NEWSLETTER

William Gilbert Endowed School

11^th January 2005 No 289

Dear Parents

Welcome to the new term, may I wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year. In particular the Governors and I extend a warm welcome to new parents and pupils who have joined the nursery and classes in school this term. The staff and I hope your partnership with the school will be a long, happy and successful one.

NEW STAFF

We are pleased to welcome Mrs Greasley as our Red Class Teacher and Ruth Quarton as our temporary Yellow Class Teaching Assistant to William Gilbert.

P.T.A. MEETING

The PTA meeting scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 12^th January, has been postponed and will now take place on Wednesday 26^th January at 7.30 p.m. The PTA committee apologise for any inconvenience this causes.

TSUNAMI APPEAL

The staff and pupils are anxious to raise money for the Tsunami appeal and I will write to you following our staff and school council meetings this week with our proposals.

ANAPHYLAXIS CAMPAIGN

Thank you to all parents, relatives and friends of the school who gave so generously after the school concerts to our appeal for our chosen charity The Anaphylaxis Campaign. So far we have collected £1,242.00. We hope to add to this total during the rest of this academic year and make a presentation later in the summer term.

SCHOOL CLUBS

The evenings are just beginning to draw out again which is always uplifting. School clubs will resume week beginning Monday 24 January with the exception of Soccer Stars football which begins this week, Thursday 13^th January, details of which were sent home before Christmas.

If your child no longer wishes to partake in a club or if you wish to enquire if there are places available to join a club please contact me in writing.

PUNCTUALITY

May I respectfully remind you that the school day does begin at 8.55am and pupils should be on the playground ready for the bell before that time, but not before 8.40am. We currently have a number of pupils who are consistently late. I appreciate there are sometimes exceptional circumstances including weather and roadworks to which we are sympathetic but I would appreciate your co-operation in ensuring your child or children are regularly on time.

Pupils who do arrive late should enter school through the main entrance. It is important that Infant parents do not send their child across the playground once the playground is empty as after the door is locked and staff are in their rooms no one is around to see your child standing at the door to let them in.

Although getting to school on time is an issue please do not compromise the safety of all our pupils and their carers or indeed our local neighbours by parking without consideration.

ABSENCE FROM SCHOOL

For the information of new parents to the school, the procedure when your child is absent from school is as follows:

For holidays – 2 weeks notice is required and ‘application for holiday’ forms are outside the school office. Please note that holiday absence for more than 10 days cannot be approved and absence during May for Year 2 and 6 will not be approved due to SATs.

For sickness absence – parents should ring school on the first day of sickness – this information is passed onto the class teacher – when your child returns he/she should also bring with them a letter of explanation.

JUNIOR THEATRE VISIT

Year 3-6 will be visiting ‘The Old Rep’ in Birmingham to see Jungle Book next Wednesday 19^th January. Lunch arrangements will be as normal but earlier, before departure. Pupils may take their own sweets (no chocolates or chewing gum) and need no money.

A drink and packet of crisps will be provided on the return journey. We anticipate returning to school at approximately 4.30 p.m.

In order to ensure all the children are collected safely please come into school and wait in the school hall. All pupils will be escorted back into school to their respective classrooms ready for your collection.

BLACK PARKER COAT

A black parker coat has been found in church, age 11/12, but no one seems to know which school it is from. If anyone wishes to claim the coat please contact the school office.

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

The holiday dates for the rest of this academic year are as follows:

2005	Spring Term
	Half Term	School closes Friday 11^th February
		School re-opens Monday 21^st February
	Easter	School closes Thursday 24^th March
	Summer Term	School re-opens Monday 11^th April
	Half Term	School closes Friday 27^th May
	Inset Day	School closed Monday 6^th June
		School re-opens Tuesday 7^th June
		School closes for Summer Friday 22^nd July

As always, if you wish to speak to me please do not hesitate to make an appointment, call in or approach me outside.

Yours sincerely

S J Whyld

Headteacher