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Inside this issue:-
Newsletter Competition
Head’s Christmas Message
e-safety Information
School Transport Policy
Primary Liaison
Primary Liaison—Sport, Music and Dance
Christmas Riddles
Holiday Dates
Adult Education Courses 2014
John Colet Cross-Country
DECEMBER 2013
“Through hard work, inspiration, mutual respect and enjoyment, we will achieve
success together.”
MERRY
CHRISTMAS
AND HAPPY
NEW YEAR TO
ALL OUR
READERS
Headteacher’s Christmas Message
It has been a long but successful term with students focused on their learning and getting involved in activities which encourages them to think of others. One of the highlights of the term was Help Week where, under the leadership of our School Council, students and staff raised over £3,000 for the local charity Sparkles. The cheque will be presented in the full school assembly on the last day of term – a timely reminder that the Christmas season is all about thinking of others.
I wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year and look forward to a successful 2014.
Farewells
Sadly, we are saying farewell to a number of staff.
Mrs Hodges has worked at John Colet since 2007 as a Learning Support Assistant. During her time here, Mrs Hodges has supported many students with their learning. We wish her well for her Counselling Course.
Mr Stewart has been a Learning Support Assistant for over two years. Mr Stewart has had a long association with John Colet as he was a former student. We wish him well on his travels around the world.
Mrs Emmerson has worked in IL as a Learning Support Assistant for the past two years supporting the learning of our students. We wish her well on her move to a new school.
Mr Craker leaves us after completing his Business and Administration Apprenticeship and subsequently working as our Inclusion Unit Assistant. Like Mr Stewart, Mr Craker is a former John Colet student and we wish him well in the next stage of his career.
Internal staffing changes from January 2014
Mrs Rippington will move from IL to being the Inclusion Unit
Assistant.
Mrs C McLintock
NEWSLETTER COMPETITION
We would like to congratulate Amber Hider 7C for designing our improved newsletter logo.
Page 2 NEWSLETTER
For your Free initial half hour consultation, call us on: 01494 862226 (Prestwood office) 01296 620443 (Wendover office)
2 Wycombe Road, Prestwood, HP16 0PW 10a High Street, Wendover, HP22 6AE
www.dckaye.co.uk
e-safety Information for Parents/Carers
Parental controls Parental controls are designed to help protect children from inappropriate content they may come across online. These controls can be used to limit access to only age appropriate content, to set usage times and to monitor activity.
It’s worth being aware that no parental controls or filtering options are 100% fool proof. As well as
setting up parental controls it’s important to educate your children about the potential risks online, and
establish rules concerning the sites that are suitable, or inappropriate, to visit. It's important that you
involve yourself in their online world; as a starting point you could ask them what their favourite
websites are and why they like them.
For more advice please look on the Childnet website
http://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/hot-topics/parental-controls
If you have a business or an event you would like to advertise in the John Colet Newsletter we would be delighted to help. We ask for a small fee of £5.00 per advertisement which is paid into the John Colet School Fund and used to help purchase much needed equipment for the school.
If you are interested in this facility please contact the school office on 01296 623348 or
E Mail: [email protected]
Page 3
NEWSLETTER
School Transport Policy - Operational changes Published: 22 November 2013
Maximising Spare Capacity
We have been reviewing the operation of the School Transport Policy. Whilst the general policy remains unchanged the operation of the policy will be changed, going forward to support as many families as possible with Paid-for (discretionary) transport. Following the review we have decided to offer all spare capacity on transport (this includes, where possible, on taxi services) on the standard first come first served basis to those on the Paid-for (discretionary) waiting list. As a result of this it is likely that there will be no spare bus seats available on the transport network to provide to occasional users. Where students wish to use specific transport routes on a regular basis they are welcome to apply and go on the transport waiting list by applying via: http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/education/schools/school-transport/
Councillor Mike Appleyard explained:
In reviewing our practice we tried to listen to the wishes of parents who strongly urged us to offer as many places as we could on the school buses and also to offer discretionary fares on taxi services where feasible.
This improvement to services does mean necessary changes to the occasional ticket arrangements.
Occasional Tickets
The County Council is no longer able to offer occasional tickets for students to travel on school buses. Whilst this scheme has allowed families flexibility for their children to travel home with friends or to an alternative address there is evidence that this system is being abused and this is to the detriment of those children who have an entitlement to travel. We are aware that the issuing of these tickets has led to the overloading of certain vehicles on certain routes. As we are also aiming to maximise loadings as far as possible on all routes where there is the demand this means there will be fewer seats spare for this scheme to operate within.
The Council has considered carefully, its duty of care to all students it transports and is mindful that there is a danger in continuing to issue occasional tickets. .
As a result, we would ask that from January 2014, schools issue no further occasional tickets and return any remaining books of tickets to Amey Client Transport. A refund will be provided for unused tickets which are returned. Please return them to Amey Client Transport, Buckinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 1YZ ) clearly marked with the school name so that refunds can be correctly made. If you have any queries please email [email protected]
Please note: Five day emergency passes will still be issued where the pupil is entitled to travel either:
because they are eligible for free transport, or
because they have paid for discretionary transport
who are awaiting replacement bus passes.
New applications
Where we have not been able to offer the nearest school expressed as first preference, we will no longer require parents seeking transport to a lower preference school to appeal for that school, as well as go onto the schools waiting list. As long as the child is on the waiting list for the nearest school, transport entitlement in this circumstance will now be considered.
Fines
Since September 2013 a fine of £100 is being levied to any family where a student is caught travelling on a school bus who is not eligible to do so. Signs are being displayed on all buses so it is clear that a fine can be levied. Again this is driven by on-going examples of non-eligible children managing to get on a bus which impacts on children who do have a right to travel, as it poses a health and safety risk with overloaded vehicles.
If parents have any queries they should contact the County Council on 0845 3708090.
Debbie Munday - Admissions and Transport Manager
Transportation - Operational Changes - As issued by Bucks County Council
Page 4 NEWSLETTER
Primary Liaison Drama Workshop – Year 4 -Final Performances
Year 4 pupils performed their fairy tales on Wednesday 27 November in front of parents and siblings. Helpers Nathan Grey, Emily Trott, Rachel Kader, Charlotte Thorpe, Safiya Grecea and Richard McKeever worked very hard with the children and took part in their performances. Certificates were awarded at the end and presents given to the six John Colet students who regularly helped every week. Comments written on the evaluation
forms completed by Year 4 pupils included the fact that they would change nothing and enjoyed everything, especially freeze frames and performing at the end. Thank you to Miss Babra for all her hard work and to the canteen staff for the delicious cookies and squash.
Making Movies Club – BAFTA awards
The lights were yet again dimmed, the BAFTA awards were ready and the cameras were rolling for the fifth awards ceremony! Monday 9 December was the last session of the Making Movies Club for Year 5 pupils and the group watched a showing of their movies and Mrs McLintock presented certificates, a BAFTA statue and a memory stick containing the seven movies that had been produced. Many thanks again to Mrs Johnston for making the amazing BAFTAs and allowing us the use of her room to make the characters; to
Ms Bulteel for the Art session where the backgrounds were created, and to the John Colet helpers who were all stars, as the club could not have run without them. Richard Atkinson, Tabby Taberer, Alice Oliver and Mike Austin have worked on this project from the very start. A special thanks to the ladies in the canteen for the cookies and squash that kept us all going over the last eight weeks.
Halton Literacy Help
On Thursday 21 November, Charlotte Thorpe, Corey Meehan, Toby Walls and Elizabeth Gidney helped the Years 5 and 6 with dictionary work as the children improved on a piece of writing they had completed. Each student was allocated a small group and assisted the children with this work.
On Tuesday 26 November, Grace Stockland, Jordan Day, Kerrie Parsons and James Langstone filmed Years 5 and 6 making Stained Glass biscuits! The children were working in groups, and whilst being filmed explained what they were doing.
On Tuesday 10 December, Ben Frost, Mark Draffan, Sian Morgan and Hannah Mitton worked with Years 5 and 6 on re-writing the first page of Treasure Island.
Merry Christmas to all the staff and students who have helped with the primary liaison activities this term. Next term is looking extremely busy with plans for a Year 6 Maths workshop, the fifth
inter school quiz and many more activities planned.
Mrs J Caplan
1) The Dwarves Presents Snow White gave each of the elves a new scarf for Christmas. Grumpy, Sneezy and Doc were not happy with the colours and they decided to exchange. Grumpy gave his red one to Sneezy in exchange for his yellow scarf. Grumpy then changed with Doc for the green one. Then Sneezy and Doc swapped scarves.
Who has which scarf?
(2) Reindeer Road
Rudolph, Prancer and Dancer live in neighbouring sheds. Prancer is in the middle and Rudolph lives in the shed with the smallest number. The shed numbers differ by 3 and all three add up to 336.
What is the number of Dancer’s shed?
(3) Christmas Stocking In my stocking last year, Father Christmas placed one each of all the coins we have. Unfortunately my sister had taken one. If I had £3.38 left, which coin was missing?
CHRISTMAS RIDDLES - ANSWERS ON PAGE 6
Page 5 NEWSLETTER
PRIMARY LIAISON: SPORT, MUSIC AND DANCE
SPORT
We have had a very busy term ‘liaising’ with our primary schools and organising events which offer opportunities for competition, leadership!
BISI Badminton:-The CSLA group under the guidance of Mr Atkinson ran two seamless BISI Badminton competitions: one being a ‘friendly’ designed to get as many Year 4 students playing Badminton as possible, we actually had 90 players and our young leaders coped admirably! The other was the early round of the School Games which 5 schools attended, Wendover, Bierton, Bedgrove, Halton and Stoke Mandeville. Bedgrove were the winners and Wendover came second. Bedgrove will now go to the next round of the BISI School Games and will be competing against schools in other areas.
Dodgeball:- We now have 3 Dodgeball clubs being run by our students in our primary schools for Year 5 girls and boys. Each club is fiercely preparing for a tournament on 5
February, which promises to be a ‘showdown’ of intense competition. Not only will
teams have their coaches/club leaders (Conor Richardson, Mark Draffan, Jordan Day, Ewan Maclean, Nathan Kemp, Jamie Ludlow, Lewis Williams) but John Colet Year 7 Dodgeball players will be chosen to play with the Year 5s to help develop tactics to overcome the opposition, while the CSLA group will be planning and running the tournament. The tournament is sponsored by The British Heart Foundation for whom we hope to raise some money, some of which is donated back to the school for sports equipment.
Gym Festival:- Our Year 1 and 2 Gym Festival took place on 14 November, kindly hosted by Halton School. Two
other schools took part: Aston Clinton and Weston Turville and provided a rare opportunity for parents and teachers to see what goes on in Gymnastic Lessons in Years 1 and 2. The event was well supported as 5 groups gave a display of gym which showcased their work. Every group had approached the programme slightly differently but all the displays were extremely enjoyable to watch and by the smiles on the gymnasts faces they enjoyed participating.
Year 10 Child Development students from John Colet also attended this event, to help with equipment and show parents to their seats. As the event was so close to Children In Need they also baked cakes and ran a cake stall; including donations from parents they managed to raise £53!
MUSIC:- Finally, after losing our original choir leader, we have found a replacement to get our Community Choir up and running. The Aylesbury Music Centre, who provide peripatetic singing/music lessons at John Colet School, are happy to support our venture and offer our ‘in school’ singing teacher to run the sessions. Debbie has experience of running community choirs and is very enthusiastic. We hope to run our first session towards the end of January. The choir is for anyone who wishes to sing in a group, no previous experience required and you don’t even need to be able to sing!
DANCE:- The John Colet Swing Cats gave their debut performance on Wendover High Street at the Christmas Lights celebrations. The routine to ‘King of The Swingers’ was put together in record time after an unforeseen problem with rehearsal time; however, the Year 7 girls were fabulous. Their costumes (animal theme) looked great, especially their tails and their performance was much appreciated by a large crowd!
FUTURE EVENTS:- Early in January we will be continuing with our delivery of CPD for our Primary Schools, aimed at improving the quality of teaching gymnastics: this time for Years 3 and 4 and this will be followed up by another festival later in the term.
On 5 February we will be running the Year 5 Dodgeball Tournament and then we also have more High 5 Netball for Year 6 with our 3
rd and final Family Tournament on Monday 10 February.
In March and April the CSLA, with Mr Atkinson, will be running 2 Multi-Skills Festivals for Years 1 and 2 and again will be expecting 90 children at each event. As part of the Young Leaders training in delivering Multi-Skills they will also be heading out to some of our schools in January to run ‘informal’ sessions.
If you have any queries about any of these events, please do get in touch!
S Whitehouse
AUTUMN TERM 2013
Christmas Holiday: School closes 12.10
p.m. on Friday 20 December.
SPRING TERM 2014
School re-opens morning of Tuesday 7
January.
February 1/2 term: School closes at end of afternoon on Friday 14 February and re-
opens morning of Monday 24 February.
Easter Holiday: School closes at end of
afternoon on Friday 4 April .
SUMMER TERM 2014
School re-opens on morning of Wednesday
23 April.
May 1/2 term: School closes at end of afternoon on Friday 23 May and re-opens
morning of Monday 2 June.
Summer Holiday: School closes at
12.10p.m on Wednesday 23 July.
INSET DAYS: Monday 6 January 2014 and
Tuesday 22 April 2014.
AUTUMN TERM 2014
School re-opens on morning of Thursday 4
September.
October 1/2 term: School closes at end of afternoon on Friday 24 October and re-
opens morning of Monday 3 November.
Christmas Holiday: School closes 12.10
p.m. on Thursday 18 December.
SPRING TERM 2015
School re-opens morning of Tuesday 6
January.
February 1/2 term: School closes at end of afternoon on Friday 13 February and re-
opens morning of Monday 23 February.
Easter Holiday: School closes at end of
afternoon on Friday 27 March.
SUMMER TERM 2015
School re-opens on morning of Tuesday 14
April
May 1/2 term: School closes at end of afternoon on Friday 22 May and re-opens
on morning of Monday 1 June.
Summer Holiday: School closes at 12.10
p.m. on Wednesday 22 July.
INSET DAYS: Tuesday 2 September 2014, Wednesday 3 September 2014, Friday 3 October 2014, Monday 5 January 2015
and Monday 13 April 2015.
Page 6 NEWSLETTER
Answers to Christmas
Riddles:-
(1) Grumpy has
the green one, Doc the red and Sneezy the yellow.
(2) 115
(3) 50p
Page 7 NEWSLETTER
DATE = Monday 27th January from 2:55pm to 4:15pm (4pm if you need to - ask me on
the day). There is a reserve date of Monday 3rd February in case of poor weather.
WHO CAN COMPETE = Anyone, regardless of ability, from Years 7 to 13. In fact,
give cross country a try and you might be better than you think!
ARE THERE PRIZES = Gold, silver and bronze medals for the first three in each age
group, and gold certificates for ALL non-medallists!
HOW TO ENTER = E-mail me at [email protected], with your name and tutor
group, or enter on the day.
MEETING POINT ON THE DAY = Meet at the bench at the entrance to the old
gym, where you can get changed in the changing rooms and get ready.
MORE INFORMATION = Go the VLE menu. Click on “other”, click on “cross country”
and then click on “Cross Country Club”, or ask me (James Davis – 6G)
Page 8 NEWSLETTER
