Knights Templar Church School
Newsletter No. 7
7th November 2014
01984 634385
www.knightstemplarfirst.co.uk
email:office@knightstemplar.somerset.sch.uk
November
Tuesday 11th ~ Year 4s to Watchet War Memorial for the Service of Remembrance. If you
are able to help accompany the children, we would appreciate it (leaving 10.30).
Wednesday 12th ~ Open the Book Club for all ages: come along and have fun learning more
about Bible stories using art and drama. (3.30 to 4.15pm)
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Thursday 13 ~ Early Years and any new parents – come and find out about the PTFA &
children’s events at Christmas – 3pm in the hall.
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Friday 14 ~ Children in Need day – dress up as a superhero and bring a donation of 50p;
bring 2p to make a giant bear; paw prints in the hall from 8.30am –
donations please.
~ Cake sale after school outside Parrot Club. Any donations of cakes
very welcome! Please bring in on Thursday or Friday morning.
~ Sharing assembly for Maple class at 2.45pm
Wednesday 19th ~ Bags for Help collection
~ Open phonics lesson at 9am followed by time to discuss approach &
questions with a hot drink and biscuits
~ PTFA meeting at 3.45pm
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Thursday 20 ~ Beech, Oak and Cherry class to Holy Cross Chapel for Pray for Schools Day.
Friday 21st ~ Family Reading for all classes
~ Sharing assembly for Cherry and Silver Birch starting at 2.30pm
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Monday 24 to Wednesday 26th ~ tickets on sale for nativity, Christmas show, Secret Santa
and Christmas Fiesta passports – in the hall from 8.30am or written request.
More details to follow nearer the time.
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Friday 28 ~ Sharing assembly for Ash and Oak starting at 2.30pm
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December
Friday 5 ~ Christmas disco
Saturday 6th ~ Christmas Fair from 2 to 5pm
Wednesday 10th ~ Nativity performances at 9.30 am and 2pm for Sycamore, Willow, Ash,
Silver Birch and Maple classes
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Tuesday 16 ~ Christmas performances at 2pm and 6pm for Cherry, Oak and Beech
Wednesday 17th ~ Jack and the Beanstalk – pantomime for all the family at 9.30 in the hall.
Parents welcome to come and join in the fun for a donation of £2.
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Thursday 18 ~ Christmas Lunch
~ Nativity Parade into Watchet leaving school at 4pm
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Friday 19 ~ Christmas Party
Spring term starts on Tuesday 6th January 2015
Three Stars and a Wish
A huge thank you to all those who brought in donations for this charity.
Together we managed to raise £159 and also have lots of fun. I hope you saw
the photo of some of the outfits in last week’s West Somerset Free Press.
Aspiration week was a real success due to the many visitors who gave their
time to come in and inspire the children. Many thanks indeed to Mrs May, Mrs Alderdice, Mrs
Martin, PCSO Thompson and Ms Dove for coming in to talk to the children.
Thank you to those of you who have already sent in your Christmas card order. Please
ensure your order is in by Wednesday 12th November.
Please can all children have their jumpers, coats, gloves and hats named now that
they are wearing them into school. Also if you have accidentally taken home
someone elses’s sweatshirt or cardigan, please return it as soon as possible,
either to the office or to the lost property tub.
Messy Church Club
On Wednesday 12th November from 3.30 to 4.15, Rev Clive will be leading a club for
children and parents and carers after school. The theme will be the bible story
which tells of the friends who lowered the man through the roof to see Jesus.
There will be art and craft activities as well as retelling of the story. All ages are
welcome, with or without their parent or carer. Please let the office know by writing
a note with your child’s name and the club name if your child will be coming.
Christmas events
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Next Thursday 13 , there will be a chance for new parents to the school to find out
about all the Christmas activities this year. Come along at 3pm to find out how it all
works ~ how you get tickets for events, what we mean by the Secret Room, what is a
Christmas Fiesta passport, food for parties, nativity parade and more! It can be a
bit muddling in your first year and hopefully this will explanation will be helpful.
Bags of Help
Have you started filling your bag with donations for Bags of Help? Clothes, shoes, hats, curtains,
towels, costume jewellery, soft toys, dvds are all welcome. The more we collect, the more we’ll get for
the PTFA. Bring your bags in on Tuesday 18th or Wednesday morning 19th November.
Operation Christmas Child
If you have any small gift to give to this great charity, do please bring it in to school for
your child to put in their class box. A bar of soap, a small toy, crayons, notepads, gloves,
comb, toothbrush and toothpaste – all would make a wonderful surprise and treat for the
world’s poorest children.
First Aid and Lifeguard training
If you are interested in First Aid training including First Aid at work and Paediatric training, or
intereested in gaining a lifeguard qualification, contact Seth Lewis on 077134 86668 or email:
lifeguard.book@smllifeguardcoursesandtraining.co.uk
Queen Caturn’s Night
Come along to Watchet Esplanade on Saturday 29th November to enjoy family entertainment and see
the Queen Caturn’s Play. There will be mulled cider, cakes, hot food and music from 2 to 6pm.
Did you know?
At our Inset training day for all nursery and school staff, we were given some staggering facts….
Did you know that many young children show aggression or frustration because they don’t have
the words to explain what they want? Research has shown that 50% of children with behaviour
special needs had an underlying SEN speech and language and communication difficult.
Did you know that if there is constant background noise of TV and voices at home, our voice
becomes part of the background noise and children stop listening?
Did you know that the learning of language is the most complex learning people will ever do and
a child’s language skills at 5 are a key indicator of future learning?
Did you know that a child of 5 should be able to explain their thinking and ask clear questions using
how, when, what, etc; use varied vocabulary to clarify thinking such as ‘I wonder why the huge
dinosaur only ate grass. It might be because he didn’t like meat’; speak clearly so that anyone
can understand; can explain in sentences what has happened in their everyday lives.
Did you know that some modern changes in life styles impact badly on speaking and
communication? It has been shown that children’s skills are often lower now than in the past.
WHY? Because of adults spending less time having genuine conversations with their child due to
mobile phones, using Facebook, buggies that face forward rather than towards the adult, meal
times in front of the TV rather than at a table.
Did you know that reading to a child makes the single largest contribution to
vocabulary development?
What can parents and carers do to give every child the best language skills?
~ read and tell stories and enjoy finding ‘new’ words;
~ take time to answer your child’s questions with detail and new words;
~ turn off mobiles and talk to your child as you go out and about!
~ give your child time to explain themselves – it takes much longer for a child to process their
thoughts and turn them into words. Research shows it can take 10 seconds - give them time and
try not to say it for your child.
What will we be doing in school to help children’s abilities?
All staff will be doing even more to help all children become fluent, descriptive and confident
speakers and careful and discerning listeners. More children will have extra help to develop their
skills – either through Talk Boost, speech and language activities or nurture group time.
If we can work together to get this right, we can make a long term difference for happier futures.
Pupils of the week
Sycamore ~ Courtney Butcher Jayden Langdon
Willow ~ Molly Chadwick Callum Donnachie
Ash ~ Jamie Dodd Charlie Penny
Silver Birch ~ Esther Smethurst Corey Broadey
Maple ~Phoebe Pope Evie-Mae Lovell
Cherry ~ Cody Butler Erin Dunkley
Beech ~ Matthew Weedon Natalia Witos
Oak ~ Thomas Sweeney Ethan Towells
Kindness Cup Charlie Penny
PLEASE KEEP THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION
EMERGENCY PROCEDURES:
In the case of exceptional bad weather, when there is a risk
that the school may close for safety reasons, please follow one
of these procedures:
 Check the school’s Facebook page (Knights Templar School
News)
 Ring after 8.00 am either:
 Mrs Christine Waterman 01984 631199
 Mrs Kate Kelly
01984
632164
 Ring after 8.30 am
 School
01984 634385
 Check the website: www.somerset.gov.uk
 Listen to BBC Somerset Sound (1566 AM/95.5 FM))
Continuing severe weather – when exceptionally severe
weather conditions are forecast, the Police may recommend
that only essential journeys should be made. The decision may
be made to close all schools so please continue to check. Thank
you.