St Chad’s School Newsletter Merry Christmas, everyone! are still raving about how much they en- and eve- Every term is a roller coaster of exciting joyed the trip. ryone things and term 2 has been no exception. As part of supporting safety in the wider had a We started with Years 2 and 3 having an world we have been holding pedestrian great author visit, meeting Tom Percival training and Level 1 cycle training time; (@TomPercivalsays) which was a great which as always has had a huge take up. some have even said they want to do skat- ing as a hobby! experience. Since our big push on writing Non-uniform day was a great success we have increasing numbers of pupils who in collecting for the Christmas tombola so This week has seen the productions, with want to be authors, so it was great for thank you to everyone who brought in an EYFS / Y1 Christmas production on them to chat with a very popular and suc- something. Monday, a Y2 Christmas production on cessful author to find out what it is like. Tuesday night, and a KS2 Carol Service in We have just held our first whole school On the 8th of November we held our first the Church on Wednesday night. I think house Spelling Bee Competition, everyone agrees that when you have pri- open morning. We had many parents, (following on from the success of our lan- carers and grandparents on site all having mary age children it really helps to remem- guages / culture quiz and sports events ber what Christmas is about, and these a great time. You can read their unedited held in term one). As one child said after- responses here: http://bit.ly/2g52nh7 and I event were funny, brought a tear to some wards “I didn’t know spelling was so much eyes, and were caring and joyful. Well have selected some of the comments to fun!” put inside this newsletter (in yellow). The done all of the children at St Chad’s who overwhelming responses were how im- St Chad’s school have been working with were brave enough to perform as well as pressed the visiting adults were with the Debs, an outreach worker from St Chad’s they did. high level of behaviour, how polite and church, to create outdoor Christmas deco- For our traditional Christmas dinner, we kind the pupils (and the teachers) are to rations to be displayed in the local ar- invite many adults back with a number of each other, how capable and independent ea. Once we know where they will be we St Chad’s ex-Head teachers, some ex- pupils are at all ages and how much high- will let you know. staff, Governors, some of the Friends and er level the pupils work at than people Our Choir is going from strength to staff who support us throughout the year realised. There will be further open morn- strength, both growing in size and also in all coming along to say Merry Christmas! ings throughout the year so look out for skills. They were superb at their recent It is far and away the most popular dinner the letters. Clifton Cathedral performance, both in of the year with virtually all pupils having a Book at Bedtime was another roaring (or their immaculate behaviour and beautiful hot meal. It is a wonderful lunchtime, with snoozing?) success with over ¾ of the singing; well done Choir! all sorts of fun! school returning to listen to some super We have only just had another superb In its second year, the staff pantomime to stories, drink chocolate milk and have an the school is becoming a key feature and excuse to wear nightwear to school! Christmas fair, we think the most popu- lar we have ever run. We had the largest this year’s “Adventures of Dory” (written by Please remember sport will be mentioned number of adults through the door we Chelsea Smith, see meet the staff) was in sports own slot later in the newsletter, have ever had, and we were also joined by probably even better than last years there’s been lots and lots as always. families from many other local schools (Chelsea wrote that one too, so I can say Mad science assembly is something including Little Stoke, Stoke Lodge, Conis- that!) the pupils all love. This is where we look ton and Callicroft, but who can blame We will round off 2016 with another non at an aspect of science (this time changes) them? With Santa’s grotto being stunning, uniform day and the end of year Christ- and explore some of the fun and wacky games and stalls everywhere you look, a mas disco. things that can happen. From this we run huge collection of prizes to be won, Christ- a mad science club starting after Christ- mas trees on sale and a mas. stunning café as well. A Our choir at Clifton Cathedral huge thank you to the Children in Need day is always a great Friends that put together event, and this year it was made even the fair, they worked incred- more impressive by a visit from the real ibly hard, but I am sure you Pudsey! Pudsey came to kick of the day in agree it was worth it. our opening assembly and as you can imagine the children were really quite ex- Now we are into the Christ- cited! mas events fully, we have had Ice Skating for Y5 and Before the holiday Y3 went on their Stone- 6 at the Mall as their Christ- henge trip and this term it has been the mas treat. It was great to turn of their history topic partners Y4 who know everyone got involved Pudsey’s visit with winners of Pudsey’s competition Star of the Week this term We have had the themes of Trust Do remember every winner is nomi- and Forgiveness since the last nated by another pupil in assembly newsletter. Winners have been: and often there are many nomina- Harry Sprake, always being able to tions to choose from. It is not just be trusted to keep a secret or to do about winning the trophy, but also something important; Marzia Malato about the way you are around for showing forgiveness to others; school. We have been so proud to Myles Maggs for forgiving a friend see so many pupils making a huge when they accidently broke some- effort to show the theme of thing meaningful; Abinaya Bhanu- the term and doing them- goban for forgiving her friend when selves and the school they both fell out. proud. Supportive EYFS and Y1 ready for their nativity performance parents group South Gloucestershire pro- vide a service under the name of Supportive Parents (www.supportiveparents.org. uk ). This group is for par- ents of SEN pupils, or pupils with need, providing infor- mation & support. There are informal meetings with oth- ers who experience the same as you. People who have been have commented on how useful it has been, and how supportive the “I was very impressed with the quality of the groups and friendships they answers and responses from the children. This and their children have can only suggest they are enjoying and fully made through this group. engaging with the lesson.” A parent after open morning. Parent helpers Santa on the Run Sunday 11th December, well done pupils staff and parents who represented St Chad’s Are you interested in Y3 food tast- so well! helping out with reading or ing and making other activities in school? We are always happy for extra people to get involved, Book at Bedtime and those who already are, Below are some Christmas Decorations very much enjoy it! Some in the community, working with Debs parents come on a regular basis, some every now and Williams from St Chad's Church. then. We have people who come to read, people who like to work with groups in class, some who share specific knowledge (such as experiences of certain events, or cultural sharing) and many more. Anything you can think of really! We are happy to discuss with you times and things you might be interested in Camp and School funds have been audited and doing. If this does interest we have an obligation to let you know that this you, please see your child’s has been the case and they are available for class teacher, Mrs Rogers, inspection. Now you know! or myself. Not sure what When Santa came to visit our Christmas Fair face paints Christmas Fair we do in school? This is a parent friendly website describing the new curriculum and things that can easily be done at home to help your child achieve. https:// miss- “I found the way the lesson was planned out interesting. I really liked how it was broken down to suit everyone. As buddblog.wordpress.com/ a visitor I also understood and didn’t feel confused. Very impressed!” A parent after open morning. “Honestly I personally felt that I imagined something else because our kids only told us that they leaned “this” in literacy and “that” in maths but I couldn’t have imagined how interesting and fun it was doing reading and writing.” A parent after open morning. Term 2 – Sport at St Chad’s This term, the children have continued to participate in intra-school competitions against other children/classes within the school. Competitions have included: *Year 1 and Reception dance and a balancing competition. Year one won the dance ! The result for balancing was a draw with 2 points to each year.