Writing Successes
Congratulations to King-Smith and Pullman Classes, many of whose children have been successful in having writing accepted for publication. Several of the children in King-Smith Class have had their poems accepted, whilst Pullman’s writing consisted of mini-sagas – these are pieces of writing which must include a maximum of 50 words but which must also tell a complete and engaging story. Once again, it’s wonderful to see the quality of the children’s writing being recognised – well done everyone!
 
Book Week Reminder
Book Week will take place during the week March 1st – 5th. We are all really looking forward to it and there will be lots of exciting activities to take part in. The theme for the week is ‘Theatre’ and the dressing up assembly will be on World Book Day which is on the Thursday, March 4th - we are looking forward to seeing lots of characters from the theatre. Remember, this can cover things like pantomime, musical theatre (Cats/Grease/Lion King etc) and dance. We would also like to run a second hand book sale on the Friday (March 5th) in order to raise funds for renewing library books. So if you are having a post Christmas sort out of books, please send in any that are appropriate for children and in good condition. Many thanks!
 
Hair for Haiti Day
The children have shown real empathy for the situation in Haiti and we have received a lot of donations, which will go to the Haiti Appeal.  To enable the children who would like to respond further to the disaster, we will be holding a Hair for Haiti day on Friday 12 February.  Children can come to school with weird & wacky hair styles in exchange for a minimum donation of £1.
 
Don't Forget Friday Morning is Reading Morning
On Friday mornings from 8.50 to 9.20 am we invite parents who have children in Carle, Ahlberg, King-Smith, Morpurgo and Rowling classes to come and read in their children's classes.  You can read a story to a small group of children, work with a group on reading activities, or support individual children.  The class teacher will guide you.  Please do try to join us for this important time each Friday.

Kitchen Update
 By the time you read this, the technical difficulties in the kitchen will hopefully have been remedied.  A fan has broken down, which means it is not safe to cook hot meals.  At the time of writing, an electrician is dealing with the situation.  We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused and thank you all for responding so quickly by providing packed lunches for the children.
 

Lateness
A number of children, particularly in Carle class, are arriving late each morning.  This disrupts the start of the school day, not only for the child who is late, but also for children who have arrived on time.  Please ensure that your child is at school in time for the start of the school day at 8.50am. 

Reading Book Bands
As you will be aware, prior to the children reading books from the school library, they will be bringing home books that are banded into different colours. As their reading ability and confidence grow, they will move through these book bands.  A description of these bands has been put together and we hope you find it useful. 
BAND COLOUR Skills Reception Y 1 Y 2 Y 3
Pink Uses phonics to build words / understands stories e.g. can retell who are the characters / knows all letter sounds / knows familiar & common sight words √     
Red  √     
Yellow  √ √   
Blue Can comment & answer questions about the text / knows about key story and non-fiction types e.g. what usually happens to bad characters, use of labels, photos and lists. Knows a range of high-frequency sight words / Phonics & blending used & can read long vowel sounds e.g. the different spellings of: a_e e_e i_e and u_e   √   
Green    √   
Orange    √ √ 
Pale blue Phonics & blending mainly used, also context, grammatical sense / Good knowledge high frequency & familiar words / Can look for & find information / Identify & talk about features different types of text e.g. story, poem, instruction, explanation. Talks about use of language e.g. for description / Answers questions by finding the answers in the text.   √ √ 
Purple      √ 
Gold      √ √
White      √ √
Lime      √ √
 
Friends of Cranbrook Primary School
At the AGM of 2010, Louise, Lucy and Tracey stepped down as Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary. Everyone would like to say a huge thank-you for all their hard and tireless work that has given the school many resources and fun events. Welcome to Lesley and Sarah as Chairman and Secretary.
There are lots of exciting events planned for this year and a letter will follow showing upcoming events. To kick start the year there will be a Valentine’s cake stall on Friday 12th February after school. All cake donations are very gratefully received, and we would like to collect these on Friday 12th Feb. at the start of school, outside the office. The next big event is the Race night on 5th March, which was a great evening last year; more details to follow on this so please watch the school notice board.
Our first monthly meeting is to be held on Wednesday 24th February, 7.30pm at The George Hotel in Cranbrook. It would be great to see anyone who is interested in just finding out what we do, or helping in any small way. Hope to see you there.

Walk on Wednesday
Rowling Class have been presented with the WOW trophy in a recent assembly and we have reminded pupils that they can aim to win the trophy this term for their class if they manage to walk to school on Wednesdays.  Each walker helps to keep another car away from the school, starts the day healthily and improves the environment.  Please try to join in with the WOW scheme.  If you have to drive, please consider parking in the Co-op car park and walking the last 10 minutes to school.  Thank you for your support.

School Sports Update
The New Age Kurling team did very well to come in 3rd place at the WOKSSA NAK festival on the 21st January.  Congratulations to Kirk Acott, Rosie Shepherd, Abigail Todd and Stephan Hildige, who represented Cranbrook CEP.

Well done to the Indoor Athletics Team, who participated in the WOKSSA Sports Athletics Festival on the 28th January.   Representing the boys teams we had; Adam Fitch, Kuda Thomas, Darren Velvick, Eddie Hawkins and Nathan Saunders. Representing the girls; Emmy Dignan, Molly Randall, Ayesha Stevenson, Charlotte Woodman and Maxine Savage.

The dance festival is on Monday 8th of February at Cranbrook Grammar School.  We have fifteen children taking part in the event which is organised by WOKSSA and involves a number of other schools in the cluster.  The children will be working in groups of five to learn a dance routine, which will be performed for the parents at the end of the evening.
Can I also say a huge 'thank you' to the parents who support these sporting events.   Thank you especially to those who are able to help with transport and those who stay to cheer on our teams.  Many thanks on behalf of the children and the school, we have a great time!

Coming up in March:
Netball Central Venue League competition.  Tuesday 9th March,  Tuesday 16th March and Tuesday 23 March
WOKSSA Netball Tournament.  Tuesday 30th March (Kent School Games qualifying event).
 
 

FRENCH LANGUAGE CLASSES SPACES AVAILABLE !!!!!      
   
• A unique, carefully structured and proven language course              
• An excellent accent for the children to copy  
• Small classes so your child can get plenty of individual attention
• Conversation, basic grammar, games, role-plays, rhymes and stories 
• An awareness of France , its geography and culture
• Termly reports on your child’s progress      
• French certificates awarded on completion of each programme
• Complements the curriculum allowing children to excel in French  

Classes available Monday after school in Cranbrook CoE Primary School

Merci !!          
Lois Dignan loisdignan@googlemail.com              01580211068   
French and Spanish for 3-11 year olds       
more information about La Jolie Ronde please visit www.lajolieronde.co.uk

Christmas Presents for Malawi
Many thanks to everybody who has donated unwanted Christmas presents for our Malawi sale.  We have had some lovely things brought in including a fantastic giraffe! We will keep the collection box in the main entrance until half-term; you can also use this to drop off books for the Second Hand Book Sale which is due to take place on 5th March.
Thank you for your support and generosity.

Yellow Moon Fundraising
You will shortly be receiving, or might even have received already, the latest Yellow Moon catalogue via your child’s book bag. There are some lovely ideas for creative and craft activities to keep little fingers busy during the holidays and everything you buy goes to help raise funds for us!  There are more ideas online and you can order from the website www.yellowmoon.org.uk all year round. Please remember to quote our unique code SCR1367 so that the commission comes to us.
In addition, if you shop online using www.easyfundraising.org.uk  they will donate a further 4% of the value of your order to the school!
Happy shopping!

Flora Cooking With Schools
Just to let you know that the Flora Cooking With Schools scheme is running for the last time this year so Miss Button has set quite a challenging target, as it would be fabulous to get another portable cooker and hob for cooking in classrooms.
Please encourage anyone with tokens from the special packs of Flora to redeem them online or alternatively hand them in to the school office - Thank You!!
http://www.cookingwithschools.com/pages/SchoolProfile.aspx?id=4763

Minutes of Parents Forum held on Friday,
22nd January 2010

General News about PTA:  Lesley Atkins informed us that she has been voted in as Chairman of the PTA following the retirement of Lucy and Lou.  Also, Nikki Copping will remain as Treasurer and Sarah Caller as Secretary.  The group expressed their support to new team in their efforts to fund raise for the school  There will be a meeting of the PTA in The George, Cranbrook on Wednesday, 24th February at 7.30pm.  All parents are welcome.

Update on ideas for 25th Anniversary and Year of Reading:  It was felt that it may be too confusing to have both the 25th Anniversary and The Year of Reading running as two big themes so it has been decided that we will concentrate on the 25th Anniversary and incorporate boosting reading as an ongoing target within that.

Summary of Ideas:
Term 1 will have the curriculum topic as the 25th Anniversary of the school in the existing building.
A whole school trip is to be planned with parents and children visiting a place of interest, e.g. museum, Art gallery.
Try to run workshops for parents on how to support their child with reading
Book reviews on books published in 2010.  These could be compared to popular books written 25 years ago.
Children could write a book of stories themselves to be published and sold.
A makeover of the school library, asking parents to donate money towards a book and then having the name of the donor in the book.
Story Quilt to display in the library on 25th theme
The Summer Key Stage 2 production will be Fame – popular 25 years ago.
Music Festival – to focus on songs popular 25 years ago
Fun Day – using 25th as silver jubilee theme for a silver parade.
A dedicated service in church to mark the 25th anniversary,
Planting trees/shrubs flowers and time capsule with 25th anniversary plaque.
Other issues arising  -  Unauthorised parking continues to be a problem and the out of school minibus frequently has problems leaving and entering the site. Action:  Staff are to be reminded to close the gates behind them at all times.  The combination lock code will be changed – possibly on a frequent basis.
The next Parents Forum will be held on Friday, 26th February from 9.30am to 10.30am in the Out of School Club.  The School Nurse, will be giving a talk on health and will be able to answer any questions on this topic.  Teas and coffees will be served from 9am.

DATES FOR THE DIARY
FEBRUARY  
8TH       4.15PM DANCE FESTIVAL CRANBROOK SCHOOL
9TH        9.00AM CLASS LED ASSEMBLY MORPURGO
11TH      2.45PM SHOWING ASSEMBLY KING-SMITH
12TH      HAIR FOR HAITI DAY
 3.15PM VALENTINE’S CAKE SALE
 3.15PM END OF TERM 3
26TH       9.30PM PARENTS FORUM MEETING

MARCH  
5TH 6.30PM    RACE NIGHT – ORGANISED BY PTA
15TH                PARENT CONSULTATION EVENING
16TH 9.00AM CLASS LED ASSEMBLY KING-SMITH
  PARENT CONSULTATION EVENING
18TH 2.45PM SHOWING ASSEMBLY PULLMAN & MORPURGO
23RD 9.00AM CLASS LED ASSEMBLY KING SMITH
25TH 2.45PM  SHOWING ASSEMBLY ROWLING & CARLE
  
APRIL  
1ST 2.00PM   EASTER SERVICE AT ST DUNSTAN’S CHURCH
 3.15PM          END OF TERM 4