Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the World Book day activities. There were some great costumes and amazing potatoes. Well done to all involved.
A special thank you to Mrs Murray who kindly arranged (and wrapped) lots of lovely prizes of pre-loved books for the teachers to award to the children. Such a lovely idea!
Tracy and Mike
DON’T FORGET NON UNIFORM TOMORROW FOR ELM, YEW, ASH AND WILLOW
Attendance for the week beginning: 24th February: 96.5% – on target. Thank you.
Year 3 – 95.0%
Year 4 – 97.3%
Year 5 – 96.3%
Year 6 – 97.4% – third week running (just!) Excellent work, year 6.
What’s happening next week? w/b 9th March: Whole school Science week – there is so much going on! Have a look at the timetable.
Tuesday: Netball @ Strode (A team v St Bens and B team v West Pennard)
Thursday: B team Netball -v- Brookside @ Strode
Science week at home
You may want to get involved in some science next week at home as well. Miss Litchfield has found this:
You may want to try one or both activities. If you do, take a photo and send it to your class teacher via Class Dojo. They will then forward it to Miss Litchfield.
Weekly maths to do at home
There are many ways in which you can help your child at home. Each week we will post possible activities to try at home on the school website. I’ve put a couple of activities on there to get you started:
Year 4 multiplication test – June 2020
Please click on the link (the title) above for information for parents about the statutory multiplication tables check taking place in June 2020. Alternatively, you can download the booklet here:
Vashti Hardy – visiting author
Vashti will be visiting the school on Friday 20th March. Mr Mullen has informed the children about her visit – we are very much looking forward to it. I have read “Brightstorm” and can thoroughly recommend it.
Your children should have come home this week with an order form for purchasing Vashti’s books – (if you so wish to). You are invited to purchase your own copies of Vashti Hardy’s books to have signed by the writer on the day of her visit to Elmhurst Junior School. Please return your order to your class teacher by lunchtime on Friday March 13th with the exact cash payment. The letter and order form can also be found here:
Murder Most Unlady-like by Robin Steve
Don’t forget to read Mr Mullen’s latest book review on the website. This one ties in nicely with World Book Day as one of the books on offer is a short story involving these characters.
Access to school and security
You may have noticed that we have, as a result of the thefts at the start of the school year, increased security at the start and end of the school day. The front door is now locked before and after school and you will need to press the buzzer to gain access.
A few parents are still taking their children to the classroom and collecting them at the end of the day. The children have settled in enough now to be able to go to and from the playground by themselves. There is no need to take them to class.
Just a reminder: school starts at 8.45am.
Pupil absence
If your child is absent from school, please call the school office. If the school is closed, please leave a message on the answerphone. It will be picked up when the office reopens.
Some parents message on either Class Dojo or Messenger. Whilst these are effective means of communication, it can mean that messages don’t always get passed on. (I quite often forget to pass the messages on or get the wrong name of the child – this leads to lots of confusion!) A phone call to the school office is always going to be the most efficient. Thank you.
A gentle reminder
Part of growing up is learning to take more responsibility for your belongings. Children will misplace things. They will forget things. Recently, more and more parents are contacting the school asking us to track down items that children have left behind at the end of the school day.
Whilst we are always willing to help in emergencies etc, we do not have time to run around and find things after school – this is something that either the child could follow up the following day or the parent needs to return to school with the child to track it down. We thank you for your support in this.
Okehampton Residential trip – September 2020
Just a reminder that the deadline for payment for the Year 6 (current year 5) trip to Okehampton is rapidly approaching. The full payment of £300.00 (£150 for families in receipt of pupil premium funding) needs to be made by the end of May 2020.
If the full payment has not been received by the school by Monday 1st June, any monies paid will be returned to the parent and the child’s name taken off the list. There is no negotiation around this date as we will need to confirm the final numbers with the team at Okehampton and pay the invoice. Thank you for your continued support in this.
Hestercombe sleeping bags and roll mats
We are still in desperate need of more sleeping bags and roll mats for the year 4 Hestercombe trip in May. If you know of anyone or a group who could lend us some, please could you get in touch? Thank you.
After school football
Advance notice that there will be no after school football for the year 3 & 4 group on Wednesday 25th March and Wednesday 1st April.
On that note, well done to all the Year 4 children who played in the matches on Wednesday in the rain! Thank you, also, to the children who stepped in at the last minute. We couldn’t have done it with out you.
Summer term 1 after school clubs
We are in the process of arranging after school clubs for the summer term. Keep an eye on the newsletter for more details. Summer term 1 clubs will run from Monday 20th April to w/c Monday 20th May.
We are also going to try signing up to clubs via the school website. A paper copy will still be available for those who need it.
Don’t forget to check the news section on the website regularly. We don’t always wait for the newsletter to send out updates etc. We tend to publish them on the website as they come in. Head to the NEWS tab for a regular check in!
And finally…
A good deed for the week: Hold the door open for someone.