1 Jul 2007 - July Newsletter

The July Newsletter

Summer Fayre

Sponsored Walk a Success

Thank you to all who supported this event and helped the PFA to raise over £ 430 for the school.

Well done to everyone – despite the pouring rain the children raised £126 for the road safety charity– we are waiting to hear if the Guinness Record was broken again.

Do you have any surplus children’s books / videos or DVDs which would be suitable for our library? If you have and would like to donate them we would be very grateful.

Whilst on the subject of books a BIG thank you to all who purchased books from the book club - £431 worth of books were bought which have earned school commission.

Class library books should be returned to school by 6 July and all school reading books should be back by 13 July.

Births

Cornholme School Welcomes The Smoking Ban

Congratulations to Ms Todd on the birth of her son, Harry, mother and baby are both fine.

No smoking in public places / workplaces

Although we have unofficially been a non smoking school for many years we have now to be seen officially to be conforming and so in line with the new laws which came into force on 1 July 2007 I now have to insist there is no smoking anywhere on the school premises – this also includes the playgrounds.

Thank you all for continuing to support our school kitchen by encouraging your children to have school meals – and a big thank you too for paying for the meals each Monday. It is important that you continue to do this because staff are employed specially that day for the purpose. Please remember to seal cash in a clearly marked envelope or write your child’s name on the back of cheques if you pay that way. We ask that you do not try to give cash to staff when you meet them in the playground etc as it can cause confusion.

Auntie Dot's Dinners

Abscences

You will shortly be receiving your child’s school report and on it you will find a record of his / her attendance for this year which I hope is good. The overall absences for the school, however, have risen quite significantly and are causing the governors and myself some concern so I must inform you that the family of any child who falls below 90% attendance for ANY reason may well be contacted by the Education Welfare Officer.

I have always tried to be reasonable and continue to allow you to take your children on holiday during term time if requested to (despite government instructions to the contrary) since I understand your reasons for doing so. I am, however, only allowed to authorise up to 10 school days per year and so any further absences for this reason will show up as being unauthorised i.e. truancy. This then sets off a whole series of chain reactions starting with letters and visits from the Education Welfare Officers and eventually the possibility of prosecution. Can I please ask you to think seriously before booking multiple term time holidays and at the same time remind you to ring in / send a note to inform the school of the reason for any other absences as soon as possible. We will continue to contact you if we do not hear by 9.30 but this practise is very time consuming for the office staff and sometimes causes friction when absent partners are contacted.

School Council and

Eco Schools

The End of an Era

The school council is proud to announce that we have now won the Silver Award for Eco Schools. Initiatives already underway include re-cycling, power saving by turning off lights around school etc. with evidence being collected for their application for the Green Flag Award.

Finally, I am sure you would like to join us in wishing a long and happy retirement to Mrs Yelland who is leaving us after 16 years at the school. I.C.T will never be the same again.

If you use the internet for shopping then take a look at our new webshop, www.buy.at/cornholmeschool. It contains lots of high street shops including Marks and Spencers, Early Learning Centre, Thorntons chocolates and many more. If you buy something through our webshop then the retailers give us commission on whatever you buy! There is no extra cost to you, in fact you can often save money because of fabulous online discounts! All money raised through our webshop will be put towards our school fund which helps to pay for things like school trips and parties.

Regards

Adam Sapey

Headteacher