Chalfont St. Giles Junior School

December 2007

As we head toward the final fortnight of term and all the Christmas festivities that lie ahead we shall reflect upon some of the recent events in school and remind you of some yet to come.

CHRISTMAS FAIR
Excitement is growing as we are now only a week away from this annual PA fundraising event. The team of parents involved have been working incredibly hard over the past few weeks to prepare for the event and it has been great to see the many contributions from parents and pupils coming into school each day. Today’s Mufti Day has hopefully helped encourage a full quota of plastic pint pots, laden with goodies, to have been brought in and as we count down to next Friday the requests for help and donations will continue to come from the PA. So please keep an eye out for their bulletins and letters and do your bit to help make this Christmas Fair not only the best ever, but one that raises the most money for the children of the school.

Access to the school on the night will only be through the Parsonage Road entrance which will act as the entry point to the Fair. Please avoid parking in Parsonage Road on the evening as we do not wish to lose any goodwill from local residents that we have managed to regain in recent times and neither do we wish to jeopardise the safety of those attending by blocking the pavements with cars. Everything kicks off at 5pm so make sure you’re there early to join in the fun.

YEAR 3 AND 5 PRODUCTIONS (Tues 11th and Weds 12th)
The children (and staff) have been working hard to put the finishing touches to this year’s performances and are champing at the bit to show off to the parents the fruits of their considerable labours. Tuesday afternoon’s performances are open to all parents, relatives and friends of children in those year groups and the performances start at 1pm (Year 3) and 2.15pm (Year 5). Wednesday evening sees a 7.00pm start for Year 3 and an 8.00pm start for Year 5. Due to the expected numbers involved it will be a two shift system for the audiences with Year 5 parents asked to wait in the Dining Room until the Main Hall is cleared and set up for the second performance.

Specific details for each performance will have already been circulated to the parents of each year group and can I please reiterate my plea for parents to be considerate of local residents on both occasions with regard to parking cars and the dropping off and collecting of children. The Parsonage Road and Lagger gates will be open before, during and after the productions but the Hillside Close gate will be locked at all times.

SHOEBOX APPEAL / FUNDRAISING NEWS
Many thanks to all the parents and children who contributed a shoebox full of Christmas gifts for children in Eastern Europe. The collection, organised by the Rotary Club, saw over 50 boxes brought into school and next year we are aiming to top 100 as the value of these small but significant gifts was illustrated to the children by a member of the Rotary Club in a recent assembly. My thanks to Mrs Quainton and Mrs McGinn, one of our parents, for their combined enthusiasm and time in jointly organising the collection and for liaising with the Rotary Club. Mrs Quainton also asked me to pass on her thanks to all the parents who donated shoes to the Blue Peter Appeal last term as we, along with thousand of other schools, helped them to achieve and exceed their target.

The final figures for last Summer’s Sponsored Walk are now in and together the children raised just over £5500. The bulk of this will be used to update the school’s reading scheme which has been a priority for a while now, whilst 20% will go to the School Council to spend and the remainder will be used to help finance equipment for the new playground area in the lower school which is due to be laid down around Easter time. A huge thank you to all the children for their efforts on the day and all the sponsors who helped make their efforts so worthwhile.

The PA have also been spending some of the funds raised by their events last year with the installation of a traversing climbing wall in the Main Hall which will help children develop strength and co-ordination in the upper body (recently linked to handwriting skills) as well as giving them a taste of the skills they will need to engage in climbing on some of our residential trips. New kits have also been purchased for our football, netball and athletics teams as well as additional shirts for the rugby team. The PA are also keen to help finance new playground equipment and shaded areas for both ends of the school ahead of the Summer term and we are currently investigating various options, through consultation with the children. Your support for the hardworking team of parents and the events they organise really does make a difference to the life of your children in the school so please keep contributing in any way you can.

CAROLS AT THE CHURCH
Monday 17th December sees our annual Carols at the Church evening when parents are invited to hear the children of the school perform a mix of traditional and modern Christmas songs as well as join us in some communal carols as we enter the last week before Christmas itself. The event starts at 7.00pm and should take no more than an hour so please come along and celebrate the festive season with the children and staff.

SCHOOL BOOK FAIR
Trade at the annual Book Fair was brisk and lively once again and children and parent alike commented on a particularly good selection on show this year. A total of £1160 was raised for the school through your purchases, as 60% of all sales are given to the school by Scholastic to spend on more books to further enhance the selection of books available to the children in school. Thank you to all those who supported the book fair, in particular the many parent volunteers who camin to help at lunchtimes and after school, and to Mrs Whiteley for all her work in liaising with Scholastic and the office staff for counting the money!

M&M PRODUCTIONS
The children enjoyed last week’s highly entertaining performance of ‘Cinderella’ (oh yes they did!) and our thanks go out to the parents whose voluntary contributions helped ensure that this very popular company were able to visit our school and give the children the chance to experience live theatre at close quarters once again. The next visit in the Spring term will see a performance of the classic tale ‘The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe’ with the Summer show seeing another visit from the popular characters ‘The Kosmic Krew’.

HOMEWORK
Please note that no homework will be set in all Year groups next Friday or over the holidays. With the Christmas Fair and Carols on Monday we felt the children will have has a pretty packed and tiring few days over this weekend and it is school policy not to set homework over the holiday period. At the end of a very long and busy term the children need a mental break to allow them to return fresh and fully recharged in January.

INTER-HOUSE FOOTBALL (MILTON BAG FIRST WIN IN 4 YEARS!)
Our annual competition kicked off this week with a sensational game between Milton and Cook. Milton came into the game on the back of a 3 year run of defeats in all inter-house matches but pulled out all the stops to record an amazing 6-3 victory over a stunned Cook team. Karanvir Sagoo’s leadership was a vital part of the huge effort and his team worked their socks off to achieve a historic win. In the second game of the week Palliser and Penn clashed in what many expected to be a titanic battle but a very strong Palliser team led by Robbie Murphy and Daniel Heaney (both currently representing Chiltern District) controlled the game from start to finish in a 6-0 win, though Penn to their credit never gave up in the pursuit of a goal.

FINALLY A REMINDER
A reminder to all parents that the last day of term for children is Thursday 20th December when the children will be dismissed at the normal time of 3.30pm. Friday 21st is an INSET Day, as is Monday 7th January so we will be looking forward to the children returning safe and sound on Tuesday 8th January.

December 2007

As we finally reach the end of a very, very busy term and cast our thoughts to next week’s festivities can I extend our very warm wishes to all the children and families associated with the school and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2008. Amidst all the panic shopping and over indulgence let us not forget why we celebrate Christmas and ensure that we all play a part in reminding the children of this.

CHRISTMAS FAIR
This year’s fair was an absolute triumph of hard work, organisation and a real sense of teamwork and fun as the new PA committee put on an event that all of us who came along to really enjoyed. The atmosphere around the school was great throughout the evening and staff, parents and children alike seemed to be really entering into the spirit of the occasion. We won’t know for a while the actual funds raised but takings on the night exceeded £5000 which is an astonishing amount for a small school such as ours.
My sincere and grateful thanks to all those on the committee, the parents reps, children, staff and other volunteers for contributing their time, energy and ideas to the event and in particular the amazing efforts of Tamsin Preston and Melanie King who can now put their feet up and return to normality (and sanity!) after devoting so much of themselves to the success of the fair. The fair is not just about raising funds but in bringing our school community together at this time of year and the PA have excelled themselves on both fronts this year.

CAROLS AT THE CHURCH
Another highlight of the season is always the Carols at the Church when a mixture of communal singing and pupil performances helps us to prepare for the final week leading up to the big day. This year’s evening was another success with a good showing from pupils and parents (not forgetting to mention the staff, again!) who were all able to enjoy traditional and more contemporary songs along with the ever popular contributions from Mr Hastings guitar group. My thanks, as ever, to Reverend Tim Stacey for allowing us to use the church for this special event and for his input on the evening. We hope all those of you who attended had a wonderful evening.

YEAR 3 AND 5 PRODUCTIONS
I cannot continue without mentioning the stunning performances from both Year 3 and 5 last week. The standard of acting, singing and all round enthusiasm from the children was a joy to behold and all those who came to see the plays were equally impressed. We have so many talented children at the school and to see them all playing their parts so well (however big or small) was fantastic. My thanks to Mrs Daish, Mrs Quainton, Miss Breakell and Mrs Sells in Year 3 for helping guide the Year 3 children into such a wonderful show and to Miss Blackburn and Miss Bicker (aided and abetted by Mrs Whiteley on the piano) and Mrs Tompkins and Mrs Lord (for their input on some fantastic scenery) for a sensational Year 5 performance of Robin Hood. Despite all the bugs, coughs and sneezes the staff and children pulled through to deliver two great shows.

PARSONAGE ROAD
Unfortunately I received complaints from local residents in Parsonage Road once again on the evening of the Christmas Fair. Having gone out to look at the situation I was very disappointed and concerned to see cars parked across the entrance to the school and other driveways and both pavements nigh on impossible to use through cars parked fully across them. The situation at the bottom of the road was little better as had any emergency vehicle needed to get to the school or houses at the top it would have been prevented from doing so.
Despite numerous pleas through the newsletter and other communications it really doesn’t appear to me that a number of parents within our school community are taking on board the safety issues surrounding irresponsible parking and dangerous driving in Parsonage Road. Both myself and the governors will be looking into how the actions of these parents can be both prevented and also dealt with before we find ourselves dealing with a very serious accident involving one of our children.

YEAR 4 OFF TO WOODROW HIGH HOUSE
It’s not long until our intrepid Year 4 staff and pupils set off up the road to Woodrow High House for 3 days of activities and adventure on what we are sure will be a great first taste of a school residential visit. Last week saw Miss Cato and Miss Smith brief the parents on the all important details and on Wednesday 16th January the children will begin their 3 day visit accompanied by various members of the school staff and we’ll be reporting back to you in a future newsletter as to how they got on. Remember, Year 4 parents, pack plenty of warm clothes and label everything you can to make sure it finds its way back home (no doubt somewhat dirtier than it left the house) on the Friday afternoon.

INTER-HOUSE FOOTBALL
This year’s tournament came to a conclusion on Tuesday when Palliser sealed their overall win with a 4-2 victory over Cook. This followed their nail-biting 3-2 win over Milton last week, when an own goal and penalty had helped them claw their way back into the game following Milton’s unexpected early lead. Milton themselves bounced back on Monday to record a second win (following their first win of any kind in 4 years over Cook) beating Penn 2-1 with goals from Duncan Scott and Robert Minter, cementing their second place in this years competition. The standard of play and sportsmanship throughout the six games has been a credit to all who have taken part and the house captains deserve a lot or praise for organising and including all their players so well.

Final table
P W D L F A PTS
Palliser 3 3 0 0 13 4 9
Milton 3 2 0 1 10 7 6
Cook 3 0 1 2 6 11 1
Penn 3 0 1 2 3 10 1

A FINAL FAREWELL AND A WELCOME
Today saw Mrs McMahon’s last day at the school as she moves onto a new post at Northwood College after Christmas. After many faithful years service to the school, including both leading all things artistic in the school and in her role as SENCO, we wish her every success in her new school and thank her for all that she has done for the children who have been taught by her.
Consequently we will be offering a warm welcome to Mrs Scott who will be taking on the role of Year 4 classteacher for the remainder of the year as Miss Cato moves into the role of SENCO throughout the school. Mrs Scott has already been in and worked with both the children and staff of Year 4 and we are confident the transition will run smoothly right from the start of term.
Can I finish by wishing all parents and children a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year from all the staff of the school. We look forward to seeing all of the children back in school safe and well on Tuesday 8th January.

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