Headteacher Newsletter Issue 7
FORTNIGHTLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE 7: 14.12.18
Years 5 and 6 visit the British Museum
As part of their learning about Ancient Greece, Years 5 and 6 spent a busy day at the British Museum, looking in particular at the Marbles in the Parthenon Gallery (further to their classroom discussions about the appropriation of ancient artefacts) and the ancient Greek pottery. They attended a ‘Greek myths’ workshop, where they learned to identify key mythological characters by their tools and their clothing and then put this learning into practise in the galleries, spotting the characters discussed. The children loved the museum and we hope that many will follow up this visit with their families at a later date – we all really recommend it.
Reception Class visit Santa at Audley End
Reception class had a festive time visiting Father Christmas on the Audley End train. The children were so excited going through the tunnels and spotting all the Christmas toys. Santa spoke to very child and they received a gift. The elves did a dance for us too! After the train ride we all had a turn sitting in Santa’s sleigh and we posted our letters. Thank you to Mrs Draper and our parent volunteers who helped.
Cheerleading
Last week at Flitch Green Academy Class 5 entered a cheerleading competition and came second in our age group. When we finally got there, after a long coach ride, we got squeezed into Flitch Green’s hall and watched the other schools dancing. We all had a practice run before we got judged.
After all the dances we got called up to hear who won. The whole of Class 5 were astonished when we found out we came second!
We are SO proud of coming second out of all of those schools.
By Isabelle and Niamh
Christmas Fair
We would like to thank the Friends of Clavering for organising and running a very good Christmas Fair last week. A special thank you to Rachel Betts for leading the team, along with her Co-Chair Andrea Vaughan, and to all the families who attended to support the event. Next week there will be a Christmas Shopping morning for the children as well as Christmas entertainment after their Christmas lunch.
Christmas Plays
We have had a wonderful week of Christmas plays. The Key Stage One performance ‘The Innkeeper’s Breakfast’ took place during the afternoon of 13th 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.
During the morning of the December 13th 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 ‘The Snow Queen’ over two evenings. It was an amazing performance. All year groups had a significant role within the play with a mixture of speaking parts and dances. Year 6 had the larger speaking parts. The acting flowed beautifully and the songs were sung extremely well.
Well done to all the children for taking part in the Christmas plays and a big thank you to all the staff. Thank you too for all your generous donations. The money will go towards the cost of the play licences and a donation to Great Ormond Street hospital.
The school productions will be available to buy on a DVD early next term.
The Spirit of Christmas
On Saturday 8th December, nine enthusiastic members of the school choir took part in the Spirit of Christmas concert at St. Mary’s Church in Saffron Walden. It was a magnificent concert with singers and musicians from other primary schools, SW County High school and Saffron Walden Choral Society. The venue has the most wonderful acoustics and our choir were a credit to the school and themselves. They sang two solo pieces confidently and beautifully and joined all the other choirs for a number of joint pieces. The sound they made was incredible. During the concert, it was announced who had won the carol writing competition. Felix and Keira in Year 6 composed a joint carol called Christmas has Come and will receive a special certificate. Maya Parker was awarded the first prize in the junior section with a carol called A Robin’s Christmas. Maya composed the melody, words, harmony and piano accompaniment. It was so special watching her take her very well deserved bow in front of a large audience and then to hear the choral society sing her carol live.
The choir were impeccably behaved and were so lucky to be seated so close to all the action where they could see and hear all the other pieces.
A very big thank you to Mrs Middleton for rehearsing the choir and to the children who performed so well – Keira, Felix, Maya, Hamish, Isabelle, Amber, Brooke, Oskar, William and Olivia. Also thank you to Mrs Course who supported the organisation of the event and accompanied the children.
INSET Dates for the academic year 2019 – 2020
Schools allocate five non-pupil days for staff training:
Tuesday 3rd September 2019
Friday 25th October 2019
Monday 20th July 2020
Tuesday 21st July 2020
Wednesday 22nd July 2020
Lateness and dropping off on the drive or school car park.
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.
Please do not drive up the school drive to drop children off or turn around in the school car park. The driveway needs to be kept clear and the school car park does not have room for additional cars.
Thank you.
Lost Property
Please can we ensure that all items are named. There is a lot of unclaimed and unnamed items in lost property. This will be put on display in the entrance hall during the last week of term Monday -Wednesday 17th – 19th December.
An opportunity to raise funds for Clavering Primary School when shopping online:
To raise funds for Clavering Primary School before shopping online –
- please click on easyfundraising.org.uk
- then click on Friends of Clavering Primary School.
Every purchase through many websites (including Amazon and John Lewis) raises a percentage for the school.
Ooo000ooO
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
3rd December Tray Day 3.15 – 4.15pm
3rd December Years 5 and 6 trip to The British Museum
7th December Christmas Fayre
8th December Spirit of Christmas – school choir event
12th December Dress rehearsal KS2 am, KS1 pm. KS2 evening performance for
years 5 and 6 parents
13th December Reception Nativity am, KS1 performance pm. KS2 evening
performance for years 3 and 4 parents
17th December Christmas Shopping Morning
18th December Christmas Lunch and Friends of Clavering Entertainment
19th December Church Service
19th December End of term
3rd January Spring Term begins
ACHIEVEMENTS
STAR OF THE WEEK
Week ending November 30th
Reception Rosie – being such a kind and helpful friend
Year One Jack – great mathematical thinking
Year Two Anna – her good writing style
Year Three Ethan – super use of column addition and subtraction
Year Four James – participating well at the Athletics competition
Year Five Daniel – demonstrating excellent problem solving skills in Maths
Year Six Hamish – working hard and persevering in all his work this week.
Week ending December 7th – Christmas Fair
HEADTEACHER’S AWARD
For children who have achieved their personal best:
Reception:
Carrie – for great progress in Writing
Ollie – for a brilliant attitude to all learning and great progress in Reading
Year One:
Harry P – for great improvement in his Reading
Morgan – for improvement in his Creative Writing
Year Two:
Anna – for her big improvement in her Writing this term.
Toby – for his excellent work in all areas of the curriculum
Year Three:
Martha – for a great effort and attitude in English and Maths
Charlie U – for a great effort and understanding in Maths
Year Four:
Max – for excellent multiplication tables recall
Ted R – for excellent participation in the Christmas performance
Year Five:
Harry H – for working hard and maintaining focus in class
Timothey – for consistently supporting and encouraging others in their learning
Year Six:
Bella – for excellent effort, progress and achievement in English.
Keira – for her conscientious approach to all her learning resulting in excellent progress and
achievement
Cartoon Attitude Learning Awards
We have our super hero learning behaviours, which the children created in their house groups during friendship week last year. This half term the children worked hard on resilience, championed by “Resileroo”. Two children from each class were nominated for a special award and will enjoy a hot chocolate treat with Miss Allsop.
Reception: Poppy and Joseph
Class 1: Toby and Rosie-Ann
Class 2: Tom and Hadley
Class 3: Daisy and Olivia A
Class 4: Elissa and Aiden
Class 5: Lucy and Agatha
Class 6: Rose and Patrick
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 –
10.9.18 Class 4
17.9.18 Class 6
1.10.18 Class 1
8.10.18 Class R
29.10.18 Class 5
5.11.18 Class 2
12.11.18 Class 3
3.12.18 Class 1
10.12.18 Class 3
IT DIDN’T GO UNNOTICED’ AWARD
Tommy U (1) – for being resilient and for continuously offering to help the Midday Assistants.
School Admissions – Primary and Secondary – Apply Now!!
To apply quickly and easily for primary and secondary school places go online to http://www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Schools/Admissions/Pages/Apply-Online.aspx
For secondary applications – (children in year 6) apply by 31 October 2018
Secondary Admissions booklet:
For primary applications – (child born between 1 September 2014 and 31 August 2015) apply between 12 November 2018 to 15 January 2019
Primary Admissions booklet:
REMINDERS:
- Please send in all dinner monies owed to the end of term in a named envelope on Monday.
- SWIMMING, Year 3 will have a term of swimming instruction in the Spring term. If your child is fit to attend school then they are fit to go swimming, unless a medical note is provided. Swimming will commence Monday 7th January for 12 weeks. Voluntary contributions, which cover the cost of the swimming teaching and transport, can be paid termly – £73.00 Please make cheques payable to Clavering Primary School.
If you have any questions at any time then please feel free to make an appointment
Wishing you all a Happy Christmas.
Rosalind Allsop
Headteacher
