Baden Powell and St Peter's CE Middle > News

We are currently exploring a system that will allow us to send all letters to subscribing parents via email. Clearly, this has real potential to enhance school-home communication whilst also reducing printing and paper costs. You will soon receive a form from the school confirming your email address so that we can begin to establish a database. We would hope to have a system ready to trial by soon after half term. We will write to you about this development as it nears - in the meantime, keep an eye out for your email registration form; we will send a text alert when it comes out.

Whilst all of that is going on, the school's communication will reach you in the following ways:

Website: The school website is a wealth of information which is updated regularly. Most recently, a new and improved calendar has been incorporated onto the website so that you can see what is planned through the year. You can even set it up to synchronise dates to your iPhone if that is your desire! ( www.bpspschool.co.uk )

Headlines: This is the newsletter which is published on a monthly basis - there will be 10 issues this year, the first of which is due out on Friday 30 September 2011.

Letters: We will write to you regularly about school events as the need arises. All parents will receive letters in hardcopy plus they will be uploaded onto the school's website - check the website regularly to make sure that important letters are not getting left in school bags!

Many thanks for your continued support.

Mr Paul Howieson

Headteacher

Meet the new Headteacher and the teachers in your child's Year Team

8^th September 2011

Dear Parents and Carers

Meet the new Headteacher and the teachers in your child’s Year Team

I am delighted to be able to invite you into school on the evenings listed below:

Year 4: Monday 19 September, 6.30 – 7.30pm
Year 5: Tuesday 20 September, 6.30 – 7.30pm
Year 6: Thursday 15 September, 6.30 – 7.30pm
Year 7: Thursday 22 September, 6.30 – 7.45pm

These sessions are an opportunity for me to formally introduce myself as well as a chance for you to learn the workings of your child’s new year group. The session for Year 7 parents will include information regarding the transfer to Secondary School.

I would be grateful if you could return the response slip to your child’s teacher so that we have a clear indication of numbers attending.

I look forward to meeting you soon.

Kind regards

Mr Paul Howieson

Headteacher

"…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

BADEN-POWELL & ST PETER’S CE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Meet the new Headteacher and the teachers in your child’s Year Team

Name of Child ……………………………………. Class ………………….

I confirm that I/we will attend the meeting on ………………………………… and will require

………. places.

Signed …………………………………………… Date …………………….

Building Programme Update

7^th September 2011

Dear Parents and Carers,

Building Programme Update

I am delighted to take up post as Headteacher of Baden-Powell and St. Peter’s Middle School. It is a real privilege to join a school which is held in such high regard by its community; the warm and positive welcome I have received from children and staff would seem to be typical of the nature of our school.

This could not be a more lively or exciting time to take up the leadership of our school! The summer holiday has been a frenzy of activity seeing the current building programme progress at a swift pace. The end result – albeit a little way off yet – will be a bigger, brighter and more vibrant building entirely in keeping with the school’s planned expansion.

As is so often the case with ambitious building projects, we have suffered some setbacks along the way. The unseasonal weather, for example, has created significant delays - a torrential downpour invaded several classrooms and caused serious damage to one of them. Nevertheless, thanks to the ongoing efforts of my colleagues and the contractors, the school has been able to open on time. The contractor’s Site Manager summarised the situation well last week when he described the school as ‘functional and ready if not pretty’!

We have had to make some slight adjustments to the way we work at school to accommodate the continuing building programme. We anticipate some relatively low level internal works to continue until around mid September after which point the main focus will be on the new build areas outside which are expected to be completed by around Christmas. I am grateful to the Local Authority which has lent considerable support in ensuring that the school is safe, secure and accessible for our children, staff and visitors.

An area of some difficulty is likely to be car parking. The car park is somewhat reduced in size as it is necessary for an area to be sectioned off. We would ask parents and carers to avoid entering the car park altogether if possible – walking to school would be a significant help at this stage! Your efforts in this regard last term were much appreciated and made a significant difference.

I am sure you would join me in extending thanks to my colleagues whose efforts – redoubled in the last few days – have ensured that the school is ready for action on time!

It is my intention to host a series of evenings in the near future where I can formally introduce myself to the school community. I will write to you in due course with details.

In the meantime, I look forward enormously to working with you and your children.

Kind regards

Mr Paul Howieson

Headteacher

Headlines - 20th July 2001

Dear Parents

Another school year draws to a close and another group of Year 7 children prepare to leave for other schools. This current year 7 have been very good to work with and deserve enormous praise for their many achievements over the past four years. The annual Governors’ Awards assembly took place last Friday afternoon at which we were able to fully recognise these achievements. The children each received a Year Book as a memento of their time in the school. This final week of school began with a Leavers’ Disco and will continue with the summer concert and then the final assemblies on Thursday.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish those children who are leaving the school from other year groups a happy and successful time at their new schools.

STAFF NEWS

It is with great sadness that we say farewell to Mrs Pipe, one of our Senior Teacher Assistants. Mrs Pipe has been associated with the school for many years as a parent, a governor and then a member of staff. Mrs Pipe is a very busy person away from school and will be fully committed to her job as a Paralympics Sailing Official next year. She is also on the Executive Committee of a National Charity. We are all greatly indebted to Mrs Pipe for her unstinting hard work and total commitment to all that she does. She has worked tirelessly to support children with Special Educational Needs and has supported Mrs Dean tremendously in this aspect of school life. She has also been fully committed to every school musical production. I am sure that you would all join me in thanking her for all that she has done for the school.

SUMMER FAIR

The toy and book sale held last Thursday using leftovers from the Summer Fair raised £103.50. This sale was held on behalf of the Friends of Forest Holme. The latest prediction for the final sum for the fair is almost £10,000. This is an astonishing amount. Many thanks to you all.

END OF TERM AND THE START OF NEXT TERM

I remind you that Friday is a Staff Training Day. The children are, therefore, finishing on Thursday. The new term starts for children on Wednesday 7^th September 2011.

And finally

This will be my last newsletter to you. I would like to thank you all for your amazing support during the past 7½ years. I have been extremely fortunate in my career to have worked in many excellent schools. However, it would not have been possible to finish my career in a better school than Baden-Powell & St Peter’s. The children are a joy to work with, the staff and governors have been superb and you the parents, have been absolutely fantastic in your support of the school. I hope to be invited across on the odd occasion but in the meantime I wish you all great success, happiness and good health in the future.

G Pike

Headlines - 27th May 2011

Yes

Friday 27^th May 2011

Dear Parents

I am now in a position to provide more accurate details of the building programme. As mentioned in the last newsletter there has been a delay. It would take too long to explain all of the reasons for the delay but I am sure that representatives at the Borough of Poole would provide an explanation should you require it. Suffice to say, the building development has now started and will be in full swing within the next three weeks. The programme is scheduled to take 26 weeks and will, therefore, be completed in the middle of December. There are some benefits to the change in the programme; many of the internal changes can now take place during the summer holiday. The negative aspects of the delay are obvious.

The building contractors, Wates, are an extremely large company and are very experienced in this sort of development. The Borough of Poole officers have been working very closely with us to ensure that everything in terms of Health & Safety is completed to the highest standards. Wates will provide a regular written update to us all in order that all members of the school community are kept fully abreast of progress.

Parking within the school car park will become increasingly difficult so I remind you again that you must not enter the car park unless there is an emergency with your child. Please be considerate of the local residents when parking in local roads.

CHANGES TO LOCAL ROADS

A message from the Borough of Poole:

We have been working with the Council to make the area safer for the children outside the school and a safety scheme will be introduced in the roads around the school during the half term. There will be a 20mph limit in Mill Lane and Windsor Road and new parking restrictions are being imposed to make the area safer.

You will notice that single yellow lines have been laid to keep parking away from the school entrances, junctions and bends and these are backed up by loading restrictions which allow the Council to issue Penalty Charges to drivers immediately. The Council is hoping to use a camera car to enforce restrictions outside schools very soon and this should also help to make the situation safer.

I hope that parents will understand that the restrictions aim to make things safer and easier for the whole school community and that those parents that bring their children to school will drive and park considerately.

STAFFING

Mrs Knight will be returning to school after half term after a long absence following operations on her arm and shoulder. For the first week or two she will only be working in the mornings. We thank Mrs Lobo, Mrs Browne and Miss Mott for covering so ably in Mrs Knight’s absence and our thanks also go to Mrs North for acting as Head of Year 4.

RETURN TO SCHOOL

Monday 6^th June is a Staff Training Day. The children return to school on Tuesday 7^th June 2011.

G Pike

Headlines - 28th April 2011

Thursday 28^th April 2011

Dear Parents

I hope that you all had an excellent Easter break and enjoyed the glorious weather. It seems very strange coming back from a two week holiday and immediately having a four day weekend.

STAFF NEWS

I am delighted to inform you that Ms Evans has given birth to a little girl, Evie (8lb 14oz). Mother and daughter are both very well. I am sure that you would all join me in congratulating Ms Evans and Mr Luford on this wonderful news.

Sadly, Mrs Knight has had to undergo another operation on her arm and will be absent from school for a further period of time. We are doing everything in our powers to ensure that we have a degree of continuity in Year 4 during Mrs Knight’s absence. Mrs Dean is supporting the Year group and Mrs North has been given the role of Acting Year Leader until Mrs Knight’s return.

UNIFORM

Children can now wear the summer uniform. This will probably induce a long period of wet, cold and windy weather!

PARKING

I am still receiving complaints from local residents about inconsiderate parking. Please comply with the yellow line markings and please do not block the driveways of local residents.

G Pike

Headlines - 25th March 2011

Dear Parents

What a glorious spell of weather we are having! We cannot remember the last time that the children could play on the playing fields at lunchtimes in mid-March. A number of children have been asking about summer uniform. We are suggesting that Tuesday 3^rd May will be the first day for summer uniform.

PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS

The recently installed PV cells are performing wonderfully well in this current spell of sunny weather. The electricity generated is helping our fuel bills and the expected “Feed-in Tariff” will help the budget still further. There is now a section on the website with a wide range of graphical information relating to the panels. This section of the site is well worth a look.

BPSP STARS IN THEIR EYES

The children performed brilliantly to a sell-out audience at this recent event held at Mr Kyps. The event was organised by Miss Mullin in order to raise money to support a visit by the children from our Drama Club to a Drama Festival that will be held in Bristol next month. Miss Mullin has achieved her goal and the children will now be able to attend the event. She would like to thank everyone who helped her but especially Ms Johnstone-McCarthy, Miss Revill, Mr Cook, The Friends Association and a host of parents. Our special thanks go to Mr Kyprianou and his team who so generously allowed us to use their superb venue. For those of you who are not aware, Mr Kyps, the music venue, is sited at the old St Peter’s School Hall, so is part of the school’s heritage. We also thank the Royal Bath Hotel for their generosity in donating the first prize of a Chocolate Tea Party at the Hotel.

For the records, the Spice Girls won the event. The group consisted of Millie Roberts, Daisy Spragg, Lucy Anderson, Cora Harlow and Bess Bickel. I am sure that the group of girls would be the first to praise the other 17 contestants on the evening and the entire group of 130 children who auditioned.

On behalf of the four members of staff who tried to be the Wurzles and myself, who made a rather pathetic attempt at being Tom Jones (I still have no idea how I was conned into doing this), I apologise to the 350 people who had to endure our performances. I excuse Mr Whitley (Elvis Presley), who can actually sing and I also excuse my backing group of Mrs Rimer, Mrs Clark and Mrs Kennan ( who performed brilliantly) from this apology. I can promise you that my stage-singing career began and ended on Tuesday evening. I can only hope that the Wurzles recognise their many inadequacies and then follow me by retiring gracefully from the music scene and then into musical obscurity.

SPORTING NEWS

It has been an extremely busy few weeks in the sporting arena.

Pride of place on an individual level must go to Isobel Leigh-Warren who became the British School’s Trampoline Champion and Sam Budden who followed his recent victory in a major Gymnastics championship in London (beating the National age-group Champion in the process), by winning the South West of England Championships.

At a team level the Year 6 soccer team has reached the Year 6 Poole and East Dorset Final by beating Ferndown Middle School, 8-1 in the semi-final. The year 7 soccer team had a resounding 4-0 win against The Bishop of Winchester School, to reach the next stage of the County Cup. The cross country team returned with a haul of trophies and medals from both the Bryanston and Canford cross country relays. Netball, rugby and swimming teams have had great fun being involved in a range of regional competitions.

THE BUILDING PROGRAMME

There has been a slight delay in the start of the programme, which will, inevitably, now result in a delay in the completion date. We are currently awaiting news from The Borough of Poole about the next important dates.

PARKING NEAR THE SCHOOL

We continue to receive complaints from local residents about inconsiderate parking. I am resisting demands from many people to “name and shame” the culprits but this may, sadly, have to be the next step. Please be considerate!

CHARITIES

The children continue to be magnificent in their support of charities. Red Nose Day was great fun and also raised a considerable sum of money. The ongoing project with LEPRA has also been very well supported.

THE SIXTH STAFF TRAINING DAY

You will remember that we have to take an extra day of staff training this year. To make life easier for parents and to allow us to handle the building developments at a busy time we have decided to use the last day of the summer term. This will be Friday 22^nd July. The last day for the children will, therefore, be Thursday 21^st July.

A reminder that we have a staff training day on Friday 8^th April.

G Pike

Headlines 18th February 2011

Dear Parents

As we reach the halfway point of the academic year we have a number of important issues to share with you.

BUILDING
If you have visited the school during the past week you will have noticed the presence of new security fencing signifying the start of the building programme. As we start this new venture it is our aim to minimise the disruption of the children’s education as much as possible. There will, however, be inevitable challenges to overcome. The first of these is with the parking of cars. We have now lost eleven parking spaces and this loss is likely to be the case throughout the project. Some of our staff are now having to park in local side roads. It is, therefore, essential that parents do not attempt to enter the school car park unless they have a genuine emergency need, i.e. a sick or injured child. We have already had cases of cars being blocked by parents attempting to park in the car park at the end of the day!

As the mornings and evenings get lighter it should always be possible to park away from the school and your child can walk to your car. We have added a map to the school website with suggested parking areas.

I will attempt to keep you informed of any developments.

THE NEW HEADTEACHER
I understand that the Chair of Governors has now written to you with an announcement of the appointment of the new headteacher for September. Mr Howieson has needed no reminding of how very fortunate he is to be inheriting a school with such wonderful children, parents and staff. He and the other candidates were certainly very impressed with the conduct of the children on the interview day.

I will be working very closely with Mr Howieson to ensure a smooth transition from the Summer Term to the Autumn Term.

STAFF TRAINING DAYS
We have agreed the following staff training days for 2011/2012.

September 5^th 2011
September 6^th 2011
January 3^rd 2012
June 1^st 2012
July 23^rd 2012

I can confirm that there will be a Bank Holiday on Friday 29^th April for the Royal Wedding.

We also need to take the additional training day (a decision that was taken by the previous government to allow training for the planned new primary curriculum) before the end of this school year. We have intentionally held this decision as a consequence of the building work. It is likely that we will need to use it at the end of the Summer Term to aid completion of the building.

SPORTS RESULTS
The cross country team continues to amass trophies. Their latest haul of cups and medals came at the Canford School relays, held this week. Individual medal winners were, Year 6 - Bess Bickel (1^st), Lucy Anderson (2^nd), Lily Hebditch (3^rd), Ruan Friskney (2^nd), Seb Noble (3^rd), Year 7 - Emma Martin (1st), Katrina Ashford (2^nd), Isabel Frumpton (3^rd). The girls’ team won their event and the boys were second. The combined team won the overall event.

Emma Martin and William Palmer represented Dorset in the South West of England Championships. Emma was 27^th and William 30^th. These represent outstanding performances.

The highly successful Year 6 soccer team suffered a surprise defeat in the County Cup Quarter Final.

PARENTS’ EVENINGS
Parent consultation evenings for Years 4, 5 and 7 will be held on 31^st March and 5^th April. A letter will be sent to you immediately after half-term.

STARS IN THEIR EYES
We have enjoyed the most wonderful series of auditions for the show. The finalists have now been announced and all of the contestants have experienced the emotions of performing in front of a panel of judges. On a personal level I was extremely disappointed that the judges didn’t consider that my performances as Elvis, Sonny (Sonny & Cher) or Eric Clapton were sufficiently good to make the finals. Anyone who has had the pleasure of watching the recent rendition of “Twelve days of Christmas” would, I suspect, find such a decision equally baffling. I may now have to come to terms with the fact that my voice may not be quite as good as I think it is!

LOST PROPERTY
We are constantly concerned by the amount of lost property that is left in the school. We have a wonderfully helpful parent, Cathy Cruse-Drew, who visits the school each week to organise the lost property and attempt to get items back to their rightful owners. Despite this we still have the following items that have not been collected.

28 watches
18 pairs of glasses
4 wallets
Various items of jewellery
5 USB sticks
A camera, a calculator, a DS case with games and several items.

These are all in addition to many items of unnamed clothing.

If the items of lost property are not claimed we will need to recycle them in the near future.

Wishing you all a good half term.

G Pike

Headlines - 20th January 2011

Dear Parents,

Christmas and the New Year already seem a long time ago but I wish you, albeit a rather belated, Happy New Year. I am very aware that many of you have suffered with the flu and other seasonal ailments during the past few weeks so I wish a speedy recovery to all who have been suffering.

The term has started very well and a host of events has already taken place. The next two terms are going to present us with some interesting challenges as we await the start of the building programme at the end of February. We have so far been very impressed with Wates, the building company, who has been chosen by the Borough to undertake the building works. They have given us great confidence that they will work closely with the school to ensure the minimum disruption to the children’s education.

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

We are becoming increasingly concerned with the growing number of issues that are arising as a consequence of children using Facebook and other social networking sites. The children cannot access these sites at school so the problems are definitely originating in the home. Unfortunately, the fallouts from these issues are then brought into school. I have been reliably informed that children under the age of thirteen should not be using Facebook at all. If, as a parent, you chose to ignore this firm guidance on a child’s age and allow your child to effectively lie about their age, then you must accept the consequences of any difficulties that arise. It is not our job to investigate and then to unravel complex relationship problems that occur as a direct result of this new and potentially dangerous form of communication. We continue to strongly advise all parents to be fully aware of their children’s computer use and constantly monitor it!

THE SCHOOL’S NUT POLICY

We always have a number of children who are allergic to nuts. We, therefore, have a “nut free” policy in the school. Please ensure that children do not bring peanuts or any other form of nut in their break or lunch box. Many thanks in anticipation of your support.

SPORTS RESULTS

The boys’ cross country team won the prestigious Bryanston “Ken Bailey” team event last week. This follows their victory in the Poole and East Dorset League last term.

The Year 6 and Year 7 eleven-a-side soccer teams are each through to the quarter finals of both the County Cup and Area Cup competitions. The six-a-side teams have also won through to their respective County Finals.

G Pike

Headlines 16 December 2010

Dear Parents

We trust that we have provided the appropriate variety of activities for this festive season. The children have certainly thrown themselves into all of the events with great gusto and enormous enthusiasm.

THE CONCERT

As has already been explained, we organised the concert at the Lighthouse Concert Hall in order to properly showcase the children’s music and to provide them all with a special performance experience. It was also our aim to create a real sense of community by ensuring that all family members could watch their children perform in comfort and safety. We were very clear that this was not to be a fund-raising event, hence the ticket prices of £3 and £1. We did, of course, aim to cover our costs. The hire costs for the Concert Hall and their facilities for the day are significant even allowing for a generous discount to us as a local school. I am delighted to say that, as a result of your tremendous support, we appear to have managed all of these aims. We trust that the audience enjoyed the occasion as much as the children enjoyed performing. For the records, we did manage to break even (just).

My thanks go to everyone who supported the event, to the many parents who helped with the walk back through the park and who ferried children to the venue. We also thank Princecroft Willis, Chartered Accountants and Coles Miller, Solicitors, who so kindly offered their support for staff car parking in order that transport of equipment could be handled more easily. And of course, our special thanks go to Ms Johnstone- McCarthy and her team for the excellence of the performance.

CHRISTMAS SERVICES AT ST PETER’S CHURCH

As a Church of England School we believed that it was essential that we held services for the children at our local church to celebrate Christmas. These were held yesterday and, albeit more low-key than our usual Carol Service, we believe the services gave the children a spiritual experience that provided a true message for Christmas.

STAFF

We will be saying farewell to two members of staff at the end of the week. As you already know, Miss Lenthall is leaving to live in Surrey. Miss Lenthall has been with us for two years and has been an excellent teacher in Year 4. She has run netball clubs and has been fully engaged in the life of the school. We thank her for her hard work and wish her great happiness in her new life in Surrey and on her forthcoming marriage. Mr MacPherson will take over the role of class teacher next term. Mrs Bosley returned to school in a part-time capacity following her recent maternity leave. She has now decided to leave teaching for a while to spend more time with the family. Mrs Bosley has been at the school for four years and has worked as a Year 5 and Year 7 class teacher. She is an extremely talented teacher who will be greatly missed by us all. We do hope that she will be able to return to us in a few years time. Thankfully we will still have one “Bosley” with us!

LIBRARY BOOKS

Please can your children look around at home and return any library books that they still have by the end of this week or the first week back in January at the very latest.

Thank you for your co-operation and also a very big thank you for the help you have given our school library by your outstanding support of book fairs, book clubs and the Nestle box top collection during 2010.

Janice Mouskis

SATS RESULTS

The 2010 National Key Stage 2 SATS Results have now been published. As you know, I am not a fan of league tables but I would like to highlight a few issues from these tables. There are a number of parts that need explaining. The tables provide a wide range of data and each newspaper and website makes its own interpretation of this data. The headline figure that is most commonly used is the percentage of children achieving Level 4 or above. This is, in my opinion, a very misleading figure because it takes no account of children achieving the highest level (Level 5). Some of the supposed highest achieving schools in the country with 100% of children achieving Level 4 have actually got low levels of Level 5 and may possibly be underachieving with their most able children. The most reliable figure is the “Average Point Score” (APS). The APS is calculated by giving every child a point score. A child achieving a Level 3b will be given 21 points, a child with 4b will score 27 points and a child with 5b will score 33 points. In other words, each sub level is worth 2 points. In this way the percentage of children achieving a Level 5 score more heavily and parents can quickly see whether a school is stretching all children to their own individual level of academic ability. The other measure that is used is the “Contextual Value Added” (CVA) measure. OFSTED Inspectors and headteachers now only use this measure with caution. The CVA is based on Key Stage 1 assessment and this assessment is moderated on a local level with a degree of variation across the country. It is, therefore, my belief that the most reliable guide of a school’s performance is the APS measure. I have been consistent in this view even in years when our results may not have been as high as they are this year.

Our results are extremely pleasing and our congratulations must go to our current Year 7 children for achieving them (Year 6 last summer) and to their teachers in all years (Reception to Year 6) for teaching them so well. Regardless of the measure that is used the results are very positive. The APS at 29.9 is very high and reflects the very high percentage of children achieving the highest level, Level 5. There are some schools shown on the BBC website highlighted as the supposed highest achieving schools in the country who actually only achieved 28.6 APS. One such school achieved only 16% Level 5 in English and received a satisfactory OFSTED grade last year. I remind you that 63% of our children achieved a Level 5 in English. I accept that the next statement may seem boastful and possibly supportive of league tables. My calculations suggest that our APS is the highest in Poole and Bournemouth and is only bettered by four schools in Dorset, three of which are very small village primary schools, where results are statistically a less reliable guide. I hope that you may now be armed with information that may help you to interpret these results more clearly. I may well write a more detailed explanation for the website over Christmas.

THE SCHOOL WEBSITE

The website is developing very well under the guidance of Mr Whitley and Mrs Powell. I would encourage you to spend a little time exploring it over the holiday. If you happen to watch the Staff’s version of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” you will realise that there are two or three people in the school who Ms Johnstone-McCarthy has yet to turn into singers!

RETURN TO SCHOOL

The children return to school on Wednesday 5^th January.

On behalf of everyone at the school I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

G Pike

Latest weather update

Dear Parents

WEATHER UPDATE

The longer I do this job the more I realise that it is impossible to make decisions that please all of the people all of the time. I am sure that our decisions in the last two days would prove that point. I am reasonably confident that we made the right call yesterday when closing the school. I am slightly less confident about today’s decision to open the school although, on balance, I do believe that it was correct. Some side roads and paths were extremely difficult this morning and I acknowledge that there were risks when travelling to school. However, I remind you once again that the decision to travel or not has to be entirely yours.

We will do everything we can to provide a safe environment in school and, wherever possible, help with the Council with our local roads. We took the responsibility to put sand down on the entire Mill Lane this morning and have made strong representation to the Council to grit Windsor Road and Salterns Road during the day.

Feedback received suggests that the texting system is working well. We will ensure that we continue to give you early notice of decisions that have been made.

The weather forecast is for further cold weather next week with, inevitably, more difficult decisions to make!

On a lighter note a viewing of Mr Whitley’s “Snow Video”, currently on the school website, is worth a look. Miss Revill takes a starring role in the video behaving in her own inimitable way.

With thanks for your continued support.

G Pike

Christmas Concert and Christmas Services

1 December 2010

Dear Parents

CHRISTMAS CONCERT AT THE LIGHTHOUSE - MONDAY 13 DECEMBER

CHRISTMAS SERVICES AT ST PETER’S CHURCH – TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER

The tickets for the concert at the Lighthouse are selling quickly despite the difficulties with the online system. The Lighthouse assures me that the fault will be rectified in the very near future.

This is a new venture for us and, although there are many advantages in using the Lighthouse Concert Hall, there are a few disadvantages. Our greatest challenge will be getting children to and from the venue for the rehearsal on Monday. We hope that many of you will be able to help.

We are hoping that you will be able to arrange to drop your child off at The Lighthouse on Monday morning between 8.30 and 9.00. We will have a team of staff to greet and register them. The rehearsal is due to finish at 12 noon and it is our plan to walk the children back through Poole Park. We have done this before and it works quite successfully. We obviously have to make contingencies for inclement weather. We hope that some of you will be able to assist with the walking back. If you are able to help, please come to school at 11.30 and we can transport you by minibus to the Lighthouse in order to walk back with the children. In this way your car will obviously be back at school on your return from the walk.

Please be aware that no hot meals will be provided that day, so please provide a packed lunch for your child. If they receive free school meals, a packed lunch will be provided. Any lunches booked and paid for will have that day credited to their lunch account.

In the evening we advise you to use the car park opposite the Lighthouse where I am told you can park for £1.20 after 6.00pm.

The Year 4 and 5 service at St Peter’s Church is scheduled to begin at 1.30pm. We will, therefore, need to leave school at 1.00pm. These children will leave the church, to return to school at approximately 2.00pm. The service for Year 6 and 7 children is scheduled to start at approximately 2.15pm. The Year 6 and 7 children will leave school at 1.40pm. They will leave the church, to return to school, at approximately 3.00pm. Parental help in walking to and from the church will be much appreciated. Please note that all children will be returning to school after each service.

Please complete and return the section below.

Yours sincerely

G Pike

"……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

BADEN-POWELL & ST PETER’S CE MIDDLE SCHOOL

THE LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTMAS CONCERT – Monday 13 December 2010

CHRISTMAS SERVICES ST PETER’S CHURCH – Tuesday 14 December 2010

Name of Child ............................................................................Class .......................................

o I/We will be able to transport my/our child/ren to The Lighthouse between 8.30am and 9.00am

o I will be able to help to walk the children back from The Lighthouse at 12.00 noon

o I will be able to help to walk the children to and from St Peter’s Church for the Year 4 and 5 service

o I will be able to help to walk the children to and from St Peter’s Church for the Year 6 and 7 service

Signed ............................................................ Parent/Guardian

Headlines - Severe Weather Warning

Monday 29 November 2010

Dear Parents

The current “cold spell” is predicted to be with us for at least two more weeks. Most of you will remember the difficulties caused by the weather during the past two winters and the general confusion surrounding the closure of schools. We were very pleased that we were able to stay open every day throughout the bad spells of weather. However, we are fully aware that an occasion may arise at which we have to close the school despite our very best efforts. I will now explain the procedure if this happens.

We now operate a “text to parents” system and this would be our first action. It is therefore essential that we have your current mobile number. It is also essential that your mobile phone is fully charged and turned on. We will endeavour to text you before 7.00am. We would also contact 2CR to inform them of the closure.

If you do not receive a message or do not hear on 2CR that the school is closed you must assume that the school is open. The decision to send your child to school is entirely yours. The circumstances in your local area may be different to those at school and your personal circumstances may cause you to take a decision to stay at home. We will fully understand whatever you choose to do.

If the school is open in the morning but the weather deteriorates during the day we may have to contact you. In these circumstances we would, once again, use the texting and radio system. Our switchboard becomes congested at such times so it is better if you check your mobile on a regular basis rather than call the school.

If you wish to collect your child during the day then, again, this has to be your decision. Please come to the front office to sign your child out.

It is very important that collection arrangements are organised in advance and that these are discussed with your child in advance. Your child needs to be fully aware of the people who may potentially collect them. If we have any doubts we would not release a child until we have made direct contact with a parent/carer.

If the conditions became so severe that some children could not be collected be assured that there will always be members of staff in school to look after children.

We hope that the weather forecast has been exaggerated and that we will not need to take any difficult decisions throughout the winter, but it is better to be prepared.

G Pike

Children in Need Charity Football Match

Date: 17^th November 2010

Dear Parent/Carer

Children in Need Charity Football Match

As you are probably aware, this Friday is Children in Need day. To help raise money for this fantastic cause, a charity football match with players from local schools has been organised to take place on Friday 19^th November at Oakdale South Road Middle school on the Poole Town FC pitch.

The game will be contested by two teams – Middle School Teachers v First School Teachers. The middle school team will involve myself, Mr Williams (Deputy Head) and Mr Cook as well as a number of other teachers from middle schools within Poole and Dorset. Over 15 different local schools will be represented on the evening so we are hoping for a good crowd.

The game will kick-off at 4.15pm, and each half will last 25 minutes. It will be played under floodlights so all the action will be clearly visible! Donations to Children in Need will be taken on entry to the game.

Parking will be available at Oakdale South Road School but those attending are strongly advised to park locally and walk to the game. The entrance to Poole Town FC in Well Lane, off Tatnam Road will be open on the night.

Please do not arrive before 3.45pm because the school car park will be very busy with children being collected.

The organisers of the event hope to raise lots of money on the night and it would be fantastic to see lots of children, parents and friends at the game.

We look forward to seeing you there and thank you in advance for your support!

Yours sincerely

Mr D Luford

Baden-Powell and St Peter’s CE Middle School

CHRISTMAS SERVICE ARRANGEMENTS

12^th November 2010

Dear Parents,

CHRISTMAS CONCERT AND CHRISTMAS SERVICE ARRANGEMENTS

Ms Johnstone-McCarthy has sent you a separate letter regarding the Christmas Concert to be held at the ‘Lighthouse’ on Monday 13^th December. We are very much looking forward to this new venture and hope that all children will be able to be involved. We should be able to accommodate all family members who may wish to attend the event. Details of ticket arrangements will be with you shortly.

The Christmas Services will now take place at St Peter’s Church on the afternoon of Tuesday 14^th December.

Years 4 & 5 at 1.30pm

Years 6 & 7 at 2.30pm

All family members are invited.

Yours sincerely

G Pike

BPSP Christmas Carol Concert

Friday 12^th November 2010

RE: BPSP WHOLE SCHOOL CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT 2010

MONDAY 13^TH DECEMBER

LIGHTHOUSE, POOLE

7PM

For the first time this year the school will be performing our annual carol concert in the concert hall at the ‘Lighthouse’ in Poole. For many years this performance has taken part in St. Peter’s Church. The event is now so popular that it is impossible to fit the school, parents and other audience members into the church in a comfortable and safe manner.

Since the summer term last year, the school has introduced the two new musical traditions of Steel Pan and Samba into the curriculum and has also added these extra curricular activities. All of the children have been developing their skills in these areas. Our aim is to give all of the children the opportunity to showcase the music they have been working on so hard. Music is for sharing and is used as part of celebration; it brings people together. Our aim is to bring our school and the wider community together this Christmas time for what we hope will be a memorable performance for all. We are so lucky to have the most amazing performance venue on our doorstep and it is a wonderful opportunity for such young musicians to have this experience in a professional venue.

All children are taking a significant instrumental/vocal role in the performance. Therefore, if for any reason it is not possible for your child to attend, we would need to know as soon as possible. Therefore, we would be grateful if you could let us know in writing by FRIDAY 19^TH NOVEMBER AT THE LATEST if your child will not be attending. We may need to re-organise, re-arrange musical items if parts are missing. Thank you very much for your co-operation with this.

The children are working very hard both in and out of their music lessons in preparation for this performance and we hope that all of you will be able to join us for what will be a memorable occasion for all. The performance will take place on MONDAY 13^TH DECEMBER AT 7.00PM IN THE CONCERT HALL. It will last approximately an hour. We will have a full school rehearsal on the day of the concert at Lighthouse. Details of this will follow.

Can we take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your support in our new venture, and look forward to welcoming you all!

Yours sincerely,

Lucy Johnstone-McCarthy G Pike

(Music Subject Leader)

Headlines 22nd October 2010

Dear Parents

As always, the first half of the Autumn Term has flown by. We have been blessed with excellent weather and the children have been able to use the fields at lunchtime throughout the half term.

PARENTS EVENING

We were very pleased to see so many of you at the recent parents’ consultation evenings. We hope that they were informative. We will provide you with an Autumn Term Assessment Form in December and then meet you again in the Spring Term.

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO OUR CHRISTMAS ARRANGEMENTS

For a variety of reasons we have decided to make some changes to our Carol Service arrangements. As many of you will be aware we have become increasingly concerned about the safety and comfort of the large number of people who attend our traditional Carol Service. Many parents have to stand and even more have seriously restricted views. The children are rather uncomfortably sat on the floor for a considerable amount of time during the morning rehearsals and again in the evening. We have, therefore, booked the Concert Hall at the Lighthouse Centre for the Arts for an evening of Christmas Celebration. This will take place Monday 13^th December at 7.00pm. Two Christmas Services at St Peter’s Church will take place on the published date of Tuesday 14^th December. We will have a service for Year 4 & 5 followed by a service for Year 6 & 7. We will confirm accurate timings when we return after half term. Parents and any other family members should now be able to be accommodated safely and comfortably at all of these events. Ms Johnstone-McCarthy has developed an exciting programme of music for the entire school during this autumn term and this will form a large part of the performance at the Lighthouse. We hope that the large majority of you will appreciate these changes.

STAFFING

We are delighted to inform you that Miss Jordan will cover for Mrs Randall during Mrs Randall’s maternity leave.

DAY TRIPS

On behalf of the staff I would like to extend our thanks to all of the parents who have helped on recent day trips to Poole (Year 7), Tyneham (Year 6) and The River Piddle (Year 5).

SPORT

It has been a very successful start to the year for so many of our teams. Our Year 7 soccer team is unbeaten and the Year 6 girls and boys teams have each won through to the next regional round of the seven-a-side competitions. A Year 4 team played its first competitive match and were victorious by 5-1.

The cross-country team has had a superb start to the season with the boys and girls teams each recording a first and a second place team position. We were also delighted to welcome so many first school children to our school for a cross country race this week.

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS

These are going home with the children today. Please return by FRIDAY 5^TH NOVEMBER.

STAFF TRAINING DAY

Monday 1^st November is a Staff Training Day. The children return to school on Tuesday 2^nd November.

G Pike

Headlines - 8 October 2010

Dear Parents

We have been blessed with reasonably good weather for the start of term and the children have been able to play outside on the playing fields at lunchtime. . The forecast for the weekend is excellent with hot weather arriving for a short time on Saturday. Realistically this is likely to be the end of what has been a good summer. Enough of the weather forecasting! With this in mind I ask that the children now wear their winter uniform as from Monday. On the theme of uniform could I also ask that children do not wear bangles.

HARVEST FESTIVAL

Many thanks for your support of the recent Harvest Festival. The service was held in St Peter’s Church and the produce has been distributed by to local “needy” people by the Church. We particularly thank those parents who helped us by walking with the children to and from the Church.

MRS RANDALL

The children in Mrs Randall’s class will already be aware that she will be leaving us shortly to begin her maternity leave. We will be able to inform parents of Mrs Randall’s replacement within the next few days.

FRIENDS ASSOCIATION BINGO NIGHT

The first of the year’s events took place last Friday evening. There was an excellent turnout for the annual Bingo Night and a significant amount of money was raised (possibly as much as £450). Mr Roast, our new and youthful “bingo caller” did an excellent job on his debut event in the school.

PARENT CONSULTATION EVENINGS

The consultation evenings begin next week. We have regular lettings in the hall, which demand re-routing parents to the Year 5, 6 and 7 areas. We will endeavour to use signs and arrows to help you all reach the correct classroom. We are hoping to operate with Year 7 children to act as guides to escort you to your child’s room.

INVITATION TO THE PRIMARY BOOKS EVENT

Next week is Children’s Book Week and to help celebrate it we have arranged a Book Fair, to be held in the school library.

The dates are: Monday 11^th October and Tuesday 12^th October

Please do come and visit the Book Fair, open after school from 3.30 – 4.00pm both days.

However, if you are unable to attend the fair, your child may bring in money to purchase a book of their choice during their class visit on Monday or during the morning and lunch breaks on both days. (Years 4 and 5 will be provided with an envelope to bring in cash to spend at the book fair which they should give to their class teacher for safe keeping. Years 6 and 7 are advised to keep their money safe in a purse or wallet.)

SAFETY

Inspector Les Fry, Dorset Police has informed the Poole Road Safety team of an initiative they will be undertaking between now and December.

Seatbelts/Mobile Phones

Over the next few months Dorset Police will be targeting the areas outside schools with the aim of improving road safety in the Poole area. They will be targeting the use of mobile phones whilst driving and not wearing seatbelts; they will also pay special attention to children not being restrained appropriately.

NO EXCUSE – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

For more information, please contact Poole Road Safety Team on 01202 262073 or

m.baker@poole.gov.uk or Dorset Police on 01202 222222

WATER

Please ensure that your child has a water bottle with them each day. This can then be refilled from the water coolers during the school day.

G Pike

Headlines - 3rd September 2010

Friday 3 September 2010

Dear Parents,

On behalf of everyone within the school community it is my great pleasure to welcome you back to the start of a new school year. We thank you for the way in which the children came so well prepared for the new term. They look very smart and seem ready for the rigours that await them. The excellent weather is always a bonus at the start of September. We have less new staff starting than normally but we welcome Mr Roast and Miss Harvey to our team of teachers.

INFORMATION EVENINGS

It has become our custom at the start of the Autumn Term to hold information evenings for the parents of children in each of the four year groups. We believe that these are extremely important and urge you to attend if at all possible. The staff in each year team will talk to you about a number of key issues, including homework, residential trips, assessment, etc. The Year 7 evening is especially important for parents concerned about the secondary transfer process. I have invited representatives form PoPPS (Borough of Poole Parent Partnership Service) to this evening.

All of the information evenings will begin at 7.00 pm. We ask that you do not bring children if at all possible. The evenings will be held on the following dates.

TUESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER – YEARS 6 & 7

The Year 7 evening will take place in the Hall and the Year 6 evening in the Year 6 practical area. Parents attending the Year 6 evening should enter the school via the side door; there will be arrows in place for directions.

We apologise in advance to those few parents who may have children in both Year 6 and Year 7.

WEDNESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER – YEAR 5

This will take place in the Hall.

THURSDAY 16 SEPTEMBER – YEAR 4

This will also take place in the Hall.

CLUBS & ACTIVITIES

Most of the Autumn Term clubs will begin in the next two weeks. Individual letters will be sent to you with your child.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC LESSONS

I am in the process of organising the instrumental tuition programmes for the year. There are a very large number of children learning an instrument, and many new players starting this year, so it will take a little time to organise our teachers time, teaching spaces, timetables etc. You will hear very soon via letter of the arrangements for your child. Please note that the Home / School instrumental agreement form must have been returned in order for your child to proceed with lessons. Any forms returned later than Monday, I am afraid we will not be able to guarantee your child a place.

IMPORTANT DATES

Harvest Festival - Tuesday 28 September at 2.00 pm.

The Friends Association Bingo Night – Friday 1 October – details to follow

Year 4 & 5 Parent Consultation Evening - Tuesday 12 October

Year 6 & 7 Parent Consultation Evening - Thursday 14 October

Year 6 & 7 Parent Consultation Evening - Tuesday 19 October

Year 4 & 5 Parent Consultation Evening - Thursday 21 October

Staff Training Day - Monday 1 November

Open Evening for Year 3 Parents – Wednesday 3 November

Carol Service – Tuesday 14 December

WEST SIDE STORY PHOTOGRAPHS

Following the success of our West Side Story production last year, photographs can be viewed on the following website – www.richardthornephotography.co.uk/show

I have now completed my work at Talbot Combined School so will be at BPSP every day this year.

G Pike

Proposed wind turbine and solar panels

Much work has been undertaken over the past 18 months to secure funding for a wind turbine and solar panels for the school. Anyone interested, or indeed concerned, about the proposed sustainability project on the school grounds can find information at the following link:

http://www.bpspschool.co.uk/turbine.html

Headlines

Monday 19^th July 2010

Dear Parents

Another school year draws to a close and another group of Year 7 children prepare to leave for pastures new. The current year of ‘leavers’ have been an absolute joy to work with and deserve our praise for their many achievements over the past four years. The annual Governors' Awards event took place last Friday afternoon at which we were able to fully recognise these achievements. At the ceremony we award a variety of cups and shields to 23 children in the year group. We were also able to award all of the children with a beautifully presented Year Book as a memento of their time in the school. The final week of the school year will be completed with a Year 7 disco, a music concert and, on Friday, the Leavers' Assembly. We trust that the children will leave the school with many very happy memories.

We would also like to wish those children who are leaving us in other year groups every success and hope that they continue to be happy in whatever they may do in their future lives.

STAFF NEWS

It is with sadness that we say farewell to Miss Jones and Miss Parker. Miss Jones, who is a Year 6 teacher and the Mathematics Leader in the school has moved to Milton Keynes. Miss Parker is returning to London. The children and staff will miss them both greatly. We thank them for their excellent teaching and their great commitment to the school and wish them well in their new schools. We also thank Mrs Browne and Miss Jordan for covering staff on maternity leave. Both will continue with us as regular supply teachers.

We are very pleased to welcome back Mrs Bosley from her maternity leave and we look forward to welcoming two new teachers in September. Mr Adam Roast joins Year 4 and Miss Rachael Harvey joins Year 5.

Three members of staff will be getting married during the holidays. Miss Horwood will be marrying Alex and will return as Mrs North. Miss Francis will be marrying Barry and will return to school as Mrs Gosling. Miss Ross (TA) will be marrying Glen and returns as Mrs Peters.

KEY STAGE 2 SATS

Our Year 6 children have been celebrating our best ever SAT results. The children complete tests in English and Mathematics and the provisional headline figures are as follows:

ENGLISH Level 4 and above 93%

Level 5 62%

MATHEMATICS Level 4 and above 91%

Level 5 51%

These are excellent results and the 151 children deserve enormous praise for their hard work and commitment. The final validated results will be published next term but are unlikely to be significantly different to the results shown above.

END OF TERM AND THE START OF NEXT TERM

I suspect that there will be a need to write to you again before the end of the week. However, in the event of this not happening I would like to, on behalf of all of the staff, thank you all for your continued support. We hope that you have a wonderful summer holiday. I will be in and out of school during the holidays so if there are any urgent matters I can be contacted by e-mail or letter.

There will be a staff training day on Wednesday 1^st September. The children return to school on Thursday 2^nd September.

Dates for Academic Year 2010/2011

Term, Holiday and Training Day Dates

2010

September 1 - Staff Training Day

September 2 - Term begins for the children

October 25 – 29 - Half Term

November 1 - Staff Training Day

December 17 - Term ends

2011

January 4 - Training Day

January 5 - Term begins for the children

February 21 – 25 - Half Term

April 7 - Term ends for the children

April 8 - Training Day

April 26 - Term begins

May 2 - Bank Holiday

May 30 – June 3 - Half Term

June 6 - Training Day

July 22 - Term ends

Sports Day Photographs

To view Sports Day photographs:

Go to www.dephoto.biz

Click on 'Browse photos' on the drop down menu

Click on 'Schools' and then 'Baden-Powell and St Peter's'

USER is :bpsp
PASSWORD is: Parkstone

Click on 2010
Click on relevant date and event

Headlines - Friday 28 May 2010

Dear Parents

Our third residential trip of the year will be completed by the end of the day and, so far, all three have enjoyed good weather, amazing! The year 6 group of children have fully deserved their activity week this week having worked very hard throughout the year. They achieved full attendance during the week of the SAT tests.

RECENT EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES

The new Government has very quickly begun the process of change. Within one day of being formed the DfCSF was renamed DfE. The most recent proposal has been the introduction of the new Academy system. We have seen very little detail as yet but would be interested in your opinions when more is known about the scheme.

WEST SIDE STORY

The show is almost ready. There are still a few tickets available on each of the two evenings Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 June. These can be obtained directly from the Lighthouse Centre for the Arts. They are priced at £6.50.

PARKING

Please observe the parking restrictions in Windsor Road and Mill Lane, they are in place for your children’s’ safety.

FUTURE HEADLINES NEWSLETTER

We are implementing a new system with our Headlines newsletter. In future we will put the newsletter onto our school website www.bpspschool.co.uk and text you to let you know. If you would still rather have a paper copy, please complete the slip below.

A message from Miss Parker and Mr Peters:

On behalf of myself and Mr Peters I would like to say ‘Thank You’ to all the children that took part in the BPSP sponsored mile. The total raised was £4100 which was a phenomenal achievement. The money has gone to the following charities; Poole and District Children’s Cancer Trust, Cancer Research, Sport Relief and The British Heart Foundation.

The marathon itself was the most amazing thing I have ever done – and almost worth the 6 months of hard training through the freezing winter months! I got round (without stopping) in 5 hours 12 minutes and Mr Peters did it in 3 hours 52 minutes – the children like to say he beat me – luckily I don’t look at it like that!

I loved it so much I’ve signed up again for next year ……

We hope that you have a wonderful half term and remind you that Monday 7 June is a staff training day. The children return on Tuesday 8 June.

G Pike

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

BADEN-POWELL & ST PETER’S CE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Headlines Request for paper copy

Name of Child …………………………………………………. Class ………………..

Please provide my child named above with a paper copy of Headlines

Headlines - April 2010

Dear Parents

We attempt to make contingencies for any eventuality in our general lives today but still the natural world has the capacity to spring a surprise or two! If I had been told on Easter Day that the school would start the summer term with seven staff members absent (four teachers, one teaching assistant and two cleaners) as a result of a cloud of volcanic dust, I would not have believed them. Unfortunately, that is what has happened. I am sure that many organisations have experienced similar disruptions to the operation of their businesses during this unusual episode. We have coped but I am delighted that the staff members are all expected back for the start of next week.

YEAR 6 SATS

I suspect that many of you will have followed the news about the national disruption of the Year 6 SATS. It is important that you understand our thoughts and our plans.

We are still definitely completing the SATS tests for our Year 6 children on the week of 10 – 14 May.

I have expressed my concerns regarding the use of SATS data on previous occasions. There has been an overreliance on the use of this data by the government during recent years and too many judgements have been made about the overall effectiveness of schools on the basis of this one set of narrow tests. English and Mathematics are obviously extremely important but are not the only indicators of the quality of a school or the ability of an individual child. As a consequence of this obsession to measure just English and Mathematics, many schools have abandoned large parts of the curriculum during Year 6 in order to teach to the tests in an attempt to bolster their school’s scores. My other major concern has been the reliability of the English test and in particular the writing element of it. It is widely accepted by almost all educationalists that the writing paper in the tests last year failed miserably in making accurate judgments about the quality of children’s writing, particularly in the higher ability range.

If there could be a general acceptance that no test is ever entirely accurate and an agreement that this one set of results would not be used almost exclusively to determine the effectiveness of a school or the ability of children I would have few real issues with the current system. I do not, for example, have any serious concern about children experiencing a degree of pressure as a result of assessment on some occasions in their school life; we do need to prepare children for the world of work after all!

The children have worked very hard in Year 6 again this year and have prepared themselves very well for the tests. The action that is being taken by two teacher unions is, therefore, in my opinion, ill-timed. I believe that it would give a very poor message to our children so close to the tests to abandon them. Perhaps a proper debate will ensue after the election?

I realise that this has been another one of my newsletter “ramblings” (they’re becoming more frequent as I get older I suspect) but I did want you to know my feelings on the matter. The Senior Leadership Team in the school and the Year 6 team of teachers are all happy to administer the tests even though many of them would agree with me on some of the misgivings about the Government’s interpretation and use of the assessment system and league tables.

SUN PROTECTION

We have enjoyed a gloriously sunny start to the new term and the children have been able to play on the playing fields at lunchtime. It is, therefore, a good time to remind you about the importance of sun cream, hats and water during the summer. The summer uniform can, of course, now be worn.

SPORTS RESULTS

I am thrilled to report that the Year 6 soccer team has now reached the final of the Dorset County Cup. The final will be played against Ferndown Middle school next Tuesday. The Year 4 team plays in the County six-a-side finals to be played at Littledown today.

LONDON MARATHON

Our best wishes go to Miss Parker and Mr Peters who run in the marathon on Sunday. They have trained with great commitment in preparation for this event and are a wonderful example to our children.

RESIDENTIAL TRIPS

The first our six residential trips begin next week with a group of ninety-one Year 5 children going to the Kingswood Centre on the Isle of Wight. We hope that the weather remains good for them.

AFC BOURNEMOUTH “POWERSTRIKE”

The event was held during the past two days and it is possible that it will be featured on BBC South Today and Sky Sports. The AFC Bournemouth players were excellent ambassadors of their club. We all wished them success in their pursuit of promotion to League One. Please encourage your child to complete the sponsorship forms and return them with the money collected as quickly as possible. I remind you that we will use the funds for our second new minibus.

LILLIPUT NETBALL CLUB

Lilliput Netball Club is run by mums of children from our school. If anyone is interested in joining them, it is a great way to get fit and to meet other mums in the area. No experience is necessary. For more information please contact Tamar Spooner (mum of Jack Spooner, 5CR) by email on Tamar.c@ntlworld.com or by mobile on 07739 487990.

G Pike

Headlines - 11 February 2010

Thursday 11th February 2010

Dear Parents,

The approach of the February half term always signals the start of lighter mornings and evenings. It is always a relief when we can be confident that the children can leave school in safe conditions. It has, as always, been a busy and eventful half term with many children achieving outstanding successes in a range of activities.

The rehearsals for the summer show “Westside Story” have started in dynamic fashion. We have booked the Towngate Theatre at the Lighthouse Arts Centre for the performances of this show. The two performances will be on Tuesday 8th June and Wednesday 9th June. Auditions are proving very challenging for the directors of the show with an abundance of talented children trying for the main parts.

SPORTS RESULTS

The children in the school regularly impress us by their achievements in sporting activities both in and out of school. We are thrilled to be able to announce the most recent news.

Mathew Currell (Year 7) participated in the World Sailing Championships held in Argentina and came 5th. This is a quite remarkable achievement.

Jordan Arnold (Year 7) followed her incredible performance in the World Trampoline Championships in Russia with an excellent 2nd place in the individual event in the South of England finals.

Alex Phillips won all four of the seasons cross country races in the Poole and East Dorset championships and therefore won the overall individual title. She will be representing Dorset in the National finals in Nottingham next month.

The school cross-country team won the prestigious Canford School Relay last night. Alex Phillips was the fastest Year 7 girl in her section and Katrina Ashford the fastest in Year 6. Fin Cruse-Drew was second fastest in his race and Emma Martin third fastest. All of these individual children win a beautiful trophy.

The Year 7 soccer team has reached the semi-final of the Dorset County Soccer tournament. You may remember that they won the cup last year when in Year 6. They have also reached the final of the Poole and East Dorset Cup and recently reached the semi-final of the South of England indoor finals.

The Year 6 soccer team have reached the quarter-finals of the Year 6 County Cup.

PARKING

The very large majority of parents are extremely considerate and courteous when driving their children to school and when parking within the local area and we thank you for that courtesy. Unfortunately, a very few parents continue to be inconsiderate of the needs of local residents and often, as a consequence, jeopardise the safety of our children by parking or driving in an uncaring manner. Please consider the needs of local residents by parking away from the front entrances of houses. We also ask that you do not drive in to the school car park to drop off or pick up your child unless you have been give authorisation to do so. The roads surrounding schools are potentially dangerous so please drive slowly on all roads within the local vicinity. I will have no hesitation in involving the Police if I have evidence of any incident that causes the safety of our children to be at risk.

HAITI EARTHQUAKE APPEAL

The children have, once again, shown their compassion for those in difficulty. Through a range of activities they have raised more than £2200 for the Earthquake Appeal.

SECONDHAND UNIFORM

Due to the success of the second hand uniform webpage on the BPSP website we have sold out of school jumpers and red sports sweatshirts. Any donations of these two items would be gladly received.

HOT MEALS

Please do not make orders more than half a term in advance in case there are clashes with trips, etc.

STAFF TRAINING DAY

Tomorrow, Friday 12th February, is a Staff Training Day. The children return to school on Monday 22nd February.

G Pike

Y4 Soccer Club Cancellation

No Year 4 Soccer Club – Friday 23 October 2009
Due to a number of circumstances I am extremely sorry to have to cancel Y4 Soccer Club this Friday, 23 October. The club will resume on Friday 6 November.
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused.
G Pike

24/10/2009

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