Family Letter number 4
8th October 2009
Dear Parents,
Modern Foreign Languages in Staffordshire
From September 2010 all schools have to make provision for children in Years 3 to 6 to learn a modern foreign language. Here at St. Michael’s we have been anticipating this and are already teaching Spanish in Years 3 and 4 and French in Years 5 and 6. Although there is no requirement to teach a modern foreign language in Key Stage 1 we are in the process of introducing German to Years 1 and 2. It was with great delight this week that we saw our children featured on a County Council booklet promoting the introduction of Modern Foreign Languages in Staffordshire Schools.
Years 3 and 4 Choir
It was lovely to see over 30 children at choir on Wednesday morning. If your child would like to join there is still an opportunity. We meet at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday mornings for half an hour. Please ask for a letter from the office and complete the consent form. We are hoping to give our first public performance before Christmas.
OFSTED Update and Hold the Date (11th and 18th November).
We have still not received the draft report following our recent inspection. Once we have received the draft report it will be a further two weeks before the report is published. Following the publication of the report we are planning a parents’ meeting for you to come and find out how we are planning to move forward and ask any questions you may have.
Fencing
An order has now been raised for the fencing to secure the junior playground. We are hopeful that this work will begin during half term. Once the fencing is in place we will review the arrangements for children arriving at the beginning of the school day.
A further meeting has now also taken place between our Local Authority Health and Safety Advisor, myself and Mr. Flahive and some practical suggestions have been made in terms of securing the gates to our pedestrian entrance in Cherry Orchard with an intercom system. These will be followed up at the earliest opportunity.
Harvest Festival – Tuesday 13th October 2009
This will again be celebrated in church. A service for will be held for Reception, Years 1 and 2 at 9.30 a.m. and one for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 at 2.00 p.m. Parents are warmly invited to join us. We would very much appreciate contributions of small ‘luxury’ non-perishable food items (chocolates, jam, biscuits etc.) for elderly and infirm members of our local community.
There will be a collection at church; proceeds will go to supporting the Njarange Area Project, raising funds to help people in this area of Kenya. This is a project which we hope to create further links with. Thank you for your support. Any donations you would like to send into school to add to this collection will be very welcome.
Annual Sponsored Events
The annual sponsored events are with us again. The money raised helps to supplement the “extras” we like to give to the children e.g. the buying of seeds and plants, food for tasting in a D.T. topic, play equipment etc. We thank you for your support.
Parent Teacher Consultation Evenings
Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd October 2009
An appointment system has been organised so that the waiting time to see your child’s teacher will be kept to a minimum. Please return your slip indicating which times you prefer as soon as possible.
School Closed to Pupils – Staff Training Day – Friday 23rd October 2009
A reminder that school will be closed to pupils on Friday 23rd October 2009. Half Term is Monday 26th till Friday 30th October. Children will be dismissed at the normal time on Thursday 22nd October.
Years 5 & 6 Parent, Grandparent and Carer’s Lunch
It was lovely to see so many Grandparents, Parents and Carers in school for these events.
We are collecting for FREE cooking equipment! Flora’s project ‘Cooking with Schools’
The project allows primary schools to collect tokens from special packs of Flora and exchange them for FREE cooking equipment! Tokens can be found on the coverleaf of special packs of Flora. Please send any you can collect into school.
PTA News
Just a couple of reminders this week....
Refreshment volunteers
We are still looking for volunteers to help with refreshments at school. There is a sign-up sheet in the school office if you are interested and would like to help out & you are welcome to look at the sheet for dates & times without committing yourselves to help. We are currently looking for volunteers to help 2.30-3.30pm on various Fridays throughout November.
Monday 12th October, 8pm, Turnpike (Christmas Fayre sub-committee meeting)
This is going to be a very informal night to start the planning of this years School Christmas Fayre. If anyone is able to support us with new ideas or if you simply want to find out how you can help or get involved with the Fayre please come along & join us at 8pm.
| Friday 16th October: Clothes & Shoe recycling day Remember to bring your bags of unwanted clean clothes & shoes to school on Friday 16th October. Green Light enterprise Limited will be collecting your bags between 8.30am-9.15am and they will be paying the school for the amount of donations brought in. PLEASE NOTE WE CANNOT ACCEPT BAGS BEFORE THIS DATE. Why not have a sort out & help the environment as well as the school by recycling your unwanted clothes & shoes |
*** Christmas Cards Individually Designed By Your Own Child***
Those of you who had children in school last year may remember that for the first time we offered the opportunity to purchase Christmas cards to send to friends and family that they had beautifully designed themselves. It was such a success and we had so much great feedback that we have decided to do it again this year.
Each child in the school has been given the opportunity to design a card and within the next few days you will receive a sample of it. You will also be able to view the designs on line. The children have put a huge effort into designing some wonderful cards so we hope that you like them!
You will be able to buy your own child’s card in packs of 10 at a cost of £5 per pack, helping us to raise £1.25 per pack for P.T.A. funds. Full details will follow with the order forms that will accompany the sample cards.
Last year we raised nearly £500, let’s see if we can do even better this year!
Yours faithfully,
Miss H. McKay
Headteacher.