SANDIWAY PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

! ISSUE 22 / SPRING TERM 2014 / WEDNESDAY 12TH MARCH 2014

WATER This lovely warm weather we have started to have has reminded me of the importance for children to have a water bottle in school. There are two water coolers in the school which the children have access to. Teachers will encourage children to fill these during their break times so their lessons are not disturbed. For reasons of good hygiene, please ensure that water bottles are washed on a daily basis. OFFICIAL OPENING Can I remind you that the Rt Hon Stephen OBrien MP will be officially opening the new

system will be available on the school website to sign up for these clubs. Please find attached to the Newsletter email a letter from Mr Ault detailing the clubs that he will be offering for the Summer Term. I hope having advance notice of these clubs helps with your before/after-school arrangements. I have been asked to get these clubs out sooner than last term so that all these arrangements can be put in place before the holidays. In addition to these after-school clubs, Mr Ault will be offering clubs for the children that are payable directly to him.

Y5 and Y6 school extension at 2.00pm this Friday. All children will also be parents and friends are welcome to attend this offered event. Apologies the Year 2 children cannot be instruction in part of the ceremony as they will be returning from their residential visit; Mr OBrien had very cycling skills in the Summer limited availability in his diary. Term through Lets Bike and CLUBS For the Summer Term, we are pleased to be able Bikeability. to offer the following after-school clubs run by Bikeability is a new programme to the school where the Y6 children are offered instructions the staff from the school: on local roads with suitably qualified instructors (see http://bikeability.dft.gov.uk). This allows us Monday: Rounders - KS2 - Mr Priddey/Mrs to offer Lets Bike to the Year 5 children. Bowman Further details will be sent out in a letter to the Monday: Knitting - KS2 - Mrs Bott/Mrs Gaitiss relevant classes. Monday: Drama - KS2 - Miss Jardine Tuesday: Kwik Cricket - Year 5 and 6 - Mr White SPORTS RELIEF Tuesday: Choir - KS1 - Mrs Tucker Please help the children collect as many sponsors Tuesday: Recorders - Y2 - Mrs Atkinson (until as possible for the Sports Relief event we have 3.45pm) Unless stated differently, these clubs run up to 4.30pm. Following Parents Evenings, a booking planned next Friday. We have decided to donate all the money to Sports Relief, rather than splitting it as the letter indicated. We look

forward to having a lot of fun, as well as raising money for this very worthwhile charity. PARENTS EVENINGS/WEBSITE Apart from a few teething troubles, I believe the vast majority of parents have been able to access the new school website. The pages for making an appointment to see your childs class teacher are now available. Any problems please contact the school office. Please note that if you wish to access the website using an iPad/iPhone, this device does not support Adobe Flash, which some aspects of the website uses, including the Parents Evening booking system where the Save button is not visible. Alternative browsers that support flash (as opposed to Safari or Chrome) are available on this device, such as Puffin Web Browser Free which is available in the App Store. Thank you for your patience as we start to use the new website and we all get used to it. As previously stated, a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to get the website up and running and this will continue to grow over the coming weeks. Staff and children are continuing to have training in the website. We are hoping that the children will then be able to show you! We will look into the possibility of school-led support to parents should there be a need please let me know if you think that would be of benefit to you. During Parents Evenings there will be opportunities to look through your children's books and share some of the work that has been done. It has been wonderful to look through children's books and see the progress that is evident from September up to this term. The teachers will be keen to talk to you about the levels of progress made and where we will be working with them to ensure that all their potential is reached by the end of the school year. This information is also shared with your childs next class teacher so that the progress can continue into the following year.

BOOK FAIR There will be a book fair in school on

Wednesday, Thursday and the following Monday straight after school and

will be available during parents evening on Wednesday/Monday. The school is able to spend any commission on books for use in school. We are grateful for your support. WORLD BOOK DAY The children had a wonderful day last week celebrating World Book Day. All children were involved in creating a beautiful display which is on display outside the Year 4 and Year 5 classroom - it is well worth a look! Thank you to Miss Jardine, Mr McManus and Mrs Atkinson for coordinating this display for the children. COMMUNICATIONS I have had some complaints regarding the communication of school events and the amount of notice that is being given. As a school, we try to give as much notice as possible and this will be communicated by the newsletter which I produce weekly. I ask that you spend time reading the newsletter and transferring any dates to calendars/phones/etc as soon as possible. This newsletter is also available on the school website. DATES COMING UP SOON Parents Evenings - Wednesday 19th March

and Monday 24th March

Book Fair - Wednesday 19th, Thursday

20th March and Monday 24th March

(after school)

Meeting for Y6 parents re. London Residential:

Tuesday 25th March at 3.30pm

Year 3 and Year 4 leading an Easter Service in Church: Friday 4th April at 10.00am parents are welcome to attend this service.

PTA Easter Egg Hunt: Friday 4th April in the afternoon (during school time).