No 13 for week ending 9 December 2016
Dear Parents and Carers
Another busy week and pupils have been working
hard in all classes.
Advent
Open Class
It was good to see so many of you on Wednesday at
our monthly Open Class. Some of your comments
about what your children showed you were very
heartening. I hope you managed to look at the
beautiful displays along the corridors of the school to
see the progression of writing.
This week we lit the second of our
candles on the large Advent
Wreath in school as we now enter
the second week of Advent. Pupils listened to the
Gospel reading in assembly and were reminded again
of the importance of this time of preparation and
waiting.
Nativity
The Christmas tree has been erected and is decorated
with beautiful prayers written by the children on
peace-dove shapes. The prayers are very thoughtful.
No 13for week ending Friday 9th December 2016
The practices for both the KS1 and the KS2 have been
underway this week. The younger children were, and
continue to be, very excited as they dressed up for the
first time yesterday in readiness for performances
next week. It is always a logistical nightmare in a
school of 420 children to ensure that all children
receive a part, however small this may be.
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Cross Country
Target books
The year 5&6 Cross Country team
represented the school at Warden Park last Saturday
morning.
This week Mrs Peart was undertaking her twice termly
monitoring of the KS2 target books and was pleased
to see that all the children are really focussing on
clearly set targets, which they are stamping and
dating as they work towards achievement. It is good
to know that the children can articulate their targets
and what they need to work on in both their maths
and their literacy.
All the children ran their very best and for the first
time in many years the conditions were excellent, not
too cold and the sun shone. The boys managed 11th
position overall and the girls 6th place overall. In each
of the races there were approximately 140 runners
from various local schools.
Congratulations go to Philippa (10th position) and
Maddy (18thposition) who have now gone through to
represent Mid Sussex in January. Both the girls have
asked for early morning sessions in school to carry on
until the end of term. This shows excellent
determination and aspiration to do well. Thanks to all
the parents who supported their children and to Miss
Cannon and Mrs Watts who went along to support the
children and help Mrs Peart.
Year 2 have started their target books now and are
beginning to think about how they can improve their
learning in small steps.
Each Friday, during
our Celebration and
Success Assembly,
we are showing the
children some fine
examples of
presentation
throughout the
school. Throughout
the week many
children are proudly
bringing work to
show both myself
and Mrs Peart. There
have been some
excellent examples of
writing this week in
year 4 with regard to
their Magic Box
Poems. This is an
excellent example from Anaya.
All senior leaders and the core subject leaders
monitor different aspects of the curriculum regularly,
whether it be the quality of phonics, reading, spelling,
writing or maths by either looking at the books,
listening to pupil voice or observing lessons. This is an
important part of our continual school improvement
year on year.
No 13for week ending Friday 9th December 2016
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Message from our
Community Support
Officer, PC BroadPlease be aware that Instances have been recorded in
some UK regions of teens using a web based chat
room called ‘ChatStep’ to communicate and there
have been concerns in relation to offenders exploiting
this for CSE.
ChatStep enables you to set up an open or password
protected chatroom where content is encrypted.
Group chats are possible, limited to 50 people, you
can exchange photos with other people. Settings are
simple, pictures, sound and timestamps can all be
turned on and off. There is one tab that if clicked on
automatically downloads an HTML copy of the chat to
your hard drive and another tab labelled “Report” lets
users report chat rooms breaking the law to the
developers.
You can create a room from the home page by typing
in any name you like, then your nickname, and an
optional password. Then, simply send your friends the
room name and they can join up. When you leave,
everything is deleted from the servers. ChatStep
doesn't log messages, images, or user information. All
your messages are encrypted before they're even
sent.
Group video will be coming soon to ChatStep where
you can video call up to 6 people simultaneously. It’s
just another example of the increase in ‘Dark Social’
and the technology of encrypted messaging which is
now being used by teens.
Further information can be obtained from clicking on
this link: Click here
Kind regards,
PC Broad
No 13for week ending Friday 9th December 2016
Wishing you all a very happy weekend.
Best Wishes
Angela O’Hara
Meetings for parents:
Reading and Phonics for all parents-Thursday 19th
January 2016 6.30pm
Maths meeting-Thursday 26th January 2016 6.30pm
Important Dates:
KS1 Nativity- Monday 12th December 2pm & Tuesday
13th December 9.30am
KS2 Nativity- Tuesday 13th December 2pm & 6pm at St
Wilfrid’s Church
KS1 Jack and the beanstalk Pantomime- Thursday 15th
December
Last day of Autumn Term- Friday 16th December
Return to school for the start of the Spring TermTuesday 3rd January
Protective Behaviour Lessons for the year (4 lessons)
Lesson 3 - 24th January
Lesson 4- 15th March
INSET DAYS 2016-17
Friday 17th February 2017- Music & Reading/Phonics
Monday 24th/Tuesday 25th July 2017 (these dates tie
in with St Paul’s College
………………………………………………
Christmas Disco
This year’s Friends Christmas discos will be held on
Thursday 15th December. There will be a KS1 disco
from 5.30 until 6.30pm and cost £2.50 (pay at the
door). KS1 disco is a ‘come and dance’ event where
the children will not need any money – there will be
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nothing to buy. (Sorry no Foundation children at this
terms disco). The KS2 disco will then take place from
7pm until 8.30pm and cost £3 (pay at the door). KS2
children are allowed to bring £1 max. for sweets and
glow bracelets.
the school. If you have previously replied directly to
this system we wouldn’t have received your email.
Therefore we ask if you have any queries please email
these directly to the school [email protected]. Thank you.
Sweets are usually sold at the KS2 disco but this year
there will be some changes to note. Sweets will be
bagged up in advance and sold for 50p per bag. Glow
bracelets will also still be available (whilst stocks last)
at 3 for 50p. We ask that children come with no more
than £1. This is to support the school with their
Healthy Eating Policy and also to reduce the time the
children spend queuing for sweets rather than being
with their friends.
The Nativity:
We still need 15 more volunteers to help at the KS1
disco and 7 volunteers for the KS2 disco. Without
these volunteers we will not be able to run the event
unfortunately. Please email
[email protected] if you are able to
volunteer.
Emergency contact slips will be sent home from
school via an email and will need to be completed and
handed in on the evening.
Christmas Bazaar Update
We are thrilled to announce that this year’s Christmas
Bazaar raised over £2400 for the school. What an
amazing achievement! Thank you to everyone who
came along; supported this event and got involved in
the Christmas fun. Thank you also to everyone that
gave their time and volunteered to help – we couldn’t
have done it without you. Also a big thank you to
everyone for their contributions to the hampers and
the refreshment stall.
………………………………………………
The Nativity - A play for all the family. To take place at
Wintershall Barn, Bramley, Surrey.
Performances from the 14th December until 18th
December.
For more information please contact Tel: 01483
892167 or
www.wintershallestate.com<http://www.wintershallestate.com/>
ALL THE RIGHT NOTES CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Local community choir All the Right Notes, conducted
by Paul Simpson, will be giving its annual family
Christmas concert at St Edward’s Church, Royal
George Road, Burgess Hill on Wednesday December
14th at 7.30 p.m.
Teachers 2 Parents Emailing System:
The programme will include plenty of seasonal items,
including a number for the audience to join in with.
All correspondence emailed home to parents is done
so via our Teachers 2 Parents system, unfortunately
this system does not allow parents to reply directly to
No 13for week ending Friday 9th December 2016
Tickets cost £6 for adults, free for accompanied
under-16s, and can be reserved from
[email protected] or bought on the door
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