St Luke's C of E Primary School, Glossop

St Luke’s Newsletter

12.5.16

Dear Parents,

Firstly welcome to the parents of our children joining Reception in September, you have now been added to our weekly newsletter circulation list. I hope you enjoy finding out more about what we are doing. We are all looking forward to getting to know you.

Huge congratulations to Lily Belle and Sophie who went down to Birmingham University yesterday to attend an awards ceremony because their Thank You Letters has been shortlisted. They had a great day and most importantly the lunch was lovely with lots of cake! We are very proud of them.

A massive well done to Year One whose film about The Lord’s Prayer won the Diocesan competition and won the whole school a story telling day.

Thank you to Glossopdale who welcomed the Year 5s on Friday. They all had a lovely morning.

The PTA quiz has been postponed until the autumn as many people were busy at cricket. I know lots of our families really enjoy Friday evening cricket training for the children turning it into a social occasion.

The Family Fun Day has been beset by date problems the new date clashes with Glossop Carnival so plan Z is this; we will hold the fun day after school on Friday 17th June incorporating Scoot and Skate. Do stay we are hoping to have food and games and a bouncy castle. People can go from fun with us to cricket having had tea! Everyone is welcome with or without scooters. I hope the children joining us in September will be able to come along. More details to follow.

Next week is our Take One Picture Week when we devote the week to the National Gallery Project.

If you ordered plants from our plant sale remember pick up day is Thursday 19th May from the playground.

Alice Littlehailes

St Luke’s Newsletter

5.5.16

Dear Parents,

I hope you all enjoyed your Bank Holiday weekend.

The weather was so bad on Friday that the Tag Rugby was postponed we think it will now be on Friday 13th May. Hard to believe as I look out on this lovely sunny morning.

Tomorrow Peregrines will be leading our morning assembly do join us if you can.

The Eagles have had a busy week they were invited to St Philip Howard School yesterday, and had a lovely time. Tomorrow they are going to Glossopdale. The children are to meet at the Hadfield site reception at 9.15.

You may have seen due to popular demand the PTA quiz is back on Friday 13th May. Tickets are just £3. For a further £3 you can order a fish supper if you would like to. No need to worry if you haven’t got a team they are often assembled on the night. No need to worry if you are quizzing’s Eddie the Eagle it is an evening where we can get together and have some fun. Please come if you can. Tickets are available in the office.

Next week is SATs week when the Year 6 pupils take some tests which are sent away to be marked. The Year 2s have tests which we can take at any point in May and mark ourselves. The Year 2 tests just act as part of the evidence for the teacher to make a judgement about where they are at. You may well have heard a lot in the press about the problems with the tests this year, accidently leaked papers and stressed children. This is because the curriculum has changed and so the tests have changed. The tests have been made harder and a lot of technical grammar terminology is now included. Please be reassured that we work very hard to help our children be as relaxed as possible about the tests. They are intended to be a snapshot picture of where the children are at in part of their education, not something that consumes all of the children’s learning for the whole of the year . They are intended to be taken with some preparation to learn how to take a test not having spent a year taking practice tests. Our children know how to take the tests but also know that they make up a very small part of their learning and that we value the whole of them, those bits that are tested and all the things that aren’t. Please help your child to keep the SATs in perspective – they will be over for Y6 by Thursday lunchtime. Have a lovely weekend with them enjoying normal weekend stuff, don’t even mention SATs. Make sure they get plenty of sleep and have a good breakfast. The Year 2s hopefully will not even realise they are taking tests.

Alice Littlehailes

St Luke’s Newsletter

28.4.16

Dear Parents,

Well what a difference in the weather last week we were worrying about sun cream this week we spent science club finding out about the differences between snow and hail. Tuesday’s hail storm was an amazingly long one leaving a covering as if it had snowed. At least the children who went to Whitby had the good weather. As predicted they came back so proud of themselves for having not only survived a residential but really enjoyed it. Thank you to all the staff who gave up their time to make it the wonderful experience it was. They are now well set up for the Year 6 residential at Whitehall in October 3rd – 5th. The staff took lots of photos if you send in a memory stick Mr Warburton will give you copies of them.

The Opera the older children watched on Friday was great, they were all captivated and I know everyone who was in the audience is still singing the songs! They were going through my head all weekend I had just got rid of them when I overheard a child singing one of them!! As well as experiencing opera they also learnt a lot about the space race and explored the moral issues around sending animals into space.

The Tag Rugby team are taking part in the High Peak Final on Friday afternoon so good luck to them. We also need to thank Glossop Rugby Club who are coming into school today to give the squad some extra coaching ahead of the final.

There is no Science Club next Tuesday 3rd May as all the staff are on a training course after school, sorry about this I know the children love it.

The Year 5s have a very busy week next week. They have been invited to Philip Howard to take part in an Art lesson on Wednesday morning. We will walk from school. On Friday morning they are invited to Glossopdale for the visit which was cancelled due to snow.

On Friday 6th May Peregrines will be leading our assembly, do join us if you can.

Yesterday Miss Byron and Mrs Clayton were presenting their work at a conference in Derby. Due to the work they have done with the rest of the staff the school has been awarded Attachment Aware School Status the award says we are a safe space, a nurturing learning community.

I have some sad news Joan Heapy is retiring on Friday 13th May after working in the kitchen at St Luke’s for 37 years. I have promised her we won’t make a big fuss but an achievement like that needs to be marked. If anyone would like to contribute towards her leaving present please send it in a marked envelope to the office by Friday 6th May.

Alice Littlehailes

St Luke’s Newsletter

21.4.16

Dear Parents,

What lovely weather the children are having for the Whitby trip. They spent yesterday afternoon studying the beach – so jealous. The latest report is that all is well and a good time is being had by all.

Huge congratulations go out to Sophie and Lilly Belle whose thank you letters have got through to the final of a national competition. Congratulations also to Amy, Jayden, Jonah, Olivia and Arthur who’s letters made it to the semi-final. We are proud of you all.

Well done to our aqua splash team who had a great time taking part in fun races yesterday. I received great reports from staff and pupils.

I hope to see lots of you tonight at the PTA meeting 7.30 at Harvey Leonards.

Tomorrow 22nd The Osprey’s Class will be leading assembly do join us if you can just after 9am.

On Friday afternoon we will be welcoming the National Touring Opera who will be performing Laika the Spacedog to the older children. This is the story of the Russian Sputnik 2 which was the first to put a dog in space. This fits in so well with our work on Tim Peak’s work in the International Space Centre.

Next Thursday 28th Swimming Starts for the children in Harriers.

The hall is now back in action so as well as us being able to host Friday Family Assemblies we can also welcome the toddlers back. It was lovely to see them on Tuesday. If you have a pre-schooler or know someone who does do join the group on Tuesday between 9-11.

We have a number of scooters which have been left at school. If your child’s scooter is at school please could you collect it and take it home.

The summer sports are gearing up if you are interested in tennis Glossop Pyegrove Tennis Club runs classes most weekday evenings for everyone 5 and upwards. If you would like to find out more contact Mark Beaver 07786386418, mark.beaver@hotmail.co.uk . If cricket is your thing the very popular Friday Night Coaching is starting on 29th April 6.45-7.45 at Glossop Cricket Club this is open to children from Reception to Y6. Just go along that night to register.

Junior Bake Off are looking for children keen to take part between the ages 9-19 if your child is interested I have more details. The application form is available at www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/junior-bake-off-4-be-on-a-show the closing date is Sunday 1st May.

Alice Littlehailes