2005 / 06 Number 23 . July 20th 2007

Dear Parents,

This is the final newsletter of the school year and although the end of term seems to be a long time coming overall another year has flown by. It is time to say a huge thank you to everyone associated with the school, staff, parents, governors, children and friends for your tremendous support throughout the past year. Once again we have all enjoyed learning numerous new things together and have many happy memories of events throughout the past year. I do hope that everyone associated with the school has a very happy, restful and enjoyable summer holiday. This time last year we were surviving the blistering heat ….let’s hope the good weather is saving itself for August !

School Summer Fair

This is the brilliant sum of money raised at the summer fair on Saturday July 7^th . The atmosphere on the day was great and it was lovely to see so many of you there enjoying all the activities based on a seaside theme. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s fair such a success in particular to Lisa Cotterell, Jo Brimble, Rowena Midgley and the P.T.A. team who worked so hard to make sure everything ran smoothly on the day. The money raised will directly benefit the children and help to make their time at school even more fun and enjoyable. Much of the money raised goes towards the many enrichment activities that we provide for the children such as trips out and visitors in .This means that we can keep our requests for parental donations to a minimum.

Next year we would really like to raise money towards some proper staging for the hall especially now that we seem to be staging ever more ambitious productions.

End of Term Leaver’s Assembly: Tuesday July 24^th

You are invited to join us at 10am for a special assembly to say goodbye and good luck to Gabbie Collins, Ann Cochrane, John Harrington and Jen Morgan. We will be celebrating their time in school with singing, poems and presentations. We will also be presenting the Year 2s with a special certificate to celebrate the end of their time at Oldfield Park Infants.

Leavers’ Performance : Snow White and the Seven Dwarves : Oldfield Park Style !!

What a fantastic treat we have been given by our Year 2s this week with their performance of Snow White. Each child was thoroughly involved and it was amazing to see what they have achieved by working together as a team over the past few weeks. There are certainly some great talents in the group and I am sure they will get the opportunity to develop these further at their junior schools. I hope that memories of the event will

So it’s ‘Goodbye and Good Luck’ to Year 2

We wish all our Year 2 children good luck as they leave us to join their junior schools in September. Although most of them are transferring to Oldfield Park Junior School we are also sending children to Widcombe Juniors, St Andrews, St Michaels and further afield to ?????? We will miss them in September but we certainly have some great memories of their time here particularly their acting skills this year. We all wish them much success and hope that they will keep in touch.

Leavers’ Lunch : Monday July 23^rd

If your child is having the Leaver’s Lunch please send payment (£1.70) in on Monday morning in a named envelope and hand it to the class teacher. We would be really grateful not to have to chase up debts with only a few days to go.

Leavers’ Party : Monday July 23^rd

The leavers’ party will follow on from the lunch during the afternoon until 4.00pm. All Year 2 children may wear ‘party’ clothes for the day but please remember that they will still need to go out to play and be doing normal activities during the morning.

The party will end in the school hall with games, refreshments and a short disco organised by the staff. Every child will leave with a memento of their time in the infants’ school.

Please pick up promptly at 4.00pm from outside the main entrance.

Parents Questionnaires

Thank you everyone who returned our recent questionnaire. We are delighted to receive so many positive comments about the school but also thank you for the many constructive comments about possible improvements. Whilst we cannot promise to act on each one, we will be analysing them and taking note of your views when our policies and procedures in different areas are reviewed. We find such information really useful and your views have been referred to on many occasions. Please return any remaining questionnaires before the end of term.

Do YOU NEED THE AFTER SCHOOL CLUB ?

If you answered “Yes”, then please read below

We need you too!!! As you are aware the After School Club is managed by a voluntary Committee. This

Committee will be standing down at the end of term because their children are moving on to the junior

school. As much as we have enjoyed managing the club we feel now is the ideal time for a new

committee to take the reins. We will however provide a hand over period and be available to help with

any queries.

If a new committee is not appointed before the end of term, which is a requirement of OFSTED, then sadly

the club may not be available in September.

We will be having an end of term meeting on Monday 23^rd July at Muriel’s house. If you missed the AGM then please come along. The evening will give you the opportunity to meet new faces, share your ideas and to give you an overview of how the club runs.

We have all benefited from the hard work of the parents who set up the club and the hard work of the staff currently employed, let’s hope this achievement will not be lost and the club will continue to grow and benefit other families of children attending Oldfield Park Infants School.

Meeting : Monday 23^rd July 2007 Time : 7.30 pm

Please call Muriel or Jane on telephone numbers: 331614 or 401360 if you are able to come. ALL WELCOME J

Story Telling Day at Prior Park College

Year 1 spent a super day at Prior Park last Thursday celebrating the story of the ‘Jolly Postman’ and joining with over 300 children from local infant schools. Each school was able to meet and interact with characters from a particular story so we spent the day with Jack and the Giant , of beanstalk fame. Each school contributed to the creation of a song which was performed as a finale to the day. Special thanks go to our own Peter George for his superb organisation of the day on behalf of the infant network. You might just spot him in the picture with that megaphone again !!

Returning Books

Please use the last weekend of term to round up all those stray school books and return them. A lot of books have gone missing over the year and it is a shame to have to spend money replacing them when it could be spent on new books to enjoy.

Events and Activities in the Hoildays

We gave news of several events in the last newsletter and I have already heard of several children joining the Big Wild Read at the library. We have displayed as many posters as possible on the notice board and in the office window so please take time to see if anything is of interest. Attached to this newsletter are details of the Time Bank’s August Fun programme.

Looking forward to September

We are expecting 60 new children in YR in September. We are full to capacity and it is good to know that the school is popular in the local community. We are also expecting several children to join us in Years 1 and 2. We look forward to welcoming them and their families.

In Service Days : Term 1

We will be having two In Service Days at the beginning of Term 1 on Monday September 3^rd and Tuesday September 4^th. School will re-open for Years 1 and 2 on Wednesday September 5^th with Reception children making their initial visits throughout the rest of the week.

Breakfast Club

All parents who expressed an interest should have received a booking form for the new Sports / Breakfast Club which will open on Monday September 10^th . If anyone else would like a place on one or more days please collect a form from the office and return it before the end of term. Please consider supporting the club which is not just for working parents but is also a before school extra curricular club. It has taken a considerable amount of time to secure provision and the club organising it have an excellent reputation locally.

School Dinners

There will be no rise in the cost of school meals in September . The cost will remain at £1.70 per day.

Collecting Children From School

In advance of the new school year I would like to take this opportunity to remind parents of our policy for the end of the school day.

J Children are released one by one by the class teacher or adult responsible for the class.

J Children are only released into the care of an adult ~ they may not leave school unaccompanied.

J Parents are asked to let the school know who normally picks up their child ~ this may be a number of people, mum, dad, grandparents. We are usually pretty good at getting to know the extended family and any regular arrangements.

J If the arrangements are different to the norm please let the class teacher know at the beginning of the school day or pop to the hatch and leave a message in the office. For example your child might be going to tea at a friend’s house.

J If you are going to be late or have to change pick up arrangements during the day please telephone school with the details.

J If you have an arrangement with other parents to take your child home in the event of you being late please let us know in writing who you will contact so that we can confidently allow your child to go home with them.

Hopefully this will clear up one or two confusions which have been brought to our attention. We do always put the children’s safety and well being first and will err on the side of caution if we have any doubt about who your child should be going with.

Whatever you choose to do I hope that everyone enjoys the summer holiday ~ the rain has got to stop at some time surely !

Yours sincerely,

Jo Claridge

Headteacher