Chalfont St. Giles Junior School

February 2008

It barely seems possible that half-term is already nearly upon us and the norovirus is all but a distant and rather unpleasant memory. With the children and staff having reached the end of a busy assessment week we are all beginning to look forward to the break ahead to recharge batteries for yet another packed half-term to come.

NSPCC
My thanks go out to everyone who played a part in sponsoring the children for the maths challenge that raised a fantastic £3,737 in funds for the NSPCC. This hugely important and vital organisation never ceases to touch a nerve with all of us who are parents and the final total pays testament to that. It’s a staggering contribution from our school community and one of which we should all feel rightly proud.

READING WORKSHOP (WEDNESDAY 13TH FEBRUARY)
A reminder to everyone that Mrs Whiteley has been planning a workshop for parents on how to support your child’s reading out of school and for her to explain a little more about what we do in school. We will also be introducing and explaining the new reading scheme to a wider audience and the evening will be a mixture of information, guidance and practical demonstrations along with a chance to ask questions related to reading. It all starts at 7.00pm and should last around an hour so come along and discover more about children’s reading at Chalfont St Giles Junior School.

SCIENCE WEEK
The final plans are being put into place for our Science Week after half-term (25-29th February) with visits by staff from the Science Museum, The Quantum Theatre Company, a mobile planetarium and lots of science based activities planned by Miss Blackburn for children throughout the school to engage in and develop their knowledge, skills and interest in all things scientific. It promises to be a great experience in the tradition of our termly themed weeks and a letter will be coming home next week from Miss Blackburn giving more detail to the events planned.

PARENT CONSULTATIONS
Don’t forget to send in your requests for appointments for either Monday 25th or Thursday 28th February via the slip at the bottom of Wednesday’s letter. The deadline for slips is Monday 11th February. Appointments will be allocated then distributed to parents by individual letters on Thursday 14th February. As ever we will do our level best to keep sibling appointments as close as possible and run to time but please bear with us if your appointment is not within your requested time slot as so often many parents all request the same slots. In order to accommodate more of the most requested time slots the Monday consultations will run from 5.00-7.00pm and not from 4.00-6.00pm as on previous occasions. Thursday appointments remain from 6.00-8.00pm.

ORCHESTRA CLUB CHANGE OF DAY / STRINGS WORKSHOP
Please note orchestra practice has been moved from Tuesday to Thursday lunchtimes owing to clashes for several of the children with our football clubs.
Amersham Music Service’s string tutors will be performing to our pupils next Thursday (14th). All pupils who play strings, woodwind or brass need their instruments in school on that day to play an active part in the workshop.

CLUBS UPDATE
Firstly, some information for parents of Year 6 pupils who have yet to start the Sports Leaders Club on Wednesdays after school. Due to very high interest the club will be run in two stages with the second phase in the Summer term starting from Wednesday 23rd April. All those children starting in the first phase will have already brought a slip home confirming their start date earlier this week.

Secondly, a number of parents have contacted me concerning sports clubs for pupils in Years 3 and 4. Our plans for this term have always been to incorporate the Year 6 pupils working within the Sports Leaders programme into running clubs for the younger pupils. These will take place during the lunchtime period, under the guidance and supervision of the staff and will run for a period of 5 weeks. Further clubs will also be run in the Summer term by the phase two sports leaders. The after school Tag Rugby Club will be open to Year 3 and 4 pupils as from the week beginning March 2nd when London Wasps take over from Chiltern Council (who were not prepared to take on Year 3 pupils) as the provider. A letter will come home in the first week after half-term for those expressing an interest in joining. Unfortunately I received no contact from Wycombe Wanderers regarding a continuation of their club this term but will be seeking to re-establish links with them for the Summer term.

Year 4 pupils will be competing in both football and cricket tournaments later in the year and Years 3 and 4 will be represented at the Chesham Stags Rugby Tournament in May. Runners from both Year groups will also go to Handi-Cross in Wycombe for our annual athletics meet with other local schools. Year 4 have a swimming gala in March to which all pupils go and Year 3 will be taking part in a Sports Hall Athletics event in May.

There will also be opportunities for some our younger pupils to engage in netball, football, cricket, rugby and athletics in the Summer term. Whilst the priority does go to the older children, due to our involvement in local competitions, we aim to ensure that opportunities are created for all year groups during the course of a school year.

All in all, I would say, a fairly good package of opportunities to look forward to, something I hope will be recognised and appreciated by both pupils and their parents.

ACHIEVEMENTS
From now on our newsletter will be recognising those pupils nominated by their teachers for the weekly certificates of achievement presented each week on a Friday in assembly. Each newsletter will show those who received the certificates during the previous two weeks in school. Our first list follows. Well done to all those children who were nominated.

A.R.Tagg Headteacher

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