St Andrew’s CE Primary School

Reception The new children in Reception have settled in really well and are getting used to life at St. Andrew's.

Miss Doyle and Miss Law are now sending a Reception Weekly Newsletter to keep parents informed of their children’s activities within school.

As part of their topic on “Ourselves” they were excited to welcome two babies into their classroom this week.

A Reading meeting for the Reception class will be held on Tuesday 5 October at 6.30 p.m. and Wednesday 6 October at 3.00 p.m. Thank you mums.

Parents in School
Many thanks to the parents/friends/relatives who are helping in school; we couldn't manage without you.

If anybody would like to help in school in any way please contact Mrs Devlin who will be pleased to take your details.

Homework Homework is now being set on a regular basis. All staff have made their schedule and expectations clear to parents and children.

Whilst we do appreciate that parents lead busy lives, we cannot emphasise enough the extent to which your children benefit from your support. Together we can achieve.

Extra Curricular Activities
Before and after school clubs this term include: Choral Club, Brass, Woodwind, Judo,
Football, Netball, ICT, Crafts, Homework Club and Cookery. Thank you to all staff who are making these activities possible.

Netball
Netball will be starting next week. Letters have been sent out this week and it is aimed at children in Years 3-6

St Andrew’s Band Our school band performed brilliantly on stage at the Bridgewater Hall on 11 September conducted by Gwen Smith and Lee Rigg and in unison with Smithy Bridge Primary, St James’ CE, Littleborough and Wardle. They were a credit to our school and to their families. Many thanks to Jane Conway who trains our band in school.

New band players wantedFollowing our Brass Band’s success at the Bridgewater Hall on the 11 September, we are looking to recruit new members to join our enthusiastic band. Experience is not necessary.

Each member receives 30 minutes tuition per week with a qualified music teacher from Wardle High School and takes part in band practice at lunchtime on the same day.

St Andrew’s Brass Band performs throughout the year at different events including the Rochdale Music Festival.

The Band will be performing for the whole school during assembly on Friday 15 October. If your child expresses an interest and you would like them to learn an instrument and join the band, please complete and return the letter that will be sent home following the assembly or contact school for more information.

Attendance
Thank you to parents who are contacting school to explain your child's absence.

Mrs. Ainsworth will continue to contact you to establish a reason for absence if no notification has been received by 10.00 a.m. on the first day of absence.

The Governors continue to be disappointed at the number of requests being made for authorisation for family holidays during term time. Whilst they appreciate the circumstances behind many of the requests, they wish to reiterate that absence in term time can only be authorised in truly exceptional circumstances.

Walk on Tuesday We are again continuing our Walk to School initiative on Tuesdays. All children will continue to mark on an in-class wall chart when they walk to school on a Tuesday. At the end of the half term children who have walked every Tuesday will be entered into a prize draw to win a £10 voucher. October is also Walk to School month and details of Walk to School Week will follow in due course.

Please help us by encouraging your child to walk to school every Tuesday. We appreciate it is difficult to walk from home for some children who live further away from school. However, we encourage ALL children to walk for part of their journey by suggesting that if they travel by car, parents could park away from Union Road and then walk the rest of their journey. This would then enable them to be involved in our Walking Scheme. Please support us in our efforts to keep your children safe and reduce the traffic on your child’s journey to and from school.

Eco-Schools Following the award of our “Green Flag” in the summer term of 2009, we are going to be continuing our work towards our next Green Flag assessment and further details of this year’s initiatives will follow in due course. Please help us in the meantime with this by collecting the Morrisons’s Vouchers to allow us to purchase further equipment for school.

Years 5 and 6 have taken part in a range of workshops as part of Local Environment Action Fortnight over the past 2 weeks. These focused on International Trade and Tobacco Challenge.

Our present Eco-code remains as:

• Remember to recycle reduce and reuse
• Everyone should save energy by turning off lights, turning the heating down and working outside when we can
• Care for yourself and your environment by walking to school and eating 1 piece of fruit everyday
• You are all responsible
• Care for the environment around you – look after the new and old wildlife, plants and trees
• Litter doesn’t belong on the floor – pick it up
• Eco-schools in action

Uniform Could I please ask once again that ALL items of clothing worn in school are clearly labelled. It is distressing for children who cannot find their belongings and very time consuming trying to match ‘un-named’ clothing with the rightful owner. This is especially important when the weather turns colder and children begin to wear hats, scarves and gloves which easily get lost.

Uniform Sale Thank you to everyone who attended or helped to make our recent uniform sale a success. We made over £200 and will certainly repeat the event for the spring term.

Health & Safety issues: Bags
As you are aware, cloakroom facilities in school are very limited. We do ask that if children need to bring a bag to school that it is small enough to hang on their coat peg along with their coat and PE bag, otherwise coats or bags fall on the floor which is a real Health and Safety issue.

Green for Pakistan Day
Our School Council have organised their first event of the year. The 29 September was our Wear Green for Pakistan Day. The children wore a green item in addition to their school uniform, and raised £93.00 to help children who have been affected by the floods in Pakistan.

Francis House Butterfly Appeal
Thank you to everybody who bought a soft toy key ring. £120 has been raised for the Francis House Children’s Hospice. I am sorry some children were disappointed as the key rings sold so quickly, but the supply we get is always limited so that all schools can take part.

Harvest Our Harvest Thanksgiving Service will take place on Friday 8 October at 9.30 a.m. at St Andrew’s Church. Parents are welcome to attend.

Trips
We have had two successful trips already this term. Year 3 went to Touchstones as part of their topic on the Romans and Year 6 to Crucial Crew.

It has been a privilege to get such positive feedback from the children, their teachers and helpers, and from the adults running the workshops. Well done.

Free School Meals
Mrs Devlin has received several copies of the Free School Meals and Uniform Grants Application forms. If you would like more information please contact school.

Family Assemblies Year 4 and Year 3 held Family Assemblies this term. Photographs can be accessed on the school website.

Forthcoming Events in October 

• 4 October Walk to School Week
• 5 October Reception Reading Meeting 6.30 p.m. (evening)
• 6 October Reception Reading Meeting 3.00 p.m. (afternoon) (repeated)
• 8 October Harvest Festival in Church
• 13 October Year 5 Touchstones
• 14 October Y2 Family Assembly
• 18 October Energy Saving Week
• 19 October Y6 Touchstones
• 21 October Y1 Family Assembly
• 22 October Non Uniform Day 
• Friday 22 October – School Closes for Half Term and re-opens at
  8-55 a.m. on Monday 1 November.