Lane End Primary School

December - Newsletter 8 (3rd December 2015)

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week all of the children are involved in a singing and recording project led by Georgia Pennells from iSingPOP (along with Claire Bramwell and Tosin Akindele also from iSingPop), that helps to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural and social development of the children as well as their singing and dance skills. The children have been very enthusiastic and are really enjoying the week; working with the iSingPop tutors and our school staff to learn and perform a number of special Christmas songs with actions. Today they have been recorded so that we can create a school Christmas CD with help from the iSingPOP team.

On Thursday 10th December there will be two Christmas concerts at Cheadle Hulme Methodist Church, where we can celebrate the children’s hard work and Christmas as a community. The concerts should last about an hour and we look forward to welcoming you. All of the children, from Reception up to Year 6, will be taking part.

The first concert will begin at 2:00pm (doors open at 1:45pm). The second concert will begin at 6:00pm (doors open at 5:40pm) and the children should arrive at 5:40pm to ensure a prompt start. As mentioned previously, children will return to school after the afternoon performance to be collected as normal. All children need to be picked up from the church after the evening performance which should finish at approximately 7pm. Children should wear school uniform.

 The school CD can be ordered at the concert for £6 each and will be delivered to the school the following week. The CD will include the recorded songs sung by the children along with backing track/karaoke versions for your child to sing along to. We also have iSingPOP T-shirts available to purchase at the concert for £7.

This special offer will be available on the night:     CD and T-Shirt of your choice            £10

If you would like to order the CD or buy a T-Shirt please make sure you have cash or cheques on the night as card payment facilities will not be available.

The children have had a brilliant time learning the songs and actions. If you haven’t sent in your request for tickets (up to 3 per family per performance) then please do so by Monday 7^th December at the latest. It is likely that we will have some extra tickets available for the 2pm performance – please ask on Monday if you would like more to see if we have any available. Tickets are free but there will be a charity collection for Millie’s Trust and to fund a school defibrillator at the end of the performance. If you can’t locate your ticket letter it is available on the school website (newsletters section) or you can write us a note with your ticket request clearly marked iSingPop and with your child’s name and class.

We are really looking forward to seeing you at what I know will be a wonderful performance.

PTA Christmas Fair – Thank you to everyone who supported our Christmas Fair and sold raffle tickets, sent in tombola prizes and cakes/chocolate – we raised a fantastic £2750 which will all go to further enriching the experience your children have at school. A big thank you to everyone who helped at the fair – it only happens because of you. It was a lovely community event and everyone seemed to be having a good time – thank you for coming!

Christmas Baubles – the Christmas baubles sold well at the fair but as not everyone could make it we understand that there are some left. If you would like to buy your child’s bauble they cost £2.50 each (£4.50 for two, £6 for three). Please send in the money in an envelope with your child’s name and class on the front marked ‘Christmas Bauble’.

Thank you to one of our parents, Amanda Fry, who has organised for the Mission Christmas collection again this year. Please do help out if you can.

Sadly 1 in 3 children are living in poverty, and Greater Manchester has the 4^th highest levels of child poverty in the country. Mission Christmas (run by Manchester radio station Key103) aims to ensure as many children as possible wake up with a present on Christmas Day, no matter what their situation.

Our school will again be acting as a collection point. Please just buy one extra present this year – a gift that will make Christmas 2015 special for a child living in poverty. We're looking for new and unwrapped gifts suitable for babies, toddlers, children and teenagers aged 0 to 18 years.

Gifts can be sent in with the children until Wednesday 16^th December. Thank you.

One Bright Star – our Year 2 nativity is on Wednesday next week and we are looking forward to welcoming the Year 2 parents and relatives from 2pm for mince pies followed by a spectacular performance. We’ve had a great response for tickets but if any Year 2 parents haven’t already requested tickets please let us know how many you’d like by Monday so we can organise the seating, thank you!

Crib Festival – all classes are visiting the Crib Festival at Cheadle Hulme Methodist Church this week. They have an open morning on Saturday and you are welcome to visit. The Reception and Year 6 nativity scenes look excellent and the children are enjoying seeing these along with all of the other fantastic nativities at the church. They also carried out activities with Emma Coe and heard the story of the nativity at the church. Emma is coming in to do a Christmas assembly next Thursday morning as part of her education support work with the church. This will be her last assembly in school as she moves on to another job with ‘Mad Science’. We thank her for all of her work with the school and wish her all the best for the future. Cheadle Hulme Methodist Church also have their Christmas Carol Concert on Sunday at 6:30pm – our choir will be singing and the whole community are invited.

Christmas Postbox – available from next Monday. Please can children write the child’s full name and class on the envelope. Writing cards is good writing practice, particularly for the infants.

Christmas Parties - Our children have their Christmas parties on the last week of term. The Christmas parties are on the following days (which differ slightly to the ones on the calendar which was sent out at the beginning of the year). Junior children (Years 3-6) should come to school in uniform and bring their party clothes in a named bag. Infant children(R, 1 and 2) can come to school in their party clothes but please make sure they are suitably dressed for outside play too.

Year 3 and 4 – Monday 14^th December (PM)

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 – Wednesday 16^th December (AM)

Year 5 and 6 – Thursday 17^th December (PM)

School Christmas Dinner – this is next Tuesday for all children who have a school dinner and for everyone who has ordered one who normally has a packed lunch. We make this a festive occasion for all and children can bring a cracker with them for lunchtime on Tuesday.

Temporary Job Vacancy – SolutionsSk are advertising for a temporary kitchen assistant at Lane End to cover Mrs Pile’s maternity leave from January for approximately 6 months. Hours 11:30 -1:30pm each school day – term time only. SolutionsSk are committed to safeguarding and a DBS check will be carried out before commencement of employment. Please contact Mrs Harper on 07582 000538 for more details.

The photos on this newsletter look better on the website version – we’re replacing the photocopier next week (a better machine and we’ve negotiated a cheaper contract!).

We aim to be approachable and work in partnership with parents, so if there is anything you wish to discuss, please do not hesitate to come and talk to us.

Yours sincerely,   James Twigg