News

Thursday, 31st May 2012

Dear Parents,

Summer Term Newsletter No. 7

FUNKY FURSDAY

It’s a slightly different version of Funky Friday this time round, being that it is a Fursday and not a Friday! We are also celebrating the Diamond Jubilee with a red, white and blue dress code for the day. Our infant children are working in mixed age classes on a Jubilee theme with a Jubilee party after lunch. Our junior children are enjoying a range of creative challenges, including one group going off-site to the Apple Store and another group working with two of our Dads, Dave Collie and Colin Bristow, on something called ICT Scratch Program focused on IT programming! There is a Jubilee Party being arranged by a big group of juniors, too. Thanks to everyone who has supported today, notably Sarah Slight and Dan Cadman for co-ordinating the juniors. It’s been a fab Funky Fursday!

FOA MAY BALL LAST SATURDAY http://www.bonitophotography.co.uk/ashleyparkball

A very big thank you to the FOA May Ball committee of Alex Healey, Amy Maddocks, Lesley Carrodus and Suzanne Todd for organising the most fantastic event last Saturday at Shepperton Studios. Everyone was dressed up to the nines and very smart they all looked, too. It was a hugely entertaining night out and the hard work that the committee had put in really did pay off brilliantly. Thank you to all of you who so generously contributed to the evening. Along with the fun and social side, the event raised an amazing £4,300.

ILIANA PHOTOGRAPHY AND WEBSITE SONG

We have had lots of lovely feedback from you, regarding our Official Opening last Friday. It really was a very special occasion for everyone concerned with the school and we were so proud of the children for performing so well. One of our Mums, Iliana Nunn, took some great pictures of the opening and a selection of these can be seen on our school website. Thank you, Iliana! For those of you interested, we have also added the words and the music for our specially commissioned song ‘We’re Building’. So click on the link, turn up the volume and enjoy every verse and every chorus of this catchy little number!

100 CLUB ENERGY CHALLENGE – A MESSAGE FROM JAKOB, SAMANTHA AND SERAPHINA

Fantastic news! Ashley School is restarting the 100 Club. We would like YOU to reduce your energy and take part in this exciting but challenging competition. All you need to do is use our energy recording sheet (coming out today) once a week and start measuring your energy. You can measure your electricity use from an energy monitor or your meter and you need to check the monitor or meter just once each week. If you can get your energy below 100 kWh a week, then you can join our prestigious 100 Club. If you go below 50kWh a week, you can join our even more illustrious 50 Club. The family that reduces its energy the most will win a prize. Please return your slips to us in Year 6 and start saving energy and money. We hope you are up for the challenge! Jakob, Samantha and Seraphina.

WATER BOTTLES, SUN CREAM AND HATS

With such warm weather over the past couple of weeks, please can you ensure that your child always has a hat or cap to wear outside at break-time. They should also have a filled bottle of water, along with a separate bottle of water for lunchtime. We do not want children to bring in juice cartons as these can get very sticky and create lots of additional waste. Any sun cream application should be done at home prior to coming to school. Please do not send sun cream into school for children to apply on their own. Whilst we want children to be protected, having several children trying to apply cream to themselves and then their friends is not an easy situation to manage!

GOLDEN BOOT CHALLENGE AFTER HALF-TERM

After half-term for four weeks Ashley School will once again be participating in Surrey County Council’s Golden Boot Challenge, which encourages as many families as possible to find healthy ways to get to school. Many of you already walk, cycle or scoot to school, but for those of you who drive, we invite you to either leave your car at home or park a good distance away and walk the final leg of the journey. Car sharing is also encouraged.

TESCO SCHOOLS VOUCHERS

If you have been collecting Tesco Schools Vouchers, please note that the deadline for handing in the vouchers is Tuesday, 12th June, the Tuesday after half-term. A group of our children are co-ordinating the counting of the vouchers and they will complete their counting then. Many thanks.

DISTRICT SPORTS ATHLETICS – WEDNESDAY, 13th JUNE AT 1PM

The annual District Sports inter-schools athletics competition takes place at Stompond Lane on Wednesday, 13th June. It is a major event between all the local schools. It will begin promptly at 1pm, but please arrive early to ensure you have a good view of proceedings. We look forward to an exciting afternoon of competition.

PARENT WORKSHOP ON DYSPRAXIA – WEDNESDAY, 13th JUNE AT 7.30PM

A reminder once again that there will be a Parent Workshop here in the school hall on Wednesday, 13th June about dyspraxia. The event is being run by Jonathan Atkinson, who has worked closely with young people with dyspraxia over many years, and it will start at 7.30pm. Dyspraxia is defined as ‘the impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement’ i.e. a lack of co-ordination or difficulty with motor skills. If this subject is of interest to you, please come along.

SECOND HALF OF THE SUMMER TERM

Looking ahead to the second half of term, here are a few reminders of some key dates:

Monday, 18th June Year 6 head off to Chamonix for their ‘New Leaders in Sustainability’ week away.

Saturday, 23rd June FOA Summer Fete 12-3pm with an Olympic theme

Monday, 25th June INSET DAY CLOSURE – Our final Inset of the academic year to plan for 2012/13

Monday, 2nd July Feeling Good Week with an Olympic theme

Saturday, 7th July Ashstock VIII Camping Weekend on the field

Monday, 9th July Ashley Flower Show celebration of food and flower growing – more info to come

Friday, 13th July Year 6 Musical at 7pm for Year 6 families

Wednesday, 18th July Sports Day – You are welcome to come along for the afternoon, starting at 1pm

Friday, 20th July Summer Term ends at 2pm

FOA SUMMER FETE PROGRAMME DESIGN WINNERS

Well done to all the children who designed programme covers for the FOA Summer Fete. The winners are:

Medal Infant Winner Junior Winner

Gold Juliette Francis Fraser Taylor

Silver Isla Carpenter Connor McCarthy

Bronze Anais McCarthy Amy Brewis

STAFFING MATTERS

We will be reviewing class arrangements after half-term in anticipation of the new academic year in September. We are looking to mix some of our year groups and will be speaking to specific year groups about this. I did though want to make you aware that Lisa Atkinson will be going on maternity leave shortly after the start of the new academic year so we will have two different teachers working in our Reception Year. We are delighted for Lisa that she is having a baby. She will be returning to Ashley after her maternity leave. We would ask you not to discuss who you think might be in which class or year group with your children as we still have half a term to go this year and we do not want to unsettle them. We believe the new arrangements will work well for all concerned.

A final well done to our brilliant Ugly Bug Ball performers in Year 2 and to Year 4 for their great work creating an Ancient Egyptian Museum yesterday. Have a good Diamond Jubilee weekend and half-term. See you again on Monday, 11th June at the usual time. Our Value for the month of June is Fairness. Please share with your children.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher