Snippets
from the Classroom and Beyond
No
W74 February 2009
It
only seems like a couple of weeks ago that I was tapping out the last edition
of Snippets on the keyboard although it is a full two months since I was at it.
Christmas and the New Year have been and gone and we are well into 2009. I
don’t know about all of you but I found the prolonged dry and frosty weather
was far better than the wet and damply cold weather that preceded and, indeed,
seems to be following it. With a bit of luck the really cold spell may have
killed a few of those pesky garden pests and the like. It did give the
opportunity to use the bags of peanuts, wild bird seed and fat balls made up by
the children to good effect to give the birds some chance of survival.
I digress. I feel that I really ought to restate what
Snippets are for. Parents of children at the school get a regular newsletter
from the Head Teacher Mrs Sue Leyman. Snippets is
aimed at all the rest of you who perhaps know of the existence of the school
but have very little to do with it. It is also aimed at the Aunties,
Grandparents and the like who do have some interest. I get the information for
Snippets from the school staff and occasionally from parents and helpers. I
don’t necessarily “toe the party line” and I will sound off on one topic or
another which happens to annoy or irritate me. When the news from the school is
a bit flat I will try and include other areas of the village that might be of
interest. What this all boils down to is that Snippets is independent of the
school and the school is not responsible for the contents! I think that is
called a Let Out Clause for the school!!!
In
the last issue I left you in the lead up period to Christmas. All the usual
excitement of the Christmas festivities was there with parties, fayres and the like. The end of term
services were split with an afternoon and an evening service giving the
opportunity for working parents to attend. It also gives the opportunity for
Mums with babes in arms to get to the afternoon production where the odd squeal
or squall won’t spoil it for the congregation. I went to the evening Carol
Service before Christmas and it was a marvellous spectacle. It was obvious that
children, staff and parentage had spent o lot of effort to reach such a high
standard of singing, speaking and costumes. Very well done to
all who had an input. It was very enjoyable to watch.
I
have to mention the P.T.F.A. carol singing around the village at this point. After
the end of term this small but enthusiastic group sang carols around the
village one evening
and raised the magnificent sum of £115.00 in aid of the Acorn
Group - thanks to everyone in the village for their support and to Sam at the
Mulberry for hosting them at the end of the evening.
Remaining
with last term, there was a home netball match against Copplestone
just before the end of term. Our year5/6 team won and our year3/4 team only
narrowly lost their game. This is
actually a very good result if you consider the relative size of the schools. Copplestone is considerably bigger than CB. On the music
front, both Alexandra Marshall and Katie Grist gained their Grade 1 with Merit
on the flute. Well done girls!
Moving
on to 2009, the After School Clubs are once again in full swing. Every
afternoon of the working week is occupied with activities ranging from dance to
tag rugby to Taiko, passing through cross country, soccer and netball. In
addition the Busy Bees are in evidence every evening. The Cinema Club will be
opening its doors on two occasions, once in the first half of the term and once
in the second half. The choice of films will be up to the children.
Now onto something called the Grecian Centre. I first
thought this might be something to do with hairdressers (Grecian 2000 ) but it appears to be a course sponsored by the
Playing for Success (PfS) scheme and it aims to
engage “learners” by offering learning opportunities that will improve students
level in Literacy, Numeracy and ICT in the exciting
context of a sports venue. Six sessions have been booked for after half term
and this is all at no cost to the school budget or to the parentage. This is a
new initiative from Exeter City Football Club.
As
has become the norm over the years, the school will be participating in Unicef’s Day for Change when, for
the princely sum of £1.00 the children are allowed to come to school not wearing
their school uniforms. This year’s Unicef
target is children in
I’m
going to bang on about the walking bus again. The school is still short
of volunteers to assist with the Walking Bus. Come on now, this scheme can only
be good for the health of the children. If you as a parent have a little bit of
time in your hectic schedules in the morning or afternoon at school
starting/finishing times, please consider this to help keep the scheme running.
The
Diary:-
5th
February – Cross Country event QECC
6th
February – Unicef Day for
Change
16th-20th
February – Half Term
26th
February – PfS at the Grecian Centre starts
8th
March – 3D Dance – King’s School, Ottery St Mary
25th
March –
3rd
April – Easter Service – St Mary’s Church - 1400
3rd
April – End of Spring Term
20th
April – Summer Term Begins.
Well,
that’s it for now. Let’s get through this nasty wet weather and start enjoying
2009.