The trees are up, the baubles hung and the tinsel draped. The school is looking very festive and the anticipation is rising to fever pitch. The children are all so excited about Christmas. At the time of writing, the first of our school plays has taken place with Key Stage 1’s production of Baboushka. The songs were all sung beautifully and there were a few star performers among the actors, as you can see in the photo. Parents enjoyed every minute and some were even quite misty eyed.
Children in Need – The whole school participated in fundraising for Children in need this year with many activities on the Friday. Not least was the fact that the children came to school in their pyjamas and with their cuddly bears in tow. Money was raised through fun idea like paying for a paw print ‘tattoo’ or buying Pudsey cookies, taking their favourite bears to visit the ‘ hospital’ or entering a colouring competition which was organised by some of the girls in Year 6. The school managed to raised an amazing £450 for such a good cause and we would like to thank all children and parents for their generosity.
Cross Country – Once again years 3, 4, 5 and 6 competed again in the inter-school cross country league. The last event was held at Stoke Row and we had sterling performances from David Carr (1st), Andrew Carr (2nd ) Toby-Joe McBride(1st) and Courtney McKinnon (1st). This now puts Woodcote Primary School in second place. The final will take place in January and Woodcote will be hosting event. Any supporters would be welcome to come and cheer us on – final date to be confirmed.
Christmas Market – with a revised formula for what was the Christmas Fayre, the FOWPS Christmas Market took place on Friday evening 29th November. The children were able to visit Santa in his very special grotto, to buy quality but affordable presents for Mum & Dad and there were lots of lovely stalls. Mulled wine and mince pies were available in abundance. The school was able to raise close to £1700 which will be used to but learning aids and equipment for the children. A big ‘Thank you’ to FOWPS from the school for another great event.
Poetry Please – Early in December, 2 year six children were invited (with children from other schools) to participate in a poetry workshop held at Checkendon Primary School. Jack Botham and Andrew Carr participated and were involved in learning about all different types of poetry and then writing their own poems, one about the Sea and one about feelings. As an added bonus, the boys got to meet Steve Backshall (of Deadly 60 fame) who happened to be visiting at the same time.
Anti Bullying Week – A very busy week for the children where they learnt about anger management, attended ‘The Power of One’ anti bullying show – a skit based production providing an overview of the bullying process, and the ‘Bullying STOPS here’ Cyber Anti-Bullying show among many other activities. All our Children have now signed a pledge to tackle any bullying that may occur: ‘I will not bully others’, ‘I will not stand by while others are bullied’, ‘I will report and deal with bullying whenever I see it’.
Our anti bullying week culminated in the grand opening of our ‘Snug’ which provides a space to offer playground support, counselling for individual children or for groups of children and a ‘safe’ place to retreat should the need arise.
We would like to wish all our parents and children a very Happy 2014
