Beer C of E Primary School Mare Lane Beer, Seaton, Devon EX12 3NB Tel and Fax 01297 20077 Headteacher: Mr Martin O’Mahony Email:[email protected] www.beer-ce-primary.devon.sch.uk Chair of Governors: Mrs Jean Smith Friday 17th October 2014 Dear Parents, 6 Staff are very much looking forward to next week‟s parent consultation sessions. The main focus of the meetings will be to share how your child has settled in this academic year. The teachers will talk to you about your child‟s current Literacy and Numeracy targets and if your child has an IEP, this will also be reviewed. We all understand that they are short (ten minutes) but giving them this focus helps to provide a specific outcome. Holidays in term time are always a hot topic of conversation. The whole community understands the school stance on this area. May I thank all those parents that did fill in a holiday form when taking their children out of school. Although they largely received an unauthorised absence it means we know where the children are and that they are safe. The good news is that the Beer attendance levels increased to 95.8% which is 1% up on last year. The downside is that it fell short of the average attendance figures for Devon (96.17%) and the Axe Valley (96.3%). This figure could be explained by the fact that a large number of families are unable to holiday in term time due to seasonal work commitments. However, this may not be acceptable by those organisations that inspect schools! It is something as a school community we must continue to work on. Last week year 6 children from across the Federation came together to take part in a Daisi project. This was a great opportunity for the children as they were able to work with a professional artist to make a memory quilt which will be displayed in the Northcott Theatre in Exeter. Diary entries that the children wrote in class will also feature alongside the quilt. Both the artwork and diary entries were created in response to Michael Morpurgo‟s „Elephant In The Garden‟. Coming together also gave the children opportunities to meet with others that may go to the same secondary school as them. Later in the year they will also be going to Rockley Watersports together. On Tuesday Beer Netball team (Kendal, Finn, Callum, Jack, Evie, Lily, Isla and Darcie) went to Axe Valley to compete in the final round of matches. We were up against All Saints B team as we both came third in our pools. Beer was successful and won the game 3-0. Next was a friendly match against St Mary's which ended in a draw. Once again the children performed incredibly well and made a huge amount of progress in such a short amount of time. Well done! Lastly a big thank you to the parents who escorted the children to and from the event. Next week I will be in school all day on Monday and on Wednesday afternoon when I will be taking some Year 3 / 4 to Cross Country at Colyton Grammar and on Thursday taking children to Bicton for the Sky Ride. BOOK WEEK 2014-2015 – SUPERHEROS/GRAPHIC NOVELS On Friday 24th October we will be having our termly Literacy day. We will be looking at graphic novels in class and asking the children to write their own comic strip. Therefore we would like the children to dress up as a superhero to inspire their writing. Below is a website link where you can find ideas for superhero masks which can be adapted to match a character from an existing comic. https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/lets-get-writing We would also be very grateful for any donations of old comics for the children to look at next week. If you do have any, please hand in to Mrs Sanders. Thank you very much Friday 24th October is also ‘Walk to School’ Day and so it will be great to see everybody‟s costume as we gather together at the Jubilee at 8:45am. Stockland Cross Country Races On Wednesday some of our KS2 children went to Stockland for the first cross country race of the season. There were many runners from local schools and in true Stockland style, quite a bit of mud around! Congratulations to all the children who took part – everyone ran a great race. The results were as follows: Year 3/4 team – Innes FitzGerald 9th, Jennifer Patchett 14th, Meisha Parkinson 41st and Evan Hourihan 24th. Year 5/6 team – Darcie Morton 9th, Sam Dormor 37th, Jack Dormor 48th, Finn Hourihan 53rd and Callum Priestley 55th. Christmas Dinner Christmas Dinner this year will be on Thursday 11th December. KS1 children will have been given the choices today to fill in as part of their half termly menu selection but KS2 children will get a form nearer the time. Thank You Certificates Congratulations to the following children: Class 1: Isabelle Graham for excellent reading, Ava Baki for excellent reading and settling into school so well, Daniel Paget and Ruby Dack for being resilient. Class 2: (All about listening this week.) Jasmine Cornell and Hannah Leslie for excellent listening and making a quick strong start to your work, Thomas Jones, Chloe Ford and Charlie Williams for trying to listen harder so that you know just what to do and try to do a little more. Class 3: Hope Redding for achieving the most rungs, Jake Paget for your report on three Roman invasions and Leo Gribble for your very helpful behaviour last week. Class 4: Lily Chapple, Robert Wolfreys and Callum Priestley for writing excellent diary entries and Millie Partridge and Freya White for being super spies in their Maths homework. Recorder Club This will take place on Tuesday lunchtime next week (21st October) due to parents‟ evening. Parking The local PCSO came into school this morning and has said that, when dropping off or collecting children, parents/carers should not park so close to the junction between Mare Lane and the Underleys as this is causing a hazard. Second Hand Uniform Has anybody got a spare portable hanging rail and/or hangers that we could use to store the second hand uniform on? If so please let the office know as it would be gratefully received. Westcountry Music Lessons The next music lessons will be after half term starting again on Wednesday 5th November. Coats Now that the weather is cooling down and becoming more changeable, please could you ensure that your child has a named coat in school every day. Cricket Congratulations to Sam Dormor, Christian Pinnock and James Doulton who all got into the East Devon Cricket Team. Zumba We had a fantastic start to the Zumba Kids classes last week. There are currently spaces available for additional children to join the class, which is held in the main school hall at the following time: Fridays 3.30pm - 4.15pm (3 1/2 - 7 year olds) The cost of each class is £4 per child, with half termly fees paid upon first lesson. If you would like to book your child a place, please contact Johanna directly on 07739518587 or at [email protected] Child Registration and Parent Consent forms are available at the school reception. If your child is currently attending the class and you would like them to continue after the half term break, in order to confirm their place, please provide the next half-termly fee payment of £28.00 (£4 per child x 7 classes = £28) in a named sealed envelope to the school reception no later than Friday 24th October. Sidmouth Science Festival – 12th – 19th October The Colyton Science Outreach Team will again be in action at the Science Festival in Sidmouth. On Saturday 18th October there are lots of hands on activities and exhibitions in and around Sidmouth. The Colyton Science Outreach event will be held at All Saints Hall, from 11am – 5pm. There will be a wide range of science activities, including flying cups, a jelly baby wave machine, water as you have never seen it before and a chance to see most amazing applies in Sidmouth. There will also be an opportunity to “make and take” some of the activities so that the science fun need not stop when you have to go home. As part of the festival there are many science inspiring talks: such as the using magnetic levitation to defy gravity, the Arctic Ocean, Planet oil – the history of fossil fuels and our strange universe. There are also lots of fun activities and talks at the Norman Lockyer Observatory both on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th October that will be suitable for children and adults alike. Thank you for your continued support, Martin O‟Mahony BREAKFAST CLUB W/C 20/10 AFTER SCHOOL CLUB W/C 20/10 Name: ……………............................ Name: ………………………………… £2.60 per session (8am-8.45am) Tues Thurs Fri Days Required Hockey Thursday evenings at Colyton Grammar Sports Hall (LED) with Mr Simier - 7pm -7.55pm - All Abilities. Ladies and Gents, while the children are playing hockey why not try Kettlebells? 7pm-7.45pm - An excellent workout in 45 minutes. Seaton Majorettes Recruiting now for the 2015 season, meeting in Seaton Methodist Church large hall on Tuesdays in term time 4-5:30pm. Come along for 3 weeks free taster sessions any time after half term, or from Jan 6th 2015. For more information ring 01297 23491 - COME AND JOIN US Tubs4Tablets scheme We are going to take part in Tubs4Tablets for a second year, an exciting school collector scheme from Flora and Stork, in partnership with Tesco. This will provide thousands of pounds worth of FREE Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0‟‟ Wi-Fi 8GB touch-screen tablets to registered primary and middle schools in Great Britain. Please collect Flora or Stork Tubs4Tablets tokens inside promotional tubs of Flora 500g (Original, Light and Buttery) and Stork 500g and bring them into the school office.