NEWSLETTER Issue: 4.06

HEAD’S VIEW
I write this at the end of a very interesting day! We had the culmination of the house ‘words, music and movement’ talent festival with an assembly this afternoon. It lasted well over an hour and there were children performing from every class in the school. We had two very kind judges in Mrs Rhodes and Miss Skyner and a Simon Cowell played with a swagger by Mr Cumpson. Miss Amies coordinated the whole event and we were staggered yet again by the quality, talent and courage of our children’s performances. Owls won the house event (the first for the wise ones) and then we rounded off the day with an epic cake sale, courtesy of Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 classes. To put the cherry on top of the proverbial cake, we have reached the fantastic total of £900 in our bid to raise £1000 towards the 'Make A Wish' campaign. With the cake sale proceeds yet to be counted there is no doubt that we have raised well in excess of £1000. I think we should all feel very proud of ourselves in helping Mitchell, who suffers from Muscular Dystrophy, make his dream come true of going to Disneyland in Florida. Thank you all very much.

A huge ‘thank you’ also goes to all our volunteers (from fifteen months upwards to me I suspect!) for turning out last Saturday to make Groundforce Day 2 a resounding success in every respect. Over 80 of our families and staff were working on the conservation area, spiritual garden and vast quantities of refreshments, and in the space of four hours we have certainly moved things on. Have a look for yourselves! We now hope to have the new pond dug, complete with decking for the children to do pond dipping etc, by the next Groundforce Day in June. Credit again goes to Martin Powell, who has coordinated the work on the conservation area and to Mrs Rixson and Liz Coles who are doing likewise in the spiritual garden. We look forward to another big push at the next Groundforce Day. We were also the very happy recipients of a £500 award from Wessex Watermark towards the cost of the new pond. We are very grateful to them as we are to Avon Tool Hire who, for the past two Groundforce Days, have very kindly allowed us to use their machinery free of charge. If you would like to see or hear more about what happened on Groundforce Day 2 look out for the next podcast on our website or tune into the BBC i player (bbc.co.uk) and the Dr Phil Hammond Show broadcast at 11.10am Saturday 28th March BBC Radio Bristol.

We come to the end of another very busy, eventful term and one in which we have continued to take many steps forward as a school which aspires to give the very best to our children. It is now time for a rest, to recharge our batteries and, for my part, I would like to express my gratitude to all the staff who work so tirelessly for the benefit of our children. Happy Easter to you all and a special mention to Mr Cross who completes 33 years at Newbridge this week………………….amazing!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY W/B 20/04/09
Monday 20/04/09
- Start of Term 5
Tuesday 21/04/09
- Mrs Skinner returns after maternity leave
Thursday 23/04/09
- BANES Tag Rugby Tournament 1.00 – 4.00pm (Year 5/6)
Friday 24/04/09
- Curriculum overview out to parents

LOST PROPERTY
Black Canterbury long sleeved sports undertop, last seen in the Upper School cloakroom, it is named. If found please hand into the office.

A BIG THANK YOU!
Thanks to all those involved in the Pavilion Concert on 30th April. You have been working hard and you keep smiling! Mrs Houston.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING ‘STARS OF THE WEEK’
Foundation Stage
Lucy, Isha
Years 1 and 2
Edward, Toby, Jazmine
Years 3 and 4
Ben, Caitlin, Molly, Charlie
Years 5 and 6
Charlotte, Lawrie, Jeorgia, Guy, Millie
PPA Art
Faizan, Jake
PPA Drama
Achie
PPA PE
Jackson, Rhys, Julian
PPA Music
Tommy, Ella, Martha

DANCE UMBRELLA
The Newbridge Cheerleaders combined their gymnastic, majorette and dance skills brilliantly when they performed in the Dance Umbrella last Thursday.
They were joined by a group of fantastic break dancers and girls from our school who also performed at The Forum. Well done to all!

MUSIC IN ASSEMBLY
A special thank you to the following children who have entertained the whole school with their talents by playing music in assembly this term:
Katherine, Isabella, Molly, Harriet, Ella, Daniel, Molly, Hannah, Abigail, Katie, Lily and Joe.

PLEASE NOTE
Sally MacDonell’s ART CLUB will be on Wednesdays not Tuesdays as printed on the timetable sheet for clubs.

CERTIFICATES OF EXCELLENCE – MARCH
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 – Ben
Willow - Abby
1H - Jack
1R - Angeline
2B - Charlie
2C - Ethan
Upper School
3B – Luke
3H – Nicholas
4P – Emily
4W – Joseph
5C – Tom
5PB – Ryan
6A – Thomas
6CS – Rosie
6JS – Oliver

TALENTED MUSICIANS
Congratulations to the following musicians who have passed their music exams this term: Jake, Tom, Ben (Initial Guitar), Aisha , Rebekah (Initial Violin), Natasha (Grade I Keyboard).
A huge well done goes to the following children who received a distinction for their exam: Tom, Jacob (Initial Guitar), Daniel (Initial Violin), Luke (Grade 1 Keyboard), Will (Grade 4 Piano).
Good luck also to those who have taken their exams and are awaiting their results: William (Initial Violin), Grace, Martha (Initial Guitar), Ava (Grade 1 Flute), Joda (Grade 2 Guitar), Jake (Grade 2 Violin), Jack (Grade 2 Trombone), Emily (Grade 2 Theory and Grade 3 Singing), Harriet (Grade 3 Euphonium), Hannah (Grade 3 Trumpet).

MID-SOMERSET MUSIC FESTIVAL
Some of our fantastic musicians have also been busy performing at the Mid-Somerset Music Festival. Will sang with the Bath Bach Choir whilst Harriet, Tom and Jack won their classes for their performances. Hannah received bronze for her performance.

FOOTBALL REPORT
On 23rd March Newbridge Primary School went to Saltford Primary School to play a friendly. The team got off to a good start with a goal coming from Alex with a run down the centre and shortly after a goal from Oscar, with a nice shot from his head, but shortly afterwards Saltford brought back a goal and then another. The score at half-time was 2-2. The second half was a good come back from Saltford with lots of possession where they got a good goal from their County striker, then from nowhere came Mark with a blistering shot from the half-way line. It was 3-3. Unfortunately Saltford scored two more very, very lucky goals and we lost 5-3, but we tried our best. Thank you to Mr Cumpson for coaching us and Mr Croker and all the parents and carers for supporting us. By Tom and Alfie.

TAG RUGBY REPORT
On Thursday 26th March Newbridge Tag Rugby team played Paulton. We were split into two equal teams. The first matches were great games but sadly both teams lost, the scores were 7-8 in the A team match and 9-11 in the B team match. Luckily there were still another two matches to play and get our revenge. At some point we thought they were playing full contact rugby! In the next game Wilf got tagged and offloaded to Ben who scored a cracker of a try. Ozzie got studied in the leg 6 times but persevered and went on to score a try. The final score was 11-12 to Newbridge A and 9-7 to Newbridge B. We would like to thank Mr Croker for coaching us and our parents and carers for cheering us on.
By Ben, Wilf and Ozzie – 5C.

SCHOOL CHESS TOURNAMENT
Chess is very much alive and well at Newbridge! Over the past term we have had over forty chess enthusiasts pitching their wits against each other in the school’s annual chess tournament. All the players had their good days and it is amazing to see the progress of so many. (One Dad remarked ‘ Not so long ago I could beat my son blindfolded, now I always have an excuse ready why I can’t play!). The final round of the competition was played last Friday and the winner of the Year 5 / 6 tournament was Will with an unblemished record, Joda came a close second and in third place Max and Jack were tied. In the Year 3 / 4 competition Sam matched Will’s seven wins and came out on top, newcomer Daniel came a very creditable second and third place was a three way tie between Thomas, Alice and Cameron, another player new to the club. Congratulations to these players who all qualify for the next round of the UK Chess Challenge which is the country’s largest chess competition. We have been very lucky this term to have Mr Knight help Mr Croker run the club and we would like to thank him for helping us. Finally, well done to all our chess players – see you next term!

NPSA NEWS
NPSA Committee Meeting – Monday 27th April at 7.30pm
Please feel free to join us at the next NPSA Committee Meeting. As parents and carers at Newbridge you are all members and very welcome to come along! The meeting will start at 7.30 promptly, so please try to be there on time! Thank you.

Make it a Night to Remember
If you missed it last time, you really missed out! A great time was had by all. DJ Paulo is here again for an early summer get together. Come along and have a bit of fun! Tickets will be available shortly, but put it in your diary now!