Dear Parents On Wednesday morning we waved off Y4 on their three day residential visit to York. Everyone was very excited as they boarded the coach. During the week they will experience life in Roman and Viking times, visit the historic town of York and experience two nights away from home. We hope that the sun shines and the snow stays away! Parents can read daily updates on the website and via Schoolcomms texts. The consultation period on the proposed changes to the Caroline Chisholm School admissions area has now closed. We hope that everyone has been able to express their views about the proposed changes to our current cluster. The next stage of the process will be the presentation of the consultation outcomes at the Northamptonshire School Admissions Forum on March 10th. This is a difficult and unsettling time for all parties affected by the proposed changes. The Admission Forum’s decision regarding the proposals will then go forward to the cabinet of the county council in April. We will keep parents informed of the situation. The recent Joseph production was a great success—thank you to everyone who supported the shows. It was wonderful to see cast and orchestra members from KS2 to Sixth Form (and a bit older!) working together to produce a vibrant and enjoyable production. Building Project Update The building work continues. The foundations have been laid and we can now see the actual footprint of the extension on the playground. The positions of the classrooms and new ICT Hub space can be clearly seen. The framework of the building will follow shortly. Some time has been lost due to the severe weather conditions recently but Steel & Bray are working hard to make up as much time as possible. Yours sincerely

Katherine Patterson

Vice Principal

The Home/School Partnership Newsletter Term 4 February 26th 2010

Haiti Earthquake Relief Appeal Thank to everyone who supported this appeal at the end of

last term. Together we raised a total of £1,526.54 towards the Haiti fund, wearing red and blue for a day. Thank you for your donations.

Spelling Skills Development & Home Learning Update This year we are focusing on improving standards of spelling. Our revised spelling programme is based on the following core principles as recommended by the DCSF:

⇒ understanding how words are out together such as understanding phonemes (the letter sounds e.g. c-a-t (3 phonemes) or b-oa-t (3 phonemes) and graphemes (the corresponding written letter shapes)

⇒ knowing which principles apply to each word, in order to learn to spell words; ⇒ practising and assessing spelling; ⇒ applying spelling strategies in day to day writing and proof reading; ⇒ building pupils’ self-images as spellers.

Spelling learning occurs on a regular basis throughout the week and a spelling strategies may be taught over the period of two or three weeks in school.

In order to bring spelling home learning in line with the new programme we are no longer sending weekly spelling lists home. Instead, we will be sending a spelling activity a week so that the children learn by practising, exploring and investigating words in context, rather than a list of words learnt off by heart. Learning lists of spellings does not necessarily transfer successfully in to the course of the children’s everyday writing.

Assessment in class will then take the form of four or five dictated sentences in order for the children to show their understanding of the spelling strategies and patterns in context. This provides a reflection of their true knowledge and will help the children develop into confident spellers. Spelling home learning should be completed on a weekly basis. Thank you for your support.

Everyone is invited to take part in a ‘Pantastic’ fun filled day at CCS. Children are fascinated by the subject of pants and there are many fabulous books and stories celebrating this important item of clothing. Everyone is invited to enter in to the spirit of story silliness by wearing a pair of comedy pants in addition to the usual school uniform (no mufti). Wear your pants in an amusing manner… over your trousers, on your head… you decide! The bigger and funnier the pants, the better, so don’t be shy- get those bloomers, boxers and pantaloons on and join in the fun. We will be enjoying a range of ‘pantastic’ stories and if you have a story or book on the theme of pants then bring it along. Each child will receive a special World Book Day token on this day.

SPRING TERM PARENT TEACHER CONSULTATION EVENINGS SPRING TERM PARENT TEACHER CONSULTATION EVENINGS

TUESDAY 30th & WEDNESDAY 31st March 4.30TUESDAY 30th & WEDNESDAY 31st March 4.30--7.30 pm7.30 pm

Details of appointment requests coming soon...Details of appointment requests coming soon...

Please return your Schoolcomms data sheet to school. We are still waiting for 95 parent returns in the primary phase. At the end of last term, CCS launched a new home-school communication system which enables swift and easy communication via text and email. In order for this to be successful it is impor-tant that as many parents as possible support the system which will be invaluable for such situations as snow closure, trip travel, changes to clubs and situations when we need to get im-portant or emergency information to parents quickly and effectively. If you have not done so, please return this data sheet to Mrs Denton asap. Further information and a copy of the datasheet can be found on our school website.

NEW PROCEDURES FOR REPORTING A SCHOOL ABSENCE

A reminder that, from now on, when you are reporting your child’s absence from school, please email a short message to

SC9284005a@Schoolcomms.com or text a message to

0044 7717 989975 Alternatively, for Primary Phase children, call the Primary Phase Office on 01604 669210.

All absences must be reported by 9.30am on the first day of absence. Any Primary Phase child who is absent will be followed up immediately by Mrs Denton unless we have heard from you.

Thank you for your support.

SCHOOL MEAL ORDER FORMS FOR TERMS 4 AND 5 (up to the end of May 2010)

ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR COLLECTION FROM THE

PRIMARY ENTRANCE FOYER

If you are unable to collect a form, please contact us via Schoolcomms, or by phoning

the Primary Office, and we will send one home with your child.

Lost Property Problems

We are pleased to report that, following our new year’s resolution for 2010 to reduce the amount of un-named and lost property in school, there have been some improve-ments. Please continue to check all your child’s belongings and ensure that the following items are named: • School uniform clothing items • Coats, shoes, boots • Hats, scarves and gloves • PE Kit • PE Bags (visibly on the outside of the

bag) • Lunch Boxes (visibly on the outside of

the box) In order to keep cloakrooms clear and lost property kept to a minimum , PE bags will be sent home on a Friday on a fortnightly basis from Y1-Y6. This enables it to be regularly checked and washed. Thank you.

For further information contact Alison Taylor (Dip Mus)

ali.taylormusic@btinternet.com Tel:01604 677333

Forthcoming Events 2010

2nd March Friends Meeting 12th March Quiz Night

26th March Primary Disco 29th March Happy School Bags Collection

www.happyschoolbag.co.uk

20th April Friends Meeting 29th April KS1 Film Night

30th April KS2 Film Night