NEWSLETTER Issue: 3.05

HEAD’S VIEW
Closing a school is always an absolute last resort and the end of last week presented that dilemma of closure versus risk for staff and children. As a society, I think we have become too wary of taking risks but, on the other hand, we have staff who live a considerable distance away and 30% of our children come in by car. Just one accident on some very difficult roads would have been one too many. Instead, our families played in the first ‘proper’ snow for a generation, had a great time and I suspect they will recall the ‘snow of ‘09’ in years to come.

Last week one of our parents remarked ‘Mr Croker, I know we are a community school and coming along to the Groundforce day with my family made me feel very much part of this community.’ I agree; we had a ball and over 70 children and adults turned up during the morning to work on the conservation area, spiritual garden and vegetable plots, provide drinks and cakes and even put together a podcast of events as they unfolded. We achieved much more than anticipated and we are now ready for the next Groundforce day on Saturday 28th March. A huge ‘thank you’ goes to all our families, staff, governors and friends who bent their backs for the cause. This epitomises the commitment that I see on a daily basis in so many different ways, of our school community and I feel very proud to be its Headteacher.

I wish you all a happy and relaxing half term break.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Friday 13/02/09
- INSET Day – School closed
w/b 16/02/09
- Half Term Holiday
Monday 23/02/09
- Start of Term 4
- Year 5 (Group 1) to Kilve Court
Wednesday 25/02/09
- Year 5 (Group 2) to Kilve Court
- Year 5 (Group 1) return from Kilve Court
Thursday 26/02/09
-Parents’ Evening (all classes except 5C)
Friday 27/02/09
- Year 5 (Group 2) return from Kilve Court
- Years 2 & 4 cake sale – lower school hall

SATs QUESTIONNAIRE
I would like to thank all our parents & carers (91 in total) who took the time to complete the recent SATs questionnaire. The results were collated and returned to the NAHT who have been conducting a nationwide poll. This has been quite widely reported on over the last two weeks in the media. The national poll, involving over 10,000 parents, found that 85% believe the current system of testing at the end of Key Stage 2 should be abolished.

Our own headline results were as follows:
· 12% agreed, 64% partially agreed and 24% disagreed that ‘Year 6 SATs results help in judging the quality of education provided by the school’.
· 25% did and 75% did not ‘consult the league table of SAT results when choosing a primary school for their child.

When asked to indicate which of the five criteria listed below were of high priority or low priority in choosing Newbridge, this was the order from highest to lowest, looking at the total point scores:
1. Recommendation / reputation
2. Personal impression following a school visit
3. Local / convenience
4. Good Ofsted report
5. League table results (SATs)

INDIA STUDY VISIT
Miss Simpson and Miss Wells are now in India. You can follow their journey by reading their blog on the school website www.newbridge.bathnes.sch.uk. They are hoping to update it with photographs and news of their time in India.
They were really excited to take this opportunity and would like to thank everyone for their support.

NEW ARRIVAL

Congratulations to Ben and Luke on the birth of their brother, Gethin, who was born last week. We wish the whole family well.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING ‘STARS OF THE WEEK’
Foundation Stage
Noah
Years 1 and 2
Isabel, Carin, William
Years 3 and 4
Elizabeth, Harry, Ben, Daniel, William, Isabella
Years 5 and 6
Max, Tom, Helen, Liam, Will, Louis , Ella Perkins, George, Ellie
PPA Drama
Bea, Naomi
PPA Art
Raphaela, Tom
PPA PE
Myles, Oliver, Isabella
PPA Music
Alice, Callum

CELEBRATING WRITING
Sue Mongredien, an author, came in to talk to us about writing books. We asked her some questions so we could find out some more about her. This is what we found out.

Her top tips for writing a book are:
Start stories with an exciting start.
At an end of a chapter use cliff hangers.
Lots of surprises.

She told us that her favourite football team is Aston Villa and I was very surprised that she even liked football. She wrote a poem about Aston Villa and her teacher sent it to a competition and she won.

She tries to write an adult book every year because she knows how it is being an adult.

In the future she is writing two more Oliver Moon books that are ‘Oliver Moon and the Monster Mystery’ and ‘Oliver moon and Troll Trouble’. She’s also doing a new series called ‘Mermaid’s Secrets’.

She made comics for her sister’s pocket money and when she said that everybody laughed.

It was a pleasure meeting her so I will remember it forever.

By Nicholas – class 3H
(‘I think we have two fine writers at work here!’ Mr Croker)

CERTIFICATES OF EXCELLENCE – JANUARY
At the end of every month each class teacher has a very difficult decision to face. They have to choose the one person from their class to receive a Certificate of Excellence. The person they choose has to consistently be the best that he or she can be. That could be in effort and attitude, achievement, behaviour or citizenship. Sometimes it can be very difficult deciding as all of the children at Newbridge seem to work so hard and behave so well!

The girls and boys with their names here this month deserve congratulating. It is not easy to be awarded a Certificate of Excellence and they have done extremely well.

Lower School
Elm - Qutaybah
Willow - Joe
1H - Eleanor
1R - Elise
2B - Elizabeth
2C - Tom
Upper School
3B - Ellie
3C - Holly
4P - James
4W - Daisy
5C - Max
5PB - Lawrie
6A - Charlie
6CS - Jeorgia
6JS - Sydney

NATIONAL SCHOOLS’ CHESS TOURNAMENT – ROUND ONE AT NEWBRIDGE PRIMARY

On Saturday 24th January, five Newbridge chess teams took part in round one of the National Schools’ Chess Tournament which was held at Newbridge Primary. We knew we were up against some tough players, but we were ready to meet the challenge.

In the under 9’s section, we had two teams and we hoped to get both into the top three so that we could all make it to the next round. After a talk about how the day would run, we were off with everyone rearing to go.
In the first round Newbridge B team unfortunately lost 5 out of 5 to Lawn School with the same result for the A team against Broadclyst School. The second round saw Newbridge A against Newbridge B and the A team coming out on top.
The next two rounds were tough for the A team who now needed to win their final round against Lawn School by three games to two. The B team also fought hard against some great players. At the announcement at the end of the day, sadly neither of the under 9 teams had made it. The A team finished 6th and the B team finished 8th. We all really enjoyed the day and have already started practising so that we can hopefully progress next year.

We entered 3 teams in the under 11 category. There were 16 teams in the competition.
In round 1 Team A played Newbridge C and won 3-2. Team B played Broadclyst and unfortunately lost 5-0.
In round 2 Team A played Paragon and magnificently won 4-1. Team B played Kelly College courageously and drew 2½ each. Team C played Nancy’s Nomads and lost a close match 2-3.
In round 3 Team 3 played King Edward’s A in a close match but lost 2-3. Team B played St Sampson’s B and narrowly lost 2-3. Team C played King Edwards B and fought hard but lost 5-0.
In round 4 Team 4 played St Sampson’s A and sadly lost 5-0. Team B played Newbridge C and lost 1½–3½.
In round 5 Team A played Blagdon and tried really hard but finally lost 5-0. Team B played Ash but just lost 2-3. Team C played Kelly College and lost 4-1.

Although none of the under 11 teams made it through to the next round, we all enjoyed playing and had a lot of fun.

We would like to thank Mr Croker for entering us into the competition and supporting us on the day as well as all the parents who came along to help and support us.
By Sam - 4W and Joda - 6A

(‘An excellent report, Joda and Sam, on a day where we did not quite make it through to the semi finals but where all our children did us proud – on and off the board. A huge thank you to all our parents who helped make the day run very smoothly for 160 chess players from twelve south west schools.’ Mr Croker

CHARITY ART FESTIVAL
Next term there will be an Art Festival for Years 1 and 2. It will be a great opportunity for all budding artists to have a go at using various types of art techniques to create arts and crafts that we will sell to help raise money for our school charity. This special festival will be run by children, for children, and we hope it will be a great success.

MARVELLOUS MUSICIANS
A huge thank you to the following children who have entertained the whole school by performing in school assemblies this term:
Ben , Max, Helen, Emma, Emily and Amelia.

If any children would like to play in assembly next term please see Mrs Houston.

LIFE CYCLE UK
There are still 6 places left on the above cycle training course, which will start on Tuesday 10th March for 4 weeks from 1.00 – 3.00pm. It’s for years 5 and 6 and the cost is £20.00 (or free if your child has FSM). If you would like further information please contact Mrs Miles in the school office.

DINNER MONEY
All dinners must be taken on a weekly basis. The cost of dinners is £9.25 per week. Please send the money in on a Monday morning, in an envelope with your child’s name and class on it. All cheques to be made payable to B&NES please.

Dinner money for the coming term is as follows:

March - 22 days at £1.85 = £40.70
April - 12 days at £1.85 = £22.20
May - 16 days at £1.85 = £29.60
TOTAL - £92.50

NPSA NEWS
Cake Sale - New Date: Friday 27th February
Last week’s postponed cake sale will take place after school on Friday 27th February so put the date on your calendars! I do hope that not too many of you of you had gone to too much trouble last Friday! Though, I am sure your kids enjoyed your efforts if you had! Let’s hope this one goes to plan so that we all get a chance to sample the Year 2 and 4 cakes this time!

Quiz Night – New Date: Friday March 13th at 7.30pm
As most of you know Quiz Night fell victim to last week’s freezing weather. But it was postponed rather than cancelled and I am pleased to announce that a new date has been set. Friday 13th March is the day and it will take place in the Lower School Hall at 7.30pm.

· If you already have tickets they will be valid.
· If you have tickets but you cannot attend on the new date please fill in Form A below and place in the NPSA tray in reception and your money will be refunded.
· If you do not have tickets, but would like to attend on the new date, please fill in Form B below to request tickets and place in the NPSA tray in reception (do not include any money at this stage as we will only be able to fulfil ticket requests with any ticket returns because the event has sold out at present).

Coffee Morning and Nearly New Uniform Sale: Monday 2nd March 9.00am - 10.00am in the Blue Room
Do not forget our next coffee morning is to be held on Monday 2nd March! Come along for a hot drink and some good company.

Need some uniform? Come and pick up a bargain from our first ever nearly new uniform rail! And please keep your donations of no-longer-needed school uniform items coming into reception - without your generosity there would be no stock! All proceeds will go towards the new play equipment for the Upper School!

And one of our mums has had the brilliant idea of a book exchange at our coffee mornings! The idea is to bring in a book you have loved reading, pay a pound and go off with a new book to enjoy! I think it is a great idea so, please, bring your books and a pound and let’s raise some money for our school!

NPSA Committee Meeting: Monday 2nd March at 7.30pm
Have a good idea? Interested in what the NPSA does? Come and join us at our next meeting. Everyone is welcome!