Newsletter 5th April 2017

Red Nose Day: We have raised the fantastic sum of £509 for Comic Relief through the sale of Red Noses, wearing red to school and the sale of items at the Dragons Den Fair. Thank you to all who contributed to make the day such a success.

Growing fast?: Not sure if your child’s uniform is going to see them through to the end of the summer term or looking to top-up what you’ve got? Second hand uniform sale of washed and sorted items on Friday 7th April at 3pm (after Eco walk) in the old school hall, with prices from 50p. All proceeds to school. Any more donations welcome. Please bring to the school office.

Parking: We are aware that vehicles are parking on the restricted areas outside the school gates. In the interest of the safety of our children please could these areas remain clear at all times.

Cleaner needed: We are looking for someone to clean our New Hall. It would entail one hours work, twice a week. Please let the school office know if you are interested.

Volunteer Drivers wanted: Do you have any spare time at lunchtime on Wednesdays? Our School Kitchen supplies meals to the elderly in our community and would appreciate any offers of help to deliver the meals. If you are able to assist or require more information please contact the School office.

Gymnastics Achievement: We are delighted to hear that Sophie Lord in Yr6, who is part of the Orchard Gymnastics Team, has made it through to the British Team Gym Championships being held at the Echo Arena, Liverpool at the end of July. Sophie had to compete in the vault, trampette, tumbling and synchronized floor routine. Well done Sophie!

500 Words 2017: We are delighted that entries for the 500 Words 2017 competition from Luke Bedding and Fred Brown have been chosen to go through to the next round. Out of 131,798 entries they are two of only 5,000 who have gone forward. Well done boys!

Future Dates:

6th April: Sherborne Area Primary “Bugsy Malone” Showcase at the Gryphon School for Yrs 3, 4 & 5 at 9.15am. Concert 4.00pm

7th April: Easter service at Thornford Church 9.30am

Eco Walk 1.30pm If any parents can help please, let the School Office know.

Break Up for Easter Holidays

24th April: School reopens

24th-26th April: Yr5/6 Bikeability- please check which day your child is participating and ensure that they bring their helmet and their bike is roadworthy.

2nd May: Yr3/4 Football 10am-12noon and Yr5/6 Girls Football 1-3pm at Abbey School

FTS meeting 7.30pm at school

3rd-5th May: Yr5 visit to Hooke Court

Parents’ Forum 24 th March 2017

1. A lot of letters have been given out recently, particularly this week, when the text would have been enough. We are an ECO school so should be using less paper. How about email to parents?

A. There have been some letters e.g. the ones about SAST, that we have had to send home, but we will ensure texts go out rather than letters, whenever we can. We will look into the cost of emails to parents.

2. Could a text be sent to both parents in cases where parents are separated?A. Mrs. Brooking will look into this in more detail, however as far as we know with Teachers2parents, it is much more expensive to have two numbers to text per child. We tend to send texts to the parent’s home, where the child resides most of the time.

3. Re: Dragons Den – parents and children needed more information about what was expected and more time to prepare.

A. Noted and this will be done next time. However despite this, Dragon’s Den was an extremely successful event where the children learnt a lot about dealing with money and their hard work contributed to raising about £500 for Comic Relief. A huge achievement! Well done to all involved!

4. More information would be useful about whether parents are expected to attend events e.g. pancake races. Also parents mentioned occasional lateness of sports fixture letters.

A. We will try to ensure that letters go out a week in advance, however you will appreciate that there are a lot of sporting events going on and occasionally they don’t go out as early as we would like. We will try to clarify which events that parents are invited to in advance.

5. Would it be possible to use ParentPay to pay for trips /swimming etc. rather than pay by cheque?A. Mrs. Brooking will look into this.

6. Will Y3/4 children get some football practice before their tournament? Yes

7. Would the children be continuing the mile – a –day? Yes- in the Summer Term

8. The Samba band performance with Mr. Randall from Dorset Music Service was outstanding. Would he be able to come in again?

A. Mrs. Brooking to look into this. We do have some Samba instruments so could possibly do a performance for the whole school in Achievement Assembly.

9. Ideas for Y5/6 cloakrooms tidy, which are often untidy.A. The children are encouraged to keep the cloakrooms tidy, but part of the problem is that there are not

enough pegs. Also the children bring very large rucksacks into school. We will look into purchasing a trolley for lunchboxes and possible shelving for bags underneath the pegs. In addition, we encourage children to bring in smaller bags.

10. A parent has offered to get information in order to direct interested children to cross country running events held outside of school.

11. A parent is training on a ‘Relax Kids’ meditation course in May and would be able to come into school to teach relaxation techniques for a club or maybe integrate the techniques into the school day.

12. The New Reception Playground looks much better with the fence taken down and there is now much more space for the children to play. School are looking to resurface this playground area.

13. A parent is kindly organising good quality washed second hand school uniform to be sold at 3pm on 7th April.