OUR SCHOOL NEEDS YOU!

Our school needs your help to collect Tesco schools vouchers! Vouchers
collected in previous years have exceeded 20,000 and have helped us to obtain
some exciting resources. This year we are looking to set a school record and
collect more vouchers than ever before! Please try to collect as many vouchers
as you can and do not be afraid to ask your friends, neighbours, work
colleagues for their vouchers as well. Many people who do not have children
simply discard these vouchers and we could make valuable use of them.
Collecting boxes are by the school office. Please bring in your vouchers on or
before 01/06/12.

Home Learning - Easter Holiday

Home learning – 30th March 2012


Over the Easter holidays Mr Farrington is off to India! He is going to be writing a Blog during his visit which you can access via the school website. I would like you to keep up with his blog if you can, you might be able to think of some questions to ask him when he gets back. If you can’t get onto the blog, perhaps you can find out more about India, or Bangalore itself. Can you come up with a killer question that Mr Farrington won’t know the answer to?



Have a restful Easter break.

Wonderful Brass Concert

Thank you to all of the parents and relations that came to see our Brass Concert this morning.  The children played wonderfully.  A big thank you to Mr Penfold for being a fun and inspiring teacher.

Last Chance - Digital Leaders Application

Mr. Spracklen is welcoming children to apply for the role of 'Digital Leaders' within school. If you wish to apply, you will need to fill out a short online form (available now on SWGfL Merlin - see picture) before 7.00pm on 30/03/12. Children from Reception to Year 4 are encouraged to apply with the aim of appointing a child from each class to the 'Digital Leaders' team! The form will ask you why you should be considered for this role and we will be looking for original responses that come from the children. Below the responsibilities of a 'Digital Leader' are listed:

Website/Blogs/Online:

Write blog posts for your class and comment on other blogs across the school
Helping staff to upload pictures/videos to their blog

ICT Clubs:
Plan and lead ICT club at lunchtimes for Years R/1 and 2/3 (1 day each)
Possibly lead an after-school ICT club

Other
Change photographs on the TV screen in the reception

Organise competitions e.g. a drawing competition in Purple Mash

Possibly attend events and other schools to share ICT learning

Attend after-school training for staff and parents - with your parents' permission of course!

Trialling new software as required

REMINDER - Ofsted Parent View

As you know at the Prince of Wales First School we are always looking for
feedback and encourage you to provide this in a variety of ways. Whether this
is through face-to-face conversation, comments on our class blogs or through
our annual parents questionnaire, we always welcome your feedback. Building on
this, we would now encourage you to go online and express your views using the
new 'Parent View' website from Ofsted. This 12-question survey will help other
parents as they make important choices about their child's education and
provide Ofsted with information about our school that will help them inform
their priorities for inspection. The questionnaire does not allow free text
comments but invites responses to a series of closed questions. To express your
view, please visit our school website now and click on the parent tab and look
for the link to the Parent View website. Alternatively, visit: http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/.

Visit from Rev Harold Stephens

Today Rev Stephens from St Mary's to tell the children about Holy Communion as part of our learning about Easter and our recent visit to St Mary's. He was very impressed with the amount of knowledge displayed by the class which they have learned this term. The children listened and participated very well during his visit. Well Done!
Next week we have Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs to look forward to.
After the holidays the class will be learning about Islam. Maybe the children could see what they could find out about Islam over the holidays: where do Muslims worship? what are their main beliefs? who are their important people?

Sport Relief Mile

We are planning to join in with the “Sport Relief Day” on Friday 23^rd March by all “running a mile” within the school grounds and dressing up in fancy dress (the theme being “something silly”). There will be a 3-lap course set up within the school. Different groups of children will be covering the mile-long course in different ways- mostly walking, some children using wheelchairs, some running parts of the course, there might be some skipping, dribbling footballs, balancing tennis balls on rackets etc. I’m sure you get the idea. We will be encouraging the children to come up with their own entertaining ideas for the event. Older children will be allowed to cover more than a mile if they are comfortable doing so, though we will be limiting the amount of time participating to one hour. The children will not be put under any pressure to actually finish the mile if they become tired. We will, however, be presenting the activity as a worthy challenge. We will be doing this on the morning of Friday 23^rd March, starting at 9.30, though staggering the classes to avoid congestion at the start. The Reception class will be doing the “run” in the afternoon. We are asking the children to collect some sponsorship money. All money collected will go to the Sport Relief fund. We provide you with a copy of the Sport Relief sponsor form. As well as a funny costume the children will of course need appropriate footwear for the “run”. Thank you for your support. Yours sincerely, Mr D MacBean - P.E. Co-ordinator

Trip to Durlston

Please let us know any feedback about today's trip to Durlston Country Park as part of Year 4's Jurassic Coast Olympics Week.

Jurassic Coast Van

As part of our Olympic Humanities Week, all pupils will be visited by the Jurassic Coast Van on Wednesday. This is part of the ‘Big Jurassic Classroom’ project that the school is involved in which encourages us to think about our local World Heritage Site as the Olympics draws closer. On Wednesday why not ask your child what work they completed with the Jurassic Coast Team? Did they see any fossils? Can they remember the fossil names? How is a fossil formed?

A trip to Durleston

On Tuesday 20th March we will be heading to Durlston Country Park for the day.  We will be learning about the Jurassic Coast and why it has been declared a World Heritage Site.  Please ensure your child has a packed lunch and plenty to drink, along with suitable footwear for walking and a waterproof coat.  They will need to wear jeans and a school polo shirt and sweat shirt.

Home learning 16.3.12

Home Learning – 16th March 2012


Last week I set a two-week homework about designing me a page for a class book about Space. I have received a few excellent examples already, but will be expecting the rest this week. Remember I am looking for:

• Superbly presented work on an A4 page.

• Some interesting and quirky facts about space.

• You could include lifting flaps or pull out tabs to make it more exciting and interactive.



This week we have been so busy I had forgotten to hand out the spellings on Monday, so they will now be checked on Monday 26th March, so you have more than a week to learn them.



Mini-task

For those of you who get really bored at the weekend and have absolutely nothing to do…

Next week is our big Jurassic / Olympic week. We will be visiting Durlston Country Park on Tuesday and finding a bit more about why our local coastline is a World Heritage Site, but do you know what a World Heritage Site is?

See if you can find out, and when you have, how many World Heritage Sites can you name?

Make a list on the back of this page.

Dangers posed by Jequirity Bean Bracelets

The DCC Health and Safety team have alerted us to the dangers posed by Jequirity Bean bracelets. These bracelets have been on sale at various retail outlets across the UK,including the Eden Project in Cornwall.  The Jequirity bean bracelet ismade from the deadly seed of the plant abrus precatorious. It contains thetoxin abrin that if swallowed, has the potential to kill in doses of just 3micrograms. Abrin is chemically similar to ricin, a chemical warfare agent.People who have bought, or are in possession of the bracelets, are beingurged to bag them, then wash their hands and avoid touching their eyes.They should then hand the bracelet into their local police station where itwill be disposed of safely.There is further information available on the Public Health Agency websiteon the following link:http://www.publichealth.hscni.net/news/pha-issues-safety-warning-jequirity-bean-braceletsWe have attached an image of the bracelet for your information.

Orienteering

Next Friday 16th March we will be visiting DMS to take part in an orienteering activity.   The children will be using maps to navigate their way around the grounds of DMS in our first transfer activity.  We will be leaving directly after our brass lesson and returning to school for lunch.

Olympic Music and Dance

Next week will be the culmination of our hard work learning songs and dance to perform at the DASP Music concert.  We will be busy rehearsing on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week at Thomas Hardye School.  The performance will be videoed for parents to view on the DASP website.  Children will need to wear dark tracksuit bottoms or leggings with a coloured t-shirt of your choice to match one of the Olympic rings: Black, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue. 

Brass reminder.

We have had a few mix ups with brass instruments over the last few weeks.  Please make sure your child brings thier instrument to school this Friday and we can ensure that the right instrument is with the right person. (We have a list of who has which instrument at school).  If your child's instrument has lost its name label, please could you attach another to ensure we don't have any more mix ups.  Many thanks.

More helpers

We welcome Emma Hamblin to year 4.  Emma is working within year 4 for the next four weeks as part of her CAPs course.

Brass Concert

The children will be performing in a concert for parents on Friday 30th March at 9.20 in the school hall.  Please come along and see what the children have achieved over the last 10 weeks in their Brass lessons.  There will be an opportunity for a few children to continue with Brass Lessons, they will be picked according to thier effort and achievement over the last 10 weeks. 

Could you be a Digital Leader?

Mr. Spracklen is welcoming children to apply for the role of 'Digital Leaders' within school. If you wish to apply, you will need to fill out a short online form (available now on SWGfL Merlin - see picture). Children from Reception to Year 4 are encouraged to apply with the aim of appointing a child from each class to the 'Digital Leaders' team! The form will ask you why you should be considered for this role and we will be looking for original responses that come from the children. Below the responsibilities of a 'Digital Leader' are listed:

Website/Blogs/Online:

Write blog posts for your class and comment on other blogs across the school
Helping staff to upload pictures/videos to their blog

ICT Clubs:

Plan and lead ICT club at lunchtimes for 3/4 and 5/6 (1 day each)
Possibly lead an after-school ICT club

Other

Change photographs on the TV screen in the reception

Organise competitions e.g. a drawing competition in Purple Mash

Possibly attend events and other schools to share ICT learning

Attend after-school training for staff and parents - with your parents' permission of course!

Trialling new software as required

Friday's Celebration Event

On Friday 2nd March, there will be some displays in the hall from each class
showing their work this week on Global Awareness. Each class will also have
some food they have made to sell! We shall also be putting on some dance and
music displays throughout the afternoon. This is intended to be a very
informal celebration of the week's work and you are invited to join us at any
time from 2.15p.m. until 3.45p.m. There will also be a Traidcraft stall selling
Fairtrade items and providing information. If you are not able to come along
you might give your child a small amount of money for them to buy some food
from the other class stalls.