Helping children be the best they can beDear Parents, Governors and Children,

OUR NEXT HOLIDAY – CHRISTMASOur next holiday is Christmas. We break up at 3.30 p.m. on

Friday 21st December and we return to school at 8.45 a.m. on Monday 7th January 2013.

CANCELLATION OF CHRISTMAS FAYRERegrettably we have had to cancel the Christmas Fayre which we had scheduled forThursday 6th December. The Fayre was always reliant on parents being available to helpwith the event and several of the key people are now finding it difficult to make this date.In addition to this it has been confirmed that the essential building work required to bringthe kitchen up to regulations is scheduled to start the first week in December, asmentioned above. For school this will mean our kitchen will be out of action until after

the Christmas break and that we will have to utilise areas in school to store some of theequipment that is needed to allow us to serve the meals which will be transported to us from

another kitchen. Nevertheless, we will be organising an event for the children to showcase their work toparents on the morning of the 6th December and we hope to give this event a Festive theme. We are stillpromoting our raffle which we will draw on this date and very much welcome your support in purchasing thetickets along with donations of raffle or tombola prizes. More information will be sent out shortly but pleasesave the date so you can come and support our Showcase.

SCHOOL MEALSThank you to everyone for organising your child’s meals for the term – this will be a great help.

The work starts on our kitchen on the 3rd December which will mean our meals will betransported from another kitchen for a short while. This will not affect the quality of the foodserved and it is guaranteed to be up to its normal high standard. The only issue we will have

is we will only be able supply a school meals to those children who have signed up for the termas there is no capacity to adjust the numbers or cook on site – so please stick to your planned preference.

NATIVITY PERFORMANCES FOR RECEPTION, YEAR 1 AND YEAR 2We are aware that many parents need to book time off work for our nativity performances, sowe thought we would give you an early notice of these. Details will follow, but our nativityperformances are being held on Tuesday 11th December for Reception, Wednesday 12th for Year 1 and Thursday 13th December for Year 2. All performances this year are in themorning, will start at approximately 9.30 a.m. and last for about 45 minutes. We hope thishelps with your scheduling.

HELP US RAISE FUNDS WITH LITTLE EFFORT We are registered with ‘The Giving Machine’ which is a website that if you login into you canthen do your usual online shopping at many of your favourite major stores such as Amazon ,ebay, major supermarkets and department stores. All purchases directed through the sitethen give commission at varying amounts to school. We are not asking you to purchaseanything you would not normally buy – just use this site initially and every purchase you

make from any of the stores will donate a percentage of your sale to school. Please usewww.the givingmachine.co.uk then find Balby Central Primary School on the menu bar and start shoppingas normal. Many thanks – every little helps

 

CHILDREN IN NEEDTOTALThank you to all those who supported our Children in Need day. We counted all the money in theyellow buckets, and we raised £203.20 for Pudsey Bear. Thank you for your support.

GO GET ‘EM FM – SCHOOL RADIOWe are very short of listeners to our school radio station, Go Get ‘Em FM. We would likeparents and children to listen to the radio station at home in their free time, because if wedon’t get enough listeners then it may have to close. You can access our radio stationthrough our website. If you Google Balby Central and follow the link to the radio station.Thank you.

TABLE TOP SALE AT GRESLEY ROAD – SATURDAY 24TH NOVEMBEROn Saturday 24th November there is a table top sale being held at Gresley Road. Doors areopen at 10 a.m. and there will be lots of stalls, including jewellery, arts and crafts and tombola.Tea or Coffee and biscuits are priced at £1.00, although admission is free. Half the proceedswill be donated to Doncaster Hospice, so by attending you are supporting two worthy causes.

NEW SYSTEM FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE LATEAs we try to keep class disruptions to a minimum, we are going to introduce a new system forchildren who are late. Anyone who arrives at school from 8.50 a.m. onwards will be asked toenter by the main school door, and will be given a yellow slip by our new AttendanceAssistant, Natalie Smith. If they are late twice, they will be given a red slip, which will thenresult in parents being contacted to come into school for a chat about how we can helpreduce lateness. We hope by highlighting the problem, we can get together to reduce latenessto our school and increase your child’s chance of participating fully in their education.

30 MINUTE RULE - COLLECTING CHILDREN EARLY FROM SCHOOLMany thanks to those parents who are trying to make appointments out of school hours.We do appreciate that this is not always possible, but taking children out during lesson isdisruptive to the whole class and interrupts the children’s learning. Please remember,however, if an odd occasion should arise when you do need to come to school and collectyour child from class during lesson time, this is not a problem but please phone theschool office least 30 minutes before you arrive to collect your child - this way we canhave them ready at reception for you, causing less disruption to lessons and saving youfrom unnecessary waiting.

COLLECTION FOR MRS MILLERAs you will be aware, Mrs Miller sadly passed away and school has beenapproached by parents to organise a collection to be donated in her name to CancerResearch. If you would like to contribute to this, please bring your donation to the school office.

The collection will continue for a couple of weeks and be sent off on 1st December on behalf ofthe school and Monica’s family.

CROSSING LITTLEMOOR LANE AND PARKINGWe now have a Crossing Patrol Warden, so please impress on your children that they

should use the warden when they try to cross the road. Again we are askingthat you park sensitively when you bring and collect your children, bearing inmind not blocking our neighbours’ drives or double parking and causingproblems for children trying to cross the roads. Additionally, please do not park ON thepavement, as buggies and wheelchairs need the space on the footpath, as well as it being

dangerous for children if you try to drive on the path. Thank you for your co-operation.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR NEWSLETTERWe are encouraging the children to contribute to our weekly newsletter with stories, picturesand items of interest they have done in the classroom our outside school. The contributionsthis week are from Year 1. Look out for more class contributions in the coming weeks……

 

Year 1

Finding out about how people lived in the past.

Year 1 visited Cusworth Hall to see how people lived about a hundred years ago.

This is a recount of our trip.

First we got on the coach and drove to Cusworth Hall.

When we arrived we did a shape hunt

and counted the windows and steps.

There were 42 windows and 22 steps.

Then we went for a walk in the woods.

We could see all of Doncaster from the top of the hill.

After dinner we got dressed up in olden days clothes……

 

 

……………. and did the washing with a dolly peg and washboard.

It was hard work!

Then we went to school………there was no talking allowed.

When you had a photograph taken you had to sit very still and not smile for 1 minute…….only

Lucie managed it.

Finally it was time to get back on the coach to go back to school

By

White Class shared writing