Clarence Road,Four Oaks,

Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B74 4LD

Telephone: 0121 308 5392 Fax: 0121 308 5061

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

Mon 7th May BANK HOLIDAY

Tue 8th May Class and Team Photographs

Wed 9th May Squirrels Class Assembly - 2.30pm

Fri 11th May Squirrels Class Assembly - 2.30 pm

Mon 14th May KS2 SATs WEEK

School Council Meeting

PTFA Meeting – 7.30 pm

Tue 15th May “Italian” Lunch

Thur 17th May Moles Class Assembly – 2.30 pm

Fri 18th May Moles Class Assembly - 2.30 pm

Sun 20th May PTFA Fun Run

Thur 24th May Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) Meeting for Year 6 Parents

Thur 31st May Hares Class Assembly – 2.30 pm

Non Stop Cricket tournament for Cluster Schools at Hill West pm

Fri 1st June Hares Class Assembly – 2.30 pm

BREAK UP FOR HALF TERM

Mon 11th Jun PUPILS RETURN TO SCHOOL

SRE for Year Six – Life Line

Tue 12th Jun SRE for Year Six – Transition

Parent Council Meeting - 2.00 pm

Wed 13th Jun SRE for Year Six – Body Parts

Thur 14th Jun SRE for Year Six – HIV

Badgers‟ Class Assembly – 2.30 pm KS1 hall

Fri 15th Jun SRE for Year Six – Prejudices

Badgers Class Assembly – 2.30 pm KS1 hall

Mon 18th Jun Year One Phonics Screening Test this week

Tue 19th Jun PTFA Meeting – 7.30 pm

Wed 20th Jun “Olympic” Lunch

Netball Tournament at Four Oaks School - 4.00 pm

Fri 22nd Jun Whole School Takeover Day

Wed 27th Jun New Intake Parents’ Evening – 6.45 pm

Fri 29th Jun Cluster Schools Athletics at Wyndley - 1.30 pm – 3.30 pm

Sat 30th Jun Olympic Torch arrives in Birmingham

Sun 1st July PTFA Summer Fayre

Friday 4th May 2012

Why do we set homework at Hill West?

Homework is an opportunity for children to consolidate the learning they

have been involved in at school. More importantly however it is an

opportunity for you to work with your child to support and encourage

their progress. We value the time you spend at home with your child completing

homework tasks as this contributes to their overall academic achievement and work

ethic in later life.

DINNER MONEY

Thank you to everyone who has already paid their

dinner money for this term.

May we remind you that we collect this money on

behalf of Birmingham City Council‟s Direct Services

Department and that it should be paid in advance

either weekly, half termly or termly.

£10.00 per week

£64.00 this half term

£124.00 full term

PTFA Fun Run

The PTFA Fun Run will be held this month on Sunday 20th May at Sutton

Park - Jamboree Stone at 10:30am. On the day entries will be £10.00 for the

10K run and £5.00 for the 4K run and will close at 10:15am. You may also

pick up an entry form from the display stand outside the school’s office.

As yet the PTFA have not received many entries from school and so we are

hoping to promote the event for them in assemblies over

the coming weeks. We would love to see as many

families there as possible as it is sure to be a very good

morning. Please don’t feel you have to run, many of our

families decide to walk the 4k course and everyone on

completion gets a medal for participation. The children

who take part really do feel a sense of achievement

afterwards and we will celebrate this in assembly on

Monday 21st May.

Good luck to all those taking part! I hope to

congratulate you all on the finishing line.

A reminder to parents

If your child is in Year 6 and

you would like them to walk

home alone you will need to

put this request in writing.

We will not allow any child to

walk home accompanied

without your written

permission.

Inclusion Focus Our mental well being is as important as

our physical health. We are currently

involved in an exciting project called

TAMHS; Targeted Mental Health in

Schools. This project has involved staff

and children working on areas that can

affect our mental health e.g. separation,

bereavement and family breakdown.

This work will help children to become

more emotionally resilient to such

events. Two of our staff have attended

a protective behaviours course and

another two have attended the „Fun

with Friends‟ program which we will be

running for some of our children. The

aim of the program is to provide social

and emotional skills that will stay with

the children for life. „Fun with Friends‟

will also support children to develop life

long positive relationships in a fun way.

A big thank you to Sainsburys in Mere Green who kindly donated a very

large amount of unsold Sports Relief merchandise

to the school.

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHER

The School Photographer will be

visiting all classes on

Tuesday 8th May.

Don‟t forget to look your best!

IF YOU HAVE A CONCERN

In the first instance you should speak to your child’s

class teacher.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of this

discussion then you should seek further support from:

Mrs Joy Tombs, Assistant Head; Miss Fiona Marsh,

Deputy Head; or Miss Beth Clarke, Head Teacher

Appointments to see any of the above can be arranged

via the main school office.

Are you, or do you know a pianist who could

play for our school choir, The Hill West

Singers?

We need someone to play whilst

Mr Jeffries conducts and you would need

to be available every term time Tuesday

from 3.30pm to 4.45pm.

Please contact the office if

you can help.

May we also remind parents that

under Birmingham City Council

policy, dogs MUST NOT be

brought on to the school

premises. This is to

safeguard all children.

ATTENDANCE

Congratulations to the 89 children (22%) who have acheived 100% attendance since the

beginning of the school year.

Well done also to the 146 (36%) who came to school everday of the Spring Term and the

186 (46%) who were not absent in the Autumn Term.

DANGER

Our crossing warden has advised us of a

recent near miss involving children riding

scooters too quickly along the road and nearly into

on coming traffic. If your child uses a scooter or

bike please control them especially when

approaching the road.

Remember scooters and bikes are not allowed to be

ridden on school premises.

PARENT COUNCIL MEETINGS.

Many thanks to our Parent Council Representatives who have kindly volunteered their time to discuss whole school issues. The aim of the Parent Council is to debate issues that affect the welfare of children in school, allowing parents’ views to feed into decision making. In order to ensure that our school is outstanding we need to benefit from your ideas, suggestions for development and praise. In line with the majority of parent’s availability, our meetings will be held from 2:00pm-3:20pm in the staffroom. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 12th June. Although we have representatives from most classes we would still like to welcome parents from classes throughout KS2. If you wish to express an interest, please feel free to notify the school office.

Free School Meals

Are you eligible to claim? Are you in

receipt of any of the following?

Child Tax Credit

Working Tax Credit 'run-on' - the payment

someone may receive for a further four

weeks after they stop qualifying for

Working Tax Credit

Income-related Employment and Support

Allowance

Support under Part VI of the Immigration

and Asylum Act 1999

The Guarantee element of State Pension

Credit

If you already claim Free School Meals

please remember that you MUST

advise us if your circumstances change.

Thank You

We would like to thank all those parents who ensure

that envelopes are brought into school with your children and handed to the class teacher

during registration. This reduces the

queue at the office first thing each morning

and helps to develop your child’s growing

independence.

CHANGE FOR LIFE

Are you worried about your child’s weight?

If yes the First Steps programme will be able to

help you.

First Steps is a fun seven week programme run

by specially trained Children’s Weight

Management Advisors. This FREE course runs

from various venues across Birmingham but

places are limited.

Please call 0121 446 1021 and speak to an

Advisor .

GRAMMAR SCHOOL ADMISSIONS

The Consortium of Grammar Schools is made up of seven Grammar Schools:

Bishop Vesey Grammar School for Boys

Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls

King Edward VI Aston School

King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys

King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls

King Edward VI Five Ways School for Boys and Girls

King Edward VI Handsworth School

There is now only one admissions test which you must register your child for no

later than Friday 13th July 2012 at 4.00pm.

Applications may be made online via any of the school websites.

Congratulations to the boys 11 a side football team for their resounding victory in the final of the hms shield last week. they faced kings heath primary school in the deciding match and beat them with an impressive 6-2 score. Goals were scored by Nathan Michaels (3) Callum styring (2) and sam davies (1). The shield was presented to the team by the lord mayor of Birmingham and they were also congratulated by the head of Birmingham’s children’s services who came to support the teams. Our fantastic players beat team s from Schools All over Birmingham to win This prestigious competition and we are all extremely proud of them. Well done to Mr pattinson and mr pugh who coached them to glory and thank you to all of the parents for their fantastic support.

Team hill west 2012 Aidan jeynes Tom youster-dickson joseph Maguire harry witcomb Bradley pugh kurunveer khangura Mitchel Oakley harry wells Sam davies Daniel susans callum styring Dylan fairley ellis dyer Nathan Michaels

Four Oaks Sports

Partnership Athletics Event... This event will take place at Wyndley

Athletics Track on Friday 29th June from 1:30pm until 3.30pm.

This year a smaller group of schools from across Sutton will be

taking part as we have decided to run this ourselves. We will come

together in the spirit of friendly competition and you are very

welcome to join us. Further details for children who are taking part

will come via letter from Mrs Sharp.

SCHOOL TRIPS Leading Aspect Award for Behaviour

We are delighted to tell you that

we have just been awarded the

leading aspect award for

Behaviour: Relationships, Respect and

Responsibility.

This means that our school has been

recognised as a lead school for behaviour

management and will be recommended to

other schools nationally who are looking to

develop their behaviour practices. We are

delighted as we feel it reflects the hard work

of staff and pupils to ensure that our

learning environment is a happy, orderly

and safe one in which to learn.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR CLUBS

The following clubs are running after school from 3:30pm to 4:30pm for the duration of both

halves of the Summer Term. Places are still available in all clubs except Creative Club and

Computer Xplorers.

MONDAY: Eco Club - KS2, Samba Drumming - KS2, Cheerleading and Multi Sports - KS1

TUESDAY: Choir - KS2 , Creative Club - KS1, Computer Xplorers, German - KS2

WEDNESDAY: Frisbee & Multi Sports - KS2

THURSDAY: Computer Xplorers, Dance Depot - KS1 and 2

Please request an application form if you would like to join a club.

RECEPTION TWYCROSS ZOO

11.07.2012

YEAR 1 WEST MIDLANDS

SAFARI PARK

26.06.2012

YEAR 2 WARWICK CASTLE

29.05.2012

YEAR 3 WOODLANDS ADVENTURE

18.06.2012 TO

19.06.2012

YEAR 4 KINGSBURY WATER PARK

10.05.2012

YEAR 5 NATIONAL SPACE

CENTRE

21.06.2012

YEAR 6 DRAYTON MANOR PARK

28.05.2012

ABSENCE FROM SCHOOL

The LA (Local Authority) issues Head Teachers with advice regarding

children’s absence from school. This advice clearly states that Head Teachers

should:

Discourage all leaves of absence during term time

Only authorise leaves of absence over 3 days in

exceptional circumstances

Request leave of absence notification from parents

at least 6 weeks before any anticipated leave

Only authorise ONE 10 day block of absence in a

child’s ENTIRE primary schooling.

Please remember that parents should notify the school by

telephone on the child’s first day of absence and send a

written letter of explanation into school on the child’s return.

If we can support any families with attendance issues please let us know.

Parent Planner - Our New Learning Profiles

You will know that last year we introduced a Learning Profile that is individual to your child. This week your child should have brought home their Learning Profile as their homework task. It outlines topics and visits this term but also sets the children three learning goals. We would ask you to sit with the children at home and discuss these goals. We are also inviting you to complete the bottom half of the profile with your child and return this to school on completion. We are keen to involve you as parents more fully in the setting and reviewing of your child’s personal learning targets.

As you know, last week our Year 5 pupils and some of our Year 6 pupils had a fantastic week staying at Bockleton Hall. I wanted to write and congratulate them all on a super week. They showed not only maturity and independence but also challenged themselves to take risks and be truly courageous. We were the first primary group where every child in the party completed the zip-wire activity. For this the children should feel incredibly proud. Not only individually but also collectively as their encouragement and support of others grew everyone’s confidence. Photos will be available from school - further details to follow.

The funniest

moment was

when Tom lost

Pond Dipping

was great, espe-

cially when our

It‟s the best

school trip I‟ve

ever been on!

It was funny

when Mr P

screamed on

We had to work

lots as a team

which was really

We had a

fantastic fashion

show on the last

day - it was

The midnight

walk was very

dark and scary!

Very spooky!

It‟s a once in a

lifetime

opportunity -

don‟t miss out!

On a damp Monday morning, Year 5

travelled to Bockleton Study Centre.

As we arrived we were so excited we

could not contain ourselves and

started to scream with delight!

Wow! The activities we were offered

were fantastic! From the exhilaration

of the zooming zip wire and the

plummeting power fan to the wet and

wild fun of damp dam building and

crazy canoeing we had to push

ourselves to the limit each and every

day!

After a long day of activities we

didn‟t give the teachers much rest at

night! We were chatting with our

friends until way past 10 o clock!

And if you‟re worried about the food,

have no fear! Delicious, homemade

food three times a day and we even

got supper!

If you haven‟t already been we hope

you enjoy brilliant Bockleton - you‟re

in for a treat!