Welcome to Innsworth Junior School web site.

Newsletter Thursday 25th May 2006

Just to remind you that next week is a holiday for us all. Hopefully we shall see some sunshine during the week. Back to top

'Spring' Fayre: last Saturday

The 'Friends' have reported that the funds raised last Saturday appear to be around £1350. This is a super amount, especially in view of the atrocious weather conditions. A huge thank you must be given to all of our parents who supported this event, either by spending their hard earned money or by volunteering their help. From us all at school "Thank you very much."

I am also very aware of how much time the committee members of the 'Friends' give up in order to plan, organise and implement these fund raising events. They deserve great praise for this: all of us at school are really grateful to you. Back to top

Friday 26th May 1.30 p.m.

Parents/carers/grandparents - If you are free tomorrow afternoon, pop in and spend the afternoon listening to our 'Eurovision Song Contest'. All are welcome. Back to top

Thoughts about SATs from Year 6 pupils

"A little easier than our practice papers."
"I was glad to do them as I wanted to see how much I had improved since Year 5."
"Hard - all of them!"
"Most of them were surprisingly easy."
"I think that they are quite over-rated."
"They were easier than I thought they would be."
The Reading comprehension appears to have caused the most difficulty because the required answers were scattered through the text, rather than being in a sequential order. This lead to many children running out of time. Even children with well-defined higher order reading skills agreed with this viewpoint. The reading of the actual text, however, did not cause great anxiety. I actually thought that there was a great disparity between the Reading paper and the Mathematics papers in the level that they were set at. Mathematically, the papers did not appear to be very challenging. We'll just have to wait and see! We do know that all our Year 6 did their very best. Back to top

Breakfast in Year 6

Breakfast during Sats week was a great success. Each morning the whole group sat down to a breakfast of cereal, fruit, toast and orange juice. It gave the pupils a chance to relax and get rid of any anxieties. As one Year 6 stated, "It helped me to become more alert and it prepared me for my tests as I was able to socialise with my friends." Again, thanks must go to our two parents, Mrs Mackenzie and Mrs Gilbert, who did such stirling work in the kitchen. Most mornings the children consumed an average of six to seven loaves of bread so the demand for toast kept our two parents on the go and this was BEFORE they went off to their paid jobs! Back to top

Cross Country

Two weeks ago, twenty-two children took part in a 1500 km cross-country run. Although they all did well and completed the course, two children deserve a particular mention, Alex O'Neill and Mark Medway. Alex finished in second place and Mark in third. With over a hundred runners, it was quite an accomplishment. We are indebted to Mrs Bruce, who came up trumps, with her support and organisation on the day. Mrs Bruce rewarded all of our runners with a medal. This was a lovely touch. Thanks must also go to Mrs Sawyer, who made it possible for our school to participate in this event. Back to top

Class Organisation for September

We are currently looking at our class organisation for September. Hopefully, we will have our lists sorted by the end of June and then we will be in a position to let the children know which class they will be in and who their teacher will be. Back to top

Governors' Report to Parents

The report to parents will be available during June but a meeting will only be convened at parents' request. If a meeting is requested the date will be Thursday 6th July. Please indicate on the reply slip if you require a copy of the Governors' Report to Parents when available. Back to top

Headlice

In a recent article, I came across two new products for headlice. I have no idea how effective they are but it may be worth investigating if headlice is a continuing problem.

Hedrin is pesticide-free, odourless and contains the active ingredient dimethicone in a silicone-based lotion. It kills the lice by encapsulating them, disrupting their ability to get nutrients or water.

The Robi comb is a battery driven device that electrocutes lice. If, at some point, you do use either of these products, please could you let us know how effective they are. Back to top

Parentline Plus

Parentline Plus, an organisation set up to offer parents support, has arranged many courses for this term throughout Gloucester. However, there are a couple of local courses on offer at the Hive on the 7th June from 9.30 - 11.30 a.m. entitled 'Less shouting, More co-operation' and 14th June from 9.30 a.m. - 11.30 a.m. entitled 'Surviving the summer holidays' which may be of interest to some of you. These courses are usually pretty useful so why not give them a try! Back to top

Book Fayre

The Scholastic Book Fayre finished yesterday and Mrs Pendlebury is very pleased to announce that the total taken was £528.37, which means that we have been able to restock the bookshelves to a tune of £322.42. Thank you to all the parents who gave up time to man the Book Fayre and to those who came along and spent their money. Back to top

Clubs

Choir has now finished for this academic year and Chess Club will have its last session tomorrow Friday 26th May. Both clubs will resume in September. The weather this summer has caused the Athletics programme to really suffer. Unfortunately, this is outside of our domain but hopefully, the long awaited sunshine will be in evidence when we return. Back to top

Year 6 Trip to France

This was a very successful visit, albeit a very long one! All sixty-two pupils appeared on time, ready for the early morning start. Miss Stocken had worked very hard to make sure that the organisation was 'spot on' - and it was! We even had good weather, which made the walk around Old Town Boulougne very enjoyable. Here are some of the pupil comments:
"I enjoyed looking at all the sights around Boulogne"
"In France it was very exciting and I would really like to go there again"
"I found the channel tunnel very exciting"
"We didn't have enough time in France but it was great fun!" Back to top

Year 6 Leavers' Ball: Advance Notice

Just to let you know that the Friends are organising a Leavers' Ball for all our Year 6 children on Thursday 13th July.
Dress code: girls - calf length skirts/dresses (no mini-skirts, please), boys - collar and tie/bow tie.
Further details will follow next term. Back to top

Homework in Term 6

In line with our homework policy, homework will be reduced after this coming break. We do this because we believe that the longer hours of daylight should be enjoyed by the children. It means that Spellings, Reading and Quickfire still take place but the extra Literacy/Mathematics tasks do not. Back to top

Tesco Vouchers /Sainsbury's Vouchers

Thank you for the enormous amount of vouchers that have been sent in already. The Tesco scheme has now finished and Sainsbury's will finish at the end of May. If you have any further vouchers, please send them into school as soon as possible. Back to top

Bag up your old clothes

You will be shortly receiving a strong blue plastic bag from the 'Friends'. They are hoping that you will fill as many bags as possible in order to raise funds for school. The money raised will be calculated against the weight of bags collected. I have offered to keep the school open until 6.30 p.m. on Thursday 15th June for those parents wishing to drop bags off. Back to top

Summer Dresses

We do have a supply of red checked summer dresses for sale, starting from £7.50. Please see Mrs Hamblett if you are interested in one. Back to top

Sports News

We have continued to offer a wide range of extra curricular sports, notably Athletics Club where nearly 100 children are regularly attending. The school has achieved a fantastic level of success in a number of competitions and events.
For example the school Tag Rugby team remain unbeaten after their first five fixtures and have produced some great performances.
Innsworth 7 Dinglewell 4
Highnam 13 Innsworth 13
Churchdown Village 13 Innsworth 13
Hempsted 5 Innsworth 14
Innsworth 14 Heron 13
(Last match today v Longlevens)

Letters have recently been sent home to inform you that Cricket Club for Years 5/6 will be starting on the Monday we return from mid term break. Inter-school cricket fixtures will also begin soon. Back to top

Community Hall

The official opening will take place on Friday 23rd June at 1.30 p.m. Some of us have had a tour of the building and can report that it is very impressive inside. We are looking forward to using the hall before we break up for the summer holidays. The building is a real plus for the local area - it makes Longford Village Hall [my local community building] seem very small in comparison. Back to top

Watering our Growing Beds

During the summer holidays we will need to have volunteers to help water our growing beds. If you feel able to offer your services (the more volunteers we have the less often you will be needed). Please tick the reply slip and we will then contact you. Back to top

Skateboarding

SK8-ZONE Skateboarding and Inlining sessions at Sir Thomas Rich's Sports Centre, Oakleaze, Longlevens, Gloucester.
Every Saturday excluding Bank Holidays 6.15 - 8.15 p.m.
Members and Non members welcome.
£3.50 for a two-hour session.
Come along and skate, use our ramps, listen to music, and make new friends.
For information please call Kirstie on 07707 585918, or Dave on 07707 7878731.
Alternatively please visit their website, www.sk8-zone.co.uk. Back to top