Welcome back to the Summer term. Let’s hope that the sun will shine on us so that the children can enjoy using the field and also the various visits that the staff are arranging.

Year 2 are beginning to look forward to their move to the Junior school and during this term we have arranged for a range of activities to help them get to know the Year 2 children from The Brook and to ease their transition across the way.

Red Nose Day

We would like to thank all of you who supported the children in their fund raising for Comic Relief. We were delighted that we raised about £600 which was fantastic!!!

Help Required

We are currently looking for a number of parents to help us out in various ways. Please have a think and see if you can be the one we are looking for! These may seem like small things but they are crucial to the smooth running of the school:

Second Hand Uniform

Firstly we need somebody to take over the running of the second hand uniform shop. This has been really successful over the years and has raised a steady amount of money for the school as well as providing a service for parents. If you could undertake this please let us know.

Lunchtime Supervision

We have now found a Midday meals supervisor for this term but we will need a further person in September - again please have a think and let us know if you are interested.

Clerk to Governors

This role is absolutely essential and is a really interesting area to be involved in. Please have a think and get in touch if you would like to undertake this position.

The Midday Meals Supervisor and the Clerk to The Governors are paid positions.

Vandalism, Intruders and Theft

This is a constant concern and currently a number of local schools have been the victims of needless and thoughtless theft and damage. We would ask that you all keep a watchful eye on the premises as you are around the shops and surrounding area. This is especially important at the weekends and in the holidays. We all need to take responsibility for taking care of our school and if you do spot anything suspicious please let us know or get in touch with the police straightaway. Many thanks

Midsummer Madness

We are looking forward to our annual summer event which will be held on Friday June 24th. The organisers are looking for small toys such as those from fast food outlets eg McDonalds, Burger King etc). If you have anything suitable please could you put them into the box in the Library area?

School Development Plan

Each year we look back at our past year’s development and then make our plans for the year ahead. The Staff and Governors recently carried out this audit helped by the questionnaires which you completed for us. As a result of this our main points for development for the year ahead will be:

Assessment: We want to review and improve the methods we have for assessing children’s progress and maintaining records of their learning.

Behaviour: We want to help the children develop positive attitudes to their learning, to each other and to the work around them. Recently we have felt that this area requires more concentrated thought and development.

Curriculum: We will continue the work we have been developing over the past couple of years to ensure that the curriculum is exciting and motivating but rooted in the rigorous teaching of the basic skills. We will be concentrating on developing problem-solving in Maths, further developing our ICT capability and ensuring that our provision is appropriate for the age and stage of development of the children.

Literacy Workshop

During this term we will be offering two Literacy workshops for parents. These will be run by one of our local Advisers, Nicky Powell. Nicky has worked with us on a number of occasions and has helped and supported us in our curriculum changes and developments. She ran similar workshops for parents a couple of years ago and I know that everyone who attended was really impressed and learnt a great deal. There will be more details later but the workshops will be held in the mornings.

Reminders

There are just one or two reminders which I need to bring to your attention:

If you have to give your child medicine during the school day would you please come into the school office to do so, even if the children are out in the playground.

When the children are in the playground we would ask you not to call your children to the fence to talk to you as the staff in the playground may not know that you are parents. Also if children see other children talking to adults over the fence they may think that it is OK to talk to anyone who calls them over.

Finally we would ask you not to come into the school office but to use the hatch in the entrance if you need to speak to Mrs Fish or Mrs Wilson as we may well have confidential documents or information in the office.

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION!!!!

What’s On This Term

Tuesday April 19th	School Nurses Drop-In session 9am
Wednesday April 27th	Mrs Lowe’s Drop-In club 9am
Friday May 6th and 13th	Parents Literacy workshops
Friday 20th May	Friends Circus event 6pm
May 30th - June 3rd	Half Term Holiday
Monday June 6th	Inset Day: school closed
Wednesday June 8th	New Parents Evening for September Entrants
Wednesday June 15th	Get Fit Kids: Sponsored event (more details later)
Thursday June 23rd	Drop-In Club 9am
Friday June 24th	Midsummer Madness
Wednesday July 6th	Summer Concert (all year groups) am
Thursday July 7th	Summer Concert (all year groups) am
Friday July 8th	Annual reports home
Tuesday July 12th	Fun sports pm
Wednesday July 13th	Parents Consultation Evening
Thursday July 14th	Parents Consultation evening
Friday July 15th	Alternative Fun Sports

NB Year 1 Class assemblies will be taking place during the term - we will let you know the dates once they are finalised