I do hope everyone had a lovely long May holiday weekend. Many of our children, and some parents, were away at sporting tournaments to finish off the season. Our children have so many talents from ice skating to rugby, riding to piano as well as all the scout, guide and other groups. Please do remember to send in certificates and trophies awarded out of school so we can recognise their achievements.

Amazingly we have only three weeks to the Spring holiday and the end of the Pentecost term. In the last week year 6 are away on their residential at PGL near Shrewsbury so, as you can imagine, they are very excited about that.

Fete – Saturday 27^th June 11am-2pm

This week we are collecting groceries for our stall at the summer fete. Please send in any donations to your child(ren)’s class for adding to their class total.

In the following weeks we are collecting:-

w/b 11^th May   Toiletries

        18^th May  Gifts\Tombola

        1^st June   Toys\Bric a Brac

         8^th June  Groceries

       15^th June  Bottle Mufti on Friday 19^th June where children can come to school out of uniform; donated bottles will be used on the bottle stall at the fete. 

        22^nd June  Chocolate, plants and cakes in on Friday

Wake Up & Shake Up

In this lovely weather what better way to start the day than with a very enjoyable, short exercise routine! The children come in and leave their bags and coats and go straight to the junior playground so please do come along and join in if you would like. Any level of participation is welcome, the new “Blame it on the Boogie” routine is a perfect way to start.

Many thanks to the children and staff for devising and leading these sessions – they really do help start the day with a smile.

Lunches

From this week a picnic bag lunch is available in addition to the two hot options. The children will be allowed to choose the sandwich (with a choice of four fillings – ham and salad, egg mayonnaise, cheese or tuna mayonnaise), crudités, fruit selection and homemade cake\cookie or flapjack. The bags, like all the school lunches, are made fresh each morning and the cost is £2.

Choir

The choir will be giving a short concert at 2.30pm next Tuesday 12^th May. This will be the last event for the choir this year and the last for Mrs Cameron who has led the choir and played for us at so many events. The family are relocating to Wales at the end of May following the election of Bishop Gregory (Mr Cameron) as the 76^th Anglican Bishop of St. Asaph. I am sure you would all join with me in thanking Mrs Cameron for all her work with the school and in wishing all the family well in their new home. We shall miss them all very much.

DIARY DATES

Wednesday 6^th May Governing Body Meeting 7.30pm – to include proposed change to school finish time.

Wednesday 6^th May 3.15pm Eco-Club plant sale on the playground

 Saturday 9^th May First Holy Communion at St Joseph’s Church 11am

Monday 11^th – Friday 15^th May Key Stage 2 SATs (Year 6)

Tuesday 12^th May Choir Concert 2.30pm

Saturday 16^th May First Holy Communion at St. Joseph’s Church 11am

Monday 18^th – Friday 22^nd Year 6 to PGL

Tuesday 19^th May Year 3\4 to Hampton Court

Monday 25^th-Friday 29^th May Holiday

Monday 1^st June 8.50am School opens for the summer term

Assessments

Over the next weeks the end of year assessments are taking place. The newspapers and television reports are full of comment about testing but it is just a continuation of the teacher assessments which have been in progress all year. Please do encourage your children to keep them in perspective and not worry about them. Each child just needs to do their best, angels could do no more! If you have any questions about the process please do ask.

Absence

Please may I remind you about not taking holidays in term time. I understand all the reasons behind taking children out of school, especially the financial and logistical ones, but extended absence means that the child misses that area of teaching and this can make the next step in the learning very difficult. No matter what extra work is done the experience of that lesson in the class cannot be regained. It can also affect the way a child works both before and after the absence resulting in more lost learning. Increasingly some families are extending school holidays by a day or two (there are twelve opportunities for this to happen) and in a short time the odd day can add up to one or two weeks missed. The school does not authorise absence in term time except in exceptional circumstances.

COMMUNITY

Brigidine School, Windsor drop-in day Thursday 14^th May 9.30am-3.30pm.

Girls aged 2-18, boys 2-7. More details www.brigidine.org.uk or 01753 863779

Holiday Club – Activity Day Tuesday 26^th May

£15 for the day, bring a packed lunch. 9am-3pm see Michelle or Sharon to book your place: A fantastic way to occupy the children and give you one less day to organise.

European Elections Thursday 4^th June 2009

One classroom is being used as a polling station for the elections in June. As this has separate access at the front of the building the rest of the school will be open as usual.

Parent Support Adviser

Mrs Lisa Mack has joined our 4inone extended schools cluster as a parent support adviser. If you wish to contact her please ask at the office, ring 07824 357988  or email her at : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Year 4\5 Netball Tournament

Yesterday our team played in the netball tournament at Newlands with 16 other schools. The children played brilliantly in all their six matches, the semi-final and then the final where they only lost in extra time. Thank you to Miss McDonald and Mrs Hurrell for coaching the children and to all the parents who helped with transport and supported the team.