THE PAKEMAN
PRESS
Thank you once again for taking the time to read this
weekly newsletter. I hope that you will find its contents
useful.
Pakeman
Primary
School
Issue 3, Autumn Term 2015
Tuesday 22nd September
Dear Parents/Carers
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
REMINDER: Tomorrow, Wednesday
23rd September, is an INSET day—
so the school is closed for children.
School will resume as normal on
Thursday 23rd September.
Playground morning supervision
This is just to remind you that if you are
leaving your children to be supervised in
the playground from 8:30am onwards in
the morning you must bring them into
the main playground. Staff only
supervise in the main playground from
8:30am until the bell goes at 9am.
There is no supervision in the reception
playground at this time of the day.
Thank you for your co-operation.
EYFS Curriculum Evening
Tuesday 22nd September
3.30-4.30pm
Primary Science Quality Mark
We are absolutely delighted to
announce that Pakeman School has
been awarded the Silver Primary
Science Quality Mark. This is a
reflection of the fantastic work that Rob
is doing in the school as our science
coordinator and shows the value
placed on science as a subject, with
the
children
having
ongoing
opportunities to work scientifically
through investigations, questions and
science workshops. We have great
plans for science teaching and hope to
be reporting more exciting news soon.
Literacy in Years 5 and 6
This term Year 5 and 6’s literacy work
is focused on the graphic novel called
The Savage by David Almond. The
children are really enjoying this book
and have produced excellent pieces of
writing and artwork, which are
displayed in Brown, Red and Blue
classes.
Reading and Times Tables
It is great to see our volunteer readers
back in school doing amazing work on
reading and times tables with the
children. Two new volunteers are
starting next week and we look forward
to welcoming them. Please remember
to read daily and do times tables
regularly with your children at home to
give them as many opportunities as
possible to work on these important
aspects of learning.
Nut allergies
Nuts and nut products are not allowed in
school as a number of our children have
serious nut allergies. Please ensure that
snacks and cereal bars that your
children bring in to school do not contain
nuts. We would especially appreciate
your support regarding this.
Running Club
Some of our children showed a lot of
promise in last year’s cross country
event. So we now have a brand new
running club every Thursday after
school for a small group of children to
enable them to train for this event.
In addition, Tay will soon be conducting
bleep tests during PE lessons with all
the classes from Year 3 to Year 6 to
identify the fittest children in these year
groups and they will also be able to
participate in the cross country.
Digital Art Club
We have a new group of children in
Digital Art Club this term and they got off
to a great start last week making digital
portraits.
INSET day
Wednesday 23rd September
Open
Afternoons
for
parents/carers of children
starting
Reception
in
September 2016
Wed 14th October 2pm
Wed 11th November 2pm
Wed 9th December 2pm
Wear Pink (for £1) for Breast
Cancer Awareness Day
Friday 16th October
Last day of half-term
Friday 23rd October
First day back after half-term
Monday 2nd November
Last day of Autumn term
Friday 18th December
School closes at 1.30pm
First day of Spring term
Monday 4th January
P4C QUESTION
Discuss this question at
home, sharing your thoughts
and ideas:
Is anger always bad?
BEST OF THE
OSCARS
The proud winner of an Oscar this
week is:
Maciej for his
excellent progress
in learning to
multiply decimals
Incredibly Amazing Facts
Last week’s best classes for attendance and punctuality
Year Group
EYFS & KS1
Best
Attendance
Yellow &
Green
KS2
Red
Most
improved
Attendance
Best
Punctuality
Silver
EYFS,
Gold &
Green
Under 95%
 The average lead pencil will write a
line about 35 miles long or write
approximately 50,000 English words.
 Did you know that it is impossible to
Blue
Curriculum Evenings
Last week we had curriculum evenings at which parents/carers
heard all about the new curriculum. Year 6 parents also heard
about the changes to SATs. Sue has prepared a handout
explaining the changes to the curriculum affecting all year groups.
If you would like a copy of this handout please see Layla in
the office (10.30am-6pm)
Blue Class Assembly
sneeze with your eyes open? Give it a
try!
 The elephant is the only mammal that
can't jump!
Young Leaders
Thank you to all the children who have
handed in their application forms to be
young leaders. The process of selection will
now begin and there will be a special
assembly at which Tay will announce the
names of our new young leaders and what
their positions will be.
This is a fantastic programme which
enables children to take on positions of
responsibility that enhance their confidence
and skills set.
Congratulations to Blue Class for their fantastic assembly on
overcoming obstacles and barriers in order to achieve their
ambitions and aspirations. They sang an amazing version of Miley
Cyrus’s Climb as a finale. Thank you to all the parents/carers who
came to watch and support their children take to the stage!
Exciting Professional Development Opportunity for Pakeman Teachers
We are absolutely delighted to inform you that we have made a successful bid for Erasmus+ funding to undertake a
mobility project that will involve 20 members of our staff travelling in four groups of five to four European countries
respectively, which are Norway, Sweden, Portugal and Spain. Each visit will last five days and they will take place
over a period of two years.
The aims of this project are for our staff to:

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

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Develop a greater awareness of international education systems
Be motivated and stimulated to try out new and exciting ideas and classroom practice
Use a more varied and effective range of strategies to support pupils
Be more confident about sharing good practice within the school and more widely
Gain the confidence to support others in adopting new practices
Create opportunities for Pakeman children to communicate with their European counterparts through
collaborative projects, pen pals, Skype, etwinning etc.
We would like to formally thank the European Erasmus+ programme and the British Council for making this project
possible.
A full colour version of this newsletter can be found on our school website at: www.pakemanprimary.co.uk