26 Sep 2008 - Newsletter highlights - 26th September 2008

Walk to School Day

You should have received a letter yesterday giving details of our Walk to School Day on 8th October.  (The letter can be found on the website under Latest News). You should also have received a questionnaire for you to complete with your child/children about journeys to school. There will be a working party meeting shortly to begin the process of completing our School Travel Plan and we shall need the details from the questionnaires to inform our discussions. I should be very grateful, therefore, if you would return the completed questionnaire as soon as possible. Thank you. There is a separate letter for Year 4 children about the Cycle Training.

The members of the School Eco-Group are very keen for as many people as possible to join in with the Walk and Stride—please see their message overleaf.

Wear something yellow day

We are taking part in a ‘Plant a Bulb’ event in aid of the Myasthenia Gravis Association. Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is an auto-immune disease, which causes a breakdown between nerves and muscles, and results in loss of effectiveness in the muscles of the arms, legs and eyes.

We have received a huge sack of narcissus bulbs and we shall be planting them in the school grounds next Friday. We are also asking the children to wear something yellow for the occasion and to donate £1 to the charity. We should be grateful for your support for this worthy cause. Yellow is not the easiest colour to find to wear, so please be inventive—just one item of yellow will be fine!

Parent Helpers

We are always grateful for offers of regular help in the classrooms. If you have some time available each week and would be interested in supporting reading or other activities, then please get in touch with us. We do not normally place parents in the same class as their children. We would be particularly pleased to hear from anyone who is interested in helping in Year 2 with reading.

Harvest Festivals

The dates for our Harvest Festivals are Wednesday 1st October (infants) and Tuesday 7th October (juniors). Children should be dropped off at the church first thing, please, rather than coming to school first, so they have to walk only one way.

The children are invited to bring gifts of food for the services. These should please be tinned or packet items rather than fresh produce.

Parents are welcome to attend the services—your gifts of food will be received gratefully too.

We still need help with supervision on the walk back from the church. Please let your child’s class teacher know if you are able to come with us. Thank you.

The Year 2 children visited the Wilderness Centre at Plump Hill on Wednesday. They had a wonderful time hunting minibeasts in different environments, including the pond.

This morning David Drew MP visited the school. He spent time discussing current school priorities and educational issues before touring the school and meeting Danielle and Alex, our School Captains.

Music Clubs

Mr Groves and I have regrouped the recorder players. Group 1 will meet on Thursdays before school (8.15am), Group 2 on Tuesdays at lunchtime and Group 3 will meet on Tuesdays before school (8.15am). The children should know which group they are in, but if they have forgotten, there is a list in the Office, so please check with us!

Choir will meet after school on Thursday next week, and will then return to its usual time of after school on Tuesdays. There will be no orchestra practice next week—orchestra practices will take place on Thursdays after school from 9th October onwards.