November - Newsletter 6 (5th November 2015)

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

We hope you had a good half term week and welcome back to the second half of the Autumn Term.

It seems early but we already need to start thinking about the run up to Christmas as our PTA Christmas Fair is on the way: Saturday 28th November from 12 – 3pm. We really hope you will all be there and please do also consider helping out. A sign-up sheet will be available from Wednesday and during parents evening and helpers will be entered into a raffle for a bottle of champagne!

To help collect items for the fair we will be having 3 non-uniform days:-

 

Friday 13th November – Please could children bring in a prize for the children’s tombola

Friday 20th November – Any unopened bottle for the bottle tombola (e.g wine, sauce, bubble bath etc)

Friday 27th November – Cakes, chocolates or a prize for a hamper

 

Thank you very much!

 

Parents Evenings are on Monday 16th and Wednesday 18th November (for all classes apart from Year 3 who have already had their parents evening). We’d like to see all parents so please do sign up if you haven’t already done so today (either come in to school or phone us).

Book Fair – We have a Scholastic Book Fair in school on Monday 16th, Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th November (available for the full length of the parents evenings and after school until 5pm on the Tuesday). Our Pupil Forum are helping to run the book fair and sent a message home this week about their competition to design a poster for it. School receives 60% commission on all takings over £400 to spend on books for the school library. Our junior children enjoyed meeting Jim Smith (author of the Barry Loser books) before the half term holidays and we now have some signed books in our school library – we will be able to buy more of his books and other books that the children enjoy reading with the proceeds.

Children in Need is on Friday 13th November. As we already have a non-uniform day (for the fair – see above) the children can make their non-uniform spotty if they wish! Please can children also bring in any spare change/coins to donate to Children in Need – we are going to make them into a picture of Pudsey in the hall – thank you!

We are also having an interclass netball competition (Year 1 – Year 6) in school on Friday 13th November. Please can all children have their outdoor PE kit in school.

Remembrance Day – Some of our Year 2 children are selling Poppies from today until next Wednesday (11th November). We suggest a donation of at least 20p for a poppy. We will be talking about Remembrance Day in assembly next week. Our Year 6 children are also taking part in a memorial service at The United Reform Church on Swann Lane.

 

Christmas Performances

 

Our choir with Mrs Stutfield and Mrs Toyne continues to go from strength to strength and they will be singing at Cheadle Hulme Methodist Church’s Community Carol Concert on Sunday 6th December and on Tuesday 8th December at the Stockport Christmas Choir Festival at St George’s Church.

 

Our musicians - guitar, flute, clarinet and saxophone (not choir who already have a very busy schedule – see above) will be performing a Christmas Music Concert to their parents/relatives on Tuesday 15th December at 6pm in the school hall. Parents/relatives of musicians are all invited. If your child is learning an instrument outside of school and would like to take part then please let me know.

 

Year 2 Nativity – ‘One Bright Star’ – Wednesday 9th December at 2:30pm (with tea, coffee and mince pies available in the hall from 2pm). The children are already enjoying learning the songs and it promises to be a great show – all parents/relatives of Year 2 are warmly invited.

 

Whole School iSing Pop Christmas Concert – All of the children will be performing at Cheadle Hulme Methodist Church on Thursday 10th December. We will have one performance in the afternoon at 2pm and one in the evening at 6pm. A letter will come home nearer the time with more details and a slip for tickets. We will be able to offer up to 3 tickets per family per performance. It should be a wonderful Christmas celebration for everyone.

 

Anti-bullying week is 16th – 20th November. The theme is ‘Make a Noise about Bullying’. We will be speaking about anti-bullying in assembly and each class will be doing work on anti-bullying and producing a class charter to make sure we all say no to bullying together.

 

Marking – when you look in your children’s books during parents evening you should notice the use of three different pen colours. Pink = Tickled Pink (well done you are showing your understanding), Green = Green for Growth (this is something you can work on to improve further), Purple = Improvement (the children may use this pen to make their improvements based on written or verbal feedback). You may also see the learning objective highlighted pink or green depending on whether the children have understood the objective well or need some more work on it – this helps us to plan effectively for your child and challenge them appropriately.

 

Targets – in the back of your child’s English and Maths books you will also notice a fold out target sheet with their current target on it. This folds out so that your child can see it as they work and teachers can see it as they mark. A copy of this will also come home each time your child has a new target.

 

Thank you to the team from Barclays Bank, led by Mr Paddock, who came in to school just before the half term holidays to give Money Skills sessions to our Year 5 and Year 6 children. Children were given a very useful overview of financial knowhow and some lessons in entrepreneurship.

 

Instead of giving out so many leaflets for holiday clubs etc. we are now putting a selection of these in a rack in the main entrance. Please take these from here if they are relevant to you.

 

Cross Country – the last session this term is Friday 27th November. Cross Country will then start again after the Christmas Holidays.

 

School Development - We are having some work done at the moment in the Reception outdoor play area. Part of the area is being surfaced with artificial grass which we won from Stockport Council! We were the first school to email them following a notice on the schools’ intranet about it being given away after it had been used in Stockport Town Centre over half term as a fake garden - well done to Mrs Titterington for her eagle eyes spotting this so quickly on the intranet! We are also replacing some of the older balancing logs and an outdoor table is being installed which the children can use for outdoor writing activities. Thank you very much to our parent donor who funded the table for us. Over the Christmas holidays a door will be put in from the Year 1 classroom so that our Year 1 class is also able to access this outdoor play and writing area during classtime.

 

School Dinner Menu – a new menu is attached which started this week and runs until April. School dinners are cooked freshly each day by Mrs Harper in our school kitchen and made from fresh ingredients. There will be a chance to taste our school dinners on Monday 16th November from 2:45 – 3:15pm – you are all welcome to call in before picking up your children. School dinners are free for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 and cost £2.30 a day (£11.50 a week) for the junior children. If you would like your child to start having a school dinner please give us three days notice so that food can be ordered.

 

Year 5 Class Assembly – Thursday 26th November at 9:20am. All parents and relatives of Year 5 children are warmly invited.

 

PTANew for 2015 we have our 20/20 Club. Entry fee of £20 with three draws a year to win either £100, £50 or £25. Please reply by Friday 27th November if you would like to take part – the first draw will be on 18th December.

 

Christmas Cards - A design form came home before the half term holiday for any children who wish to design a Christmas Card this year. This is open to non-Lane End children too. Please send in all designs by Monday 9th November at the latest and you will receive your packs of cards showing your child’s design in good time for Christmas.

 

Road Safety Week and Competition – Drive Less, Live More!

This year’s national road safety theme is about finding more sustainable ways to travel – using the car less, making roads safer for all users, making the great outdoors a better place to be and protecting the planet as well as the people on it!

We are teaming up with the Brain Injury Group (BIG) again this year to promote road safety, and inviting our children to get creative – and competitive – by using their imagination and thinking of interesting and wacky (but safe) ways they could get to school if they wanted to be active, help save the planet and have some fun!  Competition sheets have been put in each class for children to take home if they are interested – along with a sheet explaining the competition. The competition will be judged by a member of our staff together with Mr Bellfield from Thorneycroft Solicitors, a member of BIG, and prizes are being provided for KS1 and KS2 by BIG (including Halfords Vouchers and Road Safety Gear).

The children can work on their entries at home and the closing date for entries is Monday 30th November.

We were very pleased with how many children and families took part in our walk to school fortnight before the holidays – thank you for the excellent support. I hope many of you can continue walking to school each day. I have spoken to the children in assembly this week about making sure they are visible as it gets darker – be safe be seen!

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

All Stockport Schools have also been made aware of this press release which I wanted to bring to your attention as it reinforces the message about not parking on the zig-zag yellow lines outside schools and explains that you should not even stop on these for a short moment:

 

MAKING THE SCHOOL RUN SAFER FOR CHILDREN

 

Stockport Council is taking a stronger approach with drivers who risk children’s safety by parking, stopping or waiting on the yellow zigzags outside schools during the busy school run.

 

The yellow ‘zig-zag’ keep clear road markings outside many schools in Stockport are provided for a very good reason: the safety of pupils. Any cars stopped or parked in the restricted area can hide small children who are about to cross the road.  The children may not see approaching cars, and approaching motorists may not see the children. 

 

The Council already issues penalty charge notices (PCN) to drivers who disregard the regulations. However, from the start of the Christmas half term, Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) will be served by post if a car is driven away while the Civil Enforcement Officer is in the process of issuing a ticket.

 

Although many people know that you can’t park on yellow zigzag lines, the Highway Code states that you also can’t wait or even stop momentarily to drop off or pick up passengers during specified times. Do not park or stop even for a short moment on these markings. 

 

Councillor Martin Candler, the Council’s Executive Member for Supporting Places said:“We want children in Stockport to be safe on their way to and from school. Although parents/carers may feel there is little danger in stopping or parking on zig-zag lines even for a short time, this inconsiderate parking at such a busy time affects the safety of children.

 

We hope that the increased likelihood of being fined will further discourage drivers from dropping off and collecting children from directly outside the school gates. We strongly urge parents who have to drive to school to think carefully about where they park - do not park or stop even for a short moment on these markings.

 

 

 

 

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