Lane End Primary School

October - Newsletter 6 (25th October 2012)

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have had a very successful, happy and enjoyable half term – thank you for your support.

PTA – a letter with reply slips was sent home this week about a number of PTA events. The PTA do a great job raising vital money for the school which benefits all of the children (thank you!). We are hoping to install the new PTA funded library quite soon and there are plans for other equipment and enrichment activities in the pipeline. However, we do need the PTA money to be able to afford these ‘luxuries’ which make such a big difference to the children’s experience. So, please do help and support.

Following on from the very successful Quiz Night, upcoming events include the Children in Need Disco (on Friday 16^th November,   Body Shop night (at 7:30pm on Thursday 22^nd November), Parents Disco (on Saturday 15^th December) and, of course, the Christmas Fair. Please do help if you can and return the slip that was sent out to school (45mins to an hour of help makes a great difference). Otherwise, please make sure that you come and enjoy the fair!

Raffle tickets will be coming home to sell very soon – please sell as many as you can and return the money to school ASAP – thank you!  (Year 5 raffle tickets will come home straight after half term as we are waiting for some more tickets to be printed) We also have our three non-uniform days, where the children can come to school in their own clothes in exchange for something for the fair.

Week One (Friday 16th November) Please could children bring in a children’s tombola prize

Week Two (Friday 23rd November) A bottle for the bottle tombola – any full unopened bottle as a donation, e.g. bubble bath, sauce, wine, olive oil etc.

Week Three (Friday 30th November) Cake or Chocolates – Homemade cakes would be particularly lovely.

     Thank you for your support!

Volunteers – thank you! Thank you to all of our parents and volunteers who have helped this half term, bringing a valuable contribution to the class - whether it be helping on a regular basis or coming in to help with a particular activity or to share their expertise. It is much appreciated.

Parents’ Evening

Our Parent-Teacher interviews are on Tuesday 13^th (later night) and Wednesday 14^th November for all classes. A sign up sheet for a time slot will be available in the school office area from 8:00am on Wednesday 7^th November. If you can’t make it in to school you can phone from this time to arrange an appointment (please be patient as it can get busy). We really hope to see all parents there.

Reading Books – thank you for returning your child’s reading books (the books with the coloured stickers not the library books) so that we can organise our new colour banding system. We will send you home more details after the holidays. If you still have any reading books at home please could you send these in tomorrow.

Staff News – we need to say farewell to Lynn Murphy who has done a great job as Mid-day Assistant and is finishing to move on to another job at half term. Leila Belizidia-Edwards is also finishing as mid-day for her maternity leave but we hope to see her back after that – we’ll miss them both and wish them good luck.

Year 5 and 6 have been having a busy time and representing the school brilliantly!

Year 5 Singing – a group of Year 5 children did a great job representing the school at a singing event at Cheadle Hulme School run by Rachel Staunton who is the Assistant Director of The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. We had great feedback about their behaviour and their singing! The children thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, performing to their parents at the end.

Year 5 Hockey Development Morning - the whole class took part in a this event at Cheadle Hulme High School which really helped develop their skills. The children showed great teamwork, mixing with children from other local schools.

Year 5 Safety Talk – The Fire and Police Services also came into Class 5 to talk about safety around bonfire night and the roles of the police and fire services.

Year 6 World War 2 Experience – The Year 6 children were immersed in life during World War 2 when Darren Birchall from WW2 Blitz Workshops visited school for a day. They handled genuine artefacts and took part in a range of ‘home front’ activities. It was commented upon about how engaged, well behaved and receptive the children were to work with. 

Year 5/6 – Money Skills Event – Five people from Barclays Bank came to work with the Year 5 and 6 children on ‘Money Skills’ – looking at how banks work and gaining an understanding about looking after your money in a fun and engaging way. The group fed back on how impressed they were by the effort and the quality of output from the children and mentioned that the children were both courteous and friendly and a credit to the school!

Well done all!

It’s impossible to mention everything that is happening in each class in my newsletters as there is always so much going on! We will be updating the class sections of the website in time for the half term holidays so you can see a few highlights from each class so far. Click on the ‘Our Work’ tab.

Remembrance Day – Some of our Year 2 children will be going to each class selling poppies during the week after the half term holidays (Tuesday until Friday). We suggest a donation of 20p or more for a poppy and the children can bring the money into their classroom.

Our Sympathy You have no doubt heard about the tragic death of a little girl attending Ramillies Hall School Nursery - our hearts and thoughts go out to her parents, family and friends and to everyone at Ramillies Hall.

We break up for half term after school tomorrow (Friday 26^th October) and the children are back in school on Tuesday 6^th November as the Monday is an INSET day.

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