Ascension : Two Boats School - Week 13 (01/12/08)
Submitted by The Islander (Soo Matthews) 04.12.2008 (Article Archived on 18.12.2008)

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Events to End of Term

Friday 5^th Dec

Awards assembly – this will take place at 8:30am and parents of those children receiving awards will be contacted early this week.

Monday 8^th December

Primary production and Christingle (see below)

The Primary sector will go home at 2pm to enable them to have a rest and something to eat before they need to come back to school for the production.

Wednesday 10^th December

Whole School Xmas Lunch

Thursday 11^th December

Beach clean

School closes at 12:15pm

School re-opens Monday 12^th January 2009

Primary Production and Christingle

The Primary production will now take place on Monday 8^th December from 7pm.  This will be combined with the annual Christingle service for The Children’s Society.

There will be no charge for tickets but everyone who would like to attend will need a ticket so that we know how many people we will have attending the evening.  We anticipate this will be a popular event so please book your tickets as soon as possible.  All school children will be given a ticket.  Priority will be given to families of children in school.

Further details regarding transport etc will be available later this week.

Anti-bullying Poetry winners

Ms Benjamin held a poetry competition for secondary children last week.

The winners were –

Key Stage 3

1^st Gemma Yon

2^nd Georgina Close

3^rd Collin Low-Hong

Key Stage 4

1^st Franki Arms

2^nd Chelsea Thomas

3^rd Franki Arms

Fire Safety Training

All school staff took part in the annual Fire Safety training with Billy Minto last week.  As I have never had to use one before it was good to be shown the correct way to use a Fire blanket on a potential chip pan fire.  It was a useful reminder for us all and we would like to thank Billy for coming to do the training – it’s scary teaching teachers but Billy never showed it!

Staff Swaps

For the last two Fridays we have had some staff swaps within the Foundation Stage.  Two weeks ago Mrs Leo spent a morning in Nursery and last week Mrs Roberts spent the morning in Nursery whilst I spent the morning in reception.  It was a great opportunity for us all to learn what happens in different classrooms and to share good practice.

Year 5 and 6 Link Up

Years 5 and 6 have linked up for a curriculum based project comparing where we live with St Paul’s C of E School in Addlestone, Surrey.  They will be out of school on Tuesday this week taking photos of places around the island.

Year 11 Geography

Year 11 have been out and about on their GCSE Geography field tripslast week and this week to collect data for their coursework.  If you have been sent a questionnaire by any of the students please return it to school as soon as possible so that they can use it as part of their coursework.

Year 10 Mini-Enterprise –‘The Wash’

As part of their Asdan course Chae and Jamie have investigated the costs of setting up a car wash business.  They are learning lots about the things they have to consider when advertising and setting costs for their business.  They have worked very hard and will know soon whether or not they have made any profit.  I can guarantee that they do a thoroughly good job and was very pleased with the work they did on the minibus – well done boys.

Staffing

During the half term holiday Ms Evans was interviewed for a post in the Falkland Islands.  Ms Evans has been offered and accepted the post and will be leaving on Thursday 9^th April at the end of term 2B.  Although Ms Evans has only been with us a short time she has brought about many positive changes in the Primary sector and we wish her well for the future.

It is with regret that I must inform you we were unsuccessful in appointing a Spanish teacher.  This was the third time of advertising this vacancy.  Last term we had various discussions with staff in school, with AIG SMT and with the School Governors Committee about what we might do if we were not successful in making an appointment.  We agreed we would look towards another area of the curriculum.

Since Ms Dennis left last year we have had feedback from a number of parents and children (formally and informally) and through comments during the inspection process identifying Drama, Music and the Creative Arts as a gap in our current provision.  We know we have a number of talented young people who are keen to develop their skills and knowledge in this area.  We will therefore be advertising for a teacher within this curriculum area. 

As we also have a number of talented linguists amongst out students, we will also indicate in the advert that the ability to teach a language would be an advantage.

We will continue to deliver Spanish with Ms Evans teaching years 5 and 6 and myself teaching years 7 – 11.

I would also like to say a huge Thank You to Lorna Close for all her volunteer work at school.  We have all enjoyed working with you and wish you well in your new job with Conservation.