Newsletter: 2nd December 2022
Posted on December 2, 2022 | By Mr Cole
Christmas Post
All three schools will be operating our usual Christmas Post service for children who would like to send their friends and classmates Christmas cards.
So that their cards get to the correct person, please make sure the following is on the envelope:
- child’s first name
- child’s surname or initial of surname
- child’s class
If any children wish to send cards to friends in one of our other schools, they can do that as well by also writing the name of the school on the envelope.
Post boxes will be in each school’s library area from early next week.
Singing
Sunflowers, Cranford and Burscott Classes will all be singing in Woolsery Parish Church on Wednesday 14th December at 10:30, during the usual coffee morning. If any parents or other family members would like to go along to the coffee morning to hear the children, you’re very welcome to do so.
It’s Showtime!
Next week is, of course, performance week in each school for our various Christmas Productions.
Both Buckland Brewer and Parkham’s performances are only in school time this year and there is no need for you to pre-book tickets as the capacity of the two village halls is fine to hold everyone who wishes to come along and watch.
Woolsery’s performances are by ticket only in order to comply with fire regulations. Your tickets will be in your child’s book bag this evening so please look out for them, we cannot issue replacements if they are lost.
Please remember that whilst we will never charge admission for you to see your children perform their Christmas shows, we will be rattling the bucket at the end of each performance asking for donations in order to support the work of the Partnership so please being some change if you can. Thanks.
Woolsery Arrangements:
With three performances and a dress rehearsal next week, arrangements are as detailed as always – please read carefully:
Tuesday 6th December
Morning – Technical Rehearsal for Alminstone and Ashmansworthy Classes only – they will have lunch at the Village Hall.
Afternoon – Full Dress Rehearsal (whole school). Children going home by bus or taxi will be collected from the Hall car park. All other children will walk back up to school for dismissal. Staff will get everyone back as quickly as we’re able, but can’t promise to be back at 3:15 promptly.
Wednesday 7th December
Matinee Performance – begins at 1:45, doors open from 1:15. As above, all children (except bus/taxi children) will walk back to school to be collected from there.
Evening Performance – begins at 6:30pm, doors open at 6pm. Please do not bring your child to the hall before 6pm. After the show, audience members should wait in the auditorium and staff will being children to you once they’re changed. If you’re not watching on this evening, please wait in the corridor and staff will bring your children up to you from the changing rooms. Estimated finish time is 7:50pm.
Thursday 8th December
Normal school day registration times apply.
Evening Performance – begins at 6:30pm, doors open at 6pm. Please do not bring your child to the hall before 6pm. After the show, audience members should wait in the auditorium and staff will being children to you once they’re changed. If you’re not watching on this evening, please wait in the corridor and staff will bring your children up to you from the changing rooms. Estimated finish time is 7:50pm.
Friday 9th December
Late registration is available. Registers will remain open until 10:40am, after which time children will be marked as absent. If you are letting your child sleep in, please remember to phone the school (Woolsery, option 4) by 9:15am to let us know if your child requires school lunch.
Raffle Prizes needed!
Please remember to bring raffle prizes in to school on Monday or Tuesday next week. This will enable FOWS to run a raffle at each of the three performances, raising much needed funds. Thank you!
Christmas Dinner
Wednesday 14th December is Christmas Dinner Day in all three schools – please remember that we’re asking children to wear Christmas jumpers/accessories on that day. This is free of charge; we are not collecting for charity on this occasion.
On the Tuesday before, it’s our normal Roast Dinner day on the school menu, but this will in fact be the Pizza option which is listed for Wednesday.
FOWS would like to say a huge thank-you to everyone who contributed items of fabric for the Bag2School collection last week. An amazing £228 was raised thanks to your support.
Staff shortages
This week in particular has been very difficult due to extremely low staffing levels as winter bugs begin to take their toll on normal family routines. Please bear with us as we try to maintain our usual level of operation in all three schools. For example, if you’re waiting for a reply from an email, it may be worth phoning your child’s school if you’ve not heard back as you might normally expect – thanks.
Lost Property
We have a huge amount of lost property at the moment – almost all un-named items of clothing we can’t get back to their owners. Please, please could you take some time over the Christmas break to check all of your child’s uniform still has a readable name on them so we can return it if things are left around.
After-School Difficulties
We have been advised by Early Help that there are some really good resources available to support parents with after-school “meltdowns” – which we often see a rise in towards the end of a busy term! The recommended resource can be found here:
New Start and Finish Times
Governors approved the plans for the school to extend the day at each site from January. This is to meet the DfE expectations for each school to now be open for 32.5 hours per week. Governors listened very carefully to concerns from parents who will find the new times tricky with other school runs and work commitments, but we are unable to put all ofthe extra time onto one end of the day or the other because School Transport would be unable to adjust by that much.
Just as a reminder, from 3rd January, the school day will begin at 8:45am and finish at 3:15pm on all sites. Gates will open at 8:35am.
Christmas Fair!
Tonight’s the night! Parkham’s Christmas Fair get under way at 6pm tonight and runs through until 8pm. We hope to see you there – the FOPPS team have put loads of work into reviving the Fair after the Covid interruption and we very much hope you can come and support their efforts!
****Father Christmas will also be making an appearance thanks to Fobbs, so come along with the children to this festive event****
Well done to our amazing children this week who have been chosen to receive a Headteacher’s Award for developing fantastic learning behaviours which are represented in our schools by the six animals:
Orleigh: Oscar (spider)- for making links in his Maths, using a part-whole model to help him find all the facts in an 8 fact family; Leo H (bee)- for working together with other children in his play, and communicating his ideas
Tythecott: Eliza (bee)- For being a fantastic busy bee and working well as a team with your peers, you set a great example; Wren (tortoise) – Great effort with your presentation these last few weeks Wren we can see a real difference, keep it up.
Gorwood: Jess (Dolphin) for engaging in her work particularly in maths. Jess has taken part in class discussions with confidence and deepened her learning; Freya (Spider) for making links and thinking about her previous learning and how it can help with new learning with fractions.
Foxdown: Jack – (cat) Jack has worked hard this week on planning and writing his own ‘Stuck’ story. He has been very curious to know which version of ‘ai’ or ‘ee’ he needs to use,asking for help and using his ‘Grow the code’ chart to help him; Jasper (tortoise) – Jasper was keen to write his own version of ‘The Smartest Giant in town’. He worked hard to make a book as well as draw and write his version of the book.
Melbury: Jake (dolphin) Jake has shown great engagement and enthusiasm for the Christmas production – learning his lines and all the songs! Well done Jake; Harry (tortoise) Harry showed resilience to complete all his multiplication questions using cubes to help him. Well done
Goldworthy: Riley (cat) for being curious and enthusiastic with your mathematics when having extra time with Mr Berry; Lewis (spider) for being careful and precise with all aspects of your learning; thinking thoughtfully about connections made with previous learning.
Sunflowers:
Cranford: Skye – (dolphin) for trying so hard with your writing this week with Miss Daniel; Elliott – (dolphin) for trying so hard in phonics this week. You are really trying hard with all your tricky words.
Burscott: Elsie (tortoise) – for showing huge improvements in her attitude and attainment in Literacy this week; Harry (tortoise)- for huge improvements in the presentation of his written work, and amazing reading comprehension skills! Tortoise
Stroxworthy: Lyonie (dolphin)- for diving into her learning and producing superb work in English using subordinating conjunctions; Buster (tortoise) – for being resilient and always trying his best in class particularly with English and Maths.
Alminstone: Olivia (bee) – for her teamwork in basketball session with Mr Davies; Jack (spider) – for making links in his French with speaking and listening.
Ashmansworthy: Bailey (tortoise) – for showing excellent problem-solving skills and a constant determination to find the right answer; Sidney (tortoise) – for being determined to learn every line of the Panto Pandemonium script and using that knowledge to support others
| Monday |
Mrs Hanger in meeting (pm); Mrs Barnes covering Parkham – dress rehearsal in the hall (pm) |
| Tuesday |
Parkham children present “Bethlehem The Musical” (pm) Alminstone & Ashmansworthy Classes to hall all day Woolsery – dress rehearsal at the hall (pm) |
| Wednesday |
Buckland Brewer children present “Stable Story” (pm) Woolsery children present “Panto Pandemonium” (pm & eve) |
| Thursday | Woolsery children present “Panto Pandemonium” (eve) |
| Friday | Mr Cole in meetings (am) – Woolsery |
Mr Cole’s planned schedule
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| Monday | Afternoon | Morning | |
| Tuesday | Afternoon | Morning | |
| Wednesday | All Day | ||
| Thursday | Various | Various | Various |
| Friday | Morning | Afternoon | Afternoon |
with best wishes,
Mr Cole