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Colneis Junior School Colneis Road Felixstowe Suffolk IP11 9HH Tel: 01394 284052 Fax: 01394 273425 Email:colneis_office@yahoo.co.uk www.colneisjunior.co.uk

Letter from Mrs Reed 1

Colneis 2-6

Fairfield 7-12

Joint School 13-15

Term dates 16

Dear Parents and Carers,

We hope you and the children have a very happy week together next week. I do

however know that this is not always an easy time for working parents. I have my

three grandchildren coming to stay for part of next week!

Please look out for the new reading initiative that we are launching at Colneis and

Fairfield. We have always expected children to read at home with their families at

least four times a week and now we shall be turning this into a class competition!

More details on page 15.

I expect you will have read in local papers or seen on local news that Suffolk schools

and the local authority have been in the spotlight again and not in a positive way!

Please be re-assured that Fairfield and Colneis are both schools where all children

make very good progress and attainment is high. Our excellent work is recognised

across the County and I continue, on behalf of the local authority, to support schools

that have not yet been judged ‘good’ by Ofsted. Many of the staff share me in this

work by welcoming colleagues from other schools into their lessons and sharing their

expertise. It’s pleasing to know that another school we have been supporting has now

received the Ofsted ‘good’ grade and our support was recognised in the report.

‘The school has been provided with good support and challenge since the previous

inspection. A wide range of advice and training has been provided, and the school has

willingly looked beyond its four walls for expertise and new ideas.’

What really struck me when reading through this newsletter is that the school

community is really compassionate and ready to give. The Friends of Fairfield and

staff gave so much time last weekend and the fair was a great success. The Friends

of Colneis are now getting ready for their fair too. You have all given so generously

recently and supported a number of school fund raising events. Today I seem to have

a school of children ready for bed! Lots of the children at Colneis are in their

pyjamas on our non-uniform day raising money to support the Nepalese appeal. Thank

you all. We do appreciate your support and know we are lucky to have parents and

families who will engage and help us with all we strive to achieve.

Kindest regards to you all,

Mrs Reed, Headteacher

Fairfield Infant School High Road West Felixstowe Suffolk IP11 9JB Tel: 01394 283206 Fax: 01394 283895 Email:fairfield_office@yahoo.co.uk www.fairfieldinfant.co.uk

May 2015

Information on School Website www.fairfieldinfant.co.uk www.colneisjunior.co.uk

We have recently added new information onto the school website that you may find useful in supporting

your child at home.

Music in Felixstowe concert lyrics & music—Click ‘Curriculum’ tab, ‘Special Events’

Learning Powers – Click ‘Curriculum’ tab, ‘Our Curriculum’, ‘Learning Powers’ link.

Maths challenges and Investigations – Click ‘Curriculum’ tab, ‘Maths’

Please remember we are now on Twitter! Log onto the school website to ‘follow’ us.

Newsletter

http://www.colneisjunior.co.uk/http://www.fairfieldinfant.co.uk/http://www.fairfieldinfant.co.uk/http://www.colneisjunior.co.uk/

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COLNEIS JUNIOR SCHOOL

Dates: Friday 22 May Non Uniform Day (Colneis only) - Nepal Earthquake Appeal

Friday 22 May Y5/Y6 Cricket tournament at Dellwood

Monday 25-Friday 29 May Half Term

1-5 June Y6 Residential Trip to Mersea Island

Tuesday 9 June, am Treasure Island Panto (performance for the children only) Tuesday 9 June, am Y5 to Fairfield for Buddy session with Y2

Wednesday 10 June Y1/Y4 cross over day

Thursday 11 June Y5/Y6 Rescheduled football tournament

Friday 12 June Alice in Wonderland day (both schools)

Tuesday 16 June Y5 at FXA for DT

Thursday 18 June, 5-7pm Friends of Colneis Summer Fair

Friday 19 June, 1.30-3pm Year 3 Parents Afternoon*

Monday 22 June Colneis Y3 & Y4 working together day (half to Fairfield am/half pm)

Wednesday 24 June Y6 World at Work at FXA

Wednesday 24 June Rounders tournament at Grange

Thursday 25 June, am Y2 walking to Colneis for Buddy session with Y5

Friday 26 June Y5 Tudor Bag Sewing- Parents in to help

Tuesday 30 June Sports Day

Thursday 2 July Y3 To Foxburrow Farm

Monday 6 July Y5 Tudor Week

Wednesday 8 July, 2pm/7pm School Choir, Music in Felixstowe Community Production ’Oliver’, Orwell Hotel

Thursday 9 July, am Y5 Tudor maths with parents*

Friday 10 July, 6.30-8pm FOC summer disco

Tuesday 14 July, 3.30-5pm Open evening at Colneis

Wednesday 15 July Y2/Y3 swap over day

Wednesday 15 July, 2pm Y6 Leavers Assembly

Wednesday 15 July, 6.00-7.30pm Parents information evening for new Year 3

Thursday 16 July Y6 beach visit studying Andy Goldswothy (art)

Friday 17 July, 6.00-8.30pm Y6 Leavers disco

Monday 20 July Whole school moving up morning

Wednesday 22 July Last day of term

Thursday 3 September Back to school

* The Parents’ Open Mornings/Afternoons: Parents are invited into school to work alongside their child in the

classroom in a practical curriculum based activity which supports learning. This will be followed by tea in the hall

and the chance to talk to members of the Senior Management Team and a School Governor.

Colneis Assemblies

The following class will be leading our assembly at 10.20am:

Wednesday 3 June Class 3R Thursday 18 June Class 4R

Thursday 4 June Class 3C Wednesday 1 July Class 4T

Wednesday 17 June Class 5L Thursday 9 July Class 4M

Family members are then invited to join their child’s class following assembly to share numeracy or literacy based activities

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Pupils’ Success

This information has been removed for

data protection purposes

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On the ball!

Pupils from Year 5 and Year 6 have been linking up with other schools in a small tournament. So

far we’ve had a 3-2 win against Causton and a 7-4 loss against Witnesham. We’re looking forward

to the remaining matches against Hadleigh and Whatfield. Well done to those who are involved for

their super teamwork and enthusiasm.

Pupils’ Success Cont’d...

Super Alice Story Hugh Cullum, Jamie Last,

Antonia Pintilie, Abi Cairns,

Jade Soames

Fabulous ‘Kennings’ poems Fleur Campbell,

Joshua McTiernan

Jayden-Lee, Max, Hugo and Isabella

worked really hard over the Easter

holidays to make these beautiful helmets

and mosaics to support their history

work. They have done some excellent

writing too!

Stop Press! We won 3-1 at Whatfield

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Eco-Warrior Projects

Our Eco-Warriors have been very busy.

Additional recycling bins have been bought for

Colneis, and the children were challenged to

place different types of rubbish in the correct

type of bin. It wasn't as easy as many

thought! The Eco-Warriors will be monitoring the

use of the bins over the next few months to

ensure the children recycle as much of their

waste as possible.

The Eco-Warriors also had a fantastic day at Landguard Nature Reserve, organised by Suffolk

Wildlife Trust, learning all about various coastal conservation issues.

Children’s Art Competition

Well done to the Colneis pupils who had their

artwork featured in the May edition of The

Felixstowe Magazine. Children were asked to

design a poster to express how we can help

others for an ‘Education is Freedom’ project.

This was to raise awareness of education

across the globe.

Image courtesy of The Felixstowe Magazine

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Friends of Colneis Summer Fair

Thursday 18 June, 5-7pm

Yes it’s that time of year again! Time to start thinking about the Colneis Summer Fair – our

biggest fundraising event of the year.

It will be a fun, action packed evening with games, a BBQ, bouncy castle, Pimms tent and a grand

draw to win £150 kindly donated by Marketing Force.

We are looking for people to donate raffle prizes and contribute to our silent auction. The more

donations we are able to get, the more money we can raise for the school.

We would like to ask you for donations for the fair such as toys, games, books, comics, bric-a-

brac, tombola gifts, wine/bottles, fruit, cakes and plants. Please send the last three items to

school on the morning of the fair – other items can be sent in from Monday 15 June. We also

need baskets, containers, ribbons etc for packaging the fruit tombola.

If you donate several items, preferably a mixture of the above, your child will be entered into a

draw to win £5.

We are also looking for willing volunteers to help out at the fair on the day.

For more information or if you are able to help in any way, please contact Tracey Spalding. Thank

you.

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FAIRFIELD INFANT SCHOOL

Dates:

Monday 25-Friday 29 May Half Term

Monday 1 June, 9am-10.25am Y1 Den building day

Wednesday 3 June Nursery/Reception Summer Walk to the Grove

Friday 5 June – Friday 17 July (excluding 12 June) Y2 Friday Swimming

Friday 5 June EYFS Mad Hatters tea party

Friday 12 June Y2 Alice in Wonderland day

Tuesday 9 June, am Y5 coming to Fairfield for Buddy session with Y2

Tuesday 9 June, pm Treasure Island Panto (performance for the children only)

Wednesday 10 June Y1/Y4 cross over day

Wednesday 17 June, 1.20pm-3.15pm Reception Parents Open Afternoon

Friday 19 June Nursery visit to the beach

Monday 22 June, pm Y2 Paarlauf at Causton

Thursday 25 June, am Y2 walking to Colneis for Buddy session with Y5

Monday 29, Tuesday 30 June, Wednesday 1 July x3 reception class trial mornings, parents stay

Monday 29 June Y2 cookery morning and trip to the beach

Tuesday 30 June Y1 trip to Jimmy’s Farm

Thursday 2 July, 10am and 2pm Induction day for new Nursery and Reception Parents

Tuesday 7 July Y2 Open Afternoon

Wednesday 8 July Nursery Sports Day

Wednesday 8 July, pm Selected choir members to perform in Oliver

Thursday 9 July Reception, Y1 & Y2 Sports Day

Monday 13, Tuesday 14, Wednesday 15 July New reception children in classes

Wednesday 15 July Y2/Y3 swap over day

Thursday 16 July, 3.30-5pm Open evening at Fairfield

Monday 20 July Whole school moving up morning

Tuesday 21 July Nursery Graduation Day

Tuesday 21 July, 2pm Y2 Leavers Assembly

Wednesday 22 July Last day of term

Thursday 3 September Back to school

* The Parents’ Open Mornings/Afternoons: Parents are invited into school to work alongside their child in the

classroom in a practical curriculum based activity which supports learning. This will be followed by tea in the hall

and the chance to talk to members of the Senior Management Team and a School Governor.

Fairfield Assemblies

The following class will be leading our assemblies at 10.25am:

Thursday 11 June Class RD

Thursday 25 June Class 1R

Family members are invited to join their child’s class following assembly to share numeracy or literacy based activities

ALSO Tuesday 21 July, 2pm—Y2 Leavers Assembly

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Pupils’ Success

This information has been removed for

data protection purposes

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Friends of Fairfield Summer Fair

A huge thank you to all who came to the Friends of Fairfield Summer Fair. It was a great

success, and thankfully the sun shone. Special thanks to all those on the Friends of Fairfield

team for their hard work and preparation.

The total amount raised was a fantastic £2092.81.

Reception year meeting the Spring

lambs with caretaker and

shepherdess Sheila.

Vasco has been learning all about

George and the dragon

in Nursery and made this beautiful

dragon all by himself to celebrate

St George’s Day!

Lambs visit Reception St George’s Day Dragon

Grace, Poppy, Darcey, Sky Harvey,

Esther and Ishan came to share

their lovely work with Mrs Reed!

Grace from Y1 with a beautiful

holiday diary!

A visit to Mrs Reed’s Office Holiday Diary

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Victorian Day in Year 1

All the children looked fantastic for the Year 1 Victorian Day. They experienced how it would

have been had they been at school during Victorian times, then in the afternoon enjoyed a Punch

and Judy show.

Water Aid

Thank you to all who contributed to our fundraising activities for Water Aid. We were delighted

to forward a total of £234.03 to this worthy charity.

Year 2 have been learning about Water Aid and the way the money raised will be used to help others.

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Reception 'Stay and Play'

Reception 'Stay and Play' mornings continue to be a huge success. It has been lovely to see so

many parents, grandparents and carers come and share in their children's learning with us. Our

last session had the theme of 'Time to Play-Board Games' which aimed to encourage the children

to play board games co-operatively, take turns and follow instructions, whilst reinforcing their

phonics and maths learning along the way.

An Unusual Visitor!

On Wednesday 6 May Year 2 were visited by a time traveller... who emerged from the staff

room! The time traveller believed she was travelling back to the Houses of Parliament in 1605

looking for Guy Fawkes and was surprised to find herself in 2015 at Fairfield Infant School.

The time traveller shared her lunch of unleavened bread with the children while she showed

them artefacts she had collected on her travels. The children had to make conjectures about

where they thought the artefacts had come from and had to convince us they were correct.

Before the time traveller left the children showed her the Easter artefacts they had collected

and took advantage of the time traveller’s visit to ask whether she could bring back an original

artefact from the time of Jesus and the Easter story. After some collaboration they decided

upon the artefact they felt best represented the true meaning of the Easter story. The time

traveller left saying the artefacts would be left for the children when she was next passing

through 2015. We look forward to receiving these!

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‘Coppers for Cows’ Christian Aid Fundraising

This year Christian Aid week commenced on 11 May 2015. At Fairfield we have been learning

about the charity Christian Aid and how it aims for people all over the country to raise

awareness and money to help those less fortunate than ourselves. This year the focus was on

‘Mooove over, poverty!’ and we created our own fundraising project called ‘coppers for cows’. The

children learnt about how cows are such an important thing to own in Ethiopia as they provide

milk, butter and a status which allows the poorer people living in the community to have a voice.

In class, the children made cow money boxes using recycled milk bottles. The children then took

their money boxes home to their families and asked if they had any spare change they could

donate to Christian Aid. The children did a fantastic job remembering to return their cow money

boxes and we were amazed at the staggering amount of money we raised. In total we raised

£552.68. We have decided to donate £450 to Christian Aid. This will purchase three cows, and

will instigate the changing of people’s lives in Ethiopia. The remaining money we are donating to

the Nepal disaster fund, another worthwhile cause at this present time.

We would like to thank everyone for their generosity. You really have helped to make a

difference.

Mr Gooch and Mrs Wheeler

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JOINT SCHOOL INFORMATION

The Federation of Fairfield and Colneis—Governor News

It doesn’t seem possible that we are nearly half way through the summer term. This school year

seems to have flown by! Once again, governors have been busy supporting the school through

visits and by attending various committee meetings. Finalising the budget and deciding on

refurbishment projects in both schools have been priorities. At the beginning of term, several

governors joined staff for lunch and then stayed to look at a range of pupils’ work in every

subject. Each governor is linked to a specific subject and it was very interesting to talk to the

subject leaders and see the high standards of work in books. The pupils do have really good

experiences in both schools and when we come to class assemblies we enjoy looking at what they

have been learning. This is a good way for governors to see at first-hand what is being taught.

As you know, the curriculum has changed and staff have worked very hard to make sure that

everything is being covered. One change is that ‘computing’ instead of IT is being taught.

Governors are looking forward to learning more about this at their next governing body meeting

just before half term. We are also going to look closely at the schools’ website to make sure

that it contains all the information that it should. Have you had chance to look at it recently? It

really is very informative.

Cycle Helmets

It has been brought to our attention that there are a number of children cycling to school with

no helmets. We would strongly recommend that your child wears a helmet when travelling to and

from school.

The Oaks and Sea Breeze Children’s Centres

A full diary of events at The Oaks and Sea Breeze Children’s Centres is available from the school office. If you require any further information or would like to discuss any groups please call one of the centres on the following numbers: The Oaks tel 01394 694750. Sea Breeze tel 01394 279809.

MDSA Vacancies at Fairfield and Colneis

We are currently looking for additional midday supervisors to join the Fairfield team and the

Colneis team. Pay £7 per hour. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact the

School Office for details. Interviews will take place to select the successful candidates.

Free Open Day

Felixstowe Tennis Club

on Saturday 13th June

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Saturday School

A couple of Saturdays ago, Colneis was open to children from across Felixstowe when we held

workshops for more able pupils. We had gifted and talented artists from year one and two,

environmental experts from year three, budding poets from years 3-4, future film makers and

computer experts from years 5-6. mathematical problem solvers also from years 4-5 and lively

and graceful dancers from year six. All the children had a great morning, behaved extremely

well and produced some great work.

Flying the Flag!

Following the article in our previous newsletter

announcing that the Fairfield and Colneis flag design to

represent Suffolk in the 2015 Magna Carta celebrations

had won, a very proud Mrs Reed visited London over the

weekend to see for herself our fantastic design flying on

the corner of the square opposite the Houses of

Parliament. It features the sea, waves, sand, the sun

rising in the east and a Martello tower.

Our flag along with 78 others representing other

counties are all flying in Parliament Square and will

shortly be displayed at another venue. We are looking

forward to it returning to our schools in the future.

Maybe we will have to think of ways to raise money so

that we can have our own flag pole!

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Felixstowe Parent Hub Venue: Salvation Army, Cobbold Road, Felixstowe

Date: Friday 5th June 2015

Time: 9:30am – 11:30am

Topic: Do you struggle to get your child/teen to school? Just 5 minutes late each day = 3 days in a school year!

Speaker: Sharon Everitt (Educational Welfare)

Let’s Get Reading!

We are inviting you to take part in a new competition that we will be starting after half term.

After half term, every pupil will be encouraged to read at home, to an adult, at least 4 times

each week. We then ask that the adult signs the child’s reading record as evidence that this has

been done.

Listed below are some suggestions to help you develop a conversation to aid your child’s

understanding of what they have read.

Your child’s teacher will then check reading diaries throughout the week and will collate the

number of children who have completed the challenge that week.

The winning class will then be commended in assembly and will receive points towards a class

treat. At the end of each half term, children that have read 4 times every week will be entered

into a draw to win a book token.

We understand that families are very busy and that it can be hard to juggle attending clubs,

doing homework and having free time. However, we all know the importance of regular reading to

every child’s attainment. Reading with your child, for 10 to 15 minutes, 4 times a week will

impact on all areas of the curriculum. It will help to develop fluency and provide them with a

greater opportunity to access a wider vocabulary. This in turn will develop their literacy skills.

We hope you will support your child and rise to this challenge!

Points for discussion during reading sessions Fiction Texts:

How do you think (the character) felt at the end of the story? How do you know?

Why do you think (the character) did that? How do you know?

What was your favourite part of the story? Why?

Who is your favourite character? Why?

How do you think the story will end? Why?

Could the story have ended differently? How?

Tell me something about (a character), how do you know?

Non-fiction texts:

What fact interested you the most? Why?

Have you learnt something new? What was that?

The fact that most interested me was …. because….

Where would you find information about….. how do you know?

Why have the diagrams been set out this way?

Why has the information been organised like this? Do you like it?

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Term dates for 2015-2016

Summer Term 2015:

Start of Summer term: Tuesday 14th April

Bank Holiday: Monday 4th May

Half term: Monday 25th May-Friday 29th May

End of Summer term: Wednesday 22nd July

PD day: Monday 13th April

Autumn Term 2015:

Start of Autumn term: Thursday 3rd September

Half Term: Monday 26th October-Friday 30th October

End of Autumn term: Friday 18th December

PD day: Wednesday 2nd September

Spring Term 2016:

Start of Spring term: Tuesday 5th January

Half term: Monday 15th February-Friday 19th February

End of Spring term: Thursday 24th March

PD day: Monday 4th January

Summer Term 2016:

Start of Summer term: Tuesday 12th April

Bank Holiday: Monday 2nd May

Half term: Monday 30th May-Friday 3rd June

End of Summer term: Wednesday 20th July

PD days: Monday 11th April

Friday 27th May

Thursday 21st July