Newsletter 16: 5th January 2018
‘The best that I can be’
Romans 5.3–4: ‘Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
It has been lovely to welcome the children back after the holidays. I hope you all had a good break and spent some quality time together in your families. The younger children are very excited to be in their new classrooms and are making the most of having more space. We have some lovely new furniture and equipment, thanks to your generous donations at the end of last term. Once all the building work is complete and the school is fully set up, you will be invited in to have a look around.
Dame Tipping Gospel Choir
Choir will start again on Wednesday 17th January at 6pm in the school hall. We have some great new songs to learn, so please come along if you would like to sing with us.
Forest School Volunteers
We would like to ask parents to volunteer if they would like to support the teachers in Forest School on Thursday afternoons. Reception and Year 1 children will take part in Forest School on Thursday afternoons, but parents from other year groups may volunteer. You do not have to commit to coming every Thursday, as we will have a rota for parent volunteers. Please let Ms. Holmes or Miss North know if you are able to help.
Unwanted Visitors
We have had several cases of head lice recently. Please check your child’s hair thoroughly and treat if necessary. If all parents do this, hopefully we can stop them spreading further.
Supporting Our School
I have been saddened to hear recently that a few parents have been making derogatory comments about our school to current and prospective parents. Such comments are damaging to the whole school community, including your own children, as our school attracts funding based on pupil numbers. As we all know, our school has been through a period of transition and we had disappointing results last year, but that does not alter the fact that the children are receiving an excellent education from a dedicated and expert team of teachers and support staff. Please think carefully before making negative comments about the school and do make an appointment to see myself or your child’s class teacher if you have an issue to discuss so that we can resolve it together.Thank you to the vast majority of parents who continue to be very supportive of our school.
Collective Worship Team
Our collective worship team, led by Timothy Olusegun and Imogen Snell is now complete. The members of the team are : Elena Marshall, Mojola Awosan, Caleb Chen, Rhiannon Geca and Oliver Garwood. The team will help to plan and deliver collective worship and special events, as well as receiving feedback and making improvements to whole school collective worship.
After School Sports Clubs
We still have spaces in boys’ basketball for Y4-6 (Tuesday), mini basketball YR-3 (Wednesday) and girls’ netball/basketball Y4-6 (Thursday). Please return your forms to Mrs. Potts of Mrs. Davies and pay on sQuid if you would like your child to attend.
Work of the Week
Reception- Harlee Hammond-Johnson, for fantastic sounding out and blending when reading.
Class 1&2-Kayan Pokar, for his excellent reasoning in Maths.
Class 3&4- JJ Jan, for writing an excellent diary entry in RE.
Well done, everyone!
Commendations
Reception- Nicole Louca, for an excellent effort when writing about exotic pets.
Class 1&2- Tom Marshall, for persevering with his Maths and asking for help when needed.
Class 3&4- Poppy Whitcombe for making confident, sensible contributions to class discussions.
Achievements
Well done to Jack Robinson, who was awarded Manager’s Player of the Year for Harold Wood Cougar’s under 9s football team.
Attendance
Reception- 95.24% ; Class 1&2- 96.11 % ; Class 3&4- 95.83 % ; Class 5&6- 94.67 %
I hope we can do much better next week.
Dates for the Diary
Monday 15th January- Reception and Class 1& 2 parents information meeting- 3pm
Wednesday 17th January- Class 3 & 4 parent information meeting- 3pm
Thursday 18th January- Class 5 & 6 parents information meeting- 3pm
Tuesday 23rd January- School Nurse drop-in session-8.30am
Mrs. Kathryn Waters