School News

It has been a very icy and snowy end to Term 3, but we are now half way through this school year and it has been an extremely good year so far. There are a few items for your attention this week as school closes for the Mid-Term Break:

Attendance Our attendance figure last week was 96.0% and this week it has risen slightly to 96.1%, which is extremely encouraging, as this time last year it was only 95.1%. This represents a huge improvement on last year. In the second half of last year our attendance figure only dropped to 95.0%, so if we have an equally good second half of this school year we will hit our attendance target of 96.0%. I am delighted with this and I want to thank all parents for their support in raising our level of attendance this year.
Parents Coffee Morning This took place this Tuesday and it went very well, with representatives from Surestart also attending. Sue Matthews has asked me to thank all the parents who came along to this event and made it such a success!
P.T.A. Events This is just to remind you that the Parent Teacher Association will be sending home a questionnaire after the Mid-Term Break to try to find out why events such as the Family Discos, which have always been a great success in the past, are no longer being supported and if there are any alternative events that they can put on so that we do not lose our P.T.A. altogether.
Diamond Jubilee Coins We felt that we would like to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Although the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne was on Monday 6th February this week, many of the events celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year will be taking place this summer. The P.T.A. is paying for each child in the school to receive a Commemorative Diamond Jubilee Coin. We will be ordering these at the end of March. We want to give you the opportunity to order additional coins for older siblings or family members, so, after the Mid-Term Break we will be sending an order form home to you. Additional coins will cost £2.50 and must be ordered and paid for before the P.T.A. sends the order off at the end of March.
Courtney’s Community Garden Simon Wedlake, from CPS Grounds Limited, came into school for the first time last Friday afternoon and worked with a group of Year 5 children and it went very well. He will be coming in over the next few weeks to work with other groups of children, in Year 5 initially. We would still like to encourage any parents or grandparents who have an interest in gardening to join us with this new initiative for the school. Please pop into the School Office or arrange an appointment to see me if you would like further details about this.
CD of Photographs Over the course of each year we generate a huge number of photographs of the children, engaged in various activities, both within school and when they are out on trips and residential visits. Leanne Brown is keen to collate some of these photographs onto a disc for each class in the school and then give parents an option to purchase the disc at a nominal cost (I don’t know how much at the moment, but it will not be expensive). We will provide you with more details about this after the Mid-Term Break.
School Crossing Patrol I need to inform you that, unfortunately, there will be no School Crossing Patrol for the whole of the first week back in Term 4 (from Monday 20th February to Monday 27th February), as Cyril Rice, our School Crossing Patrol Officer, is unavailable that week.

Mid-Term Break I hope you have a good Mid-Term Break with your children and we will see them back in school on Monday 20th February

ATTENDANCE:

20011/12: 96.0%
Current whole school attendance: 96.1%

Year R – 96.5%
Year 1 – 95.8%
Year 2 – 95.3%
Year 3 – 95.3%
Year 4 – 96.1%
Year 5 – 95.9%
Year 6 – 97.8%

TEASPOONS
Just a reminder, for all children who have packed lunch to bring a teaspoon, if they have a yogurt/pudding. The kitchen staff have also asked, can you please check to see if your child has by mistake put a spoon into their lunch box which belongs to the kitchen.