April 27^th 2011

Dear Parents and Friends,

2010/11  NEWSLETTER 6  

We were truly blessed with wonderful weather over the Easter holidays and trust that all families were able to take full advantage of it.  The summer term is always an extremely busy one with many different activities taking place and the term in which recent research suggests that children are most receptive to learning. Attached to this newsletter is a list of dates for the term. 

STAFFING  

Mrs Bezencon will be going on maternity leave immediately after half-term.  We have arranged for Mrs Bray, who for a number of years taught Year 5 here, to teach Lewes class full time up until the end the Summer term.   

THE ROYAL WEDDING  

To mark the Royal Wedding all the children in the school are invited to wear red, white and blue on Thursday April 28^th, for which we will not be collecting donations.  Children in the Infants will be having a street party on the lower school playground whilst children in the Juniors will also take part in some special activities.  

CONCERT FOR AFRICA  

A number of our children will be taking part in a concert at St Margaret’s Church on Saturday April 30^th in aid of our two African linked schools in Sierra Leone and Nigeria .  The concert starts at 7.00pm and I would like to encourage as many people as possible to come and support this exciting event.  Tickets are priced at £5.00 for adults and £1.00 for children and are on sale in school.  

REFUGEE AWARENESS WEEK – JUNE 13^TH – 17^TH  

If you are able to come in to help on Tuesday June 14^th or Wednesday June 15^th during Refugee Awareness Week please speak with Ms Dark (Bramber Class Teacher).  

BEYBLADES  

Now that the Summer Term is upon us and the children are using the school field, the teaching staff feel it is appropriate that children no longer bring in Beyblades to use in school, as there have been a number of issues arising from their use, particularly amongst the younger children.  There are plenty of opportunities for informal and structured play on our school field with us providing a myriad of equipment. 

CLASS PHOTOGRAPHS  

Class photos and Year 6 Leavers individual photos will be taken on Friday May 20^th in the morning so please can you make sure that children are looking extra smart that day.  

CLASS ASSEMBLIES  

Parents of children are very welcome to join us at 8.55am on the following Fridays when the class has responsibility for taking the assembly as below:-  

 WATER  

Now that the warmer weather is with us it is doubly important that children in Years 1-6 have with them each day a bottle of fresh water which they can keep close to them in their class and access at regular intervals during the day.  

HOME LEARNING POLICY  

We are extremely appreciative of all the feedback across the school that we have received from parents on the issue of homework.  Of the 163 replies, 136 people thought that the amount of home learning their children currently does is about right, 5 thought it was too little and 22 thought it was too much.  We have written a new Home Learning Policy which has been approved by the Governors and is now being implemented in full.  Copies of this will eventually be put on our web-site but if you would like a copy e-mailed to you please let Mrs Glossop, School Secretary know.  

SPORTS  

Our girls running team was extremely successful at the recent Highdown run, where they won the competition.  The boy’s team, composed of young runners, were placed fourth overall which bodes well for next year.

Congratulations to our football team who represented our local area in a Regional Sussex Football Tournament and came a very creditable third, not losing any of their games, with the outcomes being decided on penalties. 

YEAR 3 & 4 PRODUCTION OF ‘MOVING ON’  

Congratulations to the children in Years 3 and 4 who put on an excellent production of ‘Moving On’ at the end of term, and in so doing raised £426.36, for Chestnut Tree House.  We have now collected £9,457.32 for this good local cause over the past 11 years.   

SUPERHERO DAY  

We will be supporting Chestnut Tree House on their Superhero Day as part of Children’s Hospice Week, when we are inviting all children on Thursday May 19^th to dress up as their favourite Superhero for the day.  In return we are asking for a minimum donation of £1.00.  

WALK TO SCHOOL WEEK  

Once again this year we will be taking part in “Walk to School Week” which is the week beginning May 16^th.  During this week we will be encouraging as many children as possible to walk to school and for parents to car share if at all possible.  

GIFTS TO OUR SCHOOL  

We are very grateful to the Co-op in the village who regularly supply cooking ingredients for us without charge.  Haskins Garden Centre have also given us garden tokens to the value of £200.00 which we will be spending on a number of different gardening items this term.  At the very end of term two representatives of Sainsburys in Rustington brought along a big cheque for £150.00 as a contribution to further support our cooking programme in school.  

ST MARGARET’S CHURCH  

All families are warmly invited to join us this term, either in Church for our 'Family Service' each Sunday at 9.15am, or in the School Hall at 10.30am. Adults, children, babies are always very welcome - with Sunday school groups and crèches available for the young. The services are always designed to be helpful to people at all stages of the Christian life - from committed Christians to enquirers- so please do 'give it a try' this term - we'd love to see you!  

May I particularly draw your attention to two particular types of service this term:-  

'Wake up, shake up' - on the first Sunday of each month in Church at 9.15am (ie 1 May,5 June, 3 July) - a very lively, interactive service, during which the children stay in for the whole service and enjoy a service with drama, puppets, and other activities. Ideal for beginners.  

'St Margaret's FM' - an afternoon service, for those who find afternoons easier to come to than mornings, at 4.00pm in Church once a month, normally on the 4^th or 5^th Sunday in the month. Dates this term 22 May, 26 June, 24 July. We started this service last year, and is proving to be a hit.  

If I can be of any help to you, or your family, do please get in touch - 784979 or standens@angmering.org.uk. 

Mark Standen (Rector)  

BUILDING DEVELOPMENTS  

We are making excellent progress in planning the build to replace our double mobile unit.  Planning permission has gone through and we are currently finalising details of the build with the intention that we will be going out to tender in May, with the builders on site during July (possibly before we break up).  Hopefully the work on the new build will be completed by Christmas allowing next year’s Cherry and Willow classes to move from the mobile into their new classes at the beginning of January.  Once they are settled in the new build the mobile will be demolished and a hard surface playground area be put in its place.  During the build most of the lower playground area and all of the play area outside Year 1 classes will be closed off to enable lorries to safely access the site.  We will need to use our upper playground and what is left of the lower playground as our play areas, which will be a bit of a squash, but hopefully we will still be able to use our school field for much of the Autumn Term.

As a church aided school, we need to fund 10% of the building work, so we are looking at ways of raising as much of the £65 500 as possible before the new building is occupied.  

DISPLAYS IN THE GALLERY  

The long conservatory style corridor by the Front office, affectionately now known as the gallery, has had an Easter display in it for the last month or so.  In a couple of week’s time the display will reflect African life, with a wide variety of African artefacts exhibited for the children to look at and think about.  We are always very happy to borrow appropriate items for display in the school, so would welcome any named inanimate African objects.  They will help keep our giraffes company, who originated from South Africa .  

CHILDREN’S REPORT CARDS  

In response to some of the children in the Juniors telling us that they do not know how well they are doing in school, we sent out summary report cards for the children at the end of last term.  Obviously we would like to know how well they have been received by the children in Years 1 to 6, so any feedback would be useful.  For those children in the Reception classes, you will have received quite a detailed document outlining next steps in your children’s learning journey. We will still be issuing full school reports at the beginning of July for all the children in the school.   

CLUBS  

I am very grateful to members of the teaching staff who run clubs for children in their own time either at lunchtimes or after school and enclose an overall list of which clubs will be running this term, most of which will start next week.  

INSET DAYS, BANK HOLIDAYS  AND EARLY CLOSURE FOR JUNIORS  

You have already been notified that school will be closed on Thursday May 26^th and Friday May 27^th.   The school will also be closed for Bank Holidays on Friday April 29^th and Monday May 2^nd.  On the last day of term, Friday July 22^nd, school will finish for all children at 3.05pm.

Yours sincerely,

Mr D Boreham

Headteacher