Bishop Ellis Catholic Primary School

Just a few more weeks until the end of term and although we are all really busy, it is such a wonderful time of year. The Four Plus children entertained their carers and relatives on Tuesday in magnificent style with their excellent nativity play; they really were amazing showing off their wonderful singing and acting abilities.

The Y6 chaplaincy team has been organising and leading spiritual workshops in the library at lunchtimes. The library has been crowded with children writing prayers, lighting candles (under my supervision!) and singing Christmas carols. It has been a most uplifting experience.

Well done to the choir who sang beautifully in partnership with English Martyrs at the annual Menphys concert at De Monfort Hall last Friday, which was a magnificent success. They have been very dedicated giving up a number of their lunchtimes to learn all the songs with Miss Boynton and Mrs Sapsford.

Deputy Head interviews took place just over a week ago and I am delighted to say Mrs Melbourne has been successful and will take up the post permanently in September 2012, following her maternity leave. As I have already mentioned, Mrs Watson, who has been covering Mrs Fowkes maternity leave, will be covering Mrs. Melbourne’s maternity leave which begins towards the end of January. Mrs Sapsford is increasing her hours to cover the deputy head role and Mrs Nimblette will be leading the Year 5/6. A big thank you to both staff members for stepping up to the helm. We look forward to Mrs Fowkes return from maternity leave who will join Mrs Filsell’s and Mrs Nimblette’s classes.

FOBE

The Christmas Fair was a great success with its wonderful festive atmosphere. Great thanks need to go to the FOBE for their super organisation and creation of such a friendly welcoming environment. Santa and his elf were pleased with the warmer weather although I believe it caused problems for Rudolph. The children, who ran stalls, were real superstars; they organised everything themselves with very little support and kept everyone really well entertained throughout the whole event. Thank you to all attended and helped to raise £1700.

Opportunities

The last liturgy of term is our Christingle service, on Wednesday 21^st December at 1:30. Anyone who would like to join us is most welcome. It lasts about 20 minutes. On this day children are allowed to wear home clothes as they will have bring and share Christmas parties later in the afternoon. Letters will go out nearer the time with requests for party food.

A note from the school council about:

On Monday 28 November until Friday 2 December we had the Big Switch Off week.

To prepare for this we checked the electricity meters at the beginning and end of the week before switch off so we could compare the readings. The School Council made a video showing what was being done for the preparation and also during the event and this was shown to the whole school in the hall. The video showed that lights and electrical appliances should be switched off when not in use and that doors and windows should be kept closed at all times. Everyone was told that the Council would be going round checking the classrooms throughout the week to see that this was being done. Posters were also made to remind everyone what they should be doing.

At the start of the week some classrooms were forgetting to switch things off but as the week progressed, things improved greatly and a good job was done by all. The School Council are hoping this will continue not just at school but also at home. Well done everybody at Bishop Ellis from Eryn Ladkin, Harriet Smith, Jackson Parkin and all the School Council.

Health & Safety Issues

The health and safety of the children is always paramount in our minds and we go to great lengths to ensure we have good working procedures. Part of being able to ensure success in this area relies on excellent support the school gets from parents.

Children who wear earrings need to remove them for PE lessons as there is potential for a nasty injury. If your child wears earrings, please ensure they are able to remove them independently or take them out before they come to school. Where the earrings cannot be taken out for medical reasons, children may have them taped up before they come to school. Staff members are advised by the local authority NOT to remove or insert earrings or tape them up.

At the beginning and end of school it is important that children are not playing with balls. This is to protect younger children in the playgroup, particularly under fives. Accidents happen and recently a ball hit a baby in a buggy in the face, causing a lot of distress.

In the past, we have also had accidents when children have being playing on the adventure playground and tyre park. Children have plenty of opportunity during the school day to enjoy these play areas when they are properly supervised.

Parking in the lay-by and the M & S service road is illegal and extremely dangerous to children, the majority of whom lack awareness of the dangers and an accident is waiting to happen.

A few children are being dropped off and left unsupervised well before 8:45 when the teacher comes on duty. This means that some children are totally unsupervised and are consequently in a vulnerable position. Please contact the 5 Star club or make an arrangement with another parent if you have difficulties in this area.