ARCHIVE - Newsletter

12th January 2007

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year.

Thank you Plausible Publishing A donation of £38 has been presented to the school as a thank you for the Christmas card promotion.

Fund Raising

A link is being set up from our web site to enable you to buy St Andrew's School uniform and indeed do your Tesco shop (amongst other things) via our web site which will in turn raise money for the school with every purchase. A limited stock of uniform will be kept at school just to show you the quality of the garments and there will be a postal order form available for anyone who is not on line. Once the link is set up just log on to www.standrewsyetminster.org.uk and go to the link www.getit4school.com and make your purchase.

'Save the Albatross Appeal'

Please send in your used postage stamps for this appeal.

EMERGENCY ARRANGEMENTS

Early warning 'phone tree' system.

In the event of a 'school closure' the 'phone tree' would work in this way: -
The school would phone a few nominated key parents who would then be asked to phone a number of other parents living in their area. . To set up the 'phone tree' it will be necessary to allow these nominated parents to have selected home phone numbers of others. I would be pleased if you would contact me by 16th January if you prefer this not to happen. The 'phone tree' will, hopefully, be with you during next week.
Please note that the school will also notify Orchard FM and Ivel FM about school closure and parents are, therefore, advised to listen to broadcasts.

Bus Children

The policy of the Education Transport Department is that if buses do not run in the morning, they will not run in the afternoons - even if the weather improves. If I am notified by one of the bus companies that their buses are not running in the morning, I will be available from about 8am to answer queries.
If parents choose to bring children to school in the morning they must also collect them in the afternoon. When road and weather conditions are 'marginal' it is up to individual bus drivers to decide whether or not to operate as it is felt that each driver is the best judge of what condition are likely to be on his particular route.

In the event of extreme weather during the school day, parents are advised to contact the school to make arrangements for the collection of their children. All pupils will remain in the care of school staff until parents arrive. Please note that, on an occasion such as this, I have decided that no child will travel home by bus in order to avoid the possibility of them arriving home to an empty house.

Clubs

Clubs start from Monday 15th January - please note that this is a continuation of the clubs run before Christmas and if a is child waiting to do a new club please collect a form from the school office so we can let them know when a place comes up.

SEAL Project

St Andrew's is embarking upon an exciting new project which, by its title, would suggest a link to wildlife preservation. However, the SEAL project is really focused on the SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL ASPECTS of LEARNING. Our aim is to further enhance the opportunities available to all our children to ensure that they are settled, happy and confident in school and to promote the recognition of the importance of emotional development and its implications for each child's learning.

Project themes are completed half termly, and between 15th Jan and 9th February all children will be 'GOING FOR GOALS'

As part of this theme we will be exploring how children can motivate themselves in their learning and across the school. As pat of the theme they will be asked to set their own goals, think about how they learn best and consider how they might make wise choices
This half term your child will bring home some cards with activities on them. These will help your child to tell you about what they have been doing, suggest some things to do together and provide some ideas for you to try out in your family.
Jackie Pitcher, Sam Willis or any class teacher would be happy to talk about this with you if you would like.

Mrs Daphne Blakey-Specialist Dyslexic teacher

Daphne works with many children at St Andrew's School as their Specialist Dyslexic teacher and can offer private out of school tuition where she has a wide range of resources to help with literacy skills. If you feel your child may benefit with some one to one support contact her on 01935 872365

Dates for Diary

15th January - Clubs start.
16th January - swimming sessions for Class 4 start (weekly).
18th January - School Census day.
18th January - PTA Meeting.
25th January - Class 3 & 4 visit to see Jacolly Puppet Theatre.
2nd February -Unicef 'Day of Change'.
12th February - 6pm Leeson House Meeting - Class 5.
13th February - Friary Trip - Class 4.
Half Term - week of 19th - 23rd February.
2nd March - 'Box Top for Books' tokens closing date.
5th March - 10 am - Barnardo's Assembly
12th to 16th March - Leeson House residential trip.
14th March - The Sherborne Prep School under 10 football tournament.
30th March - Staff Training Day.
31st March to 15th April - Easter Holiday.
2nd - 6th July - PGL Trip - Class 6.
7th May - Bank Holiday.
28th May - Bank Holiday - Half term 28th to 3rd June.
20th July last day of term.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Williams
Head teacher