Headteacher Newsletter: Issue 7
FORTNIGHTLY NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 7
Staff change to Class 3 from January 2014
Mrs Ship has been offered an opportunity in another school from January 2014. We wish her well in her new post and thank her for her hard work and support over the last six years.
Mrs Rudkin will still be teaching class 3 and has increased her number of days with the class. Ms Crosby, who is also our Inclusion Manager, will be teaching class 3 for two days. Therefore, from January for this academic year, Ms Crosby will be in class on Monday and Tuesday. Mrs Rudkin will be in class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Mrs Carline will continue to be the Learning Support Assistant.
Mr Powlesland, therefore, for two terms, will be taking over the Deputy Headteacher cover in Class 4 on a Thursday morning from Ms Crosby and also the work she has been undertaking with Pupil Premium pupils. Mr Dyce will be leading the PPA cover for classes 1 and 2 instead of Ms Crosby on a Thursday afternoon.
Christmas has certainly begun at Clavering Primary school with a number of events that have taken place:
Well done to the Clavering Primary School Choir!
The children represented the school extremely well on Saturday 7th December during the Spirit of Christmas event at St Mary’s church in Saffron Walden. A number of schools in the area, primary and secondary, joined the Saffron Walden Choral Society and put on a concert for Christmas. The singing was beautiful and added a special touch to the festive season. Thank you to Mrs Ford and the children for all their hard work in preparing for this event and Mrs Course for accompanying them at the church.
A special well done to Beth Parker who came second in the junior section of the Saffron Walden Christmas Carol Competition. Well done to Harold Baker who was awarded a certificate.
Christmas plays
We have had a wonderful week of Christmas plays. The Key Stage One performance ‘Midwife Crisis’ took place during the afternoon of 11th December. The children were fantastic. All of the children managed to learn a lot of lines for the speaking parts and words for the songs.
On Thursday 12th December the Reception class performed a wonderful Nativity for their parents. It was a great success and the children impressed us all with all the songs and actions that they had remembered.
KS2 performed ‘Five Gold Rings’ during the evening. It was an amazing performance. Year 6 had the speaking parts and the acting flowed beautifully. Year 5 were Geese and Balletic Swans, Year 4 were Lords, Ladies, Drummers, Pipers and Milkmaids and Year 3 were Angels. The singing was wonderful throughout the performance.
We were really pleased to be joined by many of our local community members for either the dress rehearsals or one of the performances.
Well done to all the children for taking part in the Christmas plays and a big thank you to all the staff.
The school KS1 and KS2 productions will be available to buy on a DVD. The order forms can be collected from the school office in January.
Reception Class Visit to Audley End Miniature Railway
On Monday 9th December, a very excited Reception class travelled by coach to Audley End Miniature Railway. They boarded the Santa Special and travelled through the woods spotting teddies, tinsel and snowmen on the way to Santa’s Grotto. Father Christmas greeted all the children and listened to their Christmas requests before sending them back to school with a special present of a soft toy. Mrs Poole was very proud of how sensible the children were and would like to thank all the parents who came along to help.
Church Service
We are taking the children to our local church at the end of this term for a Christmas service. This trip will be during the school day, on the 19h December, and will be led by Reverend Davis. Please could you ensure that your child has a warm coat on this date. Parents are very welcome to join us at the church. The service starts at 9.30am.
Friends of Clavering Christmas Fayre
Thank you for your wonderful cakes, bottles, chocolates and decorated jars that you all sent in for the Christmas Fayre. The event was a great success and approximately £900 was raised. Thank you to the members of the Friends of Clavering who organised the event, in particular Emma Caton. Thank you to all of you that were able to attend, we are truly very grateful.
Friends of Clavering Christmas Shopping Morning
Shopping Morning next Monday 16th December – Please can all children bring in £3 for the shopping morning on Monday plus 3 gift tags made out to who they wish to buy gifts for, and a bag to put their presents in!
Christmas Entertainment
The Friends of Clavering have arranged for Calamity Clown to entertain the children following the Christmas lunch on the 18th December. This is a magician and entertainer.
We would like to thank the Friends of Clavering for organising our Christmas events, especially Emma Caton, the Chair of the Friends of Clavering.
Hurricane Haiyan
To everyone at Clavering School – we wanted to let you know the total from our coin collection in aid of the Philippines, so recently impacted by Typhoon Haiyan.
In total we raised a staggering amount of £1,208.49 including donations from Arkesden village. The full coin breakdown is as follows; we had 10,383 1p coins! The oldest coin we received was a 1921 penny; the children were fascinated by the old pennies and halfpence pieces and were all very engaged in the sorting out on the day in our attempt to make a mile.
Deutsche Bank have matched our donation to DEC so overall a total of £2,416.98 should reach the Philippines very soon.
Thank you to everyone who was so generous with their coins and those who helped with the counting.
Jemma Macfadyen
Governor visit to Class 6
Governor Mike Cannell, who lived in France for eight years, spoke to Class 6 about Living in France on 20th November. With the Tour de France coming to Saffron Walden next July, much of the talk and lively questions centred around the cycle race and the opportunity it gave to discuss the geography of France and neighbouring countries. Most of the class had visited France and impressions were shared of the differences between that country and the United Kingdom.
Bad weather
In the event of severe weather conditions and possible school closure a notice will be placed on the school website. BBC Essex and Heart FM will also publish the names of CLOSED schools on their websites at www.bbc.co.uk/essex and www.heartessex.co.uk. Please take a look at the websites or listen to the radio stations if there is a likelihood of closure due to bad weather.
A path will be cleared to enable you to gain access to the school but care does still need to be taken
ACHIEVEMENTS
STAR OF THE WEEK
Week ending November 29th
Reception: Jamie Donoghue – working really hard to remember all our Golden Rules
Year One: Albany Newton – for always doing her best and thinking of others
Year Two: Isabella Budden – for working very hard at all times and for her lovely presentation.
Year Three: Joseph Moshtagh-Kahnamoui – super singing in our play rehearsals and fantastic
focus in maths
Year Four: Rafaella Phipps – writing and completing, a long and interesting account about our
Ancient Egyptian Day
Year Five: Daisy Collett – for good sportsmanship at the Dodgeball tournament
Year Six: Phoebe Love – for good sportsmanship at the Dodgeball tournament
HEADTEACHER’S AWARD
For children who have achieved their personal best:
Reception:
Olivia Collier – for remembering a lot of information about how to make Christmas
cake.
Thomas Harris – for super writing about how to make Christmas cake.
Year One:
Maya Parker – for writing imaginative and creative poems
Noah Moshtagh – Kahnamoui – for writing imaginative and creative poems
Year Two:
Millie Collier – for using a ‘help box’ to solve ‘+n’ and ‘-n’ calculations and setting her
work out neatly
Caitlin Mackenzie – for her fantastic limericks with rhyming patterns and speech
marks
Year Three:
Alexander Baker – for consistently trying his hardest in all areas of the curriculum,
excellent listening and following instructions carefully
Isobel Palmer – for consistently trying her hardest in all areas of the curriculum,
excellent listening and following instructions carefully
Year Four:
Luke Townsend – for the recording of and understanding of the Egyptian Social
Pyramid
Tom Hawkins – for the recording of and understanding of the Egyptian Social
Pyramid
Year Five:
Elliot Wood – for always trying to do his best and contributing to lessons
Jessica Barker – for the extra effort she puts into all her work
Year Six:
Archie Camp – for the excellent progress and achievement in Literacy
Zak Zanella – for demonstrating excellent thinking skills and perseverance in
approaches to problem solving in mathematics and ICT
Didn’t Go Unnoticed Award:
Jayden Jones – for being a kind friend to someone who was hurt.
The Tidiest Classroom of the Week!
Our cleaners are judging the tidiest classroom each week. The winners are announced in assembly on a Friday. The class that has won the most times at the end of a term will be awarded an afternoon with an activity of their choice or an extra playtime.
Winners:
Week beginning –
09.09.13: Class Reception
16.09.13: Class Four
23.09.13: Class Five
30.09.13: Class Six
07.10.13: Class One
14.10.13: Class Six
04.11.13: Class Three
11.11.13: Class Two
28.11.13: Class Four
25.11.13: Class Five
02.12.13: Class One
09.12.13: Class Reception
Ooo000ooO
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
December 16th Christmas shopping morning
December 18th Christmas lunch
December 20th Term ends for Christmas – 3.15 pm
January 6th Spring term starts
REMINDERS:
Thank you to all those parents who have paid for their children’s swimming lessons. A gentle reminder to those that have not, it is £52.00 for the term. Thank you.
Dinner monies for the spring term will be £126.00 for the full term up to Easter, £63.00 to the February half term, £10.50 per week, £2.10 per day. Cheques preferable, made payable to Clavering Primary School, sent into school in a sealed envelope stating your child/children’s name and the amount enclosed. Thank you.
If you have any questions at any time then please feel free to make an appointment.
Have a good weekend.
Rosalind Allsop
Headteacher
