18th Octover 2007

October Newsletter No.2

MRS WALTERS MABBOTT IS LEAVING

At the end of this half term, we will be saying goodbye to Mrs Walters Mabbott ,who as most of you know, is our teaching assistant who has worked with Mrs Caine and Mrs Witts in the reception class. She has given so much to our young children in the foundation stage, supporting them in so many ways at this crucial start in their learning journey, and providing enjoyable experiences in the outdoors as a forest school leader.

 After half term she will commence a new post at Gorse Hill Primary School in Worcester. I thank her very much for everything she has done at Abbey Park, and wish her well in her new promotion.

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed Mrs Smith to replace Mrs Walters Mabbott in the reception class. Mrs Smith is so well known to the children, as she has been working in the early years, and supporting children across the school for many years. During this time she has already built up a very special rapport with parents and children, therefore the children will have no problems in getting to know her! Among all her talents she is also a forest school leader, and therefore will continue to provide this enrichment for the reception children.

BEAUTIFICATION DAYS CONTINUE!

Another HUGE thankyou to our mums, Mrs Williams, Mrs Rowling, Mrs Lloyd Cowley and Miss Forrest, that are still giving up their time to beautify our environmental areas, and tidy up the pond and quad areas around school. They work so very hard, and it is lovely to see the improvements.

Remember if anybody has any free time and would like to join them next term then  we would love to here form you! Thankyou very much mums!

HOT MEALS – HOT PUDS!

We have asked Pershore High School about hot puds, and they can provide a hot dessert selection including bread & butter pudding & custard, pineapple upside down sponge, sticky toffee pudding and apple crumble to name just a few! However these would be an extra 20p cost. Currently you pay £1.80 for a meal and cold dessert, therefore a meal and hot dessert would be £2.00. I think you should find these alternatives on the next menu cycle.

HARVEST FESTIVAL

It was absolutely fantastic to see so many of our parents and families at our harvest
festival last Friday. We took all the lovely harvest gifts to Roland Rutter after the festival, and they were very thankful to all of you for your kindness. The children had a lovely morning talking to the residents, and they handed us a collection of  £198! We are now looking forward to buying some books for our school library.

WEB SITE

As you can see at the top of the newsletter  you will see the web site address is different, and  now matches up with our e mail address. However, you can still reach our web site through the other address too: abbeyparkfirst.ik.org
My special thanks go to Mr Justin Rowling who continues to keep the web site in order for us.

COMMENT BOX

Just a reminder that we do have a comment box in the entrance to the school by the office. If you wish to make any comments about what you think we are doing well, and also suggestions about how you think we might do better, and how you think we might improve then please feel free to write your comments down using the slips, and then post them in the comment box on the table in the entrance. You can make it anonymous if you wish.

MOBILE PHONE RECYCLING

Please find attached a leaflet about the mobile phone recycling campaign. All they want is old mobile phones, and in return we as a school receive cash and prizes!  Every phone is reused in developing countries, so this campaign fits in well with our drive to make our school an eco friendly one! We earn £300 cash for every 200 phones. So please dig out your old phones, and see if you could help us in this campaign. Thankyou.


HALF TERM HOLIDAY- Monday 22nd October to Friday 26th October.
Monday 29th October – Fri 2nd Nov ………… Eco school week
Thursday 8th Nov …………………………….School photographs
Friday 16th November  …………………          Book Fair arrives              
Wednesday 21st Nov……………………         Last night for the Book Fair.
Monday 10th Dec sometime this week…          Reception Christmas performance
Mondy 10th Dec  at 9.30 a.m        ………        Christingle service in the Abbey
Tuesday 18th th December……Whole school visit to see panto at the Swan Theatre – not nursery
Thursday 20th December………………   .      Party day

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS – SCHOOL BREAKS UP FRIDAY 21st  DECEMBER
 
PARENTS QUESTIONNAIRE
Please find  the results to the questionnaire given to you in April, and all the suggestions for improvements. All your comments have been fed into our school improvement plan that we shall be addressing during this academic year. I shall let you know if and when action has been taken over the year.
Please find below areas you think we do well and what we you are pleased about



Some of these we have already achieved or addressed.

Early years:
Involve the nursery in more whole school events- prizes etc
More out of school activities for the Nursery.
More early reading books for nursery.
Better security at the reception class entrance.

Whole school/ curriculum:
Teachers more informative about accidents children have in day.
Assemblies and performances at the end of the day for working parents.
Better supervision during wet lunchtimes.
Assess selection of children for special events.
Fruit for all at break times.
More teaching assitants.
More creative writing.
More activities that involve parents help- e.g making of maths hats.
Maths ‘bring and buy’ sale, Chinese day being over a term not just a week.
After school activities for year 1 children.
First day of school in September – teachers out on playground to meet new class.
Spellings and tables together for homework – too much
Too much homework – especially in the holidays
More varied homework
Music lessons and lack of musical instruments

Uniform
Grey v neck jumper allowed.
Provision of legionnaire type sun hats.

Environment
Cars a hazard on the drive way – collecting children from after school clubs.
Provision of cycle shelters- separate to Abbey Park Middle.
More shady areas
Dog excrement at back and front of school
Proposed drive improvement- when?
Cold drinking water provided
Cleanliness of school – window sills etc