December 2012 School Newsletter

Clarence Road, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B74 4LD Telephone: 0121 308 5392 Fax: 0121 308 5061

Friday 7th December 2012 DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES Tue 11th Dec Wed 12th Dec Thur 13th Dec Fri 14th Dec Tue 18th Dec Wed 19th Dec

Thur 20th Dec Fri 21st Dec

Mon 7th Jan Tue 8th Jan Tue 15th Jan Wed 16th Jan Thur 17th Jan Mon 21st Jan Thur 24th Jan Fri 25th Jan Thur 31st Jan Fri 1st Feb

Year 2 Nativity today in KS1 hall Barnardo and Gandhi – 9.30 am Mandela and Pankhurst – 2.30 pm Year 2 Nativity today in KS1 hall Mandela & Pankhurst – 9.30 am Barnardo & Gandhi – 2.30 pm Nursery Christmas Lunch for Parents PTFA Christmas Disco 6.00 pm KS1 7.15 pm KS2 Nursery Nativity today in KS1 Hall 9.15 am Christmas Lunch for Parents – Barnardo and Gandhi Christmas Lunch for Parents – Mandela and Pankhurst 100% Attendance Assembly in KS1 hall for Mandela and Pankhurst at 2.30 pm 100% Attendance Assembly in KS1 hall for Barnardo and Gandhi at 2.30 pm Christmas Party and visit by Father Christmas BREAK UP 3.20 pm KS1 3.30 pm KS2 Teacher Day - School closed to children CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL WHOLE SCHOOL PANTO PTFA Meeting – 7.30 pm Year 2 Parents’ Meeting – SATs 6.45 pm KS1 hall 2.00pm Parent Council Meeting Foxes INSPIRE WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS– 9.00 am to 11.00 am Otters INSPIRE WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS 1.15 pm to 3.15 pm Swallows Class Assembly - 2.30 pm – KS1 hall Year 2/3/4 Parents’ Meeting - Numeracy 6.45 pm KS1 hall Swallows Class Assembly - 2.30 pm – KS1 hall Swifts Class Assembly - 2.30 pm KS1 hall Swifts Class Assembly - 2.30 pm KS1 hall

PARKING

Thank You

We have had several reports of parents blocking the drives of neighbouring residents. Can we please remind you to park courteously at the start and the end of the day.

Our Police Community Support Officers often monitor the parking outside school and will issue parking tickets to parents who are parking on the single yellow line or zig-zag lines.

If you wish to report dangerous parking please telephone the Parking enforcement Team on 0121 303 7613 Thank you for support.

NATIVITIES

Tickets for this year’s Nativities are currently being issued and the children in Year Two are looking forward to performing to a packed hall.

Tickets are still available.

If you have been able to secure a ticket for the performance we look forward to seeing you and may we please remind you that admission is strictly by ticket only for Health and Safety purposes.

Book Fair

Thank you to everyone who supported the above event. We made the fantastic sum of £820.00 from the Book Fair which will buy books for classrooms

A big thank you to all of our children for their super behaviour at this years Christingle Services.

Thanks go to those parents who volunteered to walk with us to the church and to those who attended the services. We hope you enjoyed lighting your Christingles at home. .

PANTOMIME As you know the children are visiting Birmingham Hippodrome to see Robinson Crusoe on 15th January 2013.

Thank you to all those parents who sent their contributions into school promptly. We really do appreciate it. Have you returned your child’s consent form and payment?

Remember children will not be able to attend the pantomime if the consent form is not returned.

LETTERS AND PAYMENTS FOR SCHOOL Office Opening Times - 8.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday Please note that the office staff will be kindly asking you to hand in all payments and paperwork through your child to the class teacher and will no longer be accepting these through the office in the morning.

As previously requested all correspondence and monies should be placed in a named envelope clearly stating what it is for and given to the class teacher by your child.

If you have a query that can only be answered by the Administration Team then please come to the office. It is important that the Administration Team are not tied up accepting envelopes when they need to be ensuring that late children are correctly registered and absences recorded for fire safety purposes

BE ON TIME ……... TEN TO NINE Be on the playground for 8.50am ready for a prompt start to the day.

LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL On the 5th of December the Hill West Singers, Four Oaks Cluster Choir and Training Choir took part in the annual Carol Concert at Lichfield Cathedral with other pupils from the Four Oaks Cluster. The night was certainly one to remember and I would like to congratulate our children on a magnificent performance and Harriett on her eloquent reading. I was just sorry I couldn’t be with you.

MILK AND DINNER MONEY FOR NEXT HALF TERM Dinner Money for next half term will be £58.00 up to 15th February or £10.00 per week.

You will receive a note of any credits owed to you before we break up for Christmas.

Milk money will be £4.10 up to 15th February.

Hill West Primary School are now on Twitter.

Please follow us and feel free to respond to our regular ‘Tweets’.

BAGS AND COATS For Health and Safety reasons we would kindly ask that you please ensure that children’s school bags are kept to a reasonable size (the smaller the better). The amount of baggage in our cloakrooms can present a risk and we believe that the smaller the children’s school bags, the more likely it is that bags and coats will remain on the coat hooks.

Also please make sure that clothing is clearly named, especially fleeces and jumpers.

The Four Oaks Cluster Choir Forthcoming performances

Sunday 16th December Family Christmas Concert Sutton Town Hall 4.00pm and 7.30pm The main choir performing with the Sutton Coldfield Orchestra and the Accidentals Thursday 20th December The Mall, Sutton Coldfield From 5.00pm The main choir and the training choir Saturday 19th January The Arthur Terry School The main choir performing with the Staffordshire Band Please come along and support us. www.fouroaksclusterchoir.weebly.com

POPPY APPEAL Thank you very much for your contributions to our Poppy Day collection. Our contribution has been gratefully received by the Royal British Legion.

100% ATTENDANCE ASSEMBLY We are celebrating pupil attendance in assembly on Wednesday 19th December at 2.30pm for Mandela and Pankhurst and Thursday 20th December at 2.30pm for Barnardo and Gandhi. During this celebration we will award all those children with a 100% attendance record this term with a certificate.

Letters of invitation will be sent out shortly.

. UPDATE BEHAVIOUR

RECEPTION 2012 APPLICATIONS Parents who have a child who was born between 01.9.08 to 31.08.09 need to make an application for their child to start Reception Class in September 2013 no later than Tuesday 15th January 2013. (this is the absolute final date for receipt of applications.)

The quickest and easiest way is to make an application is online at: www.birmingham.gov.uk/ schooladmissions or by contacting School Admissions and Pupil Placements Service on 0121 675 0555

As you will know at Hill West we have a heightened focus on behaviour . Our high expectations are for all children to be viewed by their peers as behaving well.

This focus doesn’t simply involve working with those children who find it difficult, for whatever reason, to conform. It is a whole school approach which asks the children to think carefully about their own behaviour and how this impacts on those around them.

We encourage and support all our children to be selfregulating and this is also a regular topic for discussion in assemblies. Something as simple as encouraging children to think about the way in which they walk around school when supervised or un-supervised can reduce the number of accidents or inappropriate behaviours. Our recent questionnaires have recognised positively the hard work we place on promoting Outstanding behaviour at school , which of course can only be fully achieved with the close parent partnerships that we have.

CHOOSE OUR INTERNATIONAL MASCOT As you may be aware Hill West recently secured a £20,000 grant from the British Council to work on an exciting, collaborative project with two schools overseas; one in Palermo, Sicily and one in Sandviken, Sweden.

It was decided that each school would choose a mascot which will travel between the schools for the 2-year duration of the project. We would like your ideas on what to select for Hill West’s mascot and will then have a vote in school to make a final decision. (As an example Sweden have selected an elk as a traditional animal for their country) Please note that it should be something that we will be able to buy a cuddly toy of.

A letter has been sent to you already asking for your suggestions and the closing date for responses is Friday 14th December.

Inclusion—The Communication and Autism Team Some of our children need extra support because they have a diagnosis of Autism or may have communication difficulties. Some of these children are supported by Mark Hill from the Communication and Autism team (CAT). Mark liases with staff and parents to provide strategies to help the children deal with life at school and at home.

Christmas can be a stressful time for all of us but for the children that Mark supports it can be particularly difficult. There will be changes to the timetable, Christmas decorations can be overwhelming for anybody who has sensory issues and in general there is more noise, hustle and bustle.

The CAT team would advise talking to the children before an event or change to the timetable so that they are fully prepared for what will happen. Children with Autism can be very rigid in their thinking so they may find the concept of Father Christmas difficult to accept. They may find taking part in a school play very difficult. Again preparing the children for events/changes is the key to supporting these children during the Christmas period.

Should you have any queries or concerns about the Communication and Autism team do not hesitate to contact us at school.

DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

CHRISTMAS FAYRE

I am pleased to tell you that on Wednesday of this week I attended my graduation at Birmingham University. The day was thoroughly enjoyable and a fantastic celebration of five years of hard work. With hard work, determination and an aspiration, anything is possible.

I would like to thank all those families who supported our Christmas Fayre on Friday 30th November. It was a fantastic evening, enjoyed by all and it raised a significant amount of money for school.

Thanks also go to our hard working members of the PTFA without whom such events wouldn’t be possible.

QUESTIONNAIRES As you are aware we recently issued parent questionnaires. For the first time this year you were able to return these electronically to parentquestionnaire@hillwest.bham.sch.uk However the response rate has been particularly low. If you haven’t returned yours yet then please do so by Monday 10th December at the latest. Paper copies are available from the main entrance.

FOREST SCHOOLS We are still in need of some resources for den building at our Forest School. So if anyone has any tree stumps, tree branches, ropes or tarpaulin lying around can they please let Miss Roberts know.

We can also always use old wellies so please feel free to recycle yours by dropping them in to school.

Many thanks.

PTFA CHRISTMAS DISCO FRIDAY 14TH DECEMBER

CHRISTMAS LUNCHES Thank you for the overwhelming response to our invitation to Christmas Lunch.

If you are joining us on 18th or 19th December for lunch then please refer to your individual tickets for time of arrival.

The PTFA Christmas Disco is on Friday 14th December.

For KS1 and Nursery children the disco will run from 6.00 pm to 7.00 pm in the KS2 hall.

For KS2 children the disco will start at 7.15 pm and finish at 8.30 pm Children of all ages are welcome to attend the KS2 Disco at 7.15 pm.

All children must be accompanied by an adult at all times please.

Adults £2.00, Children £1.00 Family £5.00

PARTY AFTERNOON FRIDAY 21st DECEMBER Children should come to school on Friday 21st December in their party clothes. By special appointment Father Christmas will be making a guest appearance.

SCHOOL WILL CLOSE TO CHILDREN AT 3.20 PM FOR KS1 AND 3.30 PM FOR KS2

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR The staff would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our families a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year