Cambridge Road Community Primary & Nursery School
PARENTS NEWSLETTER
February 2013
WELCOME
A very warm welcome to the February newsletter for the parents, families and friends of
Cambridge Road Community Primary & Nursery School. We start this issue with news
about our attendance winners for Spring 1 half-term.
ATTENDANCE WINNERS
We have two sets of attendance awards each half-term. Children who have
completed five full weeks are entered into a class draw to win a £20 Argos
voucher. Children with over 96% attendance are entered into a whole school draw
to win one of three £20 Argos vouchers.
Spring 1’s winners are:
5 full weeks – Leo Charker (N), Jacob Taylor (R), Joshua Huxley (Y1), Reece Mellor (Y2), Kerris
Thomson (Y3), Zoe Butler (Y4), Demi-Leigh Brookes (Y5) and Natasha Donoghue (Y6).
96% + winners – Tamarka Hudakova Y5 (100%), Hannah Whittingham Y5 (100%) and Frankie Fair-Hill
Y2 (100%)
WELL DONE CHILDREN!!
FREE SCHOOL MEALS
The Government has said that schools will receive extra funding for every pupil eligible
for free school meals.
As a school we want to encourage as many parents as possible to apply for free school
meals as any additional funding will be essential in maintaining the standards we expect
for our children.
Registering does not mean your child has to swap from their packed lunch if that is
preferred, but school will not receive the extra funding if your child is not registered.
1 Free School Meal registration = 5 x lap tops, 120 x text books, 300 footballs
If you think you may be eligible, please phone CWAC on 0300 123 7039.
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SCHOOL HEALTH ADVISOR DROP IN
In January we were very pleased to be able to offer a new health advisory service
courtesy of our school nurse, Jessica Hunt.
Every last Tuesday in the month, Jessica will be available between 9am and 10am to help
you as a parent by providing advice and guidance on anything to do with the health of
your children. This could be physical or emotional health and could include the
following:
 Eating problems
 Bed wetting
 Worries about growing up
 Concerns about the amount of healthy food or exercise your family/child should
be having
 Concerns about your child appearing sad, angry, withdrawn etc.
 Questions about immunisations
Jessica will give you advice and may work with you and your child to help tackle a
problem if you think this would help. At times she may tell you about other help
available or refer you to another professional.
Please note, Jessica is a nurse and so all conversations are completely confidential
(unless it is a child protection issue) and any information which she thinks would be
valuable to share with a teacher or anyone else will only be done with your permission as
a parent.
HEAD LICE ADVICE
Here is a brief reminder of how best to deal with head lice.
Basically it’s best to follow a three step routine:
1) Detection: Once a week, perhaps on a Sunday evening after a bath, use a grey
detection comb to hunt for head lice. IF you find a live one … don’t panic! It’s no big
deal.
2) Treatment: There are many treatment products you can choose from, and you can
get them from any pharmacy. The Full Marks Solution range of products will get rid of
head lice quickly and effectively – it just takes ten minutes to work. If you need any
advice visit your local pharmacy or www.headlice.co.uk
3) Removal: After you’ve treated the head lice according to the instructions, apply
enough conditioner to thoroughly cover the hair. Brush the hair from root to tip with a
removal comb, and use a tissue to wipe the comb after each brush. A removal comb is
included in every Full Marks Solution pack. If you want to find out more about head lice,
go to www.headlice.co.uk
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FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS
UNDERWATER ST. PROVES TO BE A MEMORABLE DAY OUT
Our youngest pupils (Nursery and Reception) had an absolutely brilliant day out at
Underwater St. in Liverpool. The children took part in a range of fun, educational
activities involving making, digging, sifting, climbing and generally learning about lots
of stuff to do with science. Mrs Carruthers, Mrs Peters and Mrs Armstrong were very
pleased with the children and were of the opinion that it was one of the best trips ever!
FRENCH DAY ADDS OOH LA LA TO END OF TERM
On Thursday 14th February the children experienced a taste of France as we had our
very own ‘French Day.’ The children worked in mixed age groups and experienced
French food, French pastimes, French shops and tried their best to use the langauge
to communicate with one and another. As a school we have been delivering French
to certain age groups for two years now and we believe it adds value to the education that
the children recieve at our school.
DISCO DELIGHT ADDS FUN TO VALENTINES DAY
Thursday 14th February saw the latest in our PTA organised discos. As usual these were
great fun and offered the children an opportunity to spend some chill out time with their
friends and peers. I would like to thank all those members of the PTA and members of
staff who gave up their free time to enable this event to take place.
MAD HAIR DAY HELPS GET FUNDRAISING OFF TO A FLYER
The School Council has chosen
to raise funds to purchase a
VSCAN device for the
Countess of Chester Hospital.
The VSCAN is a device, the
size of a smart phone, that will
enable staff to diagnose serious
issues in patients and is
obviously a very worthwhile
cause to raise funds for. The
children have set themselves a
target of £1,000 and Mad Hair
Day was the first in a series of
fundraising events. I am
delighted to be able to inform
you that the day raised £146!!
CYBER BULLYING MESSAGE HITS HOME
On the final day of the half-term the Y5 children produced and delivered a fantastic play
all about cyber-bullying. The children worked with our resident drama person, ‘Crunch’
to produce a play that covered all the key messages about cyber bullying. The children
did very well and were an absolute credit to their families, their school and to themselves.
Well done Y5.
Remember the key message about cyber bullying is ‘Zip It!’ ‘Block It!’ ‘Flag It!’
(Zip It means keep your details private)
(Block It means what it says – put a block on your phone or digital device)
(Flag It means tell someone about the problem)
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COMING UP IN MARCH
DADS TO SCHOOL WEEK SET TO EXCITE
March 4th through to March 8th sees the return of our ‘Dads To School Week.’ This
promises to be a very enjoyable few days with the chance for dads and children to work
alongside each other. The key dates are:
Monday 4th March – Y5 Tuesday 5th March – Y3 & Y6
Wednesday 6th March – Nursery (10:30 – 12:00 or 1:20 – 3:00), Y2 & Y4
Thursday 7th March – Rec & Y1
Y6 OFF TO WATCH SHAKESPEARE’S ‘THE TEMPEST’
On Monday 4th March the Y6 children are making the short trip to the Civic Hall
to watch a production of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest.’ This should be a very
worthwhile afternoon and one that will live long in the memory. As an extra treat
for our current Y6 we have arranged for them to have a Shakespeare workshop on
the Tuesday afternoon with the very actors they watched the day before!
WORLD BOOK DAY PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY FOR READING FUN
On Thursday 7th March school will be celebrating World Book Day. As part of the fun
we would like all the children (and adults!) to come dressed as a character from a book.
This can be any character from any book. Please do not feel you have to go out and buy
an expensive costume. A little imagination and a look around the house can lead to all
sorts of exciting creations.
OBSTACLE COURSE FUNDRAISER COMING SOON
The next fundraising event for the VSCAN appeal comes on Tuesday 12th March when
we set up our very own ‘Obstacle Course.’ This event is always popular with the children
and usually works really well in raising funds. The idea is simple – the children pay £1 to
have a go on the obstacle course and also get a couple of sponsore from family members.
Y4’S OFF TO BEESTON
The next residential visit for the year involves the Y4 class who are off to the Beeston
Outdoor Educational Centre on Wednesday 13th March and will be away till Friday 15th
March. A full report on what they get up to will feature in the next newsletter.
CHILDLINE IN SCHOOL TO WORK WITH OLDER CHILDREN
I am delighted to be able to tell you that we are being visited by professionals from the
Childline Schools Service. They will be delivering an assembly on Friday 22nd March and
then following this up with two workshops for Y5 and Y6 on Thursday 28th March.
POTTERY WORKSHOP FUN FOR Y1 & Y2 PUPILS
The final week before Easter will see our Y1 / Y2 children enjoying two days of pottery
workshops with Martin Davis, a local artist. This is a fun way to end the term and
hopefully we will have some beautiful pottery to display as a finished product.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mr Pickering.
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