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Newsletters 16th and 18th July 08

On Friday all children need to be sporting the most outrageous hairdo possible! Some children go for looking outrageous, some go for the spectacular but pretty, others go with whatever sprays/clips/ribbons are available. The only condition is that you make a donation to CLIC. How much you pay, is up to you.

Friday is also ‘Free Dress Day’ so children should wear their home clothes.

Friday 18^th July at 11.00 a.m.

Leavers’ Assembly, will be at 11.00 a.m. and is open to all parents. If you want to hear the Year 6 reminisce, come along.

Sports Day

We had a super sports day because Miss Mackie’s organisation was superb, Miss Stocken was a first-class P.A, and the children were so focused on their activities. The weather was on our side, ensuring that all had a good Sports Day.

‘Friends’ Summer Fayre

This year’s Summer Fayre was a great success and even the weather didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits! The total raised was in excess of £800, which we were extremely pleased with. The Year 6 children did a splendid job running the Soak the Bloke, Can Stall, Beat the Goalie and selling cards, which they had made. They did a marvellous job of raising money for the Leavers’Ball. Mrs Thompson’s Relay for Life raised £32, the H4H stall raised £30 and the Innsworth Scouts raised a similar amount. The small number of ‘key players’ on the Friends meant that there was a heavy work load for them. We are indebted to Mrs Billingham and Mrs Corley for the time and great effort that went into Saturday’s Summer Fayre. From all of us at school, ‘Thank you’ very much.

The proceeds will be used to purchase some new picnic benches for the children to use during breaktime/lunchtimes.

Residential Visit 2008

The 2008 residential visit has now taken place and children are left with their memories:

Children’s quotes: Oakwood Theme Park –Bounce was fun, Speed was ‘jammin’ – Lee Marshall.

Silent World Aquarium – “holding the snake was quite scary but amazing” Nina Sullivan and Heather Campbell.

The hotel – “really enjoyed the rooms and waitress service was top notch” Will Rees and Lee Marshall.

Folly Farm- “was mint [awesome!]” Lee Marshall.

Miss Stocken’s super organisation enabled everyone to have a BRILLIANT time. We are, once again, indebted to the adults who gave up their time so willingly to help make this visit the success that it was. We are very lucky to have staff and parents, who are so committed to the development of our school activities.

Without Miss Stocken next year, Mrs Wilmot and I will be picking up the reins. What a lot we have to live up to!

There is a reply slip at this end of this newsletter about your interest for the 2009 residential visit to the Isle of Wight from Monday 22^nd to Friday 26^th June. Priority will be given to Year 6 pupils but as there are less Year 6 next year, many Year 5s will be offered places.

Please return this slip as we do need to know if there is sufficient interest; we will have to book the hotel and many of the other activities before September.

Reading Books

IMPORTANT: Could you please ensure that any spare school reading books are returned to school by TOMORROW, in order that we can review our reading materials. Please make sure your child has a book for the ‘Summer Literacy Project’.

Tuesday 15th July Year 6 Ball and Year 3/4/5 Disco

Hopefully we will be able to send out a flyer showing you how lovely our Year 6 pupils, boys as well as girls, looked for their Ball on Tuesday evening. The boys in their tuxedos and the girls in their evening dresses made many of the adults quite misty eyed! Four limousines -what style! It was a fitting end to the children’s Primary education. Thank you to all the parents, who ensured the evening was one to remember. Hopefully, we shall see some pictures in the Citizen before we break up. All Year 6 children will be bringing home a CD before the end of Friday. Again, immense thanks go to the ‘Friends’ for making the ‘Ball’ so special.

100% Attendance since September

Certificates have been awarded to 16 children for 100% attendance since September. Well done to you all – this is a remarkable achievement.

There were many children with over 98% attendance since September. Although they will not be receiving a certificate, they are to be congratulated on such a high attendance. Well done to you all.

Donate-A-Book Scheme

We are most grateful to all the parents and children who have donated books to the school.

They will be a permanent reminder of the children’s stay at our school. Thank you. If you have not received information about ‘Donate–A–Book’, please ask at the school office.

‘Stitch in Time’

This was one of those events, which from humble beginnings, became a roaring success. Parents were amazed at their children’s enjoyment at producing something they had made themselves. It is very easy to forget the skills that years ago were taken for granted. The children made eco-friendly bags, rucksacks, purses, belt-pouches, puppets, pencil cases and fashion items. The skills included a variety of stitching techniques suited to purpose and how to sew buttons on to fabric. This is a practical skill which will be used in their future lives.

Mr Ward, our Design Technology coordinator, was delighted by the response of pupils, who remained ‘on task’ both in the design and making process and how much enjoyment they had over the three days.

Again, it was our parents who contributed their time, energy and resources [textiles, yarns, and buttons] which meant costs were kept at a low level and that children had sufficient adult help when it was needed. Special mention must be made of Mrs Dolling, Mrs Collis and Mrs Chitty who proved invaluable to the success of ‘Stitch in Time’; they spent so much time in school that I almost had to put them on the pay-role!

Well done, Mr Ward

Holiday Activities

There are many activities on offer around this and neighbouring areas. Please take advantage of these as Extended School’s money has gone into the funding of them. One such activity is the Martial Arts sessions at Chosen Hill School from Monday 18^th to Saturday 23^rd August from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The cost is from £1.75 per day to £8 for all six sessions. If you are interested, please call Matt Wakefield on 07983365539 or email mw@chosen-hill.gloucs.sch.uk. As of yesterday, they had many spare places.

Report responses

Thank you to all who have sent in their report responses. During the summer, I will be reading every one of them and feeding ‘areas for improvement’ back to the staff.

Summer Literacy Project

A letter has been sent out about our summer reading/writing project. Please support this, as we want the children to be ‘Literacy ready’ for September. Thank you.

The Future Mrs Kelly

You are more than welcome to attend the Church Service ( Christchurch, Cheltenham) on Friday 8^th August. Service starts at 11.00 a.m.

Farewell to our Year 6

At the time of writing this newsletter, I am already seeing red-eyed children around the school – a sign that the Year 6’s last day is on the horizon. The 2007/8 Year 6 pupils are delightful, engaging, confident, friendly, and occasionally very funny. It has been a good year and we shall remember the Year 6 with very fond memories. We wish them well for the future and know that their years at Innsworth Junior School will have given them a good foundation for what lies ahead! They worked hard for their SATs and it paid off. At 88% Level 4+ our English SATs were the highest ever!

We also wish Mrs Davitt, Miss Stocken, Mrs Meek and Mrs Lidstone-Lane well as they depart Innsworth Juniors and forge out new career paths ‘in the wider world’.

People will be in and out of school during the next six weeks but if you see anything ‘untoward’, please ring the local police.

School starts back on:

Wednesday 3^rd September at 8.50 a.m.

Enjoy the summer break.

I need something to do in the summer break! Please could you complete and return the Parent Questionnaire attached to the paper copy of this newsletter as this will give us the feedback we need for our School Development.

18th July: Oh Dear!

We were aware that by trying to rush out the newsletter on Wednesday we might have missed some glaringly obvious items, which needed to be mentioned. I would like to say that this was just to make sure you read the newsletter! But it wasn’t! So, here they are.

Upper School French Trip

The trip to France, although long, was great because everyone set out to enjoy the experience. For some children it was their first experience at being away from mainland Britain. As one child said, “If I’d needed my own passport I would not have been able to come.” The children were super and many adults, on the ferries, came up to us to ask where we were from. They were very complimentary about the way our children conducted themselves.

For those parents whose children were not involved in the excursion, we arrived back at 1.30 ish in the morning [Saturday] after a 4 a.m. departure from school on the Friday!

Many apologies to the parents who had to stay up so late to await our arrival back at school. This was beyond our control as Sea France had difficulties with the ferry we were booked on and transferred our booking to a later one! C’est la vie! The coach company has lodged a complaint but we have yet to hear the outcome.

Miss Stocken did a marvellous job with the organisation. The parent helpers did a wonderful job in making sure everything went according to plan. We are indebted to Ean Bartlett [governor] and Sarah Rogers [parent] who joined the school team for the day out. We all enjoyed each other’s company.

Sign Posting!!

Under the ‘Extended Schools’ banner, we are meant to signpost the services, which are available for children and parents. So here are the ones which were omitted from this week’s newsletter:

Summer Reading Challenge at the Library

If you go along to the library [Churchdown or Longlevens] children can join “Team Read” The idea is to encourage all children to read at least 6 books over the summer. Those who complete the challenge will receive a medal and certificate. As reading should be about enjoyment [as well as improving Literacy skills], this would seem to be a good activity to take up.

Mad Science

This is just a reminder that this activity is taking place at Innsworth from 18^th – 22^nd August. The first week [July 28^th -1^st August] has been cancelled due to insufficient demand. Please telephone if you are interested: 01684851250.

Summer Cycling Course

Who? Anyone who is over 9 years of age and who has a roadworthy bicycle.

Where? Gloucester and Cheltenham

Cost? £5.00

For details please contact the Road Safety Office on 01452425600.

Innsworth’s Got Talent

Putting on a talent competition was a great way to finish the term but what a headache for the judges! Their task was almost impossible with the children displaying a variety of skills: singing, dancing, martial arts, magic, playing an instrument, telling stories or jokes etc. The preliminary rounds took place prior to Wednesday’s competition.

The outright winner was Charlie Hawkins who thoroughly deserved to be placed first. Hard luck to all the others who so valiantly put themselves on the line and took part. For some, standing in front of the whole school was a major feat. Well done to you. Thank you judges: Allen Robson, Sarah Coleby and Dave Levett.

The Ball Photographs

Hopefully our Year 6 parents will have had a look at the CD which contains hundreds of lovely pictures of the Year 6 at their ‘Ball’. I am sure some of these will surface in years to come, at wedding breakfasts! Parents’ speeches often refer to what their children have done during their formative years. These ‘Ball’ pictures must surely highlight a significant time from their Primary School era. A huge ‘Thank You’ must go to Mr Dolling who was appointed as our official photographer for the evening. He worked extremely hard all evening to ensure that he had captured every child in poses of their choice. He also managed to capture the children as they put their ballroom dancing skills into action! Some of these will surely live to tell a tale in the years to come. As soon as I have time, I will print them out to put on display. Well done, Mr Dolling.

Stitch in Time

Mr Ward has asked me to acknowledge the part Mrs Cooper [a friend of a parent] played in the success of last week’s D.T. project. Mrs Cooper sat at her machine all week, sewing seams whenever they were needed. Thank you Mrs Cooper.

House Points

The school ‘houses’ finished as follows:

Red 1133

Yellow 997

Green 977

Blue 933

Well done Red team. The points refer to merits awarded to the children during the year.

Wimbledon and Finally

We had a great day out. We saw the No 5 ladies seed Miss Dementieva, the No 17 men’s seed M Youzhny and J Tipsarevic (who beat Andy Roddick the day before).

Many thanks to Mrs Pegrum for being the extra driver. I would certainly repeat the experience.

Please do send the questionnaires in as we need the feedback. Next September will be fine.

We cannot finish another academic year without acknowledging the part that parents play at Innsworth Junior. We flourish as a school because so many of you volunteer your services throughout the year. You do it because you are so supportive of not only your children but also the adults who work at school.

On behalf of everyone at school a big ‘Thank You’.

And to those parents and children who are moving away from our area, we send you our best wishes.