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CHRISTMAS CONCERT —YEARS 1-2

The Y1-Y2 production will be on Monday 8th, at 14:00 (parent & child show), then Tuesday 9th,

Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th December at 9.15am. Entrance is by ticket only.

FOUNDATION STAGE PLAY

The Foundation Stage will also have a Christmas play this year.

The performances will be on Monday 1st at 14:00 (parent & child show), then Tuesday 2nd and

Wednesday 3rd December at 09:15am. Entrance is by ticket only.

We would like to remind parents that we can only have any pre-school children at the parent

and child shows on Monday afternoon. Pre-school age children are not allowed at any of the

other concerts because in past years, crying or calling out has drowned the voices of children who are reading aloud. Please make arrangements for your pre-school children or babies to be

looked after while you come to the concert.

Great Chart Primary School

Newsletter for Parents and Pupils

December 2014

SCHOOL CHRISTMAS CAROL SERVICE IN GREAT CHART PARISH CHURCH

WEDNESDAY 17TH DECEMBER 3.30PM

Please come along to this. It has been arranged for after school so that

whole families can attend together - parents, school age and pre-school

children. The carol service lasts about half an hour. The recorder club will

be playing and the choir will sing. It is a wonderful way for parents and

children, staff and governors to share and celebrate Christmas together in

the church. We are very grateful to Cannon Wilson for organising this

Service. Parking is always very limited in Great Chart village and we advise

you to walk to the church with your children at the end of the school day.

END OF TERM CHRISTMAS PARTIES Friday afternoon 12th December FS Monday morning 15th December Y1 Monday afternoon 15th December Y2 Tuesday morning 16th December Y3 Tuesday afternoon 16th December Y4 Thursday morning 18th December Y5 Thursday afternoon 18th December Y6

Children can come to school in their

party clothes on the day of their party

but please remember that they will be

going outside to play during break and

lunchtimes so they need to be dressed

warmly and will need their coats.

A MESSAGE FROM MRS PANG

December is here and it’s probably the busiest time for so many of us and also the most enjoyable. The younger members

of our community have been working hard rehearsing for their Christmas shows and it will be great to see as many as

possible supporting them. It was also lovely to be able to invite pre school children this year to one of the shows. Please

could I thank everyone who has helped to put on these wonderful performances.

It was fantastic to see so many people supporting the Friends’ Association and the school at the Christmas Bazaar. We

had a huge number of stalls this year and it was good to see some different ones. Thank you to the Friends’ Association for

all their hard work. Their help is extremely appreciated and allows the school to buy ‘extras’ for the children.

This term KS2 pupils have been involved in class sharing Assemblies performed to parents and visitors. We’ve had some

really positive comments and it has been a great opportunity for year groups to share their learning with parents. During

Term 3 and 4 we will be doing the same with KS1 so please look out for the dates.

During November we commemorated Remembrance Day and the Centenary of the WW1. Year 6 worked with Karin

Backlog from Kent Libraries and also laid poppies at the Great Chart Memorial. I was really proud of the children during

our Assembly. I told them about my Grandfather who served in the British Army during WW2 which I found very

emotional but the children were extremely interested. We all respectfully observed the 2 minute silence.

Finally, please could I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

STARTING SCHOOL OPEN EVENING AND INFORMATION SESSION WEDNESDAY 10TH DECEMBER 3.30-5.30

Children born between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2011 will start

school in Autumn 2015. We are holding an open session for all local parents of

pre-school children who may want a place at this school in September 2013.

Come at a time to suit you between 3.30pm and 5.30pm. Please let your

friends and neighbours who have pre-school children know about this. There

will be guided tours (last tour being at 5.00pm) of the school and lots of infor-

mation about school life at Great Chart. Parents will have a chance to speak

to our admissions team and senior members of staff and governors. To apply

for a firm place for your child in September 2015, you will need to complete a

special form called a Common Application Form (RCAF form) even if you

have already completed a form to register that you are interested in a place

for your child at this school. The Kent Schools Admissions Team will allocate

the places for children at each school and will only do this from information

given on each RCAF form. The application process started on Tuesday 11th

November and closes on Thursday 15th January. You can find out more or

apply online at www.kent.gov.uk/ola.

CHILDREN IN NEED

Again this year EYFS have supported the charity Children in Need. We had a fun packed week of baking, melting

chocolate, dancing and singing. We also learnt about children who benefit from the money that we raise. We held a

cake sale for the whole school and invited our friends and families to our sponsored fun run. We would like to take this

opportunity to thank everyone for their support in raising over £1000.

ROAD SAFETY CONFERENCE

On Thursday 6th November, we went to Maidstone County Hall to attend

a Road Safety Conference with Miss Beardsworth. We found out lots of

information and facts all about how to be safe on the roads and we even

got a taxi there and back!

We found out that more than 50 people are killed on our Ashford roads

and we need to decrease this number! We also discovered that 115,000

pupils in the UK are seriously injured walking to and from school.

We listened to 3 different presentations all about how to be safe. We had

microphones to talk into and ask the speakers questions. We particularly

enjoyed the one about the importance of wearing a helmet, not just on a

bike, but a scooter also. We are hoping to share all the other information

we learnt in an assembly soon.

by Sinead Sidebottom and Mollie Brown

DIARY DATES (OTHER DATES WILL BE PUT ON THE DIARY DATES PAGE ON THE SCHOOL WEBSITE)

Monday 1st December 2pm— EYFS Christmas Play to 1 parent & child space

Tuesday 2nd December 9.15am—EYFS Christmas Play to parents only

Tuesday 2nd December—Year 6 World War 2 Day

Wednesday 3rd December 9.15am—EYFS Christmas Play to parents only

Thursday 4th December—Art Exhibition in large hall

Friday 5th December 3.00-3.30pm - Classroom Open Session - FS & Year 3

Monday 8th December 2pm—Y1 & Y2 Christmas Play to 1 parent & child space

Tuesday 9th December 9.15am— Y1 & Y2 Christmas Play to parents only

Wednesday 10th December 9.15am—Y1 & Y2 Christmas Play to parents only

Wednesday 10th December 3.30-5.30pm - September 2015 Starting School Open Session

Thursday 11th December 9.15am—Y1 & Y2 Christmas Play to parents only

Thursday 11th December—Year 3 Drumming Concerts—2-2.30pm 3 Toke, 2.30-3.00pm 3 Griffin

Friday 12th December—Wear a Christmas Jumper Day

Friday 12th December 3.00-3.30pm - Classroom Open Session - Year 2 & 4

Wednesday 17th December—Christmas Dinner

Wednesday 17th December 3.30-4pm - Christmas Carol Service at Great Chart Church

Term Ends: Friday 19th December 2014

Christmas Holiday: Monday 22nd December 2014 – Friday 2nd January 2015 Term Starts: Monday 5th January 2015

Thursday 15th January 2.15pm—Foundation Stage Sharing Assembly

Monday 19th & Tuesday 20th January—Phil The Bag

Tuesday 20th January 2pm—Friends’ Committee Meeting

Thursday 22nd January 2.15pm—Year 1 Sharing Assembly

Friday 23rd January—Year 6 Educational Visit to Natural History Museum

Tuesday 27th January 2.15pm—Year 2 Sharing Assembly

Monday 9th to Friday 13th February—Creative Week

Term Ends: 13th February 2015

Half Term Holidays: Monday 16th to Friday 20th February 2015

Term Starts: Monday 23th February 2015

A huge thank you to Andrew

Barker from Black And White

Estates for kindly sponsoring

our Christmas tree by the

front entrance, this year and

going forwards.

YEAR 6’S REMEMBERANCE DAY

On the 11th of November Year 6 had an unusual day.

To start the day we took a walk up through Great

Chart to the war memorial there. At the memorial we

looked at the names of the soldiers who went to war

from Great Chart. We were looking to see if we could

find any brothers who had both died. We also looked

at the new plaques that had been recently placed

there. After that we had a minute silence when we

remembered all the fallen soldiers. Next we walked a

little further up the hill to the Great Chart Church. In

the Church we studied each of the soldiers finding out

how each individual soldier lost their life. Each child

focused on their own soldier so that they could use the

information from that soldier in our workshop later on

that day.

Then we walked back to school. At school Mrs Backlog, from Kent Libraries, came and

did a work shop with us about the letters that the WW1 soldiers wrote to the Soldiers

and Sailors Committee which was set up by Mrs Strout of Great Chart village. “It was a delight to work with Year 6, and please pass my thanks on to the children and

staff for making me feel so welcome!” This is what Mrs Karin Backlog quoted in her

email to Mrs Pang after doing her work shop with Year 6.

Written by Anna Fitch and Elizabeth Bretherton 6 Griffin

Club Cancellations:

2nd Dec—Multi Sport

15th Dec—Choir

Please note there are no internal school clubs on the last week of term, week beginning 15th December

SAFEGUARDING VISIT

The school has recently had a safeguarding visit. This

visit was not related to any of the events within the last

couple of weeks but requested by the school to check

our security and safeguarding measures. The KCC

representative was extremely impressed as soon as he

entered the school site. He looked at security

arrangements including when visitors arrive on site,

safeguarding policies, e- safety and recruitment checks.

He was very impressed by the procedures we have at

Great Chart which is very reassuring for everyone

especially due to recent events.

HOUR OF CODE

The week beginning 8th December

every child will complete an hour of

code at school. They will have the

opportunity to use d i f ferent

programmes including Scratch and

Kodu in KS2 which are free to

download at home.

Please visit the Hour of Code website for more information

and activities to try at home.

YEAR 5 TRIP AND VICTORIAN DAY

On Thursday, 6th November Year 5 travelled to Hall Place in Bexley to learn about the Victorians. In the morning the

children had two workshops. In the first they learnt about Victorian toys and had the chance to play with them.

Afterwards they saw how Victorian servants worked and had the opportunity to wash up using Victorian tools like a

mangle. The children had a fantastic time and found out so much. Hall Place mentioned how wonderfully behaved the

children were.

The following day was our

Victorian day in school. The

children dressed up in

brilliant costumes and had a

full day of Victorian lessons. It

was very strict and some

children found it difficult to

follow the rules. One child

even got the cane! They had a

range of tough activities

including reciting poetry,

arithmetic and even drawing

a potato.

We were so proud of the children and all they achieved over the two days.

CHRISTMAS LUNCH

If you wish your child to have Christmas

dinner please send in £2.00 by Friday 5th

December. Please note FS, Y1 and Y2

are free, but you will still need to pre-

book. The kitchen cannot accept any

late bookings as the food has to be

pre-ordered. Money should be in a

sealed envelope with Christmas Lunch &

your child’s name and class written on, stating what dinner

they would like. There will be no alternative lunch available

on that day. The lunch for the whole school will be on

Wednesday 17th December.

CHRISTMAS POST BOX

From Monday 8th December the Christmas Post Box will be

in the hall for children to post

their cards to their friends. If your

child wants to send Christmas

Cards to their friends could you

please check whether they have

written clearly on the envelope

THE FIRST NAME, SURNAME

AND THE CLASS THEIR

FRIEND IS IN.

It is impossible to deliver cards

with just a child’s first name and

we do want children to receive their cards.

INSPIRE TO ACHIEVE AND CELEBRATE

Great Chart is pleased

to be part of the

INSPIRE programme

developed by Kent as

part of the Olympic

Legacy. The aim of this

personal development

programme is to inspire

young people to achieve

their personal goals, to

c e l e b r a t e t h e i r

achievements and make a positive

contribution to their school and

community. The programme was

introduced to staff by Paralympic

athlete Tim Prendergast and this

was followed by a role model visit

from Chris Cook, Olympic

swimmer. He led a whole school

assembly and then worked with

Year 3, EYFS and Year 6. We will

be working on developing the

INSPIRE topics over the coming

year as part of our PSHE.