Dear Parents/Carers Welcome back! We hope you had a restful and enjoyable holiday. We got straight back into the swing of school last week, with lots of learning and exciting activities for the children. Free course for Year 3/4 parents/carers on helping with literacy Please join us for this fantastic family learning course at Pakeman. It is free and lasts for 5 weeks on Wednesdays, from 9.15-11.15am. The first session is on Wednesday 13th January 2016. You will learn how literacy is being taught at school in KS2, make games to help your child with literacy, and find out how you could help your child to prepare for SATs and other literacy assessments as well as about educational online activities to support your children’s literacy! To book your place contact the school office, or Anna on 07769 235790 and leave your name and telephone number. Winners of our Family Learning Prize Draw Last week the names of the parents/carers who attended all of the Autumn term’s family learning sessions were entered into a prize draw. The lucky winners of a £20 Morrison’s voucher were the families of Grace (Nursery), and brothers Abdul (Silver) and Omar (Gold). There will be another prize draw at the end of the Spring Term for Year 3/4 parents/carers who attend all the sessions of the helping your child with literacy and maths courses (see Dates for your Diary). PE Kit Reminder The children must wear the correct PE kit comprising a plain white T-shirt, black shorts or tracksuit bottoms, and trainers or plimsolls for all their PE lessons.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION School holidays The Spring term school holidays are as follows: Half-term: Monday 15th—Friday 19th February The children return to school on Monday 22nd February Easter holiday: Friday 25th March—Monday 11th April Please remember that holidays are not authorised during term times and could result in a penalty charge being issued to each parent with parental responsibility. For example, this means that two parents who choose to take their two children on holiday during term time will be issued with two penalty notices of £60 (one for each child), amounting to £120 per parent if paid within the first 21 days, or £240 per parent if paid between day 21 and day 28. Purple Class Swimming Lessons This term it is the turn of Purple Class to go swimming and they have been really looking forward to it. Swimming is a very important life skill to learn, so please make sure your child can take part each week by having their full swimming kit with them each Thursday. Swimming has many benefits. Most importantly, knowing how to swim reduces the risk of ever drowning. It builds whole body strength by providing a full body workout and it is also a sport that they can go on to enjoy throughout their lives, as both young and old can do it!

THE PAKEMAN

PRESS P akem an P r im ar y S choo l

Monday 11th January

Issue 1, Spring Term 2016

BEST OF THE OSCARS The proud winner of an Oscar this week is:

Samuel (Blue Class) for giving 100% effort at Saturday School

Thank you once again for taking the time to read this weekly newsletter. We hope that you will find its contents useful.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Family Learning—Help your child with Literacy in Years 3/4 5 week course, each Wednes-day, from 13th January 9.15-11.15am

KS1 reading and writing workshop for parents/carers Monday 18th January 9-10am

Photographer in School Tuesday 19th January

Family Learning—Help your child with Maths in Years 3/4 5 week course, each Wednesday, from 24th February 9.15-11.15am

Choir O2 Concert Tuesday 26th January

Half-term Monday 15th—Friday 19th February

P4C QUESTION Discuss this question at home, sharing your thoughts and ideas: How can you test someone’s knowledge?

Please note that holidays are

not authorised during term

time. Unauthorised holidays

could result in a penalty

charge being issued to each

parent with parental

responsibility.

A full colour version of this newsletter can be found on our school website at: www.pakemanprimary.co.uk

Last week’s best classes for attendance and punctuality

Year Group Best Attendance

Most improved

Attendance

Best Punctuality

EYFS & KS1 Yellow Under 95% Crimson & Green

KS2 Purple Purple Orange

Incredibly Amazing Facts

It takes a matter of minutes to finish a

meal but it takes your body around 12 hours before it has completely digested that food.

The human body needs iron to help it

perform a number of important functions. Iron helps carry oxygen to parts of your body in the form of haemoglobin. Not having enough can lead to iron deficiency and symptoms such as weakness and fatigue.

Iron rich foods include red meat, fish,

chick peas, tofu, beans and lentils.

Red Class—Sky Skills Workshop On Tuesday Red class set off excitedly in the school buses for Sky Studios in Osterley. They had discussed ‘the legal age for voting in the UK’ in class, and at Sky Studios they created and filmed their own news report about lowering the voting age. The children had the opportunity to visit the studios, record their own reports, and act as cameramen, editors and producers throughout the day. They also acted as news reporters, prime ministers, eye witnesses and reporters at the scene in front of the camera. The children showed great talent and can now consider reporting as a career for the future!

Year 1/2 Circus Skills Topic On Thursday, KS1 had a circus afternoon to introduce their new topic, ‘The Circus is Coming to Town’. During the Christmas holiday, the children had been given the task of putting together a circus outfit to wear, and also to practise a circus skill that they could show to their class. Thank you and well done to everyone! The children wore a variety of different costumes—there were clowns, jugglers, ringmasters and lots more, and they put on a fantastic performance of their skills. They will be practising these and more skills in the course of this half-term’s topic work.