Archive for May, 2004

28th May 2004

Friday, May 28th, 2004

The Friday News on a Thursday!

As the school is closed tomorrow for staff training, this edition of the Friday News is coming out today.

Inclusion and Equalities

At our INSET day tomorrow, we will be reviewing our policies and practices to ensure that we work in an inclusive way.

Two governors with a particular interest in inclusion, Ruth Thornton and Sharon Otoo, will be working with staff to develop an Inclusion Statement for the school.

Sharon and Ruth are very keen to engage parents and carers in the school’s work on inclusion and equalities. They have organised a series of meetings to discuss equalities issues at the school.

The next meetings for parents and carers will be on:

Wednesday 16th June at 9.00 am and Tuesday 17th June at 2.15 p.m. in the Family room. Do come along and have your views heard. The group will be discussing some questions that your children might have, for example:

“Why is my skin a different colour from my classmates’?”

“Why do some children not sit on the carpet at carpet time?”

“Is it OK for boys to kiss boys and girls to kiss girls?”

Arts Week

When we return after the holiday on Monday 7th June, we will launch straight into Arts Week. The curriculum will be opened up to the arts curriculum throughout the week to enable the children to take part in a range of artistic and creative activities. These will include:

Nursery children are making a giant withie dinosaur.

Reception class are creating images of the Pavilion.

Year 1 are making glow in the dark butterflies.

Year 2 will be making monkey sculptures based on the work of Henri Rousseau, after visiting Drusilla’s with Year 6.

Year 3 will be doing some art work based on the local environment.

Year 4 will be life drawing and making sculptures based on the work of Henry Moore.

Year 5 are making models of Victorian rooms.

Year 6 are making images which suggest movement.

There will also be a range of workshops and group activities going on throughout the week.

All parents are invited to view the products of Art Week at a special Art gallery on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th June during school time. For those of you who can’t make it during the school day, it will also be open Monday evening from 5.00 – 7.00 p.m. Special invitations will be coming home during Art week.

SATs

Year 2 children have now completed their National tests; they all approached them very calmly and sensibly.

Children in Years 3,4 and 5 have been completing their optional SATs over the past week. These are not statutory, but are helpful to the teachers when making their assessments of children’s progress.

Congratulations to:

Jazmine St Pierre in Year 3 who has achieved the British Gymnastics Level 5 Proficiency Award and

Chantal Pullen, also in Year 3, who has achieved the Level 6 Award.

Ruby Smith in Year 1 has passed the Level 4 Swimming Award. Well done all of you.

Letters Home This Week:

Y4 Swimming and cricket

Have a good half term holiday. We will see you on Monday 7th June.

21st May 2004

Friday, May 21st, 2004

Little Canada Meeting

On Tuesday 8th June at 3.10 p.m we will be holding a meeting for all year 6 parents to discuss the forthcoming trip to Little Canada trip. It will take place in the classroom

Congratulations to Miles Keep-Stothard

in year 5 who had his poem accepted for publishing in an anthology of children’s verse. Well done Miles.

Also to Sienna Gladwin

in year 5. Sienna has just been awarded her Bronze Swimming award. Well done Sienna.

Easter drawing competition

Four children from this school were chosen as winners in the Easter colouring competition run by Artworker. They are Jake Shirley and Jem Ward in Year 3, Joseph Foot in Reception and Katy Shirley in Year 1. They all have prizes waiting for them at Artworker in Grand Parade.

Summer is now with us

Can you please make sure your children are dressed suitably for school as they are outside during the hottest part of the day. They must have their shoulders covered to prevent them from burning. Children are not permitted to wear strapless shoes, which are very dangerous when children are going up and down stairs and running around the playground.

May I also take this opportunity to remind you that children should not be wearing make-up in school.

Year 5 visit to Preston Manor

Year 5 had a fantastic trip to Preston Manor today. They experienced life as a servant in Victorian times. They all looked amazing when they left school this morning. We are pleased that the weather was good for their afternoon in Preston Park.

Dancing with Year 4

Year 4 are lucky enough to have Sophie Amstell, an expert dancer, coming into their P.E sessions. She has been very impressed with the way the children have responded and the enthusiasm they have shown. We are hoping that some of these dancers will be able to perform their dance to us later in the term.

The cricket coach would like to invite children from Year 4 to join the after school cricket club on a Thursday. If your child is interested, please see the Office staff.

Working in Partnership

Children in Year 6 and Year 2 have been meeting on Wednesday afternoons and sharing stories together. The Year 6 children have shown how mature and responsible they can be and the Year 2 children have really enjoyed sharing their reading skills with some older children. We are building on this fantastic teamwork with a joint trip to Drusillas on Monday 7th June.

Reminder

School finishes for this half term on Thursday 27th May and reopens on Monday 7th June.

Letters Home This Week:

Y6 and Y2 – trip to Drusillas

Nursery and Reception – trip to Tilgate Park

Y4 – letter about Ms Sawdon’s absence

14th May 2004

Friday, May 14th, 2004

Jump Rope for Heart

We raised the very commendable total of £760 for this worthwhile cause in the sponsored skip. The school receives ¼ of this (£190) towards school funds. Thank you all for your support.

Congratulations to Sophie Walters in Year 1.

I was most impressed to see Sophie’s certificate for participating in a Royal Academy of Dance presentation class in classical ballet. Well done Sophie.

Young Critics on the Brighton Festival Website

If you log on to:

www.brighton-festival.org.uk and click on the Family Friendly tab, you will see Molly McGeachin’s superbly written review of Gilgamesh, (as well as some excellent reviews by Jordan Stevens, an ex Middle Street pupil.) It is very impressive that they have their work published in this way, Molly is one of the youngest of 6 Young Critics chosen from Brighton and Hove secondary and Primary schools to review a range of shows during the festival.

Pyke House and Little Canada Payments

Please remember to keep up your payments for Pyke House and Little Canada. Thank you.

At Middle Street This Week:

The children in Year 6 have approached their National SATs with an excellent attitude. We are very proud of the way that they have settled down each day and have all done their very best in their tests.

I must thank the Year 5 children who have given up their classroom for much of this week to enable the Year 6 children to spread out for their SATs. They have also been extremely sensible and calm, and this has been a great help to us all.

Year 2 are still working on their SATs for the next couple of weeks, they too are showing a very sensible attitude, and are making their teachers very proud of them.

Year 5 and Year 6 went to Withdean Stadium for their athletics today. Year 5 and 6 also went to the Brighton Youth Centre for PE on Thursday.

Year 3 children have had another busy week. As well as continuing with their cricket training from a Sussex Cricket Club coach, they had a most enjoyable outing to see the author Jeremy Strong on Thursday.

Buddy Training

A group of children from Year 5 are having a series of training sessions about becoming a Playground Buddy. This will prepare them for next year, when they will be in Year 6 and will be fully trained for this very important role within the school.

Drama Club

Please note that there will be no drama club next Monday

Important Dates

This is another reminder that the school is closed for staff training on Friday 28th May, followed by the half term holiday week. We all return to school on Monday 7th June.

Nursery only will be closed on Thursday 10th June for polling day. The rest of the school remains open on this day.

Here is advanced warning of some school events, further details will follow in due course:

Art Week – Monday 7th to Friday 11th June

Art Gallery in hall Monday 14th June (day and evening viewing) and Tuesday 15th June (daytime only viewing)

Class photographs Friday 18th June

Year 6 to Little Canada Friday 25th to Monday 28th June

Sports Day Thursday 1st July

Book Week Monday 5th to Friday 9th July

Music Celebration Tuesday 13th July

Year 4 at Pyke House Wednesday 14th to Friday 16th July

Year 6 leavers’ assembly

Tuesday 20th July

Last day of school year

Wednesday 21st July

Letters Home This Week:

Y5 Preston Manor trip