NEWSLETTER No. 18

Friday 24 February 2012

Introduction Dear Parents Although it is has only been a week since we returned after half-term, lots has happened in school. Firstly, congratulations to Year 6 for an outstanding set of 11+ results to independent schools. Places have been offered by Brentwood College, Chigwell School, Bishops Stortford College, Forest School, Felsted, New Hall, Queenswood, St Edmunds, Haileybury, Friends and St Nicholas. Three pupils have been offered scholarships ; George Pigram - a Sports Scholarship to St Edmunds, Emily Pohl - an Outstanding Talent Scholarship in Sport and Dance and Olivia Elvins - an All Rounder Scholarship to Haileybury. All the children have worked very hard and their success is well deserved. As the weather is turning milder, may I remind parents that summer uniform is optional for the rest of this term and required for the summer term. I have noticed that some children are arriving at school without the correct uniform so uniform reminder slips will be sent home when necessary. Please note that jewellery, including earrings, is not allowed in the interests of the pupils’ health and safety. Pupils are allowed wrist watches or a discreet religious symbol, if applicable. Long hair should be tied back neatly with a school colour hair band and no nail varnish or make up should be worn. School bags should be plain black. We like our pupils to take pride in their appearance and to look after their belongings. However, we regularly find a number of unnamed items. Please ensure that all your child’s belongings are clearly named. Also, should your child inadvertently bring home someone else’s belongings, please ensure that they are returned to their teacher as several items have gone astray already this year. Thank you for your co-operation. As parents, you may not be aware of some of the wonderful art around school. Do pop into the hall where Year 6 have some super charcoal drawings, and up to Year 4 (above Year 1 Daly in the cottage) where Mrs Wheeler’s class have outshone Picasso himself! We celebrated Shrove Tuesday with some splendid Pancake Races. The older pupils assisted the younger ones in running and tossing their pancakes, some more successfully than others! Lower and Upper Kindergarten also had their own races to much laughter. Year 4 had a very informative and enjoyable visit to St Albans Verulamium as part of their study on Roman times. (Read more about this visit in this newsletter.) Year 6 were visited by a local Magistrate, to hear about her work and to learn some valuable lessons about life as they grow up into adulthood. Today, we had a lovely assembly from Year 1 Davis about ‘Friends’. The children performed with great confidence and enjoyment. Report/photo to follow in next newsletter. I was delighted to award Jacob Waldman in Year 2 Daly, a Headmistress’ Award for good listening and excellent maths strategies. Well done, Jacob. Finally, a date for your diaries. We shall be holding a meeting for Transition, Year 1 and Year 2 parents from 7pm on Tuesday, 20 March. Staff as well as some Year 6 parents and pupils will be speaking on and discussing the merits of Coopersale Hall as pupil’s progress through the years. Look out for your letter next week. Kind regards Kaye Lovejoy

Coopersale Hall School Flux’s Lane, Epping, Essex CM16 7PE

Telephone : 01992 577133 Fax : 01992 571544 Website: www.coopersalehallschool.co.uk

E-Mail: info@coopersalehallschool.co.uk Headmistress : Miss Kaye Lovejoy Cert. Ed., B. Ed. (Hons)

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Football Report Coopersale Hall ‘B’ Team played their first match of the season against Chipping Ongar ‘B’ Team on Wednesday 1 February. The team played extremely well with Joe Penman scoring the only goal of the game. The final result of 1 – 0 to Coopersale Hall was well deserved. Mr. Robinson would like to thank all the players for their hard work and excellent team spirit.

Forget Me Not……….. Monday 27 February Year 1 Daly Assembly @ 9.00am followed by Coffee Morning in Garden Room. Wednesday 29 February Football Match away @ Epping Primary – 3.50pm Kick off. FOCHS Meeting – 7.30 pm in the Library Thursday 1 March Swimming Years 5 & 6 - AM Friday 2 March Year 1 Allen Assembly @ 9.00am followed by Coffee Morning in the Studio

Update from FOCHS

Thankfully the weather is warming up a little and we are now all looking forward to the Spring and the FOCHS events we have planned for the children. We start with our Easter raffle (prize baskets on display from the 19 March) and the visit from the Easter Bunny on 26 March. We quickly follow that with the ever popular Easter Disco for all the children on 28 March. We will be asking very soon for some parent volunteers for the disco so please pop it in your diaries if you can spare a little time. We are also busy planning the May Ball which will be held on 26 May at Chigwell Hall. Tickets will be on sale very soon so please start thinking about your table of 10 and who you'd like to be seated with. We will also be appealing for any generous "money can't buy" donations for our charity auction so if you are able to supply any such items or know someone who can we will be VERY grateful. We will also be selling advertising space in the ball brochure with an anticipated target audience of up to 200 people, so please have a think about this too. So, as you can imagine, our next Committee Meeting will be interesting as we discuss all of the above and also some of our longer term plans. Please do join us and lend an ear and/or a voice on Wednesday 29 February at 7.30pm in the library. The FOCHS Committee Contact: fochs2012@yahoo.co.uk

Scientists of the Week Well done to all the above children.

Merit Badges

W/C 20.2.12

TC Doruk Yildiz

TG Harry Sowter

TMG Taylor Woolcott

Yr 1 Allen Olivia Garwood

Yr 1 Daly James Howell

Yr 1 Davis Olivia Peters

Yr 2 Bragg Summer Spendlove

Yr 2 Leeks Beau Anten

Yr 3 Watson Lilli Trotman

Yr 4 Wheeler Kirsty Geoghegan

Yr 5 Lane Jonathan Billington

Yr 6 Watson Poppy Walker Borthwick

Well done to these children named above. Keep up the good work.

House Points

Beech (Blue) Chestnut (Red) Oak (Green) Willow (Yellow)

Weekly Total 35 39 57 36

Running Total 131 138 184 128

Current Position 3rd 2nd 1st 4th

Well done to Oak who are in the lead at the moment.

WW//CC 66..22..1122

Yr 1 Allen Freya Lund & Thea Came

Yr 1 Daly George Stride & Jasmine Pettit

Yr 1 Davis Luca Rungasamy

Yr 2 Bragg Gracie Tamplin

Yr 2 Leeks Sophie Humphrey

Yr 3 Watson Lilli Trotman & Thomas Sharp

Yr 4 Wheeler Toby Crook

Yr 5 Lane Not awarded

Yr 6 Watson Sophie O’Keeffe

To Be Or Not To Be Before half term, our junior children were treated to a visit from the Young Shakespeare Company. This was a treat provided by FOCHS and we are very grateful to them for funding this activity. It was much enjoyed by all the children and gave them an insight into the delights of the bard’s work. The children told us a bit about it below :- On Friday 10th February the Shakespeare Company came to visit Key Stage 2. I played as Equus, an old man who had a sore back. Equus was the king’s friend and he also had a daughter. I felt very nervous but I really enjoyed it. I’m glad I was chosen to play the part. Alexander Simmons On Friday, the day before we broke up, we were visited by the children’s Shakespeare Company. They did a show about a fairy who fell in love with a half man and half donkey. We all joined in with a song and we had to make sounds like the forest. I loved it and I hope they come to visit us again. Mollie-Mae Fletcher

An Interview with Keith by Lucinda Boyle, Year 4 On Friday, 10 February 2012, in Year 4’s newsroom, Keith came in to talk to Year 4. We acted as reporters and had a microphone, to make it look authentic. I was last to ask him questions because I came in extremely late. We interviewed him because we’ve been looking at newspapers. I asked him “What was your favourite subject at School?”. He answered, “My favourite subject was PE”. Then I asked him, “What is your favourite animal?” and he replied with “My favourite animal is a dog because I used to have a dog”. I would like to say a big thank you to Keith for coming in to talk to Year 4W. I think Keith does a very good job as a caretaker at Coopersale Hall School and I enjoyed speaking to him.

A Roman Invasion This week, children in Year 4 visited the Verulamium Museum in St. Albans in connection with their history topic, The Romans. The children had a very enjoyable day – as shown from in the extracts from some of their reports below :- On Wednesday 22 February we went on our school trip. First Mrs. Wheeler called the register. Then we got on the minibus and Tracey was driving. We went on the M25. We had the radio on and we were singing. When we were looking around the museum we had to fill in an interesting worksheet. What I liked on the worksheet was the skeleton. It was my best trip ever. Sienna Penman When we got there we went to the handling session. Our curator Andrew told us facts about the Roman times. Andrew gave us 30 minutes to start. There were four tables of artefacts. There was a kitchen, bathroom, building and a dining room. After that, he gave us Roman clothes to wear. I was wearing a poor Roman dress. After that we were sent into the main room where I saw a beautiful mosaic on the wall and on the floor. When we went into the museum we met a man called Tom. Tom was around to answer any questions we had. We looked around at Rites and Recreation, Merchants and Markets, Making a Living and Food and Farming. After lunch we watched a video about how the Romans took over the Celts’ land. It was really interesting. The hypocaust came next. That was the best. It was a very clever Roman heating system. This trip was the best! Isabella Nelson

We were very proud of our Year 4 children. The staff at the museum commented on how well behaved they were and how impressed they were with their knowledge of Roman history. Well done to these children for representing our school in such a fine fashion.

Marie Curie Pots of Care As you know, our families have been nurturing the Marie Curie daffodils to display at our assembly this week held by a representative from the charity. Well done to all our children for looking after the shoots and many thanks to everyone for your sponsorship and donations. We are delighted to advise that we have raised £776.40 in aid of cancer care so far without additional sponsorship that has been paid online. Once again, many thanks to everyone for your kind generosity for this very worthy cause.

Flipping Marvellous No doubt you all enjoyed a pancake or two on Shrove Tuesday. To celebrate the occasion, our children had the opportunity to toss a few during our own pancake races. It was a most enjoyable event and well done to all the children who took part. Our particular thanks to our older children who assisted the younger ones to run the course and assist them in the art of tossing their pancakes!

In Paradise

Children in Year 6 have been studying “Adaptation and Interdependence” in their science lessons, looking at plants’ and animals’ habitats and how they adapt to their environment. In conjunction with this topic, Year 6 were treated to a visit by Paradise Wildlife Park. The following report explains the nature of this visit :- On Thursday 23 February, Debi and Sarah from Paradise Wildlife Park visited Year 6. They brought in three different types of animals from different parts of the world. First, there was Martin the Bearded Dragon. Martin is a reptile and is cold blooded. At first, he looked quite spiky, but when we felt him he was soft and rubbery. He comes from Australia and is quite a common animal there. Martin is an omnivore and his ears are holes. Next was Marley, the tenrec from Madagascar. Marley looks like small porcupine. He looked prickly but was actually much softer than we expected. Tenrecs are quite rare but when one is found, foosas like to eat them. Marley is also an omnivore and eats birds’ eggs and insects. He is nocturnal and doesn’t have very good eyesight so uses his other senses to get around. Last but not least was Sky the Barn Owl. Debi told us that the way to tell the difference between a male and female was to look at their chest. The females have spots and the males don’t. Sky is a carnivore and eats mice and other small rodents. Sarah and Debi showed us a lot of illegal objects made from animals. There was a handbag and sandals made out of lizard skin. Three tigers were killed to make one rug, tiger bone was made into medicine and elephant tusks are used as decorations. All of these are sold for hundreds of pounds. It is sad to think that we will show pictures to our children of animals (like tigers) that might not exist in the near future as nature cruelty is the biggest crime in the world. We thoroughly enjoyed this visit and now we see animal cruelty in a different way. Poppy Walker-Borthwick, Chaya Shah and Flora Brown Thank you and well done girls for such an excellent and informative report.

And Finally….. Open Morning

You may be aware that we have an Open Morning scheduled for Friday 16 March from 9.15 am to 11.30 am with a presentation from Miss Lovejoy at 9.30 am. All existing parents are most welcome to attend and have another look around the school whilst it is in action to see what is going across the year groups and what your child will be involved in as he or she progresses through the school. We look forward to seeing you there if you would like to join us.