16 Oct 2009 - 16th October 2009
Last Friday we held one of our regular “Thank You” assemblies. During these gatherings, we celebrate good work and good deeds throughout the school. We also present children with medals and certificates that have been awarded by other bodies such as dance schools or music colleges. As usual, a wide range of children were called forward for all sorts of wonderful reasons.
The Harvest Mass on Sunday was a great success. The church was packed, the music was wonderful (thanks to the children, Liz Poszar, Mick Stephens and Katie McDermott) and everyone was so generous with their gifts for the offertory food collection. Fr Jean-Laurent was very impressed and he asked me to thank you all for coming out in force—he tells me he would love to see you all at Mass each and every week.
Fr Jean-Laurent came into school on Monday morning for a very special assembly. All rooms in a Catholic school proudly display a crucifix, but many of the crucifixes in Holy Family have become damaged over the years; some of our newer rooms such as the art room, do not have a crucifix on the wall. To this end, I bought some new crucifixes and Fr Jean-Laurent kindly came and blessed them all during assembly. He spoke to all the children about the importance of the crucifix as a Catholic symbol; he also explained how he blessed the holy water. After assembly, he blessed the prayer area of the
A number of teachers have been busy attending courses or working with staff from other schools. Ongoing CPD (Continuing Professional Development) is an important aspect of any modern school and it is important that members of staff are able to come out of class from time to time to avail of the many CPD opportunities on offer.
Maths is fun!!! It’s official—the mums who have been attending the “Keeping Up With The Kids” maths sessions left the school with a great deal of laughter ringing in all our ears. On a serious note, the participants have all said how much they are enjoying the sessions on Tuesday mornings. Please do try and come to future family learning opportunities that Mrs Moon may arrange.
Mrs Hurley and I were pleased to welcome a strong contingent of parents to the Maths Morning (Calculations) on Thursday. Mrs Hurley put a huge amount of effort into organising and leading the session—I was there as her “sidekick.” All parents were given a whirlwind tour of calculation strategies currently used in schools, before being allowed to go and watch Maths being taught in their children’s classes. Thank you to all parents who were able to attend. Mrs Moon looks forward to seeing you all when she organises a similar session for reading on the afternoon of Wednesday 11th November.
The Friends of Holy Family met on Thursday afternoon to discuss social events and fundraising activities for the children. It was a very well attended meeting with lots of new parents present. All parents are welcome to attend Friends meetings and become involved. The meetings are friendly and informal—there is usually a cup of tea and biscuits! The Friends have agreed to give each class £40 to spend on playtime items that the children want. Miss Walker met with the School Council this week and she brought their “wish lists” along to the Friends meeting. Members of Friends will attend next Thursday’s assembly to present cheques to each class. The Friends have also generously agreed to donate money from their funds towards the purchase of the new winter sports team kits. The Friends need some parents to volunteer to help on the evening of the Fancy Dress Discos. Please consider offering a few hours of your time for the good of the children—many hands make light work! Order forms for disco tickets can be picked up from the school office if you are unable to print an order form from the school website.
There were a couple of governors meetings this week—Premises on Wednesday night; Curriculum on Thursday evening. The governors give up a lot of time to help and support the school and I am always grateful for their advice and guidance.
I also managed to attend a meeting of the Development Fund down at the church on Thursday night. The Development Fund is the main fundraising organization for the parish and school. Catholic (Voluntary Aided) schools have to find 10% of all capital expenditure—state schools do not have such worries. That means the parish, through the Development Fund makes a significant financial contribution to the school each year. The Development Fund also has to raise money to pay for the hall at
Family Mass Fr Jean-Laurent has agreed to the next Family Mass taking place on Sunday 8th November at 11.00am,
Netball Team The girls were in action last night in an away match against Montgomerie. It was their first league game of the new season which they won in great style, 7—2. Well done to all the girls (no pressure on the boys of the football squad) and special thanks to the parents who helped with transport and supported the team. Thanks too, to Mrs Mangham and Miss Wheeler who have been coaching netball this year.
E-FOLIO The government has made it a requirement that all children have access to a VLE (virtual learning environment) at home or in school. To this end, Essex County Council have been working on a system called E-FOLIO that is being rolled out in schools across the county. Mrs Clark attended a training day last week and she has begun to show the children how to use and access the system. E-FOLIO will allow children from Holy Family to access the system wherever there is internet access. The children have been given passwords and other information that will allow them to use E-FOLIO at home. Ultimately, E-FOLIO will be used by governors, staff, parents and children; by Christmas, Mrs Clark hopes that teachers will have received their training and will be adding to class pages that she has created within the system. Children will be able to access the pages to submit homework, undertake research etc etc. The system operates as a secure site within the Holy Family setting—children will be able to contact other members of the Holy Family community, but not external e mail addresses.
Savills Catering After half term our new catering contactors will begin to provide hot meals at lunchtime. The price will remain as before at £1.85. All families received a menu last week, but Miss Walker and our cook Mrs McAnulty will be meeting with Savills on Monday to discuss a themed menu for 5th November. This means that the menu will differ from the published menu on that day, but details will be sent out before the half term holiday. If your child is going to have school dinners, please discuss the menu with them at home, as they will have to give their menu choice when the register is called each morning.
Book Viewing Sessions Next week, parents will have the opportunity to come into school to view their children’s books. Your child can accompany you and discuss their work with you. If you have any queries, you will be able to ask questions of your child’s teacher during the parental contact evenings in November. Books will be available on Tuesday and Wednesday from 3.30pm—5.00pm and on Thursday from 5.30pm—7.00pm. No appointments are necessary as these are not formal meetings. Please note that siblings will have to accompany you from class to class—there will be no supervision on the playground so children should not be left to play outside.
After School Clubs Please note that next week, the only clubs that will take place will be as follows:
Mrs Lilley’s orchestra; Mrs Willmott’s art; Mrs Clark’s ICT; Mrs Davies’ cookery. All other clubs (teacher led) are cancelled as the teaching staff will be involved in the parental book viewing sessions.
Parental Contact Evenings These will take place on Tuesday 17th November, 3.30—6.00pm and Thursday 19th November, 5.30—8.00pm.
CAFOD Family Fast Thank you for all the kind donations that came in via the Family Fast envelopes. We raised a total of £118.63 which has been forwarded to CAFOD. CAFOD is a Catholic charity that works on development projects overseas.
Operation Christmas Child/Love In A Box I have contacted Samaritan’s Purse, the charity that arranges for the shoe boxes to be collected. Thank you to all those who have already begun to prepare their boxes for November. As soon as the leaflets arrive, we will hand them out to the children, hopefully early next week.
Lost Property Mrs Green and I never ceased to be amazed at the number of items in school that are unmarked. On Tuesday morning I picked up a lovely Hello Kitty lunch box from the playground, but was unable to give it back to its owner as it had no name. The consequences are that someone has to walk around all the classes seeking the owner, a waste of valuable time. All families have received an EZEPZE LABELS flyer this week. If you do need name labels, please fill in the form on the flyer and send it directly to the company.
Latecomers I know all parents try to get their children to school on time, but occasionally there can be traffic jams or other circumstances that cause delays. However, a quick glance through the late book would suggest that there are some children who are late for school as often as three or four times each week. Please try and ensure that you leave on time; it is very disruptive for classes to have latecomers enter the room after all the other children have settled to their morning task.
Friends of Holy Family Fancy Dress Discos The Friends met a few weeks ago to organise some events for the coming year. The first event will be a Fancy Dress Disco on Friday 6th November. There will be two discos—one for RD, Y1, Y2 children at 3.30pm—5.00pm and one for Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6 at 5.30pm—7.00pm. Tickets can be ordered by filling in the slip at the bottom of this newsletter or by collecting an order form from the office. You can also order tickets by sending in the correct money in a clearly marked envelope. Tickets cost £2.50 per child with a maximum charge of £5.00 per family. The next Friends meeting will be on Thursday 7th January 2010 at 2.15pm. Please do try to attend—new faces are always welcome.
Parentlineplus “Less shouting, more cooperation.” Parentlineplus is running a free six week parenting group, from Wednesday 4th November to Wednesday 9th December at Endway House, The Endway,
Morning Prayer All are welcome—parents, children and grandparents in the
Morning Sports Club All children are welcome to attend the SUFC sports clubs on Monday and Wednesday mornings. The clubs begin at 8.00am (7.55 drop off) and are a very reasonable £1.00 per
child.
Fundraising Curry Fest Julia Jacobs is organising a curry night at the Tandoori Parlour on Tuesday 24th November, 7.30pm. The evening is being run to raise much needed funds for Finlay Fairs, a small boy who has cerebral palsy. Finlay’s parents have to buy a special swivel car seat at great expense. Tickets are priced at £12.00 for a buffet meal, disco and karaoke. These evenings are always great fun, so please try and come along. Julia can be contacted on 07968 198002.
ParentMail If you have not registered yet, please do so. You can be sent e mails and text messages from the school at short notice e.g if a club has to be cancelled because of bad weather.
BCCS Anniversary Dinner BCCS are delighted to announce that in celebration of their 25th Anniversary, the Rt Honorable Ann Widdecombe MP will be the guest speaker at a special Anniversary Dinner. The dinner will be held on Thursday 5th November at Stockbrook Golf & Country Club, Billericay. Tickets are priced at £45 per person, which will include a drink on arrival and a three course meal. To reserve your tickets or for further information please call Julie Abbott 01268 784544 or email jabbott@childcareuk.org
Thought for the week “The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrise.” St Clement of
Saint of the week Sunday is the feast day of St Luke, one of the four evangelists (Gospel writers). He also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, another important part of the New Testament. It is believed that he was Greek and Gentile (not Jewish). It is also known that he was a doctor, and for this reason he is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons. His Gospel contains stories about Jesus that show how Jesus reached out to those who were not Jewish, such as the parable of the Good Samaritan. Luke’s Gospel shows that Christ’s message was for all mankind whatever their background.
Diary Dates
Tuesday 20th October Parents to view books 3.30—5.00 p.m.
Wednesday 21st October Parents to view books 3.30—5.00 p.m.
Thursday 22nd October Parents to view books 5.30-7.00 p.m.
Friday 23rd October Non Pupil Day
Monday 26th – Friday 30th October Autumn Half Term
Friday 6th November Fancy Dress Discos
Sunday 8th November Family Mass 11.00am
Wednesday 11th November Literacy Afternoon for Parents
Tuesday 17th November Parent Contact Evening 3.30 – 6.00 p.m.
Thursday 19th November Parent Contact Evening 5.30 – 8.00 p.m.
Friday 27th November Children’s Cake Sale & Raffle
Saturday 28th November Parish/School Christmas Bazaar
Monday 21st December—Friday 1st January Christmas Holidays
Peter O’Kane
(Headteacher)
FANCY DRESS DISCO TICKETS
RECEPTION AND YEARS 1 AND 2
I would like ………………….. Tickets at £2.50 per child for the Fancy dress disco to be held on Friday 6th November 2009 at 3.30 – 5.00 p.m. and enclose the sum of £……………..
Child’s name……………………………………. Class………………………….
Signed……………………………………………….Please print name…………………………………………………
"---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FANCY DRESS DISCO TICKETS YEARS
YEARS 3, 4, 5 AND 6
I would like ………………….. Tickets at £2.50 per child for the Fancy dress disco to be held on Friday 6th November 2009 at 5.30 – 7.00 p.m. and enclose the sum of £……………..
Child’s name……………………………………. Class………………………….
Signed……………………………………………….Please print name…………………………………………………