Parents’ Evening Tuesday 12 February

3:30pm-5:00pm and

Wednesday 13 February 6:00pm—8:00pm

Monday 18 — Friday 22 February

Half Term Holiday

Thursday 7 March World Book Day

Friday 8 March Year 5 Space Centre

Thursday 14 March PTA Easter Bingo

Friday 15 March Red Nose Day

Yr 4 French Day

Monday 18 March—Tuesday 19 March

Yr 4 Residential trip to Ilam Hall

Wednesday 20 March School Disco 6:30—8pm

Thursday 21 March School Disco 6:30—8pm

Friday 22 March School Closes for Easter

holidays at 3:20pm

Monday 8 April Teacher Training Day

Tuesday 9 April School returns

MICHAEL DRAYTON

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Newsletter

F E B R U A R Y

2 0 1 3

It’s fairtrade fortnight after half term. There will be an opportunity for chil-dren to take part in a special snack attack challenge. Further detail will fol-low soon. It will be nice to see if chil-dren can spot any fairtrade products in local shops

Best overall class attendance—January 2013 6RE - with a total attendance of 97.7% Well done!!

Class 4HO are part of a pilot scheme to introduce Mandarin Chinese to pri-mary school children.

Through a video link with a native Chinese Teacher the children learnt how to say Hello, How are you?, Thank you and were also introduced to Chinese writing.

When asked how the lesson went, they enthusiastically replied “Awesome, Great, Fabulous”

A great success!!

It’s a very early Easter this year which means this term is a very short one - particularly a very short spell after half term. It seems that we have to cram everything into a short space of time even though the days work out the same over the year.

It’s nice to see new developments taking place in school. Miss Foster is work-ing hard putting a portfolio in place for our school to achieve the full School International Award. As part of this we are taking part in Fairtrade Fortnight immediately after half term.

It’s really interesting to see one class learning to speak mandarin with the use of video conferencing. We have also recently been conferencing with our partner schools in India and France

Have you seen the new section on our website about Wildlife Learning? Much more on this to follow.

Take an active interest in what your children are doing online

Keep a record of your child’s accounts and passwords for sites and check them if you are con-

cerned

Check your internet history if you suspect your child has been on

sites that are not suitable

Limit approved web sites and hours spent online

Use parental control software to limit the websites your child can

visit

Set high security settings on browsers and safe search settings on

search engines

Talk to your child about protecting private/personal information

(name, phone number, address, passwords, videos and photos)

Encourage your children to speak to you if they see anything that upsets them online

Children should know never to meet up with anyone they have met online without a trusted

adult present

Check out www.saferinternet.org.uk where there is very sound advice for

parents and children

Stick to the fun and positive sides of the internet

Safety Advice - What can you do to keep your

child safe online?

Passports are currently being issued to Year 3 and 4 children. We are in the process of updating Yr 5 & 6 passports. Thanks to those who have brought them in, there are still a few outstanding please try and find them. Replacement passports cost £2.00 each and can be bought from the school office. Remem-ber to collect stamps from swimming lessons at the Pingles or Atherstone pools, our two local destinations. Only activities at registered learning destina-tions can be included.

The Hartshill Enterprise Team have again been rais-ing money for the Mary Ann Evans Hospice. This year they pho-tographed a giant teddy around the Mi-

chael Drayton site and invited all year 3 children to take part in a quiz. Well done to Phoebe Knight from 3GN who won the quiz and the Teddy!!

Michael Drayton Parent-School Association will be holding their Easter bingo on: Thursday 14 March 2013 Doors open at 6:30pm for

a 7pm start Any donations of Easter eggs, chocolates or sweets would be very welcome.

Red nose day is back on 15 March 2013. The school will be selling Red noses from Monday 4 March at Break times only at a cost of £1.00. each

Easter Discos will be held on:

Wednesday 20 March and

Thursday 21 March 2013 at 6:30—8pm

Tickets will be available from Monday 18 March at break times in year corridors only and will cost £1.00 each.

World Book Day will be on Thursday 7 March. Children will bring home a book token which can be exchanged for

a selection of books or used as £1.00 off voucher for any other book.

Well done to 6RE, 4ST and 3SU . Everyone really enjoyed their assemblies about The Beatles, France and Creation stories from around the World

The school took part in the RSPB's Big School Birdwatch! Armed with binoculars and a checklist, eight children from each year group spent an hour checking out the school grounds for bird visitors. From field, to play-ground to hedges, trees and feeders, they searched and logged all the birds they saw. They learnt how to recognise birds by size, colour and behaviour as well

as by their call.... and already we are getting better at recognising the most common species!

February Play Scheme 18 February—22 February 2013

7:45am—6:00pm Email

linksclub@nursery1996.wanadoo.co. uk

Creative sessions, games, competi-tions, cooking, arts and crafts, outdoor

play, computers and lots more.

All week 18th - 22nd at Etone Sports Centre Mon, Tues, Weds, 18th - 20th at Jubilee

Sports Centre Thurs 21st - Fri 22nd at Nuneaton Academy

Sports Centre Tues 19th and Weds 20th at Bedworth

Sports Centre Sessions start at 9am with drop off from 8.45am. Lunch activities 12pm - 1pm and afternoon sessions start at 1pm running until 4pm. For further details visit www.nbleisuretrust.org/

PS2013

Sky Blue in the community offer holiday camps during the February half term and Easter holi-days at Higham Lane School. For further details and booking please contact the office between 9.30am – 5pm (Monday to Friday) on 024 7678 6349, or emailing sbitc@ccfc.co.uk

Preparations are in the final stages for the Year 4 trip to Ilam Hall Youth Hostel. Ilam Hall is a Victorian gothic manor house set in 84 acres of country park on the banks of the

River Manifold, in Dovedale, Derbyshire. Please could any outstanding payments for the trip be paid by Friday 1 March 2013. Thank You.

Katie Thomas, one of our Teaching Assistants will be leaving at half term to start her maternity leave. We wish her well. A student teacher from the University of War-wick, Miss Easthope, will be working alongside Miss Purdy in 5PR for the next 5 weeks.

The final cross country for the Nuneaton area was held at Michael Drayton School on Wednesday evening. Both the boys and girls team did a great job. The girls came 2nd overall and the boys were 4th. Hollie Bateman and Anya Atkins performed particularly well for the girls and Eliot Stone for the boys. A number of children have qualified for the inter-district race next Thursday

Year 4 will be holding a French Day on Friday 15 February. Children are in-

vited to come to school dressed in the colours of the French flag or a French themed costume.