Issue 3 Spring Term — 23rd January 2020

It is with much sadness that I have to let you know that the lovely Mrs Lane will be leaving us at the end of the Spring term. Mrs Lane began working here in March 2003 as a Teaching Assistant and in 2004 became a permanent member of staff. After many years in the classroom, she moved into an admin role in the school office in 2015. Mrs Lane is looking forward to spending more time with her family and being able to take holidays out of term time! She has made a huge contribution to the life of the school in so many different ways and will be greatly missed by all. We have now began the recruitment process to replace Mrs Lane and if you are interested in joining our admin team, you will find details of the vacancy we will have on page 4.

Last Friday morning 3 Birch’s assembly was delivered to a packed hall. Thanks to all of the parents who came as well as, of course, to Mrs Hamilton and her team for preparing the children so well. The Star Wars introduction was certainly attention grabbing and a great way in to hearing all about their topic. Well done children.

The Polar explorer Jan Meek led a fascinating workshop on Friday afternoon for Year 6. The children listened well and learned loads so thanks to the staff team for organising it.

After school on Friday the Year R Handwriting information session for parents was helpful and explained how we teach cursive (joined) handwriting. Thanks for leading this, Reception staff.

On Monday, Year 1 held their Wild Things Wow day. The children loved it and it brought alive this piece of classic fiction. Many thanks to the parents for their imaginative costumes and for organising this, Year 1 staff team.

Wow day costumes - no need to buy! We try to give you at least 2 weeks notice but stress that costumes can be “make do and mend”. At the start of the year during the Meet the Teachers’ session we will inform you of the approximate timing of all WOW days and then, in termly newsletters, we will provide firm dates. We will also hold a “swap meet” at the end of each academic year during the last “Open House”, where Year Group costumes could be passed on to the classes coming up. I hope these initiatives will be helpful for working parents. We do listen ...

This week the children have been learning all about how to reduce plastic use. This event was launched by Christian from Plastic Oceans who led an engaging assembly to the whole school that the children loved. From Monday, the children’s work will be displayed in the hall so do visit with your child at the end of Open House on 7th Feb.

Just a reminder that we are supporting WIRES, the Australian Animal Rescue charity, by holding a mufti day this Monday, minimum donation of at least £1. We are also running a poster competition; entries to be submitted by this Monday to your child’s class teacher, with a 50p entry fee in a named envelope attached to the back of the poster. Posters should have your child’s name, class and house on the reverse.

We are pleased and proud that Mrs Chalk has been selected to act for the Trust in a consultancy role with one other senior leader from another Trust school when visiting Nyumbani School in Kitui County, Nairobi during the week commencing 3rd February. This Kenyan school is joining the Trust and we hope that it will be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Pencil cases in KS2 are becoming, once again, unmanageable. The closed pencil case MUST fit into a tray and all contents must be named. Contents should include one or two HB pencils—without toy tops and odourless, a black handwriting pen, a short ruler, one rubber, pencil sharpener (preferably barrel style to save time) and a glue stick. Optional items are one or two gel pens, green and pink highlighters and a small selection of coloured pencils.

On the same note, rucksacks are strongly discouraged in KS1 as they just need their slim bookbag daily. If you have bought one please save it for Year 3!

Don’t forget to ask for a free taster lunch with your child to inform your decision on whether to change to school lunches in KS2. The food is great; delicious, nourishing and filling and we really encourage you to make this change to join the 110 children in KS2 already taking advantage of our offer. Just ring the office on 282988. From a parent: “I wanted to express my support for the proposal for all children at the Raleigh to have school meals and not packed lunches. The school meals are delicious and nutritious. My daughter looks forward to her meals and thoroughly enjoys them. She also likes the social aspect of sitting down with her friends. I feel it is an important life skill to understand the importance of good food and how to interact socially with your peers over a meal. Also as a full time working Mum I do not want to make a packed lunch in the morning. School meals are also better for the environment in terms of packaging and waste.“ Please remember that we are a nut free school, this is especially important for those families bringing a packed lunch from home, for example pesto in a lunchbox is fine, but pesto with pine nuts is not. I do appreciate that parents are busy but please consider going through the contents of your child’s lunchbox with them so they know what they have inside, or change to school dinners!

If your family has a change in circumstances whether it be social or medical, please ensure that you let us know as we may be able to provide support.

If you have been contacted by the school office to renew your DBS, may I please remind you that the deadline to reapply is next Friday 31st January 2020.

Advance notice that we will be celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 5th March and children may come to school dressed as their favourite book character. Again, no need to buy a costume ...

Thank you to everyone who has submitted a team for the Flight Centre Schools’ triathlon. We have had an overwhelming response from across KS2, which is fantastic. Mrs Cass, one of our new governors, is leading on this alongside Miss Marsh our Sports Lead. Mrs Cass will now discuss with Restless Development how many of our teams can participate and we will let you know if we will need to draw teams from a hat, so watch this space and in the meantime, keep Sunday 3rd May in your diaries!

Please do try to support Horsley Library as so many libraries are closing. Use it or lose it!

Polite reminder that we are closed tomorrow Friday 24th January for staff training.

Lastly, may I respectfully remind you that good manners and common courtesy cost nothing. This applies to all my staff and should also apply to our parents and pupils. Thank you!

Are you able to donate any good quality toys!

Thank you so much to all those families who have already donated some fantastic toys for our extended day clubs who

are looking to replenish their toys, many of which we have had for several years and which are used daily.

We are still looking for a couple of large items; a new, strongly made garage (if possible with a ramp) and a new fort complete with soldiers. In addition, large dolls

and dolls clothes, a magic set & Uno cards all complete and in good condition would be welcomed.

Last week, 23 children arrived late, 14 children attended medical and dental appointments in school time and there were 2 unauthorised absences for family

holidays and 4 other unauthorised absences.

Correction Last week 126 children had 100% attendance not 114 as previously published. This week 117 children still have 100% attendance which is fantastic so very well done to them.

Congratulations to R Elm and Miss Pidduck who had 100% attendance last week.

Can you help?

We are looking for a qualified accountant who would be able to undertake the Independent

Examination of The Raleigh School Trust financial statements.

It should not be an onerous task and if you are interested and could help us or to find out more

about the requirements, please contact the School Office in the first instance.

Thank you.

A Tale of Fear By Max in 6 Willow

Joe and Simon had been planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for their entire lives; now they were there, at the base of the magnificent mountain. They were terrified. A huge tsunami of excitement and terror came crashing over them. “The world is big. So we have to be bigger.” said Joe. When night turned to day, Simon and Joe started the climb of their life time. Climbing up the mountain, feeling excited, they were making good progress towards the peak. Later on, the clouds parted to reveal the monster of a mountain both men were trying to climb. After they were done gossiping a quar-ter of the way up the mountain, Joe and Simon continued the ascent. Just then they had realised had they ran out of gas which they needed to melt snow -which is extremely important because they need water. They hadn’t packed enough! Despite the risk, they continued their climb. Eventually, they reached the summit. They were literally and figuratively on top of the world, and they were thrilled. As it was getting late, Simon and Joe started to dig a snow cave so they could rest for the night. When Joe and Simon awoke, they noticed the weather had changed from lovely to stormy. The howling wind and the snow blizzard gave a chill to the bone. As they were dehydrated –from lack of water- both of them were quite dizzy and woozy. Sadly, after packing up, they resumed their dangerous descent down. Unexpectedly, a small snow avalanche came tumbling down. CRASH! Luckily, with their lightning fast reflexes, they managed to evade it although they were very dizzy. They continued the climb down carefully, trudging on despite their terror. In the distance, there was a faint rumbling sound. Slowly, the sound got louder. Another unpredictable avalanche was coming, fast! Suddenly, huge icy rocks came out of the blue and crashed down onto them. One of the boulders, which was razor sharp, landed on Joe’s leg breaking it. SNAP!! “HELLLLLPPP!!!!!!” screamed Joe painfully. “Hang on buddy,” called Simon “I’m coming!” As quick as a flash, Simon rushed over to find Joe dangling off an overhang with his leg smashed. He was helpless.

Simon tried to pull him up. Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing. Simon felt something. The snow under him was

giving way. Simon whispered to himself, “I’m sorry. It has to be done.” Guilt over came him. He reached for his

penknife and cut the rope. Smash. He heard Joe crashing through the ice… Will Joe survive?

If you have child friendly sports books at home that you are no longer using, please consider donating them to the

library. Sporting magazines in good condition would also be welcome as would annuals.