Part of the Watling Valley

Ecumenical Partnership

Christ the Sower Ecumenical Primary School, Singleton Drive, Grange Farm, Milton Keynes, MK8 0PZ. T: 01908-867356 F: 01908-867165 M: 07826015887

E: school@ctsmk.org.uk W: www.ctsmk.org.uk @CtSMK

Loving, Learning,

Growing Together

These super chil-dren have appeared in the Golden Book

this week. Fantastic!

Rachel & Charlie H (Daisies of the

Week) Alfie & Dot (Sunflower)

Libby & Lesedi (Poppy)

Macy & Amber (Thistle)

Adam & Farrah (Conker)

Millie & Riley (Acorn)

Dayspring & Aminat

(Pumpkin) Charmaine &

Dineo (Clover)

Alice & Harry (Mustard)

Darcy, Vanessa & Stevie

(Sycamore) Elena & Leah

(Catkin) All the children who kept their Golden Time

(Barley) Reece & Victor

(Wheat)

Congratulations! Calendar for the next two weeks!

4 April 2014: Our school community newsletter, usually issued every other Friday

21 Apr 22 Apr

23 Apr 24 Apr

25 Apr

30 Apr

1 May 2 May

EASTER BANK HOLIDAY! NO SCHOOL! School starts for the Summer Term Watling Valley Easter Service School Council reconvenes 2.30 pm Foundation 2 Trip to Mead Open Farm Y6 Parent SAT Experience 6 pm (see over) First Orchestra rehearsal of term Curriculum Newsletters issued BAG2SCHOOL Collection. Early Learning Phase School Cleaning Day! Resources/Environment Committee 7 pm Parent Council Meeting 7.30 pm Catkin Class Collective Worship 9 am

This hashtag appeared on a tweet on Wednesday. It seems that we still are not sure whether Goldilocks (that pretty girl with cotton socks) did actually break and enter, eat porridge, destroy chairs and dirty beds with her shoes. What do you think? We saw the most fantastic performances of Roald Dahl’s “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and opinion is still divided about whether she should “get off scot-free”, spend “10 years in the clink” or get eaten by a bear. Years 3 and 4, under the guidance of their teachers and TAs, really did themselves proud, especially on Wednesday when the singing was clearer than ever, the dancing more animated

and the speak-ing and articula-tion absolutely w h a t w a s needed to carry this funny and slightly risqué story. Many thanks to the children who have excelled themselves!

A blessed and peaceful EASTER to you all

It has been a VERY hectic last week! There has been

the Y3/4 performance of Goldilocks, Foundation Easter

Bonnet parades, Y1 Easter egg decorating, Y5 planet

designs, governors’ awards, bikeability, Easter Cracked

for Y6, and sports events (and triumphs!)....read on!

Clean the School! As part of our

Comenius partner-ship, we decided to

have a “Spring Cleaning “ day in April. We have

chosen 30th April for this exercise,

because the

Helsingborg school are doing it then, as part of their school

celebration of Walpurgis’ Night—the north European

end of winter. More details to follow after Easter.....

YEAR 4 ARE GOING ON A RESIDENTIAL! We’ve arranged a residential visit for outdoor and adventurous activities for Year 4 in July. The dates will be 7-9 July, and each class will attend for two days and one night at the centre, with

fully trained staff. Activities include sailing, climbing, high ropes, teambuilding, raft-building, caving, etc. It is going to be a lot of fun and we have found a way, using some of the government’s

PE grant to schools, of subsidising it quite heavily. Watch out for a letter home about this straight after we come back after Easter! The children are already VERY excited! Prayer

Pointers

The Chaplaincy team would once again really value your prayer support as we seek to underpin all that the school does with prayer. We meet to pray regularly and if there are any prayer requests that you have and would like prayer for, there is a special box in the Reception Foyer for you to put requests in. These can be anonymous and will always be treated confidentially. Please pray for:

Mrs King and her family as they move to Lincolnshire

Children starting at Christ the Sower after Easter

For staff and children to get a good rest after a term of fantastically hard work!

TUG-OF-WAR! We lost a plate and won a shield! On 1st April, a gang of tough Y5/6 children (Olivia, Fleur, Toni, Ore, Brook, Freddie, Ryan, Charity and Jessica) all took part in the Milton Keynes Schools Tug of War Competition. We were entered in the “Large Schools” division and beat Long Meadow, Rickley Park and Middleton Primary Schools, whilst we

lost to Bishop Parker and to New Bradwell. As this placed us third in the group, we were entered into the Shield Com-petition for those who came 3rd and 4th in the heats. We beat all the schools we pulled against (Long Meadow, Bradwell, Orchards, Tickford Park and Two Mile Ash), and WON the Shield competition. Well done to all 9 of the chil-

dren—illustrated are the awards they won.

These Y5 children have spent 3 days becoming profi-cient bicyclists and have worked with the MK Bike-ability Team on bike skills, safety and road manners!

Free School Meals for children up to Y2: Thank you to all of

those who have completed the survey on whether you will be likely to take

up free school meals or not. These are the final results of the survey:

We are assuming

that the majority of

those who did not

send back reply slips

are not interested in

their children taking

up the Universal Free School Meal offer in September, and that therefore

these figures are a maximum. If you still have not completed the slip (we sent

out an urgent text on Wednesday) please do so and return it so we can get

the best possible picture of what our caterers will have to provide. Thanks!

Cohort Number of responses

Yes May-be

No % take

up

Y1 (Sept) 34 (57%) 27 2 5 79%

Y2 (Sept) 39 (65%) 31 1 7 79%

These 14 children were the winners this term of the Governors’

Awards—given every term to the child in each class who contributes

most to the type of school we are trying to be—hard-working, com-

passionate, serving, putting others first, respectful of all. These are

worthy winners, and some of the certificate citations really show how

greatly these boys and girls are cooperating with all of us who know

that Christ the Sower is a special place and can become even more

special. Thanks to Mrs Humes (parent governor) for helping with the

presentation. My thanks and congratulations to all...

April 2014

Y2 go to the Ballet....to celebrate all their learning about Peter Rabbit

and Beatrix Potter, Year 2 dressed up in their glad rags yesterday and

went to the ballet—well, they went to Pumpkin class and watched the

Peter Rabbit ballet on the screen! A good time was had by all! Easter Eggs Decorated by Y1!

To help parents get a handle on just what your children will be going through and how best to support them, we are holding our annual Y6 Parental SATs experience! The eve-ning we have set aside for this event is the first Thursday back after the holidays—24th April, from 6—7 p.m. Please put this in your diaries. Your children have worked tremendously hard this year and it is a way to learn a little more about the challenges they face in May.

Bikeability

.....The Full English Family Folk Session!!!! is a fun folk music workshop open to all abilities, designed to get the whole family playing together and discovering folk tunes from the archive - with a bit of dancing thrown in for good measure! Each session is self-contained and will look at different tunes and traditions, but you are welcome to come to more than one. Tunes will be simple and can be read or picked up by ear. Easy alternative parts will be sug-gested where appropriate, and the emphasis will be on ways of combining players of all ages and abili-ties rather than just teaching an instrument. Please bring your own instrument. The sessions will be led by experienced tutors and folk musicians Jenny Newman and Andy Glass, assisted by guest tutors. Jenny teaches violin at Christ the Sower, and she and Andy led the ceilidh evening at CtS during the Comenius visit! All adults need to be accompanied by children! Open to families or groups with children and adult carers, ideally with one adult to every child. Adults are responsible for their children and need to be prepared to assist and support their children’s in-volvement. We ask that all those coming as family/carer groups are prepared to be flexible to accommodate the musical needs of a wide range of player standard. Although free, family tickets need to be booked through the Stables Box Office on 01908 280800. Places are limited. (If you need additional information about the workshops or have an inquiry about the specific suitability for your family please con-tact education@stables.org).

WHEN? Sunday 27th April; Sunday 18th May; Sunday 15th June 2014, from 1 to 4 pm

EASTER BONNET PARADE! Foundation children and many parents

and grandparents had a super time taking

part in or watching the Easter Bonnet

Parade and a splendid display of Country

Dancing—a great way of celebrating

Easter with the children. Many, many

thanks to the teaching staff, TAs and

especially to those who came and pro-

vided such a great audience.

If you liked that, then you’ll love this.....