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Newsletter 20th May 2008

Just to remind you that we are approaching the end of Summer term 5. Hopefully, the fine weather will soon return, ready for the children to enjoy their week away from school. If you are still planning your summer holiday, please remember that we finish for our main break on Friday 18^th July and return on Wednesday 3^rd September.

Friday 23rd May: A ‘Special’ Non-Uniform Day

I am sure you have all seen the horrific scenes coming out of Burma and China, which should reinforce to the children how lucky we are to live in our relatively safe environment.

We have decided, therefore, to hold a ‘special’ non-uniform day on Friday in aid of the British Red Cross China Earthquake Appeal and Burma Cyclone Appeal.

All donations to these very worthwhile causes will be gratefully received. We do hope that you will give generously as these people have lost so much.

Arrival of ARRC in 2010

We were delighted to hear last Thursday’s news about the arrival of the Army in 2010. The last few months have not been the easiest for the school but now that our future has been secured, we can look forward with renewed optimism. Unfortunately, redundancy is an issue which we have had to deal with in order to be on a sound financial footing for 2010. The arrival of ARRC will allow us to enter an exciting period of change, heralding a new global dimension for the school. ARRC families will arrive with many children having French, Italian, Belgian, German etc as their first language. This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to benefit from this multi-cultural experience.

Summer Fayre: Saturday 5th July 2.00 – 4.00 p.m.

The ‘Friends’ are in need of your support for this year’s main fund raising event. Please mark the date on your calendar. We will be ready to accept items for the White Elephant, Go Green, and Bottle Stall as soon as we return to school, so please check out your cupboards and attics. The small band of parents, who are working tirelessly on our behalf, cannot make 5^th July the success, which we need it to be, without your help. Parents, over to you!

SATs for Year 6 / Assessments for Years 3, 4 and 5

Assessment week is over for this year and now it is time to revert back to the curriculum. It is worth remembering that formal assessments give a snapshot of a child’s ability but it is not the complete picture. Some children manage these situations very well, whilst others feel the tension of the occasion. At this Junior stage, formal assessments must be judged alongside teacher assessments. Well done to all, who put such great effort into their tests.

This year’s Year 6 SATs were very fair. However, I thought that unlike other years, the Mathematics papers were quite tricky. We do know that our Year 6 will have done their best.

Since the beginning of February, many pupils have arrived early at school, [before their normal start time] to put in extra practice in either Literacy, Mathematics or for some pupils both.

Some pupils also took the opportunity to put in extra practice by attending the Thursday Literacy sessions, which took place after school.

If effort was the measure of success, all our pupils would get the results which they deserve.

A Big Thank You

I need to send a huge ‘Thank you’ to all our parents, who came in last week, to act as readers for our Year 6 children. Your help and support was invaluable and enabled our Year 6 to do their best.

New Governors wanted

We have several existing vacancies on our Governing Body for new members. This opportunity is open to all parents with the only essential requirement being a desire to improve the education of our children at Innsworth Junior School.

If you can spare a few hours each month, come into school and have a chat; you will not be coerced into signing up!

Parents meeting for Residential visit to Saundersfoot on Wednesday 11th June 2008 at 6.00 p.m.

An adult from each family must be present at this meeting as details such as medical, insurance, safety, swimming, pocket money etc. will be discussed. Preparation is the key to a successful visit and this meeting is integral to this. See you on the Wednesday 11^th June.

Children are welcome to attend.

50th Anniversary Celebrations

On 16^th October 2008 Innsworth Junior School will have officially been open for 50 years. We are currently exploring ideas about how to celebrate this coming of age and have decided that a working party should look at all our options. We need two parents, who are willing to commit themselves to this small committee, comprising of Miss Schofield, 2 Governors and 2 parents. Please do not see this as an onerous task as the objective is to coordinate the activities/ideas that best suit our school.

Curriculum for Summer Term

You should receive a copy of the summer term curriculum this week. If you do not receive a copy, please contact the office.

Dates for the rest of the term

An updated sheet was attached to the paper version of this newsletter.

Cycling Proficiency

Two weeks ago, Year 6 pupils undertook their cycling proficiency training. For the first time ever, this training took place on the roads outside the school. All pupils did extremely well and were commended by the trainers for their sensible behaviour.

Photographer

The photographer will be in school on Tuesday 17^th June to take class group and Year 6 leavers’ photographs. Please make sure that your child is in full school uniform… a hairbrush is also very useful!

Summer Uniform

Summer uniform can be:

Open-necked polo top or open necked short sleeved white shirt without tie.

Buttoned up short/long sleeved shirt to the neck still requires a tie.

This is the same for boys and girls.

Mrs Hamblett does have a large selection of girls’ summer dresses – priced £7.50.

ADVANCE WARNING

A three day Technology project will be taking place entitled ‘A Stitch in Time’ from Wednesday 9^th July to Friday 11^th July [inclusive]. A letter has already been sent home asking for ‘materials’ that could help children in their task making. I will ask teachers to talk to their classes about their projects so that ‘surprises’ are not suddenly sprung on you. Mr Ward has also asked parents, with knitting/sewing skills, to come forward and help.

Book Fayre – Date for your Diary

The Scholastic Book Fayre will be taking place from Thursday 3^rd July to Wednesday 9^th July from 3.15 p.m. to 4.15 p.m. Please come along and have a look at the books on offer. Encouraging children to read at this stage will pay dividends in later years. Mrs Pendlebury will be sending home a letter nearer the time.

Homework after Half Term

In line with our homework policy, homework will be reduced after the Summer term 5 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. Please encourage the reading.

Tesco Vouchers /Sainsbury Vouchers

Thank you for continuing to send in these vouchers, which do provide useful resources for the school. Last year we exchanged vouchers for a television, web camera, World War II replica artefacts and playground equipment. Is there a parent out there, who may be able to offer us a few hours of their time in order to count these vouchers? Any volunteers please see Mrs Hamblett. Thank you.

Waitrose Visits

Thanks to Mrs Sumner’s organisation, each year group is able to benefit from the Waitrose experience. This is a super early opportunity for children to become aware of the importance of flavour, food groups, food preparation etc. Whilst one group is involved in food preparation, the other group is involved in looking at Fair-Trade products, food miles, identifying the cost of a product and what constitutes a healthy diet. I wish that I had had this experience when I was much younger. Again, thanks must go to our parents, who have come forward to help with the supervision on these visits.

‘Mad Science’ Summer Camps

We have been contacted by ‘Mad Science’ as they are considering running two ‘Mad Science’ summer camps here at school. The cost will be £20 per day. If you are interested, please look on their website for further information: www.madscience-sw.com

Please could you return the slip at the end of the newsletter if you are interested as ‘Mad Science’ are trying to gauge the viability of running these weeks.

‘Eurovision Contest’

On Friday, we held the semi-finals in preparation for this Wednesday’s finals for the Eurovision Contest. This year we will be hosting the competition, where we will be joined by three other schools, to compete for the Cup, which currently takes pride of place in our trophy cabinet. Hopefully, that’s where it will stay!!

Child and Family Support Worker – Suzanne Silcock

Please remember that we do have the use of Suzanne’s skills to support both children and their families in whatever way would help. If your family cause you to become anxious for whatever reason, come into school and seek out our Child and Family Support worker. Our school, in a partnership with Larkfield and two other local schools, employ her to make sure that all children are able to achieve. Bringing up children is never easy, which is why we consider Suzanne to be an essential element in our implementation of the ‘Every Child Matters’. The message is ‘Use her or lose her!’ Do not suffer in silence; every difficulty is surmountable and Suzanne could point you in the right direction. Please be reassured that any action following a discussion with Suzanne would need your full agreement. Confidentiality is implicit in all of the work that Suzanne undertakes.

Nintendo DS.

Has anyone lost a Nintendog DS game cartridge “ Chihuahua and Friends”? Found on school field.

Activities on offer during next week’s break

Chosen Hill is hosting multi-sports coaching sessions from Tuesday 27^th to Friday 30^th. These sessions are open to all children at the local schools and indeed, having put in a bid for money from the Extended School fund, it would be a great pity if the take up was very poor. A leaflet is attached to this newsletter. Does your child have anything better to do next week?

Ofsted

On Tuesday 3^rd June we will be visited by an Ofsted Inspector, who will be looking at how we cater for the ‘economic well-being’of the pupils. This is part of the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda.