Have a good weekend as we head in February – enjoy spotting all the snowdrops which are popping up everywhere!

Mrs Katy Pinchess, Headteacher

 

TISSUES

We are running low on tissues. In January we requested Years 1 and 5 to bring in a box of tissues to share in school but if you did not bring one in yet please do. It does not need to be a fancy box – one for 50p or a £1 will help many sniffy noses and help to stop the germs from spreading. Thank you for your support!

 

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2020

On Friday 24th January six of our Year 6 class were fortunate enough to attend a special session run by the diocese about Kindertransport. Click here to find out more about it

 

PENCILS AND PENNIES FOR THE GAMBIA

A group of Year 6 pupils will be visiting all Saint’s School on Monday 3rd February to take over our postcards for our friends at Sitahuma School for the kind staff to take out to the Gambia at half term.  If anyone would like to donate a pencil for the children then please pass them to the office where there is a collection box. We have a jam jar for collecting any loose change which we bank regularly so any donations may continue to be collected there. Thank you for all your support!

 

PTFA NEWS

Kathleen Proud says a big thank you to the class reps for all their ideas and support. We are having a brilliant fund raising year so far with our real community push on ‘every penny counts’ and trying to get the children more involved too to help them appreciate the significance of money.

Forthcoming events

 - tickets are likely to sell fast so make sure that you are logged onto the PTFA website by clicking here.  If you haven't registered on the PTFA website yet, simply visit the website, click on Register and add your details.  You'll need to be registered to book any of our PTFA events.

Movie morning and afternoon on Saturday 14th March – save the date - more details to follow soon!

BFest on 13th June – our bi-annual music festival is back again this year.  Auditions will be held in school in late May/early June, so get practising and you could be performing on the stage at BFest!

Bike Ride on 20th June – get training for this super fundraiser and let’s see if we can beat last year’s amazing total.  More details to follow...

And please remember, you can earn money for the school every time you if you shop on Amazon – just click here!

 

JUNK MODELLING MATERIALS

Our Year R pupils and the popular Junk modelling club are getting through our supplies of junk modelling materials so if you have been shopping we would be happy to receive;

• Small boxes
• Wrapping paper tubes or Kitchen roll tubes (but not toilet rolls thank you)

 

ORANGE PIPS

The Year 1 gardeners are keen to extend their experience of growing different fruits and Mrs Vogel would appreciate 30 orange seeds (washed and sent in a small envelope please!) if you are enjoying any at home this weekend. Thank you in advance.

 

CRISP PACKETS

A big thank you to the Nimmo family who are taking on the collection of school used crisp packets. Children will be briefed on where to put them and Mrs Nimmo will collect them. They are going to a local collection where any profits from the recycling will go to local charities. Sorry – we cannot commit to recycle crisp packets from home, but there is information online if you would like to find out more about this. 

 

FABULOUS WRITING

Each year we are invited to submit entries to the Rotary Young Writers competition. This year the theme was Connections and we had some super entries from all children in the Juniors. Many of them had a homework task to plan, draft or rewrite their entries and you will be very aware of how much hard work goes into their work each and every day as they develop their creativity and accuracy in the craft of being a competent writer. Well done to everyone for participating and trying so hard.

These children were put forward to our internal ‘long list’ as representing the best entries in their class;

Year 3 – Sophie, Poppy, Harry, Gemma 

Year 4 – George, George, Matt, Eva, Charlotte

Year 5 – Satwat, Alfie, Alana, Michaela, Rose, Lewis

Year 6 – Max, Cam, Olivia, Sophia, Basit, Alex

We will find out which three young writers will be representing our school in the Alton area competition very soon!

 

PARKING ISSUES

This week I have had two complaints about courtesy and right of way in parking around school. I will direct both to the Parish Council and would urge you to contact the police should you wish to take up issues directly via the 111 number. I thought that it might be helpful for you to hear both complaints to reflect on how we work with our local community as neighbours and citizens. As a school we have supported the work of the Parish Council and have offered to meet with them to plan ways to improve traffic and ensure that all pedestrians are safe. We have also trained up two children as JSROs (Junior Road Safety Road Officers) as the pupils have some great perspective to give in watching the adult behaviours.

A local resident wrote; “Yet again I am compelled to plead with you to ask school parents to be considerate with regards to parking and using private driveways.

I have just had one parent pull their car fully into my drive to use it as a turning point - bold as brass with myself and a friend on my doorstep, no apology, just glared and carried on as if it was ok. Then he proceeded to reverse out quickly without giving due concern to parents and younger siblings using the pathway.  There was a also a lady who attempted to park blocking my driveway access and it was only because my friend went out and said no did she move on!

This really has to stop as notwithstanding the fact it’s trespassing and an offence to go onto and also block a private driveway, soon there will be an accident. I appreciate that there seems to be more parents using their cars, but, if they’re local residents surely they should be walking?”

A parent contacted the school to say, “Just a quick report regarding a very dangerous driver at approximately 3:20pm on Thursday on School Road.

A dark blue Skoda station wagon driven by an elderly man sped past endangering all our kids, parents and carers and turned into Eggar's Field. Unfortunately I did not get the number plate.

Parking outside the school is sometimes still an issue across the very clearly marked lines. One female driver of a van became foul and loud mouthed to another parent when it was politely pointed out not to park there.

Perhaps it could be suggested to local authorities to visit our village more regularly to remind us all to be more considerate and follow the rules for the safety of our kids.”

 

SPORTING NEWS

We had had some great competition results this week in both Gymnastics and Football.  Click here to read all about them

 

NEED SOME HELP?

We know family life can sometimes be a struggle and we are seeing rising anxiety in many adults and children nationally. We hope you know that you can always come and talk to us about anything affecting your child, but there is also other help available.

You can contact Elkolet Family Support workers via school or make a self-referral at embrace@elkolet.com  or ring 01420 86980

Click here for more help and advice.

 

Buy your books from Scholastic…

…and you can earn extra books for our super library.  Why not take a look at some of the great offers across a huge range of titles.  Click here to place your order before February 27th, 2020.