April 2009 - Spring Term News

It is amazing to think that we are now in the third term of this school year. As usual we had a busy term before the Easter holidays which ended with our Easter Egg Roll and Egg Modelling competitions which were great fun. The Easter Egg Bingo was as successful as ever and made an eggstraordinary (!) £662 for the PTA. We are well on the way to our target of £5000 which we are hoping will equip the school hall with new gym apparatus.
We also held our Progress meetings with parents at the end of the Spring Term which were attended by virtually every parent. Thank you for your continued commitment to this.
Y2 enjoyed their trip to the Jewish Museum and Y5 spent the day at Manchester Museum in the Egyptology department. Both trips were a great success and the costs were subsidised by the PTA.

Team Theme ran a football course attended by 48 of our pupils and “Let’s Get Cooking” Club began. Our Y3 and Y4 girls took part in a girls football tournament getting through to the finals at Broadoak High School.

Across the term we were entertained by a number of wonderful assembly performances from Y4, Y1, Y3 and YR.

Time to Talk

During this last term we introduced “Time to Talk”. This takes place daily in the Sunshine Room (the old staffroom) at 1pm.

Each day a different member of staff is in the room ready to talk to any child who wants time to voice their concerns or quite simply wants to talk.

For many children this has helped them to chat about friendship issues and to feel that they know what to do and where to go if they have a problem.

Mrs Roberts and Mr Rhodes are in the process of evaluating “Time to Talk” by asking the children how it is working for them and how it could be improved.

Staffing News

We were delighted last term when Mrs. Moseley was appointed to the position of Early Years Language Consultant for Bury. This post will be a two year post for 2.5 days each week.

Mrs. Moseley will continue in her role as Deputy Headteacher for the other 2.5 days. This appointment follows on from the achievement of the “I can” accreditation for our YR class.

This reflects the high quality language-rich environment developed by Miss Ashton and the YR team. Mrs. Moseley’s appointment reflects her expertise in the area of Early Years and Language Development and it will open up a lot of benefits to our school.

We would also like to welcome back Mrs. Ali to school after her maternity leave. She will return for 3 days each week for this term and will work in Y6.

Well done Mrs. Moseley and welcome back Mrs. Ali.

Class Assemblies

Class assemblies will take place on the following dates:

• Thursday 30th April at 9.10am—Y5
• Thursday 21st May at 9.10am—Y2
• Thursday 11th June at 9.10am—Y3
• Thursday 18th June at 9.10am—Y4
• Thursday 25th June at 9.10am—Y1
• Thursday 16th July at 9.10am—Y6 final assembly

Refreshments will be served after each assembly

European Elections

Please remember that the school closure for European elections has changed to Thursday, 4th June. School will now be open on Thursday, 7th May.
European Elections has changed to Thursday, 4th June.

Summer Term Enrichment Events

• Monday 27th April—Y6 pupils will enjoy a morning taking part in a “Laughter Workshop”.
• Thursday 30th April at 7pm—Unsworth Community Choir will perform at Unsworth Cricket Club. Details of tickets to follow shortly.
• Monday 4th May—school closed for Bank Holiday.
• Thursday 7th May—Golf Day
  Each class will take part in golf taster sessions throughout the day. Details to follow. This event will be paid for through PTA funds.
• Week of 11th May—Y6 SATs
• Wednesday 13th May—the Park rangers will be in school to work with Y4 to “design a park”.
• Week of 18th May—Walk to School Week. We will compete with other Bury schools to win the Golden Boot award for the most children walking to school.
• Tuesday 19th May—the Park rangers will be in school to work with Y3 on a “minibeasts” project.
• Friday 22nd May—school closes for half term. 3.30pm finish. After School Club operates as usual.
• Monday 1st June—Squash Roadshow all day. This is a scheme to bring high quality training in squash for all pupils. This has been arranged in partnership with four other local schools through Extended Services funding.
• Monday 8th June—Y2 trip to Martinmere.
• Wednesday 10th June at 7pm—meeting for new YR parents (September 2009 intake)
• Thursday 11th June—Y5 trip to Crucial Crew (1pm—3.30pm)
• Friday 12th June—French Day
  Our French teacher, Madame Beattie will organise a whole day for our school community to experience the language and culture of France.
• Monday 15th June—Infant Olympics at 1.45pm.
• Tuesday 16th June—Junior Sports day at 1.45pm.
• Tuesday 16th June—the Park rangers will work with Y1 on a project entitled “Mini Greenhouses”.
• Wednesday 17th June at 7pm—meeting for parents of pupils attending PGL holiday.
• Sunday 21st June—Party in the Playground.
• Wednesday 1st July—the park rangers will work with Y2 on orienteering.
• Thursday 2nd July—Y3 trip to the Blue Planet Aquarium.
• Monday 6th July—Friday 10th July PGL Holiday.
• Friday 17th July—school finishes for summer holidays at 2.15pm—no after School Club.

Notification of any changes or other events will be provided as the term progresses.

Allotment News

You will have noticed that our “edible garden” has been developing nicely over the last few months thanks mainly to the efforts of Mr Smith and Mr Taylor.

The growing beds have been installed along with a shed. We have received the equipment that your Morrison’s vouchers bought for us and over Easter we planted our first vegetables with the help of the children who attended our Easter playscheme.
The children planted onions and red cabbages and in the next few weeks we will add some potatoes and parsnips.

We are also about to design and create a flower garden next to the shed which will include a seating area and herb garden.

Every child will have the opportunity to work the allotment in some way. Those children who have already helped prepare the beds and plant the vegetables have enjoyed the experience and have been intrigued by the whole idea of growing our own food.
If you would like to get involved in some way or would like to contribute by donating some tools or plants please get in touch with Mr Smith either on the playground or through school.