December 2013

www.corshamprimary.co.uk December 2013 Corsham Primary Achieves the Staff Engagement Award We are pleased to inform you that Corsham Primary has recently achieved the Staff Engagement Gold Award. Assessment for the award involved all staff members (teachers, leaders and the range of support staff) who completed a confidential questionnaire focussing on many aspects of school life, such as rating how well individuals feel they are supported at work, through to the extent to which people believe in what our school strives to achieve for the children. In addition, a portfolio of evidence was assessed and discussions with staff were held, covering all aspects of Corsham Primary’s work, policies and procedures, in relation to staff engagement and wellbeing. After a busy day of discussions, evidence scrutiny and analysis of the questionnaire responses we were delighted with the feedback that we had achieved the highest level of award – Gold! Corsham Primary is the first primary school to receive the Gold Award and this is down to the huge commitment and dedication of the staff in school who work incredibly hard to achieve the best for the children. Our results put us in the top 3% of schools in the country. In particular, the assessment team praised the high quality of relationships between staff and the highly effective way that change and developments in school are led and managed. They could clearly see that the dedication and positivity of the staff impacts massively on the children’s learning and reported that Corsham Primary is a happy place to be! We would like to say a huge well done and thank you to all the staff, children and parents/carers who make Corsham Primary such a wonderful place to be! Discounted tickets for Bath Rugby v Mogliano, European Amlin Cup on Saturday 14 December 2013. Adults £12.50 Juniors £5.00 (16 years and under). Please contact the Bath Rugby ticket office on 0844 4481865 and quote “Community SM”. Tickets can be purchased as a school, group, family or singularly. Christmas Fayre The Winter Wonderland Christmas Fayre made approximately £2,500 (exact amount to follow!). The PTA would like to thank all parents, staff and children for their support and help in making it such a successful and enjoyable event despite being very cold!! What is the Advent Spiral all about? Advent, from the Latin “to come”, is the period including the four Sundays before Christmas. In the tradition of the Christian churches, one candle is lit each Sunday until the light of four candles heralds the birth of Christ. Advent is a time of preparation, a gradual build up to Christmas day. The Advent Spiral itself symbolises the journey we make through the dark winter months, whilst the central candle represents the light of Christmas and the birth of Jesus. In two separate ceremonies, Reception and Year 3 children at Pound Pill, Reception and Year 6 at Broadwood, together with any children new to the school, will walk around the leafy spiral and back out with a lit candle to add to the Advent Spiral. On Friday 8 November, ten children from Corsham Primary School took part in a special service to open the Royal Wootton Bassett Field of Remembrance at Lydiard Park in Swindon. They represented a national group of children known as 'HMS Heroes', who have parents in the armed forces. The children planted crosses with messages written by children and staff from Corsham Primary School. They also planted crosses that had been sent to them from children across the country, from Cornwall to Yorkshire. Two children, Ross and Cameron marched with the HMS Heroes standard and lowered it at 11am for the 2 minute silence. The children were an absolute asset to the school and to HMS heroes. We were very proud of their behaviour and participation. Sudoku! Sudoku is a great puzzle for both children and grown-ups. It gives the brain regular exercise and also helps to develop logical reasoning. How it works– You need to fill each group of 6 squares with the numbers 1-6 - The number can only appear once in each row - The number can only appear once in each column - The number can only appear once in each region Now try this more challenging one! “We may not be able to prepare the future Zebra Crossing for our children, but we can at least Pound Pill prepare our children for the future.” Please may we remind ― Franklin D. Roosevelt everyone to be particularly vigilant when using the zebra crossing on Pound Pill. Congratulations Mrs Ford! Particularly in the Our lovely Learning Tutor, Katharine Ford, has mornings, traffic is recently been awarded a Distinction for her post heavy and small children graduate course in Autism/SEN. This is an can be difficult to see. achievement worth celebrating and we are all very proud of her. Thank you. The Great Fire of London Year 2 children at both sites enjoyed a mini “Great Fire of London” which took place on Operation Christmas Child the school playing fields with the support and backup of Shoebox Appeal Wiltshire Fire Service. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Pupils built their seventeenth Thank you to everyone who brought in a shoebox. A total of 61 were collected by The Samaritan’s century buildings at home and Purse warehouse in Melksham. then reconstructed a mini London outside. Mr Hancock, (Pound Pill) and Mr Perrett Bikeability News … (Broadwood) our firemen, lit the matches. The children all Huge congratulations to everybody who took their 2-day Bikeability course last month—everyone did extremely well watched as fire took hold and and enjoyed learning more about how to ride their bikes spread through our little safely on the roads around Corsham. More courses to follow in January. Londons very fast in the wind! It all looked so Well done to: Ben L realistic; it was almost a Frank A Scott W shame to see them go up in a Lauren F Isaac N Alex B Katherine P puff of smoke but we Alex C Danny W certainly all learnt a lot about Emma S Mia C the “Great Fire”. Jenny P Millie L Heidi D Daisy P Jolie P Lois S Sam H Natasha M Harry S Myles R Edward B Angus B BE BRIGHT. BE SEEN We have reached that time of year again when daylight hours are shortening and the clocks have been altered. This may mean that some children are travelling to and from school at twilight, or in the dark. Please remind children that wearing something reflective at night or fluorescent in daylight will help them to be seen by drivers. Although children may be able to see vehicles in the dark, drivers may not see them and it is important that they are visible when crossing roads or walking along unlit roads. If they are riding bicycles in the dark they must, by law, have a white front light and red rear light. The rear reflector must also be kept clean. It is especially important to wear reflective clothing when cycling in the dark. Playground Craze of the Month December’s crazes are joke books, finger boards, Knex, Christmas head-gear, card games. Please ensure that toys are clearly labelled with your child’s name. Outdoor P.E. The school is continuing to increase its outdoor P.E. provision and the weather is getting colder! For this to be achievable and safe, we would like to remind everyone that an outdoor P.E. kit would be preferable: Tracksuit, trousers, sweatshirt and outdoor trainers. Gloves and hat when very cold! During our carol singing and Christmas concerts this year, we will be collecting money to support Wiltshire Air Ambulance. Two of our parents ran the Bath half marathon earlier in the year to raise funds for this very worthwhile local organisation. For further information about Wiltshire Air Ambulance, please look at their website: www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk Message from Wiltshire Air Ambulance—Support Us You may need us at some point in your lives, but we really need you…NOW Wiltshire Air Ambulance relies entirely on the support of people like you and we have to raise £2.5m a year to cover the running costs. That’s £6,850 a day. It’s not government funding that keeps it running – it’s donations and fundraising—thank you for your support. Anti Bullying Week All the staff were very proud of the children for embracing Anti Bullying Week so positively. The children took part in a variety of activities designed to engage them in discussion, broadening their knowledge and understanding of bullying in the wider sense of the word. I know a concern for many parents is the whole issue of cyber bullying and while we as a school have no control about what children can access outside school, we hope discussions will raise their awareness of the dangers. In addition to the fantastic activities the children participated in we were visited by an assessor from the Anti-Bullying Quality Mark—UK who inspected a myriad of evidence as well as observing lessons and assembly. We haven't officially been told the outcome yet but we are, as always, inwardly smiling! Watch this space! Visit Childnet International and follow the SMART rules. For advice on chat-room safety take a look at Chatdanger. thinkuknow.co.uk has some straight-talking advice on many aspects of online safety -follow the sections from the dropdown box on the opening page. CEOP has some useful information, and will also let you report anything you've seen or experienced on the internet that has made you feel threatened or uncomfortable.

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