Newsletter 21

February 26th, 2010 Dear Parents, NEWSLETTER 21 How lovely to be back at school and to be able to see each other in the morning now that it is getting lighter! A very busy week has been had by all and we have gone straight into “working” mode in all classes. A “Lost” Treasure Hunt How disappointing that we have for the first time ever had to cancel a PTA event! Unfortunately, we only had five families (the Ivanovichs, The Morgans, The Mykoos, The MacCleans and The Pattersons – from now on called the Famous Five!) who wanted to take part so this is an opportunity missed. However, these five families have volunteered to try out the treasure hunt and then report back to all of us about what good fun it was – then we all regret not signing up! The Famous Five will be receiving their treasure maps soon and can then choose a good time to star their hunt at The London Eye whenever they want. Watch this space for further news. Geography Gold Mark We are all very excited about the fact that we have just heard that our application for a Gold Mark award is going to be considered under the Gold category. Miss Forbes and her team have put together a very impressive pack so I am not surprised to hear that we will be going for the highest honour. The assessor, Mrs. Richardson, is coming to visit on March 16th so we will be looking forward to wowing her with our Geographical interest and enthusiasm. E-Safety Workshop News Miss Fiske ran a very successful e-safety workshop yesterday which helped to inform parents about how their children use the internet. She was able to back up her talk with findings from an e-safety questionnaire which Key Stage 2 children took part in. I am attaching this data for you as it makes very interesting reading – and quite scary as well so please read this carefully! Also on the same sheet is some useful website addresses for child friendly search engines (i.e. alternatives to Google, etc.) so we hope you find this useful. Teaching Assistant Workshops We have been overwhelmed with the interest parents have shown in the workshops our wonderful TAs have been running recently. Thank you particularly to those parents who have taken the time to make personal comments about how useful you have found these sessions – we were all very touched. I am attaching a list of a four week cycle of workshops which will be starting next Friday. All workshops start at 9:00 a.m. and last for 45 minutes. Mrs. Otero has also organised a visit from Mr. Patrick Green who will be talking about claiming working tax credit. He will be particularly concentrating on the Child Care element which aims to help parents claim for child care and after school provision. He will be visiting on Monday 15th March at 9:00 a.m. and the session will take place in the Arts Room. Packed Lunch versus School Lunch Jacky our wonderful Head Cook has asked me to remind you that if your child has free school meals, they can have a school packed lunch for any trips. Please ask Mrs. Otero for more details. Music News Music News: Sing Up! National Sing Up day was on Wednesday this week - a day designed to encourage children and their adults to engage and enjoy singing together. Children at St. Saviour's use Sing Up resources regularly as part of music lessons and class teaching but did you know these resources are available for you, free, at home?! All you need do is visit: www.singup.org and create your own account. You'll have access to a wide selection of songs, lyrics and backing tracks... the children will show you how to use it! You can search for song titles or themes and make your own favourite list that you can revisit each time you log in. Here are some simple suggestions for songs you could try singing together with your child: Nursery/Reception/Yr 1: Alice the camel, Yr 2 / 3 / 4: Sunshine in my Heart, Yr 5 / 6: I wish I knew Good luck and Sing Up! Buster and The Teacher Angel Buster is going home with Rosie Watkins today as she is the most cheerful person who always makes others smile. She is doing so well in school and making improvements every day! The Teacher Angel is Mrs. El-Sahn who takes time to make sure that everyone is happy at school and that we are all having a good lunch! Her inspections of packed lunches are legionary! Geographers of the Week Pascale Lee and Phoebe Simon-Evans who showed such interest in our study of France this week. They produced an amazing PowerPoint presentation and impressed everyone with their knowledge. Together, they chose Cuba for us to study next week. Stars of the Week – Feeling Good About Yourself Nursery: Orin Tate for being very enthusiastic about our new Space topic, Reception: Eleni Voutsinas for trying so hard with her phonics, Year One: Mamur-Gadi Mulla for working hard to improve his spellings – you should feel good about yourself! Year Two : Luca Ivanovic for producing such a great piece of writing about Maths Week and feeling so proud, Year Three : Aoife Hyland for being so proud of her amazing Big Writing, Year Four : Grace Kearney-Bartlett for working so hard on her script and being a great member of our class, Year Five : Jack Gibbs for having such a fabulous week and impressing so many people – you should feel really good about yourself, Year Six : Georgia Cairney for excellent progress in writing Class ChitChat Nursery: Could we please have any spare clothes especially trousers! Year One: Please remember a packed lunch for Tuesday’s trip Year Four : Please bring trip permission slips back with money as soon as possible. A packed lunch is needed on Wednesday for the trip to the CLC. Year Five : Please return outstanding Sayers Croft forms on Monday. Get prepared and excited – I can’t wait!!!!! Year Six: All outstanding Kingswood forms need to be returned by Monday. And Finally ……… Thank you to Mrs. Cade who has volunteered to help with the sale of second-hand uniform. She will be holding a sale of clothes on the first Monday of each month starting on Monday 1st March at 8:45 a.m. – 9:15a.m in the PTA room. All items of clothing will be just 50p. If you have any outgrown clothes, please let us have them, freshly laundered please! Yours sincerely, Ms. L. J. Woodford