Summer
2007/8
Newsletter
Denotes a must read item
Tyre Park
Over the summer a tyre park will be installed on the hill near the orchard.
This is made up of twenty large tractor tyres laid out for the children to climb
on and in. This is being funded by the PTA and the pupils through their own
fundraising. It should be in place for the start of the new school year.
Summer Work
Extensive work will be undertaken over the holiday. Both playgrounds will
be resurfaced with new play areas being created for Years 1 and 2. There
will be a new footpath installed around the building that will allow easier and
dryer access to the classrooms. Internal doors are being installed for all
infant classrooms apart from Reception and doors are being installed
between classrooms in year groups to create small work rooms. The Oasis,
used for general support, is being re-modelled and resourced for pupils with
an Autistic Spectrum Condition to allow specific support to be provided to
help these pupils take a full part in class and to train staff in the effective
use of strategies and resources.
We hope to have all this work completed for the start of the school year.
However if there are delays we will post specific health and safety notices
around school at the start of term.
Deighton Gates search engine Magical Schools
Every time this is used for a search Magic School pay the school 50% of the
advertising income generated from that search. All search engines,
including Google, are funded through advertising.
Thank you to all parents that have been using Magical School as their home
search engine.
We have received £177.26 to date.
If you have not already signed up for this and would like to, all you have to
do is type the address below, add it to your favourites and use it whenever
you wish to search the internet.
www.magicalschools.co.uk/deightongatesprimary
Dinner money
The price of school dinners will increase in September by 10p per day. The
new rate will be £1.75 per day, £8.75 per week.
The first week of term we are back for 2 days therefore dinner money should
be for £3.50.
Please make cheques payable to Leeds City Council
School Fund
School Fund will remain at £15.00 for the next academic year. The
breakdown of this years spending is on the sheet opposite. As you will see
from the sheet the current year 3 group, year 4 next year, under spent by
£2.50 therefore the payment for these children next year will be £12.50.
Little Learners
Did you know that Little Learners offers the “Free nursery grant entitlement
for 3 and 4 year olds”. This means children can attend nursery for upto 15
hours per week, taken flexibly for upto 6 hours per day, at no cost! Further
hours can be accommodated, on an hourly rate, to meet your needs. We
are also currently allocating places for the after-school group from
September. Please contact Susie or Helen on 01937 580925 for further
details.
Bags 2 school
Bags to school dates are:
Thursday 16th October 2008
Friday 8th May 2009
School Uniform Orders
Those of you who ordered uniform to be delivered to school can pick your
orders up on Tuesday 2nd of September or Wednesday 3rd of September
2008.
Year 6 Residential
Y6 had a fantastic couple of weeks at Herd Farm residential manifested in
comments like, "Is it still only Tuesday, Mr Lister. We seem to have done so
much already?" and "This is the best residential ever! I never thought we
would be doing such fantastic and different activities."
Year 6 DT Project
To demonstrate how busy Y6 have been after Sats, they went down to WHS
to complete their DT project using the computers and the laser cutting
machine, creating some very professional results for their final moving toy
projects.
Year 6 Performance
Y6 are still hard at it with a fabulous performance of 'Rocky Monster Show'
and they are busy trying hard to complete the new Olympic games mural by
the end of term.
Year 4 Water Safety Training
Leeds City Council provided an afternoon of water safety training for Year 4.
While having a serious, informative side, advising children of what to do in
certain dangerous situations linked to water, it was interactive and fun! The
children watched an exciting video hosted by David Hasselhof! and acted
out life-saving situations. The children thoroughly enjoyed the session and
were especially pleased with the puzzle booklets they received at the end.
Music Evening
This year’s music evening was a huge success. Despite being cancelled
the first time around due to some pupils having busy schedules, it was an
entertaining evening! The children demonstrated what great progress they
have made and many parents commented on the high standard of the
performers. Thanks to all the children and teachers for all their hard work.
Year 5 Class Assembly
Y5 started the second half of the summer term with a frenzy of activity, as
they wrote, rehearsed and performed their class assembly to the school and
a huge audience of parents and relatives ( thank you for coming). Many
aspects of what has been a very busy year were explained and acted out
with gusto, including drumming workshops, residential, basketball coaching
and alternative performance poems, as well as the more usual aspects of
the curriculum. The whole year group demonstrated once again the wealth
of talent, humour and enthusiasm that they have shown throughout the year.
Year 3 Visit to a Hindu Temple
As part of their Religious Education work Year 3 paid a visit to a Hindu
temple in Leeds. The children were able to participate in a short service and
see how Hindus worship. We had to take off our shoes before we entered
the temple and sit on a carpet. The Hindu people brought offerings of fruit or
flowers which were blessed by the temple priest and then returned to them
to bestow god's blessing upon them.
Year 1 Visit to Sculpture Park
On Tuesday, June 17 Rye class visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. We
all had a great day exploring the weird and not-so-weird sculptures. The
Park is large and the children did very well walking during the day. We all
enjoyed the sculptures by Sophie Ryder, particularly the hares made from
wire and bronze. The children also enjoyed the deer shelter where they
could sit and look up at a picture of the sky! The sound sculpture interested
the children as well where strange sounds could be made by walking on
different areas. Back at school we wrote about our trip, drew pictures and
made our own animal sculptures.
Year 1 Assembly
The children from Rye enjoyed performing a short assembly for the parents
in June. Their confident performance demonstrated what they had learnt in
various subjects such as science, numeracy and literacy. Some of the
children acted out the story of the Passover and parents enjoyed all the
songs that the children had learnt throughout the year.
Circus Workshops
The whole school watched a demonstration of balancing and juggling skills,
then each year group took part in a circus workshop practising skills and
taking part in different activities.
Year 2 Performance
Year 2 did an end of Key Stage 1 performance for the school and their
parents. This was a lively, entertaining journey through the year with every
child taking part.
Year 2 Synagogue Trip
On Tuesday 15th July year 2 went on a cultural visit to Shadwell Lane
Synagogue as part of their R.E work, it was a fascinating experience
hearing more about Jewish worship. After the visit the children enjoyed a
picnic and games in Roundhay Park.
Supermarket vouchers
Thank you to everyone who has collected vouchers for schools. We have
just placed a large order for playtime equipment from Sainsburys.
Books were received from the Nestle Box Tops offer recently and Mrs
Wilkins distributed them. Tesco’s vouchers were carried over to next year.
We would welcome help from parents to count vouchers periodically. If you
are able to help us please contact the school office.
Learning to save
It is not too late to start saving. Leeds Credit Union run every Tuesday, in
term time, outside the school office. We have quite a number of regular
savers, it would be great to see more of you joining.
PARENT TEACHER’S ASSOCIATION (PTA)
COMMITTEE CHANGES
Academic year 2007/8 saw Penny Rowell stand down as Chair with Paula
Bock elected in early 2008. After 2-years hard work Julie Blackburn our
current Treasurer is to stand down and Brenda Newis is rapidly taking over
the new role, my thanks to Brenda for standing in for Julie at the Summer
Fair. At the AGM 9th July 2008, Helen Thompson advised that she would
stand down as Secretary at the end of 2008. Volunteers for this key role are
now eagerly awaited. Our Teaching Representative, Viv Wilkins is standing
down in the autumn after 30-years of teaching, her support will be missed
and we are pleased to welcome Vicky Morfill. All other serving officers were
happy to stand and were duly elected at the meeting.
The PTA provides a valuable source of income to the school for not only
essentials but those fun pieces of equipment to ensure that the children are
kept entertained at break times. Your contribution in whatever form, ie
attendance at meetings by bringing new ideas and your time, attending
events, setting up and clearing up through learning new skills and being part
of an excellent team. For our existing parents and PTA Supporters alike
may I personally thank you for your contribution in terms of time or money,
without your support we would not be as successful. Therefore, new and
old alike are welcomed to the PTA meetings, forthcoming dates in 2008:
Wednesday, 10th September
Thursday, 16th October,
Tuesday, 11th November
Wednesday, 10th December.
2008/9 EVENTS
29th June saw a fantastic end of year Summer Fair; the star attraction must
surely go to Sara Abbott who toiled from 11.30am when the fair opened to
around 2.45pm by using duel controls the children were able to drive a real
car. Our thanks to Sara and all other contributors for the day. As parents
we have many skills and attributes without realising. So please look at
forthcoming events and where possible let any member of the PTA know of
unique skills that can be utilised for optimum effect.
Last year we introduced the New Parents' Evening, which provides a social
setting to get to know other parents and for any supporters to the PTA that
is even better. So set a date in your diary for Thursday, 18th September
(Junior Hall).
Calling all parents ... get your dancing shoes out as we're having a
Ceilidh on Saturday, 4th October at Boston Spa Village Hall; complete with
live band , bar and supper. A great evening's entertainment for all, with or
without previous experience! Further details and tickets are available when
we return to school in September.
In readiness for Christmas, we are looking to hold a Toy Sale (complete with
baby gear) and a Ladies Evening that was so successful this year in
November.
School Discos are a regular calendar event, each term, which the children
greatly enjoy.
Our biggest events of the calendar are the Christmas and Summer Fairs,
where our key focus is for the children to have a great time. The PTA
Committee attempt to bring in as many activities as possible.
Back by popular demand we are scheduled to hold a Summer Ball, we are
just finalising the details and will back in touch with firm details.
Whatever, the event, safety and wellbeing is always at the forefront, so if we
request additional information ie for school discos then please support us in
ensuring the safety of our children.
OTHER WAYS TO HELP . . .
You may not be aware that Deighton Gates subscribe to the Magical School
Search Engine Magic Taxi. So please set up on your favourites so that we
can make use of the facility. What does the school get in return? A small
revenue for the hits within the system. So get ready and surf the net!
We are hoping to announce a new scheme of a 100 / 150 / 200 Club
(licence arrangements permitting). This will provide, at least during term
time, an opportunity to be awarded a cash prize(s), final details are being
realised.
Yellow Moon provides useful children’s toys, gadgets and stationery etc with
a percentage of takings being returned to the school. Watch out for the
catalogue and venture inside to see if you can make any purchases.
Bags2 School – please put your old clothes / no longer wanted items to
good use. Again this initiative supports the school by providing valuable
extra funds.
Phoenix provides cards etc at excellent prices, much lower than the high
street. So when you see the stall please support as 10% of all takings is
recovered by the School. For bulk requests then please contact Brenda
Newis for further details. Brochures are available outside the school office.