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| Summer Term 2010 - Second Half |
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| Staffing |
It is with great sadness that I have to announce that Jim and Shirley John are retiring from the school after 12 years of dedicated service. Their hard work and commitment to our school will be hugely missed. They have been so much more than just the site manager and cleaner, contributing to all aspects of school life. In fact as part of the year 6 SAT tests the children had to write about an adult who inspired them; a number chose to write about Jim. We are having a collection for them and anyone who wishes to contribute to their leaving present can do so by handing a donation to the office in an envelope marked with 'Jim and Shirley'. We will all miss them both and wish them well in their retirement.
We had an enormous response to our advert for a new site manager and have appointed Mr Mercieca and he will start at the end of the summer holidays. All the relevant checks have been carried out.
Mrs Wilkinson will also be leaving at the end of term. Anyone who has had dealings with her will know what a loss to the school this is. We wish her well as she moves on.
We are really pleased to announce that Mrs Reynolds, a new external appointment, will be taking over the role of Learning Support Coordinator from September.
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| Competition winners |
| Well done to Liam and Henry in year 5 and 6 who won the K’Nex challenge beating 11 other schools. They had to design and build a self powered windmill using K’Nex which is a kind of clever Lego. Pictures are on the website.
Neil and Brenner from year 6 entered the Royal Horticultural Society Competition to design and build a garden that would fit onto a pallet. Their theme was ‘good neighbours’. They won first place beating many secondary schools. You can view their garden in the main school garden or look at pictures on the website. Thank you to Mrs Davidson for all her help with this.
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| Sports |
| It has been a really busy time for the children who have taken part in football and cricket tournaments. The girls played in the County Finals for netball only losing to the winners by 1 goal! 4 of our basketball teams are through to the borough finals- good luck to them. We look forward to seeing you at the sports days and the swimming galas later this term. |
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| Prayer Group |
We are really fortunate as a school to have a group of parents and members of St Peter’s Church who meet every two weeks to say prayers for the school. This usually happens on a Monday morning in the staffroom, straight after dropping off the children. It is a great thing for the school and is very informal. Thank you to everyone who takes part in this.
We are always looking for more people to join this group, you do not have to commit to every session just turn up when you are free. If you are interested in joining please see Mr Gunn or else just come along the next meeting is on 28 June.
Like a Latte mornings are being put on hold until the church vestry room is finished but many thanks to the staff at The Bull who made us so welcome.
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| Travel Plan |
| Thank you to everyone who completed the travel questionnaires. We are in the process of analysing the data and composing the travel plan. When this is done we will publish the results. |
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| Parking |
| Unfortunately the owner of the Tower Arms is withdrawing the use of the Tower Arms car park to parents of St Peter’s School. A large gate will be going up to stop access into the bottom section and anyone parking in the top is likely to be clamped. The reasons are that apparently we have been abusing the facility, parking at the top blocking deliveries and leaving rubbish, nappies amongst this, in the car park. Also one of our parents was caught on CCTV knocking over a large drum of oil and then driving off. I have tried my best to defend the parents but when a few people break the basic rules then the rest of us have to suffer. It is the owner’s property and therefore there is nothing more the governors or I can do to persuade him to give us another chance.
This will mean increased traffic around the school. Please can you be considerate with your parking. If you do park along Wigley Bush Lane then leave a passing place every 5 cars so that we do not cause chaos around the school. Also please do not park in the disabled section outside the school and Alms houses unless you have a badge.
Thankfully we still have the use of the country park in the mornings. It also makes you very grateful that the church let us use their parking facilities.
Again thank you to the majority of parents who park considerately.
If your child attends any clubs please do not park in the staff car park as the blind corner is very dangerous and if there are children walking around in the car park there is an increased risk of a terrible accident. If you are caught parking in the car park then unfortunately your child’s place at the club will be withdrawn.
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| Uniform |
| Please can you ensure that children have got suitable shoes. Trainer shoes are not part of the uniform neither are the ballet type shoes that some of the older girls are wearing. Socks can be white, grey or navy blue however no trainer socks are allowed. Blazers should be worn daily as should caps and berets, both to and from school. The uniform is part of the ethos of the school that you have chosen for your child; please support this by adhering to the guidelines.
Just a reminder that from the start of the new term the PE kit for the juniors will be the smart red polo shirt, navy shadow striped shorts and the hooded top with the St Peter’s Logo. Many of the children are already in the new kits and they look great.
I have also noticed a few children with jumpers without the logo. The logo is part of the school uniform there is an expectation that it is displayed on all jumpers and cardigans.
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| School Association |
| Thank you to everyone who organised and supported the pamper evening. It raised a lot of money which we are going to put towards the astro turf pitch for which we are awaiting planning permission.
The Festival weekend is the 25th -27th of June. Please do come along and support the school. On the Sunday we have a craft fayre and car boot sale. There are still pitches for cars spare. If you would like to have a clear out and sell some items please see the school association representatives in the playground.
The Saturday after this is the annual camp out. This is the third time we have done this and it is proving more and more popular with more elaborate tent villages making appearances.
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| Governors - A message from Chris Luck, Chair |
| "As I write, things are going really well for the South Weald Festival, with the 'biggest and brightest programme ever' being on sale and attracting most positive comment.
I have personally been associated with the Festival for some 30 years, when my children (now 35 and 37) were in the Infants at the school. The Festival has been going somewhat longer than that - over 40 years. However, I believe it was in a rather different form. Anyone know when the first was held?
This year, having previously been involved in actually coordinating the whole event with my wife Jenny, I find myself, for the first time, to be in the additional role of being Chair of Governors at the school. Thus I can take a slightly different stance in being very proud of the way in which a small village like ours can be so outward looking in its desire to provide what is the second largest community event in the Brentwood area. We hope to have more people in the village than ever and for information we are regularly showing a profit of over £15,000 on the weekend! When we started we were very pleased to make £3,000.
A notable feature of the programme is the steadily extending set of features and vouchers featuring some of the smaller shops and businesses on our area. many of them are struggling so please support them and use the vouchers, which can pay for the programme many times over.
Do please also take the opportunity for your children and families to be involved as fully as possible, as "see you at the Festival" is a phrase which my children still use to see and catch up with friends from all those years ago at the school.
In the next letter, I will catch up on the School Development Day in April. In the meantime, thanks for letting us share our Christian values with your children, whilst learning from their enthusiasm and innovation, so superbly shared with us by some of them on that day."
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| Parental Survey |
| We will be circulating the annual survey to parents. Please do fill it in as I read every one and your ideas are really valued. This year in particular we would like your views on going to an electronic payment system for trips and dinners. More information will be in the survey. |
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| Attendance |
| The school's attendance is 96.15%. Our target figure is 97% which we have not reached. The class with the best attendance is Miss Bryden’s with 97.8% closely followed by Mrs Evans' class on 97.53%. |
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| Concert |
| The children, parents and teachers have been working really hard all year in preparation for the Summer Concert. This will be on the 8th of July at 7.00pm. Tickets will be available shortly. |
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| Vouchers |
| Thank you to everyone who has donated supermarket vouchers. We have about 30,000 of each type which will be turned into resources for the children. So far, just from the Tesco vouchers we have ordered a video camera, CD player, remote control vehicles to teach control technology to the younger children as well as various other resources for KS1 and KS2. Please send any remaining vouchers in now as they cannot be carried over. |
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