Dear Parents and Carers,
Many thanks to all the parental and carer support with our book fair on Wednesday. An enormous amount of books were ordered which means the school will be able to purchase many books from the ‘School wish list’, collated by staff.
Road Parking
Please would all parents and carers park respectfully when parking on the road, and ensure they are not parking on the yellow hazard lines outside school, as this makes manoeuvring the school bus within the road particularly challenging. Many thanks in advance for your assistance with this matter.
Nits
Nits are making a ‘friendly’ appearance in school. I would ask all parents to regularly check their children for nits and treat appropriately. The following has been lifted from NHS advice:
How to get rid of head lice
- Treat head lice as soon as you spot them. You can treat head lice without seeing a GP.
- You should check everyone in the house and start treating anyone who has head lice on the same day.
- There’s no need to keep your child off school if they have head lice.
Wet combing
Lice and nits can be removed by wet combing.
You can buy a special fine-toothed comb (detection comb) online or from pharmacies to remove head lice and nits.
There may be instructions on the pack, but usually you:
- wash hair with ordinary shampoo
- apply lots of conditioner (any conditioner will do)
- comb the whole head of hair, from the roots to the ends
- It usually takes about 10 minutes to comb short hair, and 20 to 30 minutes for long, frizzy or curly hair.
- Do wet combing on days 1, 5, 9 and 13 to catch any newly hatched head lice. Check again that everyone’s hair is free of lice on day 17.
Medicated lotions and sprays
If wet combing has not worked or is not suitable, you could try a medicated lotion or spray. These kill head lice in all types of hair, and you can buy them from pharmacies, supermarkets or online.
Please see NHS guidance Head lice and nits – NHS (www.nhs.uk) for further information.
Free Used Coats
Over the past few weeks, Dorset Council Children’s Centres in Blandford and Shaftesbury
have been asking the public to donate coats for children aged 0 – 16 to support families in the area struggling with the cost of living.
There has been a fantastic response to the appeal and thanks to the Dorset public’s kind donations both Children’s Centres now have a great range of good quality free coats and jackets available for parents and carers to choose from.
If you would like to see what’s available, try on for size and take home, just drop in on Tuesday (term time only) at the following locations/times:
Blandford Children’s Centre, Black Lane, DT11 8SW
Between 9am – midday.
Shaftesbury Children’s Centre, Wincombe Lane, SP7 8PZ
Between 9am and 4pm.
For more information, including visiting at a different time, please contact Dorset Council North Locality
E:northlocality@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
Friends Corner
Pumpkin Carving Competition
What an amazing array of designs were entered into the pumpkin competition, from hanging bats, cats, ghosts and even ‘death on horseback’! The standard was incredibly high and I therefore sort external independent advice when selecting winners. My thanks to the ‘anonymous judge’ who will perhaps become our version of Top Gears ‘The Stig’?!
All entries have been shared on the Friends’ Facebook page so do have a look. The winning entries however are:
EYFS: Alex
Key stage 1: Oscar
Key stage 2: Henry
11+: Thomas
Many congratulations to the winners, and my thanks to all who entered the competition. I hope you all had fun carving your creations.
Easy Fundraising reminder
With Christmas just around the corner, please remember to sign up to Easy Fundraising website and make your purchases through the site. This will generate a wealth of additional funds for the school, without costing any of us any money!
Coming up this month
Children in Need Day – Friday 17th November
Come dressed in something spotty for the day and remember to bring a jar which you have filled with something exciting. You have two weeks to still come up with some ideas! All jars will be kept safe and will be used on the ‘hoop and win a jar’ stall at the Christmas Bizarre, and will be collected in in classes.
Local food links Christmas card competition
Our school food provider, Food Links, are looking for a Picasso to design their Christmas card. They will choose 2 winners, representing Foundation/Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2/Key Stage 3. Children are encouraged to take part in this competition, perhaps creating an entry over the half term. The closing date is Tuesday 28th November, with A4 entries emailed to natasha.elliott@localfoodlinks.org.uk. Please see the attached document for further information.
Class news
Oak
This week, many of our students have enjoyed the challenge of their first SATs test, as they worked their way through the 2017 reading assessment. They all worked incredibly well, and were totally unphased by the forensic examination and interpretation needed to understand what was being asked – there were many traps for the unwary! In maths, the children have been continuing with multiplication and factors. In geography, the class have been looking at different types of maps and discovering that they all give different types of information. Pupils surmised, after looking at contour lines, that Shaftesbury is likely to have snow but unlikely to flood! Next week, Oak class are looking forward to our Earth and Space topic in science. Ad astra…
Chestnut
This week, Chestnut Class have continued working on addition and subtracting. Year 4 have been perfecting their column method and Year 3 will be moving onto this next week. In RE, the children have been enthusiastic about their learning on Sikhism. They have been learning about why Guru Nanak is so important to Sikhs and also learning about the Sikh temple – a Gurdwara. The pupil’s were particularly keen to know about the Langar where free food is served. In topic, the children have been learning about the daily life of people living in the Bronze Age.
Beech
This week, Beech class started off the week having a fantastic day at the farm, they learnt about how the farmers look after their beef cows as well as creating worms or bracelets out of conkers. To finish the day off the children had an explore of the wooded area and created bug houses. I think one of the highlights for the children was Rufus the Turkey, who kept showing off in front of them.
In maths this week, the children have done amazing work moving on to addition and subtraction of two two digit numbers. They have all been really happy about how well they are doing with this which is lovely to see. In science, the children have been looking at identifying how to sort out living and non-living things and in history they have been extending their knowledge of explorers and creating timelines for Neil Armstrong and Christopher Columbus.
Hazel
This week the children have been investigating natural materials, they have looked around the school for different materials and decided whether they are natural or have been manufactured from natural materials. The EYFS children have investigating our local area and taking photos of the features they found. Year 1 have been looking at settlements and the differences between villages, towns and cities, and creating a map of their own. In Computing, Year 1 have recreated their own version of Piet Mondrian’s Composition of Red Yellow and Blue, using the Paint program on the laptops.
Diary dates (dates in red have been added this week)
| 17th Nov | All day | Children in Need – come dressed in spots! Please bring a jar filled with something interesting e.g. sweets, soaps, cotton wool balls, bouncy balls etc. |
| 28th Nov | Last entry date | Local Food Links Christmas Card competition – last entry date |
| 4th Dec | 18.30 – 20.00 | Friends Event – Wreath Making |
| 5th Dec | 14.00 | School nativity – KS1 and Reception on stage, KS2 singing |
| 5th Dec | 18.30 – 20.00 | Friends Event – Wreath Making |
| 6th Dec | 16.00 | School nativity – KS1 and Reception on stage, KS2 singing |
| 7th Dec | All Day | Christmas jumper day |
| 8th Dec | 15.30 – 17.00 | Christmas Bizarre |
| 13th Dec | 12.05 – 12.30 | Local Food Links Christmas Lunch |
| 14th Dec | 15.30 – 17.00 | Christmas Disco |
| 2nd Jan | INSET DAY | |
| 3rd Jan | 08.40 | Spring Term starts |
| 22nd July 2024 | INSET DAY | |
| 23rd July 2024 | INSET DAY |
Best wishes,
Mrs B