december 2011 school newsletter
DESCRIPTION
Hill West Primary School News - December 2011TRANSCRIPT
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: [email protected] 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.