July 2012 School Newsletter

Clarence Road,Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B74 4LD Telephone: 0121 308 5392 Fax: 0121 308 5061

Wednesday 4th July 2012 HAPPY SUMMER HOLIDAYS We would like to wish our children and parents a very happy summer holiday. We look forward to seeing you all again in September

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

Wed 4th July

Fri 6th July

Sun 8th July Mon 9th July Tue 10th July Wed 11th July Thurs 12th July Fri 13th July Tue 17th July Wed 18th July Fri 20th July

Mon 3rd Sept

Year 6 induction day at secondary schools Activity Afternoon for new Reception Transition Parents Meeting for R/2/6 (Fiona) KS1 Hall Activity Afternoon for new Reception Reports go out to Parents Mufti Day PTFA Summer Fair (please come in your wellingtons and anoraks) Leavers Assembly – am and pm for children KS1 and KS2 “Drop In” Parent Consultations 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm PTFA Meeting – 7.30 pm Leavers Assembly – 9.00 am – KS1 hall Sports Day Leavers Assembly – 7.00 pm – KS1 hall Activity morning with Lunch for New Reception Awards/Attendance Ceremonies – 9.00 am KS2 – 2.30 pm KS1 Year 6 Graduation Ceremony – 7.00 pm – KS1 hall “Year 6 Leavers” Lunch PARTY AFTERNOON BREAK UP FOR SUMMER HOLIDAY PUPILS RETURN TO SCHOOL

LOST PROPERTY On the last Friday of term all lost property will be displayed outside on the parents’ seating area. If you know that your child has mislaid an item of clothing could I kindly ask you to come along and look through.

Unfortunately it is impossible for us to keep lost property over the holiday and any remaining items will be disposed of.

Congratulations to Mrs Wilmore who gave birth last week to a beautiful little girl.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to three new members of teaching staff: Miss Amie Hyde Miss Leanne Rowe Miss Lorna Shirley

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to: Mr Pattinson who is joining the staff at Mere Green Combined School Mr Cross who will be teaching in Cairo next year We wish them all well for the future and thank them for their hard work and dedication during the time they spent at Hill West.

Mrs Sharp will be changing role next year and will no longer be a Class Teacher but we are thrilled that she will be working part time as our Modern Foreign Language Teacher.

Summer Choir Workshops Richard Jeffries and Helen Willetts will be running summer school singing workshops during the holidays open to children, parents and grandparents.

Reception and Year 1- 3rd August 10.00am to 1.00pm Year 2 and 3 - 7th to 9th August 10.00am to 3.00pm Year 4, 5, 6 - 23rd to 27th July 10.00am to 3.00pm Flyers have been sent home but please contact Mr Jeffries if you would like to know more on 07736 318 340

MUFTI DAY - FRIDAY 6th JULY Children can wear their own clothes to school on Friday 6th July in exchange for the following: KS1: Bottles (wine, bubble bath, soft drinks) KS2: Sweets and chocolates All items will be used as prizes for the Tombola for our upcoming Summer Fayre on Sunday 8th July.

Thank you in advance for your support!

WOODPECKERS Places in Woodpeckers for the new school year are very limited and if you think you may need to use the club you MUST go into Woodpeckers and see Mrs Curtis as soon as possible so they can confirm your places. We are already fully booked for some sessions as our capacity is limited to 35 children. We would also like to draw your attention to the fee increase for Woodpeckers and Wagtails which is as follows: Wagtails Woodpeckers 7:30am—8:45am £3.00 7:30m - 8:45am £3.00 3:20pm -4:30pm £3.00 3:30pm - 4:30pm £3.00 3:20pm -6:00pm £6.00 3:30pm - 6:00pm £6.00 Registration fees remain the same. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Curtis (Woodpeckers) or Miss Claire Jones (Wagtails.)

FOUR OAKS CLUSTER CHOIR The Four Oaks Cluster Choir is a real success both locally and nationally. They are through to the finals of Choir of the Year and will sing at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in October. They have recently visited all the school in the Cluster and we were amazed by the quality and talent of the performance. If your child is interested in joining the choir please contact Mr Jeffries on 07736 318 340 who will advise you how to join.

Mr Jeffries is recruiting more children in September and auditions will take place at Four Oaks Primary School.

We would also like to say a really big thank you to those children who performed in the Four Oaks Cluster Choir concert on Friday 22nd June. Your performance was absolutely fantastic!

FOUR OAKS COMMUNITY FAIR “A Local Event for Local People” At Arthur Terry School, Kittoe Road, Sutton Coldfield, B74 4RZ Saturday 22nd September 2012 10.00am – 1.00pm This is an opportunity for local residents to find out what is going on in the community:Childcare, Sports clubs, Charities, Volunteering opportunities, Local schools, Local trades people and businesses….and much more….!

We look forward to seeing you there!

If you would like a stall at this event please contact Amanda Lansdown alansdown@arthurterry.bham.sch.uk Tel: 0121 323 1121

KS1 AND 2 SCHOOL AWARDS

This year we will be celebrating the success of our children throughout the year with trophies and certificates as usual. We will be awarding seven trophies per year group for Literacy Achievement Numeracy Achievement 100% Effort Kindness Creativity Sporting Achievement Musical Achievement If your child is due to receive a reward you will be invited to attend via a personal letter. We will also be awarding 100% attendance certificates

BEHAVIOUR FOCUS: EXCLUSION

This week in the Parent Council meeting Miss Marsh outlinde the policiy and procedures regarding Discipline in school and Exclusion procedures. The Government has repeatedly talked about increasing the powers given to teachers to deal with discipline issues. Schools are now however, being asked to carry out a wide-range of assessments of pupils, before employing the ultimate sanction: Exlcusion.

Evaluations of pupils will consider whether the pupil has possible undiagnosed special Educational Needs, Mental Health problems or issues at home, before school’s impose a sanction of exclusion. All these avenues are explored before the school make the final decision to exclude a pupil and ensure that all agencies work together in order to support pupils and their families. At Hill West the decision to exclude a pupil, is never taken lightly and a thorough investigation will take place before reaching that conclusion and ourn policy is to support families throughout this process, in order to ensure that a pupil is reintergrated back into the classroom successfully. We are fortunate that fixed term exclusions are minimal at Hill West and always the last resort.

GRADUATION Our Year 6 Graduation Ceremony is taking place this year on Tuesday 17th July at 7.00 pm in the KS1 hall. We would like to congratulate our Year 6 pupils and wish them every success in the future. We look forward to welcoming you on the night - drinks and nibbles will be available immediately after the ceremony.

Please can we request that you advise the school office of any change to your personal details such as a new address or change of mobile telephone number.

If your email address changes please let us know so we can update Parentmail.

A form is available from the Reception area display stand.

PTFA Summer Fair Don’t forget the Summer Fair on Sunday 8th July from 11.00am to 2.30pm.

Fancy dress parade at 1..00am with Olympic theme—prizes for the best two costumes from KS1 and 2. The parade will be led by Leroy Henry who is an Olympic torch bearer!

DINNER AND MILK MONEY FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THE AUTUMN TERM Dinner Money for the first half of the Autumn Term will be £70 up to 19th October. You will receive a note of any credits owed to you before the end of this half term.

Milk money for KS1 children will be £4.90 up to 19th October. Please complete and return the request form before the end of term.

MEET YOUR NEW TEACHER! The children will get the opportunity to spend some time in their new classrooms with their new teacher on Monday 16th July. We know they will look forward to this.

INCLUSION FOCUS: The end of the school year is fast approaching and we are anxious that all children have a smooth transition to their next class or key stage. With this in mind and in order to fully support your child it is important that you let us have as much information as possible about any special needs, whether that be a learning, social communication need or a medical issue.

We also want to ensure we give you, as parents, any support you need. This may be signposting you to groups outside school that can help with family issues or just the opportunity to have an informal chat about a concern.

Please help us to support you and your child.

There are lots of holiday play schemes available in the Four Oaks area.

www.fouroakscluster.org www.hillwestevents.org

CONGRATULATIONS Well done to our Athletes who took part in the Cluster Sports Day on Friday.

Hill West won 3 trophies!

A marvellous effort from all involved.

PARTY AFTERNOON On the last day of school, Friday 20th July, children should wear their party clothes to school.

They should not, however, bring any toys or games etc from home.

We will end the year with celebratory games and activities.

‘DROP IN’ PARENT’S EVENING Monday 9th July If you have any concerns or queries about your child and their progress in school, then please feel free to attend our KS1 and KS2 ‘drop in’ parent’s evening session on Monday 9th July from 5:00pm - 7:00pm.

PLEASE REMEMBER REPORTS HAVE CHANGED Once again this year you will access your child’s report on-line.

Letters will be issued to you via your child on Wednesday 4th July and these will contain your secure password enabling access to the report. This letter is extremely important as without it you will not be able to log on to the secure area and view the report. Although letters are being issued on Wednesday 4th July reports will not be available to view until 12pm on Friday 6th July.

Your on-line reports will also include your child’s class and teacher for September 2012. If your child is away on the day your password letter will be posted.

If you do not have access to the internet then you are welcome to come into school on the afternoon of Monday 9th July between 3:00pm 4:00pm to collect a copy of your child’s report from the KS2 building entrance

PARKING Thank you to those considerate parents who park carefully when dropping or collecting their from school.

Unfortunately we receive regular complaints from our neighbours regarding parents who park their cars over driveways and from the Crossing Warden about cars stopping on the zig zags of the school clearway.

Please can you park responsibly and respect the road markings.

Leave of Absence in Term Time This week we have received an anonymous letter into school from a group of parents.

The letter advised us that although we have denied a request for leave of absence for a particluar child the parent still clearly intends to take the child out of school and has been making this public knowledge. Although this seems unfair on those families who abide by school policy and government legislation I must stress that the only person that parent is disadvantaging is her own child. By sending your children to school everyday you are aknowledging that educaiton and learning is an important factor in future success. It is such a shame that not all parents take their responsibility as seriously.

SPORTS DAY

YEAR SIX LEAVERS’ PRODUCTION Our Year 6 Leavers’ Production this year will be held at 9.30 am on Wednesday 11th July and 7.00 pm on Thursday 12th July.

Further details/ticket information will follow shortly.

Owing to very wet grounds our Sports Day has been rescheduled for Thursday 12th July for all of our pupils (weather permitting) The last race of the day will be an obstacle race especially for our Parents. We hope you can join us and look forward to seeing you!

KS2 - 9.30 am KS1 - 1.15 pm

You really are in for a treat!

Can you please bring in any unwanted PE clothing or pumps for use as spare kits in school.

Many thanks.

RETIRING COLLECTION BOXES All proceeds collected following events held at Hill West this summer will be donated to Free the Children who we have been supporting this year.

Please bring any spare change along to parent events to help us raise as much as possible.

TRANSITION PARENTS’ MEETING This year, we are holding our annual transition evening for the parents of children in our current Reception, Year 2 and Year 6 on Wednesday 4th July and parents will be invited to attend at the following times: 5.30 - 6.00 Reception Parents 6.30 - 7.00 Year 2 Parents 7.30 - 8.00 Year 6 Parents We hope to see as many of you as possible

I remember my very first day at Hill West. Me and Samuel came into Swifts at the same time so everyone thought we were brother and sister!

I came in year 4 and was in Squirrels. On my first day I went up in Birthday Assembly and showed some random rocks which weren't interesting!

Year 1 was the first year I started at this school. I remember the time we went to the theatre and the big giant scared the life out of me! It would never scare me now!

In year 1 we were making patterns on clay. They were drying at the other side of the classroom. When Emily said that they weren’t dry yet I insisted that they were, picking up hers and bending it to show her how sturdy it was. Unfortunately, it broke in two and she immediately started crying...oops!

My favourite memory was my first football match against Four Oaks—I scored a goal!

My favourite memory was when Mrs Willmore announced that she was pregnant—everyone got so excited and started `jumping around!

A clear memory of mine was when I called Mr Horobin “Mummy” in year 3...I don't know what got into me!

The best thing about

It’s been an extremely busy term for year 6—we can’t quite believe we only have a few weeks left at Hill West!

Since completing our SATs tests we have been working furiously on our Leavers’ Production and making the most of our last weeks at our school.

Recently we spent some time reflecting on our funniest and fondest memories….

I really enjoyed it when I was Miss Head for Teacher Takeover day (I got to boss Mitchel around!)

Hill West is making new friends throughout the years and working as a team in lessons.

I’ll never forget when Miss Clarke fell in a puddle of cow poo at Bockleton!

At Drayton Manor we went on Stormforce 10.

I bought a poncho and just before the big drop everybody started to make holes in it! I got DRENCHED!

From Mrs Williams in Reception to Mrs Cook in year 6, my Hill West experience has been great. I remember at Bockleton everybody was really supportive on the zipwire and climbing wall. This class is always there for each other so it will be sad to leave.