July - Newsletter 27

Dear Parents/Carers,

The children are having an enjoyable, active and rewarding half term. I have been very impressed with the excellent attitude that we are seeing from so many of the children – they are really working hard to display the Olympic Values we have been talking about and using their Growth Mindset to face a challenge.

There is a lot still to come and some of the events/calendar items for the rest of the term include:

Wednesday 4th July (tomorrow) – Never Give Up Yo-Yo Assembly (and Yo-Yo sale in the practical area after school) – details coming home today

Wednesday 4th July – Year 4 trip to the Chestnut Centre

Friday 6th July – Stockport inter-school Olympic Baton Relay, we will all greet the torch bearers from Cheadle Hulme High School and then will run our leg of the relay to Thorn Grove Primary School.  Junior children who have been chosen to run with the torch are receiving a letter today.

Friday 6th July – Year 5 Fuchsia competition to be judged (all Fuchsias in school please!)

Monday 9th July – Year 2 trip to Lyme Park

Tuesday 10th July – Young Entrepreneurs Final at Stockport Town Hall – Young Entrepreneurs Club to attend with Mr Vallance

Wednesday 11th July – Lane End’s Got Talent 2012 – Mrs Lenaghan hosts the children’s competition

Wednesday 11th July – Report sent home to parents

Thursday 12th July – Reception trip to Formby

Thursday 12th July – Year 2 Assembly at 10:10am – Year 2 parents warmly invited (please arrive between 10:00 – 10:10am)

Thursday 12th July – Open Evening from 6-8pm. We would love to see you all there. You will be able to look around the whole school, look at your children’s work and talk to your child’s current class teacher and teacher for next year.

Monday 16th July – Junior Production of Oliver! – afternoon dress rehearsal

Tuesday 17th July – Junior Production of Oliver! – evening performance

Wednesday 18th July – Junior Production of Oliver! – evening performance

(letter coming home shortly to Junior parents for tickets for these performances)

Saturday 21st July – PTA Summer Ball

Tuesday 24th July – Wizard of Oz Performance for the children by M and M Theatre Company

Thursday 26th July – Year 6 Leavers’ Assembly at 9:15am – Year 6 parents warmly invited

Thursday 26th July – Last day of school - Break up for the Summer holiday at 3:15pm

 

We will also be holding transition activities for the children so that they get to know their new teacher/classroom.

 

Infant Sports Day – we were very sorry to have to cancel the Infant Sports Day because of the rain, the wettest June on record didn’t help our plans at all! As already mentioned to infant parents, when/if good weather arrives then we will hold the sports day on a nice day when all of the infant classes are available. We will send a text on that elusive day to let you know that we are grabbing the opportunity, so if you (or your relatives) are available to join us at very short notice then you are welcome to. However, we will let the children know that we don’t expect many spectators so they will understand why parents aren’t there, so please don’t feel obliged to come at all as we know how difficult it can be – a few spectators should add to the atmosphere. We will also take photos and videos to put on our website/VLE for everyone to see!

 

School Trips

One of the ways that we enrich our curriculum and bring the learning to life for the children is through the use of school trips. Teachers and admin staff spend considerable time planning, risk assessing and organising the trips because we feel that they are a memorable and worthwhile experience for the children. We are aware, however, that the cost of some of our trips has risen over the last year.  The cost of hiring a coach has risen considerably and this obviously has had an impact on the cost of school trips. We always phone numerous coach companies to get the best price possible and we only ever charge parents for trips at cost price. The major proportion of the amount charged is for the coach and then there is usually also an amount for entrance and/or a guide for the trip. We rely on parental contributions for trips to go ahead and thank you for your support with these in what we know are difficult economic times. Because of the benefits for the children that the trips bring to our curriculum, we feel that it is much better to offer them than not bother because of the cost – I hope that you would agree. The PTA kindly subsidise one trip a year by £100 and we try to spread trips so that there is not too much to pay at one time or too many in one year. Another way we enrich our curriculum is through visitors/shows in school – we try not to pass on any charge to parents in these instances (for example, the theatre show at the end of the July for all the classes). I hope that this puts the rising cost of some trips in context as we know it can be a concern.

 

Holiday Dates for 2012-2013 (with INSET Days Included)

 

School Closes after Lesson on

School re-opens on

 

 

Tuesday 4th September

Autumn Half Term

Friday 26th October

Tuesday 6th November

Christmas

Friday 21st December

Tuesday 8th January

Spring Half Term

Friday 8th February

Monday 18th February

Easter

Friday 22nd March

Monday 8th April

Whit Half Term

Friday 24th May

Tuesday 11th June

Summer

Friday 26th July

Tuesday 3rd  September

We aim to be approachable and work in partnership with parents, so if there is anything you wish to discuss, please do not hesitate to come and talk to us.

 

Yours sincerely,  

 James Twigg