Clarence Road,Four Oaks,

Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B74 4LD

Telephone: 0121 308 5392 Fax: 0121 308 5061

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

Tue 6th Dec Parent Council - 2.00pm

German Club visiting the German Market

Wed 7th Dec Nativity – Year 2 Assembly – KS1 hall, Barnardo and Gandhi – 9.30 am

Mandela and Pankhurst – 2.30 pm

Lichfield Cathedral Carol Concert

Thur 8th Dec PTFA Meeting – 7.30 pm

Fri 9th Dec Nativity – Year 2 Assembly – KS1 hall, Mandela & Pankhurst – 9.30 am

Barnardo & Gandhi – 2.30 pm

PTFA Christmas Disco

Tue 13th Dec Christmas Lunch for Parents – Barnardo 11.30am and Gandhi 1.00pm

Wed 14th Dec Christmas Lunch for Parents – Mandela 11.30am and Pankhurst 1.00pm

Thur 15th Dec 100% Attendance Assembly – KS1 hall

Mandela and Pankhurst – 2.00 pm, Barnardo and Gandhi - 3.00 pm

Our 3rd Year BA Students finish their practice today, good luck girls

Fri 16th Dec Christmas Party and visit by Father Christmas

BREAK UP

Thur 5th Jan Pupils return to school

Tue 10th Jan PTFA Meeting – 7.30 pm

Wed 11th Jan Year 2 Parents‟ Meeting – SATs 6.45 pm KS1 hall

Thur 12th Jan 2.00 pm Parent Council

Fri 13th Jan Years 4, 5 and 6 visit to the Pantomime, Sleeping Beauty

Mon 16th Jan Foxes‟ MATHS INSPIRE– 9.00 am to 11.00 am

Otters‟ MATHS INSPIRE 1.15 pm to 3.15 pm

Tues 17th Jan KS1 and Year 3 visit the Pantomime, Cinderella

Wed 18th Jan Zumba Fund raising event in KS1 hall 7pm

Thur 19th Jan Swallows‟ Class Assembly - 2.30 pm – KS1 hall

Year 2/3/4 Parents‟ Meeting - Numeracy 6.45 pm KS1 hall

Fri 20th Jan Swallows‟ Class Assembly - 2.30 pm – KS1 hall

Tue 24th Jan “Chinese New Year” Lunch

Thur 26th Jan Swifts‟ Class Assembly - 2.30 pm - KS1 hall

KS2 Parent Meeting - Internet Safety 6.45 pm - KS1 hall

Fri 27th Jan Swifts‟ Class Assembly - 2.30 pm - KS1 hall

Monday 5th December 2011

PARKING

We have had several reports of parents

blocking the drives of neighbouring

residents. Can we please remind you to

park courteously at the start and the end of the day.

Our Police Community Support Officers often monitor

the parking outside school and will issue parking tickets

to parents who are parking on the single yellow line or

zig-zag lines.

Thank you for support.

NATIVITIES

Tickets for this year’s

Nativities are currently being issued

and the children in Year Two are

looking forward to

performing to packed houses.

Tickets are still available.

If you have been able to secure a

ticket for the performance we look

forward to seeing you and may we

please remind you that admission is

strictly by ticket only for Health and

Safety purposes.

Thank You

A big thank you to

all of our children

for their super behaviour at

this years Christingle Services.

Thanks go to those parents who

volunteered to walk with us to

the church and to those who

attended the services. We

hope you enjoyed lighting your

Christingles at home.

.

PANTOMIMES

As you know the children are

visiting Birmingham Hippodrome to

see Cinderella on 17th January (KS1

& Yr 3) and The Crescent Theatre

to see Sleeping Beauty on 13th

January (Yrs 4,5,6). Thank you to

all those parents who sent their

contributions into school promptly.

We really do appreciate it. Have

you returned your child’s

consent form and payment?

Remember children will not be able

to attend if the consent form is not

returned.

Book Fair Thank you to everyone who

supported the above event. We made the fantastic sum of £690

from the Book Fair which will buy books for classrooms

Shop Online and Raise Money!

Have you heard about easyfundraising yet? It’s the easiest way to help raise money for Hill West

Primary School! If you already shop online with retailers such as Amazon, Argos, John Lewis, Comet,

iTunes, eBay or HMV, then we need you to sign up for free to raise money while you shop!

So how does it work? You shop directly with the retailer as you would normally, but if you sign up to http://

www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/hillwestps for free and use the links on the easyfundraising site

to take you to the retailer, then a percentage of whatever you spend comes directly to us at no extra cost

to yourself.

How much can you raise?

Spend £100 with M&S online or Amazon and you raise £2.50 for us. £100 with WH Smith puts £2.00

in our pocket and so on. There's over 2,000 retailers on their site, and some of the donations can be as

much as 15% of your purchase.

Save money too!

easyfundraising is FREE to use plus you'll get access to hundreds of exclusive discounts and voucher

codes, so not only will you be helping us, you’ll be saving money

yourself.

We've raised over £20 with easyfundraising so far but we need

your help to keep donations coming in. Sign up at http://

www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/hillwestps and start making

a difference...simply by shopping.

Thanks!

MILK AND DINNER

MONEY FOR NEXT HALF TERM

Dinner Money for next

half term will be £51.30

up to 10th February or

£9.50 per week. You will receive

a note of any credits owed to

you before we break up for

Christmas.

Milk money will be £3.78

up to 10th February.

CHILDREN IN NEED

SINCERE THANKS IF YOU MADE A CONTRIBUTION THIS YEAR TO OUR CHILDREN IN NEED

APPEAL.

WE RAISED A TOTAL OF £260.75

BAGS AND COATS

For Health and Safety reasons we would kindly ask that you please ensure that children’s

school bags are kept to a reasonable size (the smaller the better). The amount of baggage in our cloakrooms can

present a risk and we believe that the smaller the children’s school bags, the more likely it is that bags and coats

will remain on the coat hooks.

The Four Oaks Cluster Choir

are involved in two festive

concerts at Sutton Town Hall

and these concerts will include

the Sutton Coldfield Orchestra

and Sutton Musical Theatre

Company.

Tickets are priced £9.00,

£6.00 concessions or £3.00

children (children under 3 free)

Come and see the Cluster Choir

performing in front of a full,

live orchestra.

If you would like to volunteer

to help you wouldn‟t need a

ticket!

Please contact: www.fouroaksclusterchoir.weebly.com

The Four Oaks

Cluster Choir

Sunday 11th December

4pm

7.30pm

100% ATTENDANCE

ASSEMBLY We are celebrating pupil attendance in

assembly on Thursday 15th December at

2.00 pm for Mandela and Pankhurst and

3.00 pm for Barnardo and

Gandhi. During this cele-

bration we will award all

those children with a 100%

attendance record this

term with a

certificate. Letters of

invitation will be sent out

shortly.

POPPY

APPEAL

Thank you very much for

your contributions to our

Poppy Day collection. Our

contribution has been

gratefully received by the

Royal British Legion.

BCU TEACHER TRAINEES

We would like to thank Jenna Blair-Folland (Otters),

Jade Tonks (Badgers) and Tara Calder (Kingfishers) for all their hard work this term. They leave at the end of

term and return to University. We wish them the very best of luck in

their future careers.

Goodbye

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to Mrs Duckworth who is leaving us at the

end of term.

Mrs Duckworth has been at Hill West for many years and will be missed by staff and

pupils alike.

We would like to wish her lots of future happiness and success.

Inclusion Focus - Autism

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability affecting the way a person communicates with, and

relates to, other people and how they make sense of the world around them. It is a spectrum

condition meaning that while all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition will

affect them in different ways. Every pupil with a diagnosis of autism will be different. Some will

be quiet, others will be noisy and boisterous, but because all children with autism experience

some difficulty with social interaction and communication they can find it hard to learn how to

play and get on with others. They cannot fully understand gestures, facial expressions or tone of

voice, and can find it hard to „fit in‟, often having problems in the classroom and playground.

Because of this lack of understanding children with autism can find the world around them very

overwhelming. People with autism think and learn differently and require a different approach

and potentially a different application of discipline. Pupils with autism can find it difficult to

express their emotions when anxious, leading to other emotions such as anger and frustration in

an outburst of unwanted behaviour. It is helpful to look at what has triggered the reaction and

increase their understanding of these circumstances. Challenging acts are often related to

anxiety because of an inability to understand the behaviour and motives of other people around

them. Attention seeking behaviour is often about feeling left out as they have not been able to

follow the subtleties of everyday social interactions and jokes going on around them. Whilst not

excusing poor behaviour, it is important to understand that punishing a pupil with autism is often

counter-productive as their behaviour difficulties usually stem from a lack of real understanding.

PTFA CHRISTMAS

DISCO FRIDAY 9TH

DECEMBER

The PTFA Christmas Disco is on Friday 9th December.

For KS1 and Nursery children the disco will run from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm in the KS2 hall. For KS2

children the disco will start at 7.30 pm and finish at 9.00 pm

Children of all ages are welcome to attend the KS2 Disco at 7.30 pm.

All children must be accompanied by an adult at all

times please. Tickets on sale in KS1 entrance 3.00-4.30 on 7th

December Adults £2.00, Children £1.00 Family £5.00

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

The staff would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our

families a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous

New Year

PARTY AFTERNOON

FRIDAY 16TH

DECEMBER

Children should come to school on Friday 16th

December in their party clothes. By special

appointment Father Christmas will be making

a guest appearance.

SCHOOL WILL CLOSE TO CHILDREN AT 3.20 PM FOR KS1

AND 3.30 PM FOR KS2

CHRISTMAS

LUNCHES

Thank you for the overwhelming response to our invitation to

Christmas Lunch. Tickets will be issued shortly.

If you are joining us on 13th or 14th December for lunch then

please refer to your individual tickets for time of

arrival.

Computer Xplorers club

There will be an additional session of the club

for those children who missed out owing to

the industrial action which took place on

Wednesday 30th November.

This session is on Wednes-

day 14th December at the

usual time and place.

If your child can not

attend please let us know.

Thankyou

LETTERS AND PAYMENTS FOR SCHOOL

Office Opening Times - 8.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday

Please note that the office staff will be kindly asking you to hand in all payments

and paperwork through your child to the class teacher and will no longer be

accepting these through the office in the morning.

As previously requested all correspondence and monies should be placed in a named

envelope clearly stating what it is for and given to the class teacher by your child.

If you have a query that can only be answered by the Administration Team then

please come to the office. It is important that the Administration Team are not

tied up accepting envelopes when they need to be ensuring that late children are

correctly registered and absences recorded for fire safety purposes.

RECEPTION 2012 APPLICATIONS

Parents who have a child who was born

between 01.9.07 to 31.08.08 need to make an

application for their child to start Reception

Class in September 2012 no later than

Monday 16th January 2012.

The quickest and easiest way is to make an

application online at:

www.birmingham.gov.uk/schooladmissions

Or by contacting School Admissions and

Pupil Placements Service on

0121 675 0555

NEW: Four Oaks Cluster Training Choir This is a brand new choir starting in January and is open to Years 2, 3 and 4 across the Cluster. It is an exciting opportunity to train up younger children in the Cluster for the main choir, which is open to people in Year 5 upwards. We have had quite a bit of interest so far, but still need more people. If you haven't had a chance to read the letter sent home yet, and would like to enrol your child, please contact Richard Jeffries. I know there are lots of keen and talented singers in many schools - don't miss out! Email: richmjeffries@googlemail.com or visit the main choir's website for more details: www.fouroaksclusterchoir.weebly.com. The new choir will meet on Fridays from 5.15-6.15pm at The Arthur Terry School. Four Oaks Cluster Orchestra This will be re-launching in January on Fridays at The Arthur terry School from 4pm-5.15pm. This is a great opportunity for anyone learning an instrument to get to grips with ensemble playing. You will find that their skills will massively improve over the weeks and months! Please contact me if your child used to be in the orchestra, or would like to start for the first time. Pupils must have been playing for at least one year. Contact Richard Jeffries for details.

Thank you

John , the Crossing Warden, would like

to thank everyone for their kind words

of condolence following his recent

bereavement.

It was much appreciated at such a sad

time.

School Meals and Packed Lunches

Just a quick reminder that

children may only swap from school meals to packed lunches

at the beginning of term. Please advise the school office in

writing if this is your intention. Many thanks

Hill West Primary School are

now on Twitter.

Please follow us and feel free to

respond to our weekly „Tweet‟.

LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL

On the 7th of December the Hill West Singers will take part in the annual

Carol Concert at Lichfield Cathedral with other pupils from the Four Oaks

Cluster. The night will be one to remember and I would like to wish our

children good luck for what will no doubt be a magnificent performance.

Moodle

All children should now be accessing

one piece of weekly homework

on-line through our virtual learning

environment. If you are experiencing

any difficult with this please let your

child’s class teacher know.