Headteacher Newsletter: Issue 13
FORTNIGHTLY NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 13
Staffing structure
We would like to thank Michelle Draper who has been the Reception Midday for the Autumn and Spring terms. The Reception children will be joining the rest of the school on the main playground after Easter. We would also like to thank Pauline Bardwell and Kym Elliston who have been Middays with us and will be leaving at the end of this term. Michelle Draper will be taking over this role. Finally we would like to welcome Vivienne Prentice in her new role as office admin assistant. She will be supporting existing staff on Wednesday and Friday mornings in the office.
Parent Governor elections
As you will have read in the paperwork that was sent home in the Friday Folders last week, there are two vacancies for parent governors on our school’s governing body and I am inviting nominations.
Parent governors play an important role as members of the governing body, which is responsible for directing the conduct of the school and for promoting high standards of educational achievement. The term of office for parent governors as determined by the governing body is four years
Training is available for all governors and those new to being a governor are encouraged to attend induction training.
If you would like to stand for election please arrange for the nomination form, that was in the Friday Folder last week, to be completed and returned to the school not later than 22nd April 2014 (first day of the Summer Term).
Nominations must be from parents or carers with children at the school on the day that nominations close. Parents/carers putting their names forward are invited to provide some brief biographical details limited to not more than 60 words suitable for inclusion in the ballot paper.
Parents/carers who have paid employment in the school for 500 hours per academic year or more or who are elected members of the Local Authority are not eligible to stand in these elections.
There was also, enclosed in the Friday Folder, a sheet that summarises the qualifications to serve as a governor. Anyone standing for election must certify that he/she is not disqualified for any reason.
If there are more nominations than vacancies the election will be by secret ballot. If that is necessary, voting papers will be sent to all parents together with details of the ballot procedure.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mike Livesey and Cara Donker, who have recently left these roles, for all their hard work and the support that they have given to the school.
Water Aid
As part of our topic on Water, Classes 3 and 4 have been learning how important a clean supply of water is to people. We found out that not everybody in the world has access to water and sanitation and wanted to help them. We watched a video made by WaterAid, showing how people’s lives are affected by lack of water and decided that we would raise money to support this charity.
On Friday 21st March we asked children to bring silver coins to school to cover a well, drawn on the playground. An amazing sum of £136 was raised!
On Monday, a further sum of money was raised by Class 4, who baked cakes and biscuits which were sold for 20p each. About £24 was raised, making a total of about £160! This is enough to pay for a tube well in Nepal and for four people to have safe water, better sanitation and hygiene.
Thank you to everyone who helped raise money.
Rafaella, Sophie, Beth, Franziska and Hannah, Class 4.
KS1 Dance Festival
On Wednesday 25th March Key Stage 1 and Reception Class went to Rickling School to do a dance at the dance festival. The first dance was the Blue Balloon by Rickling. After a few dances there was a break and then it was our turn. Then there were a few other dances and we got on a fabulous coach and we got back to school just in time for lunch.
By Maya Parker Class 1
Church Service
On Thursday 3rd April, the whole school went to Clavering Church for an Easter service led by Rev. Davis. It was a lovely service in which many of the children took part. Pupils in Year 6 read Bible readings and Year 5 wrote wonderful prayers. We were treated to a version of “Hot Cross Buns” by Reception class using sign language and the Year 2 recorder group then played the music. Thank you Mrs Poole for organising “Hot Cross Buns” and to the parent volunteers.
Hockey matches this term
Well done to all the children who took part in the Hockey League this year. They have all worked hard to improve their hockey skills. Many thanks to Peter Smith and Wendy Berrett for their help in organizing the team.
Brass Tuition
At present we offer woodwind, keyboard, guitar and drum lessons to interested pupils during the school day, at a competitive rate. Two parents have recently expressed an interest in their child learning to play the trumpet and know of a music teacher who would be willing to give lessons at school. However, this would only be a viable proposition if the teacher had a minimum of four pupils.
If you are interested in your child beginning brass lessons, please contact the school office.
Walk to School Month
From the 22nd April (first day of the Summer Term) until the 23rd May (up to half term) we will be running a ‘Walk to School Month’. This will be similar to our previous Walk to School Week but for longer. Each child will be given a passport with their house indicated on it with a squared grid. The pupils will be asked to indicate each morning how they travelled to school. Children will be awarded a point for every time they walk to school (eg park at the shop or the Fox and Hounds and walk or walk from their house) or travel by bus. They will be given half a point if they have car shared. The house with the most points will be rewarded.
Tour de France 7th July 2014 – the school will be closed on this date and it will be an INSET day
As you are probably aware the Tour de France is coming to Essex on the 7th July. This is an exciting prestigious international event and one we want to share with the children in school around this time.
Due to the scale of the event there will be disruption to the roads around the route. Even though we are not directly on the actual route many of our staff members and some of our pupils will need to travel through the disrupted area. We would also want the children to be given the opportunity to view such an event but to do so as a whole school would not be manageable in terms of health and safety, nor would we be able to get transport near to the location. To that end the Governing Body and I have agreed to move an INSET day from the next academic year to allow us to close. This will as a result cause a change to the previously published INSET days. We will now close on the Monday 7th July 2014 instead of Monday 5th January 2015. Our remaining INSET days are unchanged:
Wednesday 3rd September 2014
Friday 24th October 2014
Monday 13th April 2015
Wednesday 22nd July 2015
We hope you all enjoy the event and we look forward to working on this with the children in school.
Friends of Clavering events
The children have enjoyed a number of events organised by the Friends of Clavering this week. There was a disco last Friday. Thank you to Mr Rixon for organising the music and leading the event. There has also been an Easter Craft Fayre after school as well as an Easter Egg Hunt that took place for the children this morning.
A huge thank you to Emma Caton for organising all these events and to all the members of the Friends of Clavering for their ongoing support.
Lateness
School starts at 8.50 a.m.
We have noticed several children that are consistently arriving late for school – ‘late’ is defined by not being within the school gates by 8.50 a.m.
Please make every effort to be at school on time and if you know that your journey will be disrupted by road works, do allow time for this. Thank you.
Family Learning
Free Family Learning!
in conjunction with Essex County Council
Have you ever wondered
where your money goes?
Would you like to receive some hints
and tips on how to make it go further?
If so residents living in Uttlesford are invited to sign up for
one of our 6 week courses. Sessions run once a week from
10am ~ 12pm.
Choose from the following courses;
Cooking on a Budget,
Managing household finances or
Repair, restyle and revamp
Choose a location to suit you Saffron Walden, Dunmow or
Stansted.
If you would be interested in booking onto one of our
sessions please contact Amie Jones on 01799 510361
ACHIEVEMENTS
STAR OF THE WEEK
Week ending March 21st
Reception: Timothey Kacar – for his excellent concentration to make his number staircase
Year One: Rachel Owen – for her enthusiasm towards all the activities in Class 1
Year Two: Millie Collier – for her amazing writing about electricity using paragraphs
Year Three: Ellie Wilkinson – for entertaining us with her wonderfully imaginative description of Planet
Boogie
Year Four: Rafaella Phipps – for putting 100% effort and enthusiasm into everything she does
Year Five: Harry Chalk – for his excellent maths results and hard work
Year Six: Phoebe Love – for her beautiful and effective art work.
Week ending March 28th
Reception: Isabelle Down – for her brilliant work learning the alphabet and alphabetical order
Year One: Teddy Dore – for making a really detailed and unusual vase design
Year Two: Ned Caton – for his practical and organised approach to making a lighthouse in Design and Technology
Year Three: James Piggott – for working hard to improve his spellings and to take part in word games in
class
Year Four: David Owen – for making a big effort to improve his handwriting
Year Five: George Coy – for making an effort to complete his written work in French
Year Six: Lucas Berglund – for showing compassion towards others in the playground
HEADTEACHER’S AWARD
For children who have achieved their personal best:
Reception:
Abigail – for a brilliant and detailed description of the Elmer dance
Scarlett Hilton-Keech – for working really hard to make her writing neat
Year One:
Summer Hilton-Keech – for her excellent improvement in story writing
Seraphina Harris – for her excellent improvement in story writing
Year Two:
Isabella Budden – for leading the year 2 dance at the Dance Festival
Harry Clark – for leading the year 2 dance at the Dance festival
Year Three:
Ellie Wilkinson – for making great progress in confidence and achievement
James Piggott – for putting in extra effort to working on his own in both English and Mathematics
Year Four:
Alice Forster – for a very moving account of the passage of time in a rainforest in
Big Writing
Finlay Anderson – for focussed effort and good results in Spell Attack
Year Five:
Thomas Berrett – for his excellent English this term and beautiful handwriting
Joseph Berrett – for his enthusiasm to learn and improve his work in all areas of
the curriculum
Year Six:
Fergus Knowles – for consistent effort and excellent progress and achievement in
English.
Phoebe Love – for her achievements in Art: beautiful precise life sketches and watercolours, as well as effective work in the style of Native American art.
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: Class 6
Week beginning –
13.1.14 Class Reception
20.1.14 Class Five
27.1.14 Class Two
3.2.14 Class Three
10.2.14 Class Four
28.2.14 Class Reception
7.3.14 Class Six
14.3.14 Class One
21.3.14 Class Six
28.3.14 Class One
4.4.14 Class Six
Ooo000ooO
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
22nd April Summer Term starts
REMINDERS:
- There have been a few occasions recently where the daffodils, that the pupils have planted, are being picked from the front of the school. Please could we leave them and remind younger children, whilst they are waiting for siblings to come out of school, to do the same please. Thank you.
- Dinner Money for the summer term is £121.80 or £48.30 for the half term, £10.50 per week, £2.10 per day. Dinner money should be sent in on a Monday morning for the week in an envelope confirming your child/children’s names, class and amount enclosed. Please note if a lunch is ordered but not taken, it must be cancelled before 11.00 am to avoid charge.
- There are still swimming monies outstanding and we have now received all invoices for payment for the autumn term. In order to settle these as soon as possible, we would be grateful if you could send in your child’s swimming fees if you haven’t already done so. Thank you very much to those parents who have already paid.
- For health and safety reasons and so that outside after school clubs can function properly, can children be supervised once they have been handed over to their parents especially when there are after school events. A number of children were left unattended on the playground and field this week during Tray Day and the Easter Fayre.
If you have any questions at any time then please feel free to make an appointment.
Wishing you a happy Easter
Rosalind Allsop
Headteacher
