 67%

Purple Class ~ 88%

Blue Class ~ 76%

Orange Class ~ 78%

So well done to Purple Class for being this month’s top walkers.

NSPCC Charity Fundraiser

If there is any remaining sponsor money for the NSPCC please bring it in before next Wednesday when Joanne Dawe-Lane will be returning to school for a follow up assembly.

Parent Governor Election

Unfortunately we did not receive any nominations for the position of parent governor as advertised in the last newsletter. This is an interesting role giving an insight into the leadership and management of the school. It is important that parents are represented and there are three other parent governors each of whom would be happy to be contacted to discuss what is involved.

They are : Ross Cotterell Telephone 401340

Lucy McDonald Telephone 480252

Dick Daniel Telephone 331014

I am also more than happy to talk to anyone who is interested.

Please do give consideration to putting your name forward.

Christmas Photographs

If you did not order a Christmas Group photo and would like to purchase one we have a few extra copies for sale. The only exception to this is Yellow Class who are ‘sold out’. The photos cost £1.20 each and can be purchased at the office.

Parent-Line Support and Questionnaire

Parent- line is an organisation that supports parents in a number of ways. They run a 24/7 telephone and e mail helpline ; have online advice via their website and run a number of courses on different aspects of parenting.

Through extended schools’ funding Parent-Line have been commissioned to work with five primary schools in the west Bath area. They plan to run a taster session in each primary school followed by three x five session courses. Each course will probably run at a different school and cover the most popular topics that parents request. The courses could run during the day (with crèche facilties) or in the evenings , again depending on what parents want.

Parent line want to collect information from parents to find out what topics interest them and when to run the courses.

Attached is a questionnaire. Please consider completing it so that Parent Line can tailor their support to your needs. You are not committing to attending a course at this stage.

First Aid : St John’s Ambulance

The extended school’s fund is also supporting a First Aid input from St John’s Ambulance. We have decided that this is best suited to Year 2 and will complement work that the School Nurse does on medicines with this year group.

The talk will take place on Monday 25^th February (the first day after half term) from 11am until 12noon in the hall. Parents of Y2 are welcome to join the children on this occasion.

Recycling Workshops for Y1

An artist is coming to work with Y1 on when they will be creating art from recycled materials. Please bring in anything that they could use ~ some more unusual items would be a great addition to the packaging they have already collected.

Activities out and about in the local area

Sports Stars

Sports Stars are launching in Bath and North East Somerset by running holiday courses at Beechen Cliff School from 10.30am to 3.30pm daily. They offer a choice of ‘Multi Sport Stars’ , Dancestars’ and ‘Soccerstars.’

Contact them on 0845 241 3682

Bristol Old Vic Studio : Aesop’s Fables

This play is being staged at the Old Vic Studio from 29^th March to 21^st April , the Easter Holidays. It has been written by award winning children’s author, Michael Morpurgo and is recommended for age 5 upwards.

Make Roads Safe Competition

To coincide with the first UN Global Road Safety Week a new interactive website for children is being launched, www. makeroadssafe.org .The site features a Zebra character who needs a name.

PTA NEWS

Firstly a very Happy New Year to everyone on behalf of the PTA.

Since September 2006 the PTA have donated in the region of £3000. This is a fantastic sum of money and makes a big difference to the experiences our children have in school.

We have had our Christmas break and now are looking forward to 2007!

Our first meeting of the year will be FRIDAY 9^th FEBRUARY, 2.15pm in the canteen.

As always EVERYONE IS WELCOME. We really would love to see some new faces at the meetings because without your ideas and help events for the children just will not be possible. I know that there are lots of you out there who would be a great asset to the team so give it a go and come along.

VALENTINE CAKE SALE

This will be held on the day itself this year WEDNESDAY 14^TH FEBRUARY. So if you have not bought a gift for your loved one this will be the ideal opportunity to purchase something special!!!!

Please ensure your child comes to school with 20p to buy a cake during the afternoon. All remaining cakes will be sold in the playground at 2.45pm onwards.

It would be great if as many cakes as possible could follow the Valentine’s theme.

TEA TOWELS

Just in case anyone wondered, the PTA will this year be arranging for Oldfield Park Infants School Tea towels to be printed. Hopefully this will all be sorted out by Easter and they will go on sale around that time. I think most of you will agree that it’s a great souvenir of your child’s time in school.

Many thanks to you all

Jo Brimble & Lisa Cotterell

Yours sincerely

Jo Claridge

Headteacher