Newsletter 21st September 2018
Posted on September 21, 2018 | By Mr Cole
Would you like to help govern the school?
I know. Your immediate reaction to that question may be “no thanks” (!) However, we have two vacancies coming up on the Governing Board – The first is because Fi Hancock, who has chaired our Teaching And Learning Committee for many years has now come to the end of her term of office so we will be looking for a parent to fill this vacancy. If there is more that one application to join, we will hold a parental ballot. We are looking for someone with an up to date interest in, or experience of, schools and the current curriculum and assessment arrangements. If you have some or all of those skills and also some time to spare, we’d love to hear from you. Our second vacancy has come about due to the resignation of long-serving Governor Phil Spittles. Phil has chaired committees and has also been Chair of Governors for many years. He was also instrumental in Woolsery Primary being at the leading edge of setting up our Atlantic Coast Cooperative Trust back in 2012. Phil has been a Foundation Governor, who are appointed by the ACCT (not elected), but we’d love to hear from you if you have the skills to replace those lost as Phil leaves the Board. To be appointed by the ACCT, you must be committeed to co-operative values and ideally have a good range of organisational skills. Similarly, if you know of anyone in the wider community who may be interested in joining the Governing Board, they might well be eligible to fill this vacancy, so please encourage them to phone the school and talk to Sue Miles about what the job entails.
All of us connected in any way to Woolsery Primary School owe a massive debt of thanks to both Fi and Phil who have given a significant amount of time and experience to all aspects of the school over their time with us. Much of their work has been behind the scenes, but has been no less important for that. They will both be missed enormously, and we wish them both all the very best for the future.
Being a governor is actually really rewarding and gives you the opportunity to understand the workings of the school from “the other side”. Of course, there is some accountability and you’ll be expected to visit school and carry out monitoring tasks to help inform the Board – but these are fully supported until you are confident of carrying them out alone. There is a Full Governing Board meeting once every half term (usually evenings) plus a committee meeting and monitoring activities described above. The more diverse range of views and backgrounds around the table, the stronger our school becomes, so please give this some serious thought if you think this might appeal to you.
If you would like to apply to become a Governor, please fill out the online form here or by visiting https://goo.gl/forms/xP0fqtJmKtrYyfD83 and we will contact you. Forms must be received by noon Friday 19th October 2018.
Epic Cake Sale!
I’m not completely sure that Stroxworthy Class knew what they were starting when they planned a cake sale in aid of the Devon Air Ambulance Trust! The cake sale, which was planned for Monday has turned into a truly epic event, rolling into Tuesday as well. Several tonnes of cake has been enjoyed by everyone at school! Thank you from everyone in Stroxworthy Class for supporting this Project Launch so strongly. The grand total from the sale is an astonishing £138.86
Macmillan Coffee Morning
We will be hosting another Macmillan Coffee Morning here in the school on Saturday 29th September from 10am to 1pm. Past pupils Bo and Olivia have organised this for several years and once again it promises to be a really busy morning – please come along if you can, and please spread the word. Macmillan Cancer Support is a great cause and I’m personally delighted that this year proceeds will be split with the Teenage Cancer Trust, who have done an enormous amount to support my family over the last eight months.
Charity Voice met this week to begin planning the term’s charitable events, from Harvest through to Children In Need. Their charity this year will be Farm Africa. Farm Africa provide people in Africa with the equipment and seeds to grow their own food.
At Harvest Festival this year (Thursday October 11th) all children can come to school dressed up in something related to farms, farmers or farm animals. We will go to our church service dressed for the occasion, along with Rev Jane. Parents and family are very welcome to come along too. Charity Voice are asking for donations of 50p or more to take part in this event – they hope you will support this, their first fundraising effort for the school year.
Dictionaries
Today, members of the Rotary Club came to our assembly to present our Year 6 children with a dictionary each. This is the third year they have donated dictionaries to the children and we are very grateful for their support. The children are welcome to use their dictionaries at home, but they will also be very useful to have in the classroom. Each dictionary is named.
Headteacher Awards
We’ve had another great week of learning here at Woolsery Primary!
Congratulations to this week’s recipients of Headteacher’s Awards, who are:
Cranford: Seren and Riley
Burscott: Harry and Tegan
Stroxworthy: Morgan and Imogen
Alminstone: Roy and Natalie
Ashmansworthy: Sam and Kyson
Points are awarded for children striving to develop good Learning Behaviours, which we represent with six animals across the school, from Sunflowers to Ashmansworthy Class. Over the next few weeks, each animal will feature in the Newsletter so that you can talk about developing your children’s learning at home in terms they will be familiar with. This week we’re looking at the Spider, making links and connections with her web of knowledge. This is really important for children as the links they make in their learning help form a joined-up view of the world and enables them to begin to come up with their own theories based on the knowledge they’ve joined together so far.
Trainees In School
Next week, we welcome a trainee teaching assistant who will be working with Stroxworthy Class on Tuesdays and Fridays until Christmas. Natasha Poole is studying Level 2 Childcare at Petroc. Natasha is the second Trainee we have on site, joining Lucy Bryant who is our trainee teacher, based in Burscott Class for the year as part of our ACCT School Direct programme.
Photographs
On Monday morning, Alan Schofield will be in school taking individual photos and family groups. The consent forms that most parents have already returned to school cover this session, but please speak to us if you have any questions about how we use the photos here at school. If you’ve not yet returned the data collection form (which was sent out last week) please could you do so as soon as possible? Thanks.
The photos will be processed in good time for Christmas, and order forms will be in book bags as soon as we can collate them. Any queries, please speak to Sue or Tina in the Office.
FOWS AGM
Yes, it’s the time of year when I plead, beg and hope for parents to turn up and support the FOWS AGM. As I’ve already written this term (and will no doubt write again!) without FOWS, the children’s experience in school would be vastly different. The fundraising that unlocks so many opportunities for our children is down to a small bunch of parents and we really, really need to attract some fresh faces and new ideas to the team. If you are willing to join FOWS, please come along to our AGM, which is only a short meeting, on Thursday from 7:30pm here at school. Huge thanks in advance.
Fence Update
You may well have noticed that the playground fence replacement which was expected over the summer has not in fact taken place. This is because the design was changed to a higher specification and so the materials being ordered have a longer waiting time for delivery. All being well, the work will be carried out over the half term break and our amazing new fence will be in place for another forty five years… approximately the time the present one has been there for! We are extremely grateful to our benefactor for providing this fence to us – it’s certainly nothing that we could possibly afford to to from our existing resources!
After School Clubs
Thank you to everyone who has booked a place on after school clubs so far this term. As clubs fill up, I am removing them from the menu of choices, so if a club is missing it means no spaces are available at the present time. I will leave the booking form open for another couple of weeks in case some children still wish to join the remaining clubs. The form can be accessed via https://tinyurl.com/y9nemubu
Please note that as I have a meeting in Tiverton on Wednesday afternoon, there will be no recorder club next week.
…and Finally
Don’t forget tonight is Quiz Night here at school – doors open at 5:30pm and the Quiz gets underway at 6pm. Teams of 4, and a family friendly range of questions. It would be great to see you!
The Week Ahead
- Monday: Individual and family photos (am), Swimming continues Y4 & Y5
- Tuesday:
- Wednesday: Mr Cole to meeting (pm) no recorder club
- Thursday: FOWS AGM (7:30pm) at school – all welcome
- Friday: