March 2009 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

It was good to see so many of you at parents’ evening just before half term, especially as the snow came down again very heavily. Fortunately it didn’t last and we were able to get into school next day with no problems and enjoy a lovely day with the Blunderbus theatre company.

We hope that Year 2 parents found the SATs meeting helpful. If you were unable to attend, your child should have brought home the handout for parents. If you would like to buy any of the literacy & numeracy workbooks that were on sale you can still obtain them from the office at a cost of £3 each or 2 for £5.

This is a very busy half term and there is a lot going on in school so please look at the diary dates at the end of this newsletter so that you don’t miss anything.

Easter will soon be here and we will be inviting the children to take part in one of our traditional competitions, making an Easter bonnet or an Easter garden or decorating a hard boiled egg. The teachers from each year group judge the competitions and they are looking for entries that are made by the children with the least amount of adult help. They make a lovely display in the school hall and we are looking forward to seeing them come into school during the last week of term. Staff will also be donating Easter eggs for the childrens’ raffle.

Year 2 children enjoyed their Chinese New Year Day activities. Their teachers would like to thank everyone who made this such an enjoyable experience. We have rearranged the Chinese Lion dance workshop to come into school on the 5th after having had to postpone it earlier this term. We hope that the weather is kinder this time. Then towards the end of term is the other half of this experience which is the Circus skills workshop which will be a very lively and enjoyable session.

The PTA Valentine bear raffle was very successful and we are pleased to say that they have all gone to very good homes. It raised £152 in total. The PTA are now planning to hold a ladies evening at the end of this term. They are working very hard to make it a relaxing and enjoyable evening and hope that as many mums, nans & aunties as possible will be able to attend. There are a wide variety of stalls planned. Further details will be sent out in the near future.

There will also be the opportunity for the grandparents of Year 1 children to come into school on 26th. They are invited to attend a special assembly and then go into the classrooms and work with their grandchildren and meet their class teacher.

Red Nose Day is also taking place this month and we are going to have a non-uniform day. The children will be asked to dress in red and bring in 20p for the charity.

Mrs Huckett and Mrs Evans are organising a science and technology week and the children will have the opportunity to do a wide range of activities including food tasting with Jacqui Bailey, our school nurse. Mrs Bassi is organising 2 competitions which the children will be able to enter, linking science, DT & literacy. Further details will be sent out later this term.

World Book Day takes place this half term and to celebrate we will be having the Scholastic book fair in school. All the children will be given £1 book token which we hope they will come and spend with us while the book fair is open in the school hall.

We have had a visit from the Education Welfare Officer this week. Unfortunately our attendance is not as high as we would like. Currently we are achieving 93% and the government require a minimum of 95% attendance. There is also an increase in the number of unauthorised absences. We hope that an improvement in the weather and the health of the children will help to improve this situation. Please remember that holidays should not be booked in school time and that if your child is not achieving 90% attendance or better any holiday taken will be unauthorised and the Education Welfare Officer will be notified. This could result in a fine per parent/carer per child. We were pleased to find that fewer children are arriving late in the morning.

There will be no Gold award assembly on 6th March as the children will be having a whole day dedicated to a wide variety of maths activities as part of our celebration of World Maths Day.

Mrs Hutchings has contributed art work from our school onto the Saatchi web site (www,saatchi-gallery.co.uk) and also the Essex Grid for Learning website (www.e-gfl.org) which we hope that you will take the time to view.

Well, this is a very busy 6 weeks so we hope that the children enjoy all the things that are going on in school. If you would like to come in and help with any of these activities you would be very welcome. Please contact your child’s class teacher to arrange this.

Do remember that if you are concerned or worried about anything to do with school you can contact the class teacher after school or Mrs James our home/school liaison TA on her private number 01992 718297.

With best wishes
Mrs. Mooney and all the staff

Diary dates

Please note that Gold Award assembly dates have been provisionally booked and may be subject to change. You will receive an invitation confirming these dates nearer the time.

March
2nd - Year 2 - History off the Page – The Great Fire of London
3rd - Year 2 - History off the Page – The Great Fire of London
5th - Chinese Lion Dance Workshop 9th - Science & DT week, Years R & 1 Food tasting with Jacqui Bailey – School hall, Miss Wannenburg’s class parents invited in to lunch all week
12th - Scholastic Book Fair opens – 8.45-9.00, 3.00-3.45 – School Hall, Year 2 Food tasting with Jacqui Bailey – School hall
13th - Miss Wannenburg Gold Award assembly, Red Nose Day
16th - Mrs Penketh’s class parents invited in to lunch all week
17th - Scholastic Book Fair closes 3.45
19th - Year 1 - History off the Page – The Magical Toy Museum
20th - Mrs Penketh Gold Award assembly
23rd - Circus Skills Workshop – Years R, 1 & 2, Mrs Kemp class parents invited in to lunch all week
26th - Year 1 Grandparents’ afternoon, PTA – Ladies Evening
27th - Mrs Kemp Gold Award assembly
30th - Easter competition entries to be brought into school

School closes for Easter break – 2.00 p.m. Friday 3rd April 2009
School reopens Monday 20th April 2009

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