Don’t forget ‘Carols round the Tree’ on Friday, 16^th December at 2.00pm.  Come and join us for this informal and relaxed end to the Autumn term as we enjoy singing Carols together.  I hope our mince pies, mulled wine and lovely children’s singing will tempt you to come along and enjoy this special time.

We will be having a PTA Toy Sale on Tuesday, 31^st January, so please keep your unwanted toys, puzzles, games etc.  We are happy to store them in School, so please send them in asap.  Thank you!  Funds from the Toy Sale, organised by De Vere Class, will contribute towards a new swimming pool liner.

There are a few places available in the Singing Club (Wed) and Newspaper Club (Wed), for the Spring term. If your child is interested please let the school office know – thank you!  The places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

The Autumn term publication of the St Andrew’s Newspaper, from the Newspaper Club, is now on sale at the school office for 25p.  There are competitions with prizes so don’t forget to buy your copy asap.   Prizes will be awarded on the last day of term.  Thank you to the Newspaper Club for their efforts in producing the paper.

Butler Class enjoyed their Forest Schools morning yesterday, which is the last for this term.  They made potions, erected a tree swing, built dens and enjoyed marshmallows around the campfire.  Miss Houghton would like to thank all the parents for their support with Forest Schools this term and look forward to your continued support in the spring term.  Thank you!

St. Andrew’s Church are holding their annual Christmas Tree Festival during the weekend of 10^th and 11^th December.  Each of our classes are decorating a tree.  Please make a visit if you can.

 We invite you to come along to our information evening about the expectation for  your child in the key areas of reading, writing and maths.

~ The standard your child is expected to reach in each year group

~ We will talk about end of Key Stage “SAT” tests for year 2 and year 6

Read the flyer for more information:   Flyer for information evening and workshops Jan 2011

Thank you for your generous donations and attendance at the P.T.A. Christmas Fayre yesterday, which made the event a big success.  The P.T.A. are a much valued group who not only work extremely hard raising funds for the school but dedicate themselves to promoting and organising events which bring families and school together socially.  Thank you also to the Year 6 children who volunteered to run a stall, your help was much appreciated.  The P.T.A. is always looking for more volunteers to attend meetings and events.  The next P.T.A. meeting is on Monday, 9^th January 2012 at 9.30am in the Reading Rooms, Great Yeldham.  Please attend and give support if you can!  They will be very pleased to see you!

All after school clubs will run next week.  In the final week of term i.e. week beginning Monday, 12^th December, the only Club operating is the Gardening Club.  The children will need their wellies, coats and a torch because we will be delivering hyacinths and bird pudding to a few elderly residents in the village.

REMINDER:  ORDERS FOR CHRISTMAS LUNCH MUST BE RECEIVED BY MONDAY, 28^TH NOVEMBER AT THE VERY LATEST (COST: £3.25)

OUTSTANDING PAYMENTS FOR SCHOOL MEALS:  Please ensure payment for all meals taken are made by the end of each week. 

The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 requests that governing bodies of all maintained schools and academies must publish a home-school agreement to be signed by parents and, where possible, by the older child.  Two copies of a revised Home School Agreement have been sent to all pupils registered at St. Andrew’s.  Can we please remind parents to return one signed copy to school as soon as possible which will indicate your commitment to working in partnership with the school to support your child.  If you have any objection to the agreement, please make an appointment to speak to the Head teacher.

We welcomed Mrs. McConnell, a new member of staff, as a Learning Support Assistant to the school this week.  She will be joining Miss Houghton and Miss Neave throughout the week to support the learning and teaching in both classes.  We wish her a long and happy career at St. Andrews.

Performances of ‘Bethlehem’s Buzzin’ will take place on Wednesday, 14^th December and Thursday, 15^th December at 1.30pm.  The performance will be our only Christmas production and will enable our younger children to ‘showcase’ their skills and talents.  Tickets will be available at the School Office from Tuesday, 29^th November.  These will be on a first come, first served basis and will be restricted to three per family.

The P.T.A. would like to invite Year 6 pupils to help serve behind a stall at the Fayre.  If your child would be interested, please give your permission by letting the School Office know.  They will need collecting at approximately 4.45pm when the Fayre finishes.  Thank you!

Our ‘Back to Reading Week’ has been very successful!  We all enjoyed ‘dressing up’ as our favourite book/film character on Monday – there was a very wide range!  Miss Houghton and Miss Neave would like to thank parents and grandparents of Butler and De Vere Classes for supporting their ‘Meet & Make’ on Wednesday.  The children and parents completed the 3D Gruffalo, made monster puppets, Gruffalo and mouse masks, made a start on a class mosaic for Butler Class, helped make fantasy creatures and 3D trees for the scenery display in De Vere Class.

Extreme Read Competition

Thank you for the many photos that came in over the week.  They are all now displayed in the Library for the children to enjoy.  Ms. Trappitt, Mrs. Gurney and Mr. Hart judged the competition and awarded a W.H.Smiths voucher to one winner in each class:

We thanked all entrants at the Friday Forum and gave everyone who took part a chocolate treat for their efforts (43 pupils took part!).

Thank you very much if you were able to support ‘Operation Christmas Child’ this year by filling a shoebox.  We were very pleased to take 44 boxes to the depot in Sudbury after our Shoebox Service on Thursday.  The Key Stage 2 school council members visited the depot on Thursday afternoon to help organise the shoeboxes for dispatch.  They had a very enjoyable time helping the ‘Sudbury Shoebox team’.

Deadline for Shoeboxes is Monday, 14th November. If you can only half fill a box, this is very acceptable and will be gratefully received. We will be holding a service in the school hall at 10.15am on Thursday, 17th November (place and time change). You are most welcome to join us if you can!

Butler & de Vere classes had a great day at Gearies Infants in Redbridge, on Tuesday 1st November.  We shared our Diwali learning in the afternoon and spent playtime discovering new friendships.  Gearies pupils and parents were impressed with our Diwli dance which we performed at the end of the day.  Some parents from Gearies Infant School joined us in the afternoon to answer some of the questions we had about Diwali e.g. how long does Diwali take?, what colours are used at Diwali?, what special foods do you make for Diwali?  Photographs are on the school website under our UK & Global links as well as the gallery.

Tina McPartland (Families and School Teams – FAST) will have a ‘drop-in’ session at school, on Monday 7^th November at 9.00am.  Tina is happy to confidentially discuss with you any issues or concerns you may have relating to your child/family.  If you are unable to attend in school but would like to meet with Tina please let the office know and they will, with your permission, pass on your telephone number for Tina to give you a call.