One aspect of our school development plan focuses on the premises and environment and I would like to bring you up to date with where we are.
Now that the main build is now well and truly behind us, we are concentrating on the external environment and making the best use of the fabulous space and opportunities we have at Newbridge. We are so lucky to have such an environment. Martin Powell, father of Hannah (3H) and Tom (2C) and also a school governor, has taken a lead on working with the Avon and Wildlife Trust to develop a plan which includes the whole site. The development of the conservation area is one of our priorities this year and Martin explains this in the ‘Groundforce’ article. We are very keen to make this a school community venture so if you are able to come along on Saturday 31st January that would be great but, if not, there are two more Groundforce dates to put in your diary. They are on Saturday 28th March and Saturday 27th June, both from 9am to 1pm.
However, we also have our eye on other areas. The Spiritual Garden has been very ably maintained and cared for by a group of parents and we would like to support them in developing this area still further. We would like to include this garden in our Groundforce days. We also have our thoughts on one or two new murals which would involve children, parents and staff. Furthermore, the NPSA are right behind our desire to build a new adventure & fitness trail where the Year 3 double mobile used to be. This would give our children an exciting dimension to playtime and would also be very useful in fitness, sport and team building related activities. There is about £3000 ReNewbridge money remaining and this would provide a good start to our fund raising for this project. Please see the NPSA news for further information. The NPSA news also mentions our vicar and governor, Clive Garrett, who has put in so much work (and talent!) on the photographs. They are excellent and we very much appreciate his contribution to the school environment.
There are other developments regarding the school environment that I will update you on later but I should mention that we are updating our ICT hardware and classroom projectors over the next year. It seems that many of our computers, projectors etc are coming to the end of their lives at roughly the same time! We are therefore investing quite heavily to bring ICT up to the standard we would expect of our school. Phase 1 is happening this coming half term and phase 2 in the summer holidays.
Have a good weekend and is it just my very wishful thinking that Spring is not too far away?!
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY W/B 19/01/09
Monday 19/01/09
- Clubs Start
Tuesday 20/01/09
- Willow Assembly @ 2.45pm
Friday 23/01/09
- 6JS assembly @ 2.30pm
- Football vs Saltford at home - Cup
Saturday 24/01/09
- National Schools chess first round at Newbridge
BOOKS FOR NEWBRIDGE!
We are joining the Books for Schools scheme.
NEW BABY
Congratulations to Myles(3B) who now has a lovely baby sister called Ellie May. She was born at the weekend and we wish the whole family well.
FRUIT SCHEME
Help is needed for the Lower School Fruit Scheme. The more help there is the less time it takes. Please come to the Dining Hall and sign up.
Many thanks, Dawn 1R.
LOST
A pair of ski gloves and a ski hat were lost at the Christmas Fair in December. If anyone knows of their whereabouts please contact the School Office.
ALL YEAR 4 PARENTS
You are invited to a Year 4 performance entitled ‘Seeds of Time.’ This will take place on Thursday 12th February in the Upper School Hall at 2.30pm. efreshments will be served in the Blue Room from 2.00pm.
We need volunteers to help with costumes and props. If you can help please contact the PPA Team. A letter will follow. Thank you.
Mrs Bartlett, Mrs Houston and Mr Baigent
SATURDAY BOUNCE MORNING
St. John's Church – pop in for a go on the bouncy castle. For children up to age 12. Free. 10.00am – 12 noon on Saturday 17th January.
CAN YOU HELP?
We are trying to find someone to share childcare with. We live just off the Newbridge Hill and need someone to take our two girls to school on a Monday and Tuesday. In return we could take to school on a Thursday and Friday. If you are interested in sharing the morning school run please contact Claire on 01225 427515.
CELEBRATING WRITING
I can write an Autobiography.
An extract from: ‘Always with a paintbrush’ by Katherine Thomas 6CS
I’ve always taken a liking to drawing and painting even at an extremely young age. I’d peek over my dad’s shoulder when he was painting. To me he was the best painter in the world! He wasn’t famous, like local artist Larry King but he still earned money.
At around the age of three I started tracing out of my Christmas colouring book. Mum was pleased with me so most of my tracings were put up on the fridge.
At a slightly older age, around four or five, I took a liking to copying some art work. I had to admit it looked like the real thing.
When I was about eleven there was an Art competition in Wells. Most of the other contestants were quite a lot older so I got nervous as soon as I arrived. We had to paint a portrait of the judge and he wasn’t the nicest looking person. Even though his nose wasn’t lovely he still had a lovely heart. I painted an amazing picture and won the competition with ease. The judge was so amazed that he kept the portrait in his office. Before I knew it I had loads of fans and I was only eleven!
When I was eighteen I left home and moved to London. I really liked London with all the galleries…..
When I was 20 I was asked to go to Buckingham palace… When the Queen saw it finished she was amazed and knighted me as, ‘Dame Katherine Thomas.’ I was speechless.
In 2009 I’m planning to go to the Caribbean with my family. I’m looking forward to that.
BLACK AND ETHNIC-MINORITY SUPPORT GROUP
A reminder that the first meeting of the above support group (details in last week’s newsletter) will be Monday 19th January at 2.45pm in the Library. Please contact Anne Shiner on 07595034383 or Carol Renton on 07810506852 for further details. We look forward to meeting you.
NEWBRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL GROUNDFORCE
We are very lucky to have large grounds, with woodland, grassland and a small pond. To make the most of our good fortune, working with the Avon Wildlife Trust we have now developed an ambitious plan to:
Turn our school into an oasis for wildlife and a fantastic resource to educate and enthuse our school community about conservation and science.
Support "healthy eating" initiatives and encourage physical activity developing, maintaining and using the grounds.
Offer the site to other local schools and groups like the Brownies, Cubs and Sunday Schools to help draw the community together.
Thanks to the NPSA, we now have an outdoor classroom but that is just the start! We want a big pond with dipping platform, a wildflower meadow, artworks, a bird hide and feeders, a wildflower bank, quiet reading areas, green plantings, picnic tables, log-piles, bird and bug boxes around the grounds, all linked together by a circular trail…
You can help make it happen and have fun!
With the commitment of parents, staff and most importantly kids we know we can carry out the tasks needed like clearing the ground for the wildflower meadow, laying bark paths, clearing and fencing the pond, building bird boxes and feeders with donated timber and so on.
Whether for an hour or the whole morning, whether to clear undergrowth and pondweed, or make tea for thirsty volunteers (cakes too!), please come along between 9.00am and 1.00pm on Saturday 31st January for the first Newbridge Groundforce event. All are welcome, especially with kids!
Just contact Community Governor Martin Powell so we get an idea of numbers, or if you want to hear more about the plans. Martin.Powell101@googlemail.com 01225 424765.
P.S. Also let Martin know if you can donate gardening tools, spare wellies, materials, books on conservation etc which will all be very welcome!
CHILDREN AND NUTRITION TALK
Maria Bez, a local nutritional therapist, will be giving a free talk on Children and Nutrition on the 26th January at 9.00am (after drop-off) in the Blue Room at Newbridge School.
Maria has nine year old twins who have a sweet tooth and love pizza!
She is coming to share some of the ways healthy eating can be incorporated into busy lives. She will discuss what food children need for good health, what to avoid, foods to strengthen the immune system, nutrition for balancing mood & improving concentration and alternatives to ‘unhealthy’ foods. There will be handouts.
DIGITAL CAMERAS NEEDED
If you got a brand new high-spec camera for Christmas and do not know what to do with your old one then bring it to school where it can be used by our children in their lessons and then later as part of the Photography Club (see NPSA News)! All makes gratefully accepted but they must be in full working order.
NPSA NEWS
Following a productive (if lengthy!) Committee Meeting on Monday night, I am thrilled to announce that thanks to the efforts of each and every one of you, we have managed to raise a whopping £4300 to date this school year! This means that we are now able to action some of the items on Mr Croker’s Wish List! So here are the plans for the money. There are over thirty brilliant new photographs in the Lower and Upper School, which show some of the children of Newbridge at work and at play. These images have been taken by Clive Garrett, one of our governors, who has also very kindly framed them. The NPSA has agreed to fund the frames, with a view to having a rolling programme of replacing the photographs with new ones. The existing photos would then be sold to interested parents to cover the costs of new. The school would like to see children’s own photographs also displayed in time.
Furthermore, we have decided to use the funds raised at the quiz night to provide digital cameras for each year group and, if the quiz goes well to pay for a Flip or two! For those of you like myself who have no idea what a Flip is – it is apparently a video camcorder which allows videos to be effortlessly uploaded onto PCs.
However, the really big news is that the children are to be the beneficiaries of some brand new, state of the art playground equipment which will enable them to keep active and have hours of fun at break times. It is estimated that this adventure & fitness trail will cost (along with a safe surface) approximately £10,000 so the final remaining Renewbridge money will go towards funding this, leaving us with approximately £3000 left to raise! It would be really great to do this before the summer so that the work could be completed during the summer holidays. However, if we can manage to raise even more money the conservation area is in need of picnic tables and a pond with dipping area!
This leads me to my next point which is - if anyone out there has any experience in grant fundraising – your school needs you! If you could spare the time to look over our bids or share your experience with us so that we could try to find some grants which we may be eligible to receive, that would be great and it would also free up some of the money we raise for other projects! So, if you do have experience in fundraising grants please get in touch either via the NPSA box in Main Reception or by email to npsa@hotmail.co.uk.
Nearly New Uniform
I am pleased to announce that our first ever nearly new uniform sale will be held at the next NPSA coffee morning in the Blue Room on Monday 2nd March. If you have any items you wish to donate there is a box in the Main Reception Area. Please make sure they are in good condition and washed and ironed. If you cannot wait that long, there will be an enquiries book also in Reception where you can make your requirements known and Sarah Kniveton, our uniform co-ordinator, will get back to you. Prices will be as follows:
Reversible fleecy jackets: £5.00
Pinafores, various: £1.50
School sweatshirts: £2.00
School cardigans: £3.00
Summer dresses, various: £2.00
Plimsolls: £1.00
Red round neck t-shirt, various: £0.50
Tracksuit bottoms, various: £1.50
School polo shirts: £1.00
Shorts, various: £1.00
Plain polo shirts, various: £0.75
Trousers, various: £1.50
QUIZ NIGHT - FRIDAY 6th FEBRUARY - 7.30PM
Come and join in the fun at the NPSA’s annual Quiz night! It is a great night out and should not be missed. The ticket price is a reasonable £6 and includes a hot meal! Vegetarian option available. Tickets are available from all class reps and teams must be of at least four but no more than six members. If you do not have a team, do not despair. Let your class rep know and she will be happy to put you in contact with others who are in the same boat! Buy early to avoid disappointment as space is limited.
No comments:
Post a Comment