Longfleet Newsletter
October 2014
Dear Parents/Carers,
September has been a wonderful month and pupils in both
Years 5 & 6 have benefited from the fabulous weather during their residential visits to Rockley Outdoor Centre. A
huge thank you to the staff - Mrs Gardiner, Mr Dean, Mrs
Bayliff and Mrs Burden (Year 6 staff) and Mrs Thompson,
Mrs Brewster, Mr Fehrenbach and volunteer Mr Brierley
(Year 5 staff) for making the residentials possible. A huge
well done to all of the children for their fantastic have-a-go
attitude and super behaviour.Two wonderful weeks were
had by all!
Not content with 2 residentials, we also were delighted that
so many of you were able to join us to meet your child’s
new teachers. YR parents joined us to find out about how
we teach phonics and lots of you came along to look at our
finished building work.
Today, we have shared our Harvest celebrations with you
at school and church. Thank you to everyone who was able
to come along and a huge thanks for all your generous donations which will be given to the food bank.
We look forward to seeing you all at our parent consultations on Monday 20th and Wednesday 22nd October.
Best Wishes
D E Brierley (Mrs)
Headteacher
Collection of Children
Please can we remind you that if your child is
being collected by another parent or adult the
teacher must be told in advance. This could
be done by writing in their home school link
book, homework diary or by writing a note to the class
teacher.
Please only call the office with a change of collection in an
emergency. The office try their very best to pass on messages but at times these get lost in communication or children are in assembly at the end of the day and don’t get
them in time.
Please do not take another child from the teacher or home
without the verbal permission of the child’s parents.
The safety of your children is our priority and we need to
make sure they are going home with the correct people.
If you need to talk to a teacher please wait until all children
have been collected. Thank you
Now taking bookings for the October half
term.
Kindly note that fees have to be paid two weeks in advance.
If you would like further information, or to book a place for
your child, please contact Dolly on 07854 506300 or
[email protected]
Andy Perry - Vicar of St Mary’s Church &
Governor at Longfleet
Today is the last day of September and apparently this
September will have been the driest since records began
in 1910!
Not quite that long ago, in 1995, when our family moved
down here to Poole, Longfleet (VC) Combined School was
located opposite the church, where the church car park
and doctor’s surgery are now. It was very clear, even then,
that there was a strong connection between the church, St
Mary’s Longfleet and the school. Also, personally for us,
all three of our children, Ben, Will and Olivia, loved their
time as pupils at Longfleet School.
I am thrilled that we have such a vibrant, ongoing link between the church and the school. It is marvelous that hundreds of children and parents came up here to church to
celebrate ‘Harvest’ on Friday morning and we look forward
to welcoming huge numbers of you for the school Christmas services! Many of you will know our Curate, Justin,
very well and other staff members, like Emily and Mark,
who also take assemblies. Although, personally, I have
fewer opportunities to be at school on a regular basis now,
a fortnight ago I thoroughly enjoyed being shown around
the fantastic new building work at school by Mrs Brierley
and seeing some inspiring childrens’ work on the walls.
You might be aware that our church centre, opposite the
church on Longfleet Road, has recently been re-furbished
and extended. We would absolutely delighted to welcome
any children and parents, or staff, who might interested in
a tour around it with delicious cake and drinks this Saturday 4 October between 10-12noon or 3-5pm, do just turn
up.
With every blessing for the rest of this Autumn.
Children joining us in YR in 2015.
House Captains
We now have our house captains for the
year. The children had to deliver a short
speech as to why they should be voted.
The captains are:
RED
GREEN
YELLOW
Evie F
Angelin V
Olivia N
Joe H
Arron D
Maddy L
Holiday Club
BLUE
Jasmine E
Stephen K
Lunch Time Jobs
We have two play leaders and one dinning room assistant
job available starting in November. We are also looking for
casual lunchtime staff. Please see the website or speak to
the office for more information.
Although it is almost a year away, if you
have a child who is due to start school in
September 2015, or know any one who
has a child due to start school you need
to act now. We do school tours every Thursday at 9.30am
to show potential parents around. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and find out about the school.
Please call the school office on 01202 673652 to book on a
tour. We do have limited numbers each week. We advise
that you find child care for your child if possible. If they do
get a place there will be plenty of time for them to have a
visit to the school.
Please remember that once your child has a place at
Longfleet they stay until the end of year 6.
Longfleet Friends
Thank you to everyone who came to our meeting on the 12 th
September and helped to plan the events for this term – the first
of which are listed below. Over the next few newsletters we will
introduce you to the key members of the Longfleet Friends
Committee as well starting with our Chair: Ellie Keets.
Hello - I would like to take this opportunity to introduce
myself – my name is Ellie I have 2 boys; the oldest is in
year 1. I am currently working part-time at the RNLI. I
have been Chair of the PTA for a year. I believe passionately that any PTA of a school is a vital aspect.
The friends are a great community to be a part of; constantly thinking up and implementing new fundraising
ideas that benefit every single child in the school. I am
open to any new ideas or suggestions and please do
not hesitate to speak to me at the school gates. I look
forward to seeing you at some time.
Bag2School collection - Friday 10th October 9am
Bag2School accept good quality clean clothes, soft toys, handbags, paired shoes. Official Bag2school collection bags will
come home with your child but you can use any bag to donate
your items. Don’t forget to ask grandparents, friends and neighbours to have a sort out as well! Please return any unused official bags to school for collection.
Clean Up Day – Date to be confirmed
We are looking for volunteers to help with a variety of tasks
around the school site (e.g. weeding, painting, shed repairs,
cleaning BBQs etc) from 9.30am. Refreshments will be provided.
Bake for the Climbing Wall and Second hand Uniform Sale
– Fri 17th October (after school)
We are aiming to raise the money needed to pay for the climbing wall that is going to go alongside the new pirate ship on the
main playground. The proceeds of this Bake sale will be going
towards this – if we can top the £300 raised by the last whole
school bake sale we will make a great start towards our target of
£2500.
Which year group will raise the most with their donations of
sweet or savoury bakes (cakes, biscuits, cheese straws,
mini pizzas etc.)? Please bring your labelled (child’s name,
class and any allergy information) donations to school in the
morning. We need help to run the sale so we are looking for 3 –
4 people to help receive bakes in the morning and 10 – 12 people to help set up (from 2.30pm) and sell bakes or second hand
uniform (from 3pm). Please let us know if you can help.
New Parents Coffee Morning – Wed 5th November 9am
Has you child started at Longfleet this term? Please come and
join us for coffee and a chance to mingle and meet other parents.
Quiz Night and Fish and Chip Supper Tues 18th November 7
– 10pm
The challenge: Beat the teachers in the Annual Quiz Night.
Food orders & payment (£1 per person plus cost of any food
order) will be taken outside the main reception after school between the 10th and 14th Nov. There is a max of 6 in a team.
Don’t forget to bring your own drinks.
Keeping up to date with the latest news from Longfleet
Friends
Read the latest minutes on the Friends notice board or school
website
Join Longfleet Friends PTA Facebook Group
Email [email protected]
Come to the next meeting on Friday 24th October 2014 9am
We have now received our Sportsmark
Silver award & Leadershipmark award for
2014/2015.
‘Dorset Race Equality Council is a charity that has been
promoting race equality in Dorset since the 1990s. We offer
a free advice and advocacy service to anyone who has experienced race-based discrimination or abuse. If you have
been affected by these issues please contact us on 01202
392954 or email: [email protected]
At Dorset REC we also work in partnership with a broad
range of agencies, such as schools, to promote equality of
opportunity and celebrate ethnic and cultural diversity in our
local area, and we very much look forward to developing a
positive and productive relationship with Longfleet Primary
School.
For more information about Dorset REC please visit our
website at www.dorsetrec.org.uk’
Nurse Drop In
There will be a Nurse drop in on Tuesday 7th
October at 9am . If you would like to come in and
chat with the nurse about a concern that you
may have with your child, just pop into the office.
Ordering Hot Meals
Our menus run on a 4 week rota, it is the same
meals each month but the menus will have different dates.
Children in Reception, Year 1 or 2 - meals will be
reordered every month please ONLY do a new menu if
there is a change to your order.
Children in Year 3,4,5 & 6 - A new menu will need to be
handed in every month with the correct payment.
Poole Schools Direct Student
This year we will have a student with us for the
year. Mrs Claire Kent will be working in RER
training as a teacher alongside going to university. We wish her luck in her training.
A thank
you card
from our
school
crossing
lady Rita.
Lunchtime
When having your dinner with your child could you
show and encourage them to use a knife and fork
correctly. When finished please show them how to
scrape off their leftovers into a bin. We are trying
to get the children to be as independent as possible during
the lunch hour and this will really help us.
Lunchtimes are now running more smoothly and
children are getting use to the system and are
enjoying the meals.
Poole Parents' Voice
Poole Parents’ Voice (PPV) is a forum for parents whose
children attend Poole schools: parents chair, minute and
set the agenda.
With support from the Local Authority, PPV exists for parents of children who attend Poole schools to learn about
and discuss current educational issues and changes at
both local and national level, enabling them to give feedback to all other parents of children attending the schools
they represent. Representing Longfleet Primary are Sandra
Kent mum of Stephen (6PD) and Elizabeth (2LP) and Clare
Welford mum of Jessica in 6BB.
If there are any educational issues or upcoming changes
that you would like raised as a future agenda item for discussion, please contact us via the school office or via
Longfleet Friends email.
The next meeting is on the 6th October. For an idea of previous discussions, notes of previous PPV meetings can be
found in the Poole Family Information Directory at
Poole Parent Voice
We are now running a Scholastic Book Club and hopefully
you have received the first leaflet. Leaflets will be sent
home once a half term and all orders must be made and
paid for online using this link
www.schools.scholastic.co.uk/longfleet-cofe . The current
order will be open until 5 October and books will be delivered direct to the school and sent home with the children.
A text message will be sent to advise when each new order is open and a link also posted on the school website.
We will earn 20% commission on sales which will then be
spent on new books for our library.
Congratulations!
Mr Dean’s wife gave birth to a little girl called
Isabella on 19th September weighing 7lb 7oz.
Mum and baby are doing well!
Congratulations!
Mrs Fowler gave birth to a little boy called Ryan
on 4th August weighing 7lb 8oz. Mum and baby
are doing well!
Our new Pirate Ship!
You may have noticed, when dropping off your children,
that we have a new pirate ship ‘docked’ in our playground.
It took a week to build and the children were very excited
watching its progress and couldn’t wait to start playing on it.
Each class have a rotated slot at playtimes and lunchtimes
to use the new equipment.
We are now very lucky to have lots of fun things including
the tyre park, play trail, pirate ship, climbing frame and
monkey bars in the reception playground. Please can we
ask that children (including younger siblings) DO NOT play
on any of the equipment before, after or during a school
event. As a school we will not be liable for any injuries to
your child/ren when not supervised by school staff.
Year 6 moving to High School
Please remember that the date for parents to submit their
preferences for secondary school is the 31st October. If
you need help or advice please contact school. More information will be available if needed when you come for your
parent consultation meeting.
What do I do if I have a concern?
If you have a concern about anything, you can let us know
by telephone, in person or in writing. If any of these are
difficult for you, a friend or adviser can speak to us on your
behalf. Most concerns or complaints will be sorted out
quickly either by putting things right or by explaining the
school's actions to you.
Initially, please speak with your child's class teacher who
will either deal with your issue or pass you on to someone
who is more able to help.
Please remember the beginning or end of the school day
can be a very busy time. If you talk to a teacher at these
times, for practical reasons, it may not always be possible
to sort things out there and then but the teacher will follow
up your concern and contact you as soon as possible. We
hope this will be enough to put things right. If things have
not been resolved the Phase Leader will follow things up.
In the unlikely event that issues are not resolved then a
meeting with the appropriate Assistant, Deputy or
Headteacher will be arranged.
Date
Congratulations
Miss Chapman is expecting a baby at the
beginning of April. We are very pleased for her
and her partner at this exciting news.
Scooters
A reminder that scooters are not to be used in
school. This includes younger siblings who do
not attend our school. Can we also ask that children are careful when scooting home and are
aware of other children and parents walking along. Your cooperation is appreciated to keep all children safe.
Event
Monday 6th October
New School Uniform Sale
Tuesday 7th October - 9am
Nurse Drop in
Friday 17th October - 3.15pm
Friends Bake Sale
Monday 20th October - 3.30-7pm
Wednesday 22nd October
Parent Consultations
Thursday 23rd October - 2pm
Yr 5 &6 Home Learning on show
Monday 27th –Friday 31st October
Half Term
Monday 3rd November
Children return
Great effort has been taken to ensure that dates are correct at
the time of publication however they may be subject to change.
Earlier this month, both Year 6 and Year 5 pupils had the opportunity to visit Rockley
Point for a week of watersports activities, staying on site. On the 8th September, 44
Year 6 pupils arrived at Rockley Lodge for an action packed week and were followed
by 39 Year 5 pupils just two weeks later. Both year groups had mostly glorious weather and enjoyed the warmer temperature of the water at this time of year. The activities
included: pico sailing, kayaking, canoeing, raft building, stand-up paddleboarding,
wayfarer sailing, team games and use of the climbing wall. We would like to say well
done to all of the children and a huge thank you to the parents and families for preparing the children so well. We are hoping to visit again next September for the current Year 4 children. A meeting will be arranged after half-term with more information.