Term 2 2018 News Bulletin

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  We have had a long and busy term this year with a great deal of hard work completed by the pupils so well done to all and enjoy the well-earned break.

We are pleased that Mr Pudifoot has had his successful operation and is now beginning a steady recovery.

Last academic year we began a consultation process to reword our mission statement and create a strapline to best represent Blockley School.  We are pleased that we are now able to announce our new school mission statement and strapline.

Blockley School Mission Statement

Blockley School creates a caring environment where everyone is encouraged to be the best they can, with each child supported to love learning, develop resilience, respect difference, celebrate success and value others within a Christian environment.

Strapline – LEARN

Lead

Encourage

Aspire

Respect

Nurture

We hope you will agree that these words sum up the successful, caring environment that we aim to achieve here in school.

This success is only possible with the right attitude to learning from our pupils, supportive parents/carers and the correct resources. 

As you will hear in the press National Funding of Schools is an ongoing problem and we are all feeling the financial squeeze.  We are therefore very grateful for any financial support from the wider community.  We are thankful for the support of parents and carers through the Friends of the School.  Your donations make a real difference to the broad balance of education that we aim to give Blockley pupils.   We are also very fortunate to have supportive businesses locally who understand the constraints we face at this time and are willing to give time and money to support the school.

Books

We hope your KS2 children have been as excited as we are about the wonderful new range of books that we have been able to purchase thanks to the Friends of the School donations.  Each KS2 child has been individually reassessed to ensure that they begin reading at the appropriate level and has had the opportunity to bring home a new book.  Please ensure that you encourage your child to read these at home and record their reading.  The books can be discussed as a family to establish understanding which supports their comprehension development.  Thank you so much for the support of FOS without which we would not have this great resource which will help inspire and support literacy.  Reading has been found to enhance connectivity in the brain and can increase our emotional intelligence, so good medicine for all!

Lockers

Our corridor is looking bright, colourful and tidy thanks to the addition of metal lockers for every pupil in Classes 2, 3, 4 and 5.   Coats and bags are easily found and pupils are enjoying having their own storage space.  We are extremely grateful to Northcot Brick Ltd who donated the lockers to school.  They were kind enough to send their employees to fit them in place and alter notice boards etc.  They have done a fantastic job and we are sure you will join with us in thanking them for this donation.  In addition we are thankful to Cotek Papers who donated money towards the project.  We are now in the process of refurbishing the previous cloakroom area to provide a valuable additional space in school.

ParentPay

Due to continuing funding squeeze it is even more imperative that government funding is spent on the education of the pupils.  We cannot loan money to parents/carers through ParentPay so please can you ensure that ParentPay accounts are kept in credit.  This means that you put money onto your ParentPay account before school services such as Before School Care and After School Care are used and before school meals are taken.  You will then see your balance decrease weekly as the services are used.  The use of these services is entered manually on a weekly basis, normally on a Friday or Monday, so you will then be able to see what has been used.

If you think you may be eligible for free school meals then funds will be available to support your child in school even if your child is in reception or KS1 and receives universal free school meals.

www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals

School Meals

The price of food has increased and our dinner money income hasn’t.  Therefore, along with other Gloucestershire Schools, it is necessary to increase the cost of a school meal to cover our costs.

School meals will therefore increase to £2.40 per KS2 pupil beginning after Christmas in Term 3.  Meals for those in reception and KS1 remain free to parents/carers under the current government scheme.

We are sure that you will agree that a freshly prepared hot meal at a cost of £2.40 remains good value for money.  Many thanks for your support.

Christmas Shoe Boxes

Your generosity was evident earlier in the year when we had our Christmas Shoe Box Appeal for Operation Christmas Child.  It is important to make our pupils aware of those less fortunate than themselves and how they may be able to help them.  Filling a shoe box with gifts for another child is a great way to do this.  We were thrilled to be able to send 36 shoe boxes off with those from Blockley Church to help children in need elsewhere in the world and for them to experience a little Christmas joy. 

Parent Governor

As per the letter that was issued to all parents via Parentpay earlier this week the Governing Body will have a vacancy for a Parent Governor at the end of this term.  Governors are directors of the Academy and as such are registered at Companies House.  If you have the skills, time and commitment to fulfil this role then please speak to the clerk, Jane Harwood, via the school office.

Maths evenings and Maths Clubs

Thank you to all the parents/carers that were able to attend the KS1 and KS2 Maths evenings earlier in the year.  We hope you found them useful and that they gave you the knowledge to assist your child’s learning at home.

Thank you also for your support for those invited to our Maths Clubs.  These are really helping boost your child’s learning in this area.

Court Barn

Class 4 enjoyed the experience of running Court Barn Museum at the beginning of November.  They had fun using the till and were able to participate in an activity making a chocolate box linking in with their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory topic.   They also were able to see the history of Chipping Campden when they all went for a walk around the town. 

Remembrance Poppies

The results of the creative efforts of each class contributed to the wonderful display of poppies at Blockley Church for Remembrance this year.  The chancel was covered in poppies made by the local community to remember those who fell in the wars.  We hope you managed to see the display over Remembrance Weekend.

Sunday 11^th November

Blockley School was well represented as a number of pupils attended the remembrance service at Blockley Church and laid wooden crosses to remember the dead.  The Head Boy and Head Girl read beautifully during the service.   Thank you to all those that attended and represented the school so excellently.

Floorball

Our Floorball teams have participated in the Floorball Competitions held at Chipping Campden School.  They play short, fast games against local schools and the Year 7 pupils at Chipping Campden.  Games have been won and lost but all enter with a competitive spirit and a great deal of enthusiasm. 

Children in Need

We loved seeing the variety of spotty attire in school on the 16^th November.  Thank you for your donations to Children in Need.  A total of £163.70 was raised for the charity.

Residential

Our Year 4 and Year 5 residential visits to Viney Hill Christian Adventure Centre, in the Forest of Dean, took place at the end of November.  The pupils had an amazing time, learnt new skills, challenged themselves and discovered hidden talents.  They participated in activities such as bridge building, tunnels, bush craft, navigation, climbing wall and crate stacking. 

We have provisionally booked the dates for 2018-2019 so we hope the current year 3 and year 4 pupils are keen to enjoy the experience.

Provisional dates for 2019

Current Year 3 pupils: 20^th – 22^nd November

Current Year 4 pupils: 27^th – 29^th November

Year 6 residential

Letters will be sent out in January regarding our plans for the Year 6 residential but in advance we would like to inform you of the dates: 10^th July until 12^th July 2019.  We plan for this to be a group end of year celebration of each pupil’s time at Blockley School and good preparation for their transition to secondary school.  We have booked for a visit to the activity centre, Hooke Court, in Dorset.  Please take a look at their website to see what they have to offer and look out for the January communication from school via ParentPay.

https://www.hookecourt.co.uk/residential/

Nativity

Well done to all the reception and Key Stage 1 pupils for their fantastic performance in ‘It’s a Baby’ and for the FOS help.

Christmas

We are looking forward to the end of term Christmas activities next week.

In particular please remember to send party clothes into school on Monday for Reception/KS1 and Tuesday for KS2.  Pupils need to wear normal uniform into school.  On Thursday they can wear a Christmas jumper on top of their normal uniform and enjoy the school Christmas dinner.

You are welcome to join us for our Church Christmas Service on Thursday 20^th December 9.30am.  This will be held in Blockley Church.

We finish at 2pm on Friday 21^st December so please collect your children promptly as there is no After School Care.

Staffing

Staff have been on literacy training this term.  Miss Alcock went to a KS1 literacy training event and Mrs Furniss a KS2 event.

Paula Daley-Allan has been successful in gaining a position as a Financial Controller at a school that is closer to her home.  We are sure you will join us in wishing Paula all the best in her new role and thank her for the fantastic work she has done at Blockley for the past 4 years.  Recruitment for her replacement is already underway.

Emergency Closure

If the school is closed for any reason the closure will be displayed on the Gloucestershire Closed School Website.  Where possible, we will place the information on our school website and send a message via ParentPay. 

Term 3 – dates for the diary

Swimming

Class 4 are swimming on the following dates next year:

16^th January, 23^rd January, 30^th January, 6^th February, 13^th February.

Sharing Assembly

We run a series of sharing assemblies where pupils have the opportunity to share their work with their peers and relatives.  We encourage parent/carers of the pupils in the class running the assembly to come and watch.  Please keep a note of these dates in your diary.

11^th January – Class 4

18^th January – Class 2

25^th January – Class 1

1^st February – Class 3

8^th February – Class 5

Class 1

We welcome Class 1 parents/carers to visit and work with their children during the following times.

28^th January – Literacy open hour

29^th January – Maths open hour

Parent/Carers Evening

11^th February – 3.30pm-6.30pm

12^th February – 3.30pm-6.30pm

We look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Monday 7^th January at 8.40am.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Blockley School Staff