Volunteers to read with the children 

Last year we had a small group of parents who very kindly volunteered to support reading with the children.  This was an invaluable support to the children concerned and the parent volunteers enjoyed it too.  We would very much welcome some volunteers to read with individual pupils again.  If you are interested in volunteering, please contact your child’s teacher or Mr Wibroe.  Mr Wibroe is very happy to provide training as necessary.

Harvest Festival 

Our Harvest Festival service will take place on Wednesday 7th October at 9.30am.  We warmly invite parents and family members to join us for this act of worship.  The children are asked to bring non-perishable harvest gifts (e.g. tins or packets of food, toiletries etc – NO fresh fruit or vegetables, please), which will be sent to Maidstone Christian Care as Christmas gifts.  The theme of our service this year is thanking God.

Parents’ Consultations 

Parents’ consultations will be held on Monday 5 October, and you should already have received a letter asking you to make an appointment with your child’s teacher.  If you have not received this letter, please contact the school office.  The main purpose of the consultations is to set targets for achievement for the current academic year and to outline any additional support that will be provided to help your child make the necessary progress.  Teachers will not be reporting in detail on the progress your child has made to date, as this was done last term.

Reading on Friday Mornings 

We have traditionally kept the first 30 minutes of Friday mornings as family reading time, when parents are invited to join their children’s classes and read with small groups of children and individuals.  If your child is in Carle, Ahlberg, King-Smith, Morpurgo or Rowling classes, please join their class for reading

time on Friday mornings from 8.50am to 9.20am.
 

Home-School Books 

Please make regular use of the Home-School Book as a method of communicating with your child’s teacher, particularly if they are in Carle, Ahlberg or King-Smith classes.  Whenever you read with your child at home, please make sure you record the fact in the Home-School Book with any appropriate comment.  This is a vital part of working together to ensure that your child is making progress with their reading.  In Key Stage 2 it is still important to comment on your child’s reading, but the book is also used as a diary of the homework children should be bringing home.  Our policy on homework is clearly set out in the Home-School Book.

Annual Calendar 

To help you plan the academic year, we are attaching a calendar of the main events that take place during the school year.  We hope you find this helpful.

Kambwiri School in Malawi 

As a result of the £4400 we have raised as a school community for Kambwiri School, the building of their new classroom block is under way.  

 Mrs Piper will be returning to Malawi on behalf of the school on 16 October to further our link with Kambwiri.  Quite apart from the charitable work that we are doing for the school out there, our children are benefiting from the link by gaining a deeper understanding of the wider world, and the issues that face children in Africa.

Walk on Wednesday 

We would like to invite all pupils to participate in our third year of Walk on Wednesday (WOW).  WOW is an integral part of our School Travel Plan which aims to reduce the amount of traffic at our school, to get people walking, and as a result, to reduce pollution.  Children will be receiving their new WOW Tally Cards in which they will collect stickers for each Wednesday they manage to walk to school.  We realise that some families live too far away from the school to walk all the way, so we ask these families to park their cars away from the school (perhaps in the free Co-op car park) and walk the last 10 minutes to school.  The official starting date for collecting the WOW stickers is Wednesday, 7th October 2009 and it will run throughout the academic year.  We will award the class with the highest number of walkers with the WOW trophy at the end of each term.  We look forward to your support.  The children seem to really enjoy the WOW scheme and because of their continued commitment, we have been awarded a Platinum Award for our continued commitment to The School Travel Plan. 

Parents Forum 

We wish to invite all parents and carers to our next Parents' Forum meeting to be held on Friday, 9th October at 9am to 10.15am in the Out of School Building.  The Parents' Forum is held once a month for parents to discuss any ideas or concerns around school matters.  The aim is to improve communication between the school and parents so that we can help make the school community as happy as it can be.

We will be discussing how we can promote the system of Class Representatives to keep information flowing between home and school.  We would love to see as many people as possible at the Forum and we can provide a cup of tea or coffee and a friendly welcome.  Mr Wibroe will be coming along to hear the discussion and so too will Judy Skellern, Parent Support Advisor and Miss Campion, Lewis Class Teacher.

 Reception Class Coffee Afternoon 

We are holding a Coffee Afternoon on Monday, 5th October at 1.30pm to 3pm in The Children's Centre for all reception class parents and carers.  The aim is to get together to find out how your children are settling into school, provide an opportunity to meet some of the other parents and find out about school events.  We hope that as many of you as possible will come along.  Younger siblings are welcome. There are lots of toys for them to play with at The Children's Centre.  We look forward to seeing you.

Sainsbury’s Vouchers 

A 'massive thank you' to all those parents and pupils who collected the Sainsbury's Vouchers for the school.

 Arrived this week we have the following:

32 Foam rugby balls

8 x Pudding balls - soft and squidgy for easy catching practice

24 x Rubberflex grab balls - flexible balls with a 'net' structure for easy catching

8 x KS1 cricket bats

24 KS2 Junior hockey balls

40 General purpose small rubber balls

10 x large scarves for gymnastics and dance.    

 Family Breakfast Club     

The Children's Centre has started a new family breakfast club to help ensure a good start to the school day. If you would like to join us please ask at the Children's Centre.

Dates for your Diary

October 2009

   5th(1.30pm-3.00pm)              Coffee afternoon for Reception parents.

   6th  (2.00pm)                           Big Bug Show at Cranbrook School – Year 5/6

   7th  (9.30am)                           HARVEST FESTIVAL at St Dunstan’s Church  

   9th (9.00am -10.15am)          Parents Forum in Out of School Club

   13th (9.00am)                          Class Led Assembly – Pullman

   14th (3.15pm)                          Guy Making with PTA

   15th (2.45pm)                          Showing Assembly-  Carle

    21st (3.15pm)                         Guy Making with PTA

    22nd (2.45pm)                        Showing Assembly – Rowling/Ahlberg

              (3.30pm – 4.30pm)      Autumn Disco – Key Stage 1

              (4.45pm – 5.45pm)      Autumn Disco – Key Stage 2

November 2009

  2nd                                             INSET DAY – STAFF ONLY

  4th – 10th                                  Book Fair

  5th   (5.00pm)                           Bonfire & Fireworks at Cranbrook School  

  17th (9.00am)                           Class Led Assembly – Lewis

  20th (3.45pm)                           Racquets Festival – Angley School Yr 5/6

  26th (2.45pm)                           Showing Assembly – King-Smith

December 2009

  1st  (9.00am)                            Class Led Assembly – Rowling

  10th (2.45pm)                           Showing Assembly – Lewis & Morpurgo

           (3.45pm)                           Sports Stacking Festival – Angley School KS2

  15th                                            KS2 Christmas Party

   17th                                           KS1 Christmas Party

     (1.30pm)                                 Pantomime – whole school

  18th  (2.00pm)                          Christmas Church Service – St Dunstan’s

 END OF TERM 2