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2006 / 07 Number 18 . May 11th 2007

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope you all enjoyed the May Day Bank Holiday. Our plans are coming together now for several key events in the summer calendar  which we hope everyone will enjoy.

 

Staff News

Gabbie Collins

Gabbie Collins has been offered the chance to work at a nursery in Switzerland. This is a very exciting opportunity for her to use her many skills and talents to assist in setting up a new class for 4 to 6 year olds at Tiny Tots in Basel. The principal of the school visited Gabbie here at school and it will come as no surprise to you to learn that she was very impressed by Gabbie’s teaching and care of the children. She also felt that the learning environment at Oldfield Park Infants reflected what she wishes to create in her own school which is a great compliment.

The governors have given Gabbie a year’s leave of absence to take up this post from September 2007 and although we will miss her enormously we are delighted that she has been given the opportunity to develop her career in this way.  We will of course be finding a special way of wishing Gabbie ‘Bon Voyage’ at the end of term.

We have started the process of appointing a suitably talented and creative teacher for Red Class and will let you have further information as soon as possible. We will do everything we can to ensure that the new teacher is fully involved in the programme of events for children starting school in September.

Joe Mitchell

Although many of you will not know Joe, he has played a vital role as our caretaker since last August, reliably opening the school each morning and locking up at night as well as carrying out many other duties.

Unfortunately he is moving out of the local area so has had to resign .We are hoping to appoint a replacement before the end of May. If you know anyone who might be interested in the post which is part time (16 hours per week, all year round) please ask for the details at the office.

 

Playground Working Party : Sunday April 29th

Thank you to those parents who came along to help. Several people have commented on how much better the area around the tree is looking. We are planning to add some colourful tubs and possibly create an alpine garden there eventually.

 

 

Walk to School Week : May 21st to 25th

This year’s national ‘Walk to School’ week has the theme of ‘Strider Saves the Planet.’ Strider is the character that appears on our current  Walk on Wednesday stickers ! Strider is seeking to draw attention to the pollution that is caused by the daily ‘school run’.

We will be expanding our Walk on Wednesday for this week and would like as many of you as possible to try to walk all or some of the way to school each day.

The children will be given a special Walk to School Week chart to collect their daily stickers which will be given out at the top of Dorset Street by the railway path. We do ask that everyone is honest and that children only collect stickers for walking a reasonable distance to school. If you genuinely do walk and don’t come via Dorset Street stickers will be available on the gate. On Friday the stickers will be given out at the ‘Walk to School’ breakfast. Certificates will be awarded to those who collect a set of five stickers. Completed charts will be collected on Friday 25th May.

 

 

 

 

Walk to School Week Diary Competition

We will be running a competition based on a ‘Strider Saves the Planet’ diary that each child will be given. Completed diaries will be collected after the break at the beginning of Term 6 and prizes awarded in due course.

Walk to School ‘Super Heroes’ Breakfast ~ Friday May 25th

As a finale to Walk to School Week we will be holding a Walk to School Breakfast, repeating an activity that was very successful last year.  Oldfield Park Baptist Church have kindly agreed to let us hold the event in their garden or hall, depending on the weather. A light breakfast of juice, fruit and bread rolls will be served at 8.30am and then we can complete the walk to school together to arrive in time for 9 o’clock. We are planning to parade to school carrying a large inflatable globe representing the amount of carbon dioxide created by the average daily drive to and from school and wearing environmental super hero masks.

 

The diaries, sticker charts and masks to decorate will be sent home at the end of next week.

 

 

Year 1 Visit to ‘the egg’ : The Kurdish Garden

Since writing the last newsletter we have been offered enough tickets to take all Year 1 children to see the excellent performance of ‘The Kurdish Garden’ at ‘the egg’ on Monday 18th June. Further details will follow after the mid term break.

 

 

Theme Week : ‘Over, Under All Around.’

Our next them week will take place from June 25th to 29th and will have an outdoor theme where we will be encouraging the children to look carefully at both the natural and built environments that surround us.

We will be working in partnership with the National Trust and all the children will have the chance to spend time at Prior Park Landscape Garden.

We are hoping to end the week with the inflation of a hot air balloon and a whole school picnic at Monument Field which is a National Trust property on the Bath Skyline Walk.

 

Stroud and Swindon Building Society

You should receive an envelope from the Stroud and Swindon Building Society with this newsletter.  The society has recently launched a new savings scheme for children which offers the chance for children to save money and support the school at the same time. Details of this are in the envelope.

To celebrate the start of the scheme the Stroud and Swindon will be bringing their hot air balloon to our theme week and showing the children how it works. We will be linking the visit of the balloon to a theme week competition.

 

Family Learning Opportunities

Parentlineplus

As detailed in the last newsletter Parentlineplus have been commissioned to provide a number of free groups for parents in the Bath Area. Don’t forget to have a look at the programme to see if there is anything that interests you, as a wide range of issues are covered.

 

Ready Steady Cook

Would you like to take part in a course cooking alongside your child in school ? The course is planned to take place on Mondays 4th to 25th June from 1.30 to 3pm. It will be led by Anna – Marie Perry who organised the very successful cooking challenge day in Year 1 last term. I am sure it will be very enjoyable indeed and a great way to spend time together. If you are interested please complete the form at the end of the newsletter. Spaces are very limited so it will be first come, first served !

 

Parenting Education Materials Exhibition : Thursday 24th May

We are hosting an exhibition of parenting materials from 2.30 to 5pm on Thursday May 24th for anyone who is interested in the local community to come and browse through. There is such a wide range of handbooks, courses, texts and other materials available about parenting these days that it can be difficult for professionals and parents to know what resources to choose. Come and browse through the exhibition which includes :

Ÿ A collection of resources about different aspects of parenting children from newborn to teenagers.

Ÿ A variety of materials in different formats : books, videos, audio cassettes, posters, leaflets, course literature etc

Ÿ Information relevant to both child care and family support workers and parents.

Please come along and let anyone else who might be interested such as child minders, pre school leaders etc know about it.

 

Community Learning Service Visit : Monday June 5th  from 8.50am 

The Community Learning Service is visiting the school on Monday June 5th to offer information and advice to parents and carers who have less than a level 2 qualification ( 5 x GCSE ‘C’ grades), regarding anything to do with training, learning and work. If you have been thinking that now is the time to get some more training in order to do a particular job, need advice about applying for jobs such as writing CVs or interview techniques, or just want to see if any of the things available take your fancy do pop into the hall after you have dropped your child off. Tea and coffee will be provided so why not stop by for a chat with Rowan Tanner and her team who are eager to meet as many parents as possible.

Yours sincerely,

 

Year 2 Clubs

Thank you to all those who have returned the clubs form. We will let the children know which club they are going to be in on Monday. The clubs start on Wednesday 16th May immediately after school. Please pick up promptly at 3.45pm.

 

 

Summer Fair

The PTA have confirmed the date of the Summer Fair as Saturday July 7th from 12noon until 2pm so put this date in your diary as it is always a fantastic event. The fair is going to be organised around a ‘beach party’ theme so if you have any ideas for activities, games and stalls please let Lisa or Jo know.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Jo Claridge

Headteacher

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ready Steady Cook

Name of child :  

 

I would like to take part in Ready Steady Cook with my child.

 

Signed :- ………………………………….. parent / carer

 

 

 

Please return by Friday May 24th at latest but remember places are limited.