May Newsletter

Newsletter

May 2016 Issue 24

Dear Parents and Carers, As always it has been an incredibly busy half term. In addition to the wonderful activities detailed in this newsletter, we have also had our first official GCSE exams for Year 11 and SATs tests for Year 6. Congratulations to all our students who have conducted themselves impeccably during this period.

With just one half term to go in Dorset House I am delighted to report that work at the new site in Hurn is continuing at an incredible pace. If you have driven past recently you will have seen that there is a huge amount of scaffolding around the buildings and work is now progressing on the exterior as well as the interior of the buildings. There are over a hundred tradesman on site each day all working flat out and the progress is incredible. All classroom walls are now up and all the plumbing, air conditioning and power is now being installed. Now that the walls are in I can see the size of the classrooms and I have to say that I was shocked (in a good way) at the impressive space within the classrooms which are much bigger than in most schools.

We will continue to post progress photos on a regular basis on the school website: http://www.parkfieldschool.org/about-us/Site_Info Can I please remind all parents that the transport provider, Cavendish Liner, need an indication of numbers using the service. If you haven’t yet returned the letter about whether or not you wish to use the bus service please do as soon as possible. Hard copies are available in the school reception area. Once they have the details payment plans can be distributed allowing you to pay monthly by direct debit.

Finally, I would like to wish the best of luck to students from Year 7, 8 and 9 and of course the staff who will be visiting the south of France on a ten day PGL adventure activity trip from the 4th of June. Having led this trip many years ago I know they will have a fantastic time.

20 –22 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth BH1 3NL (01202) 208370 office@parkfield.bournemouth.sch.uk www.parkfieldschool.org

Exam Breakfasts Thank you to our wonderful PFA for hosting our Year 6 SAT’s and Year 11 GCSE breakfasts- they have been much appreciated!

Wishing you all a restful half term.

Principal ST CLAIRE’S AFTER SCHOOL & HOLIDAY CLUBS We are pleased to inform you that St Claire’s After School & Holiday Clubs will continue to work in partnership with Parkfield School following our move to Hurn, in September.

St Claire’s are situated in Bournemouth and East Dorset; offering wrap-around care for children aged 4-12 years old. If you would like to find out more about this provision, please contact them directly: Tel: 01202 429880 / 07825 877456 email: info@stclaires.co.uk Web Site: www.stclaires.co.uk

It’s great to be able to support our students and embed these new traditions in to the life of Parkfield School.

Year 2 Recorder Lessons This is a new percussion ensemble group for some students in Years 3 & 4, who rehearse on Fridays during the school day. If you are a parent of one of the children involved, please keep the date of Friday 1st July 10:30am free for our concert which will be held in school, with some members of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra joining in too.

If your child is not involved this time, there will be further music ensemble opportunities for beginners and more experienced players next term at our new site.

This will now begin the Monday after the summer half term (6th June), for all Year 2 children during the school day, on a weekly basis until the last Monday of term (18th July).

The children will participate in a programme of seven half hour sessions, and further learning when they are in Year 3.

With the move to the new site, we will now be able to start offering some musical instrument tuition in school from November, depending on demand. Some instruments will be showcased to the children and there will be further information about this next half term.

Key Stage 2 students visited Poole Lighthouse for a free concert by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on the afternoon of Wednesday May 18th.

They learned songs and body percussion, which complemented the performance of "The Elements", which we will also be performing on the playground at the end of the school day on July the 8th!

Junior Choir This continues every Wednesday on floor 6 from after school until 4:30pm. We have members from Yr 3 - 7 and there will be two performances by the choir in the second half of the summer term.

Film Club Film club continues to be well attended and we have had the chance to look into some film history, watching some of the earliest films ever released such as ‘L’Arrivée d’un train à la Ciotat’ by the Lumière brothers and ‘Un voyage à la Lune’ by Georges Meliés.

We have also enjoyed a range of modern classics and hits such as ‘102 Dalmations,’ ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ and ‘Maleficent.’ We have investigated the benefits of animation and what can be achieved when we are not constrained by reality as well as what can be achieved in live action cinema through CGI. In the near future we will be looking at the differences between live action and animated versions of the same movie, as well as ‘the original Vs the remake’ - What this space!

Making Teddy Bears The children in Teddy Bear Club have spent the last few weeks learning about the basics of cutting out a pattern and using fur fabric.

Work has now started on sewing and the new challenge of keeping the stitches small so the stuffing doesn’t all fall out! Our next challenge will be the joints and learning how to make our ted dies into traditional teddies with movable arms and legs.

Cool Cooking Club!

We have been having a lot of messy fun in Cool Cooking. Most importantly, we have tried and tasted a range of new fruits and vegetables, and even learnt that we like new foods; although some found the rocket leaves particularly hot!

The cous cous was a particular favourite, and the children loved how quick and easy it was to make! We have learnt new cooking techniques, such as how to chop and cut tricky fruits and vegetables.

As we go, we have written down these recipes in a recipe book so that we can make these at home too.

We have tried to balance our recipes so the children have made both healthy food and sweet treats! These include Greek salad, caramel cheesecake, tropical Eton mess, cous cous and bread rolls. There will be many more exciting recipes to follow!

Staff Football Our staff team are just about to finish the league with 2 games left, we currently sit 3rd in the league.

The squad hope to continue into the next season over the summer months and hope to improve on their position from this campaign.

Mr Thurstan, Mr Williamson, Mr Bacon, Mr Nesbitt, Mr Claxton, Mr Journeaux & Mr Branca have all been part of the squad.

Dates for your Diary

“Proms on the Playground”

30th May - 3rd June

Half Term

4th - 12th June

Secondary France PGL Trip

WC 6th June

KS2 Science Week

8th & 9th June

Yr 3 Leeson House Residential Trip

10th & 11th June

Yr 6 Sleepover Event

10th June

Yr 3 (Oak) Habitat Walk

10th June

Yr 4 ‘Food to Plate’ Trip

14th June

Yr 2 Boscombe Gardens Walk

15th June

Yr 10 Oceanarium Art Trip

16th June

Yr 8 Holdenhurst Village Trip

17th June

Yr 10 Lyndhurst Trip

WC 20th June

National School Sports Week

Friday 24th June

Secondary & KS2 - Sports Day @ Kings Park

Monday 20th June

Reception & Key stage 1 - Sports day @ Kings Park

27th June

Yr 3 (Ash) Habitat Walk

28th June

Yr 11 Prom Night

All of the children in Primary (Reception to Year 6), as well as the Junior Choir, Year 2 Recorders, and Folk Music Ensemble, will be performing songs and music to parents on the afternoon of Friday 8th July in the playground from 1:30pm until the usual pick up time of 2:20pm.

It would be great to see as many of you there as possible to celebrate our musical successes!

University Visit Earlier this term, our Year 8 and 10 students received a visitor from the University of Bournemouth; who is currently studying Business Administration.

She discussed the wide variety of courses on offer to students today from Golf Management to Forensic Sciences!

In addition, she talked about how, despite some negative publicity, a degree is still something which is on offer to all students who wish to follow this educational pathway.

To this end she discussed the financial implications of continuing your studies and how to manage your finances.

It was a very successful visit, which gave our students much food for thought with regards to their future choices!

Have you ever thought of car sharing?

Parkfield School is promoting a car sharing app – FAXI     

Reduce congestion around school at drop off and pick up times Reduce the amount of time spent taking your children to and from school Reduce the cost of taking your children to school Meet other parents living locally with children at the same school Reduce pollution

Two of the main concerns for our parents is safety and congestion at drop off and pick up times. Try to help reduce the number of cars by using FAXI and joining a car sharing scheme. It doesn’t cost anything and is easy to use. Please have a look at their website: https://faxi.co.uk Watch this information video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwt-WWbeIWg

Mr Ben Case - Reporting back from the Town Sports Event! “We did not have any Golds or Silvers, but several students reached the finals for their track events. We also had successes in field events and there were a lot of PB's set. If a student came 3rd in an event, this means they came 3rd out of all the students, in all the schools in Bournemouth. Some will have also qualified for county trials!

Even more pleasing, was to hear that our students were undoubtedly among the best behaved at the event; they were a credit to our school. A huge thank you to Matt and Leanne for their efforts on the day. I particularly like the interview with Kieran B.�

This is roving reporter Mr Ben Case, signing off until next time.

Kwik Cricket Skills Festival

Tri Golf Success!

We took two enthusiastic teams of students to compete in this years Tri-Golf Tournament in early May. It was an enjoyable day for all involved, with even the sun making a welcome appearance!

All students were excellent representatives for Parkfield School. Students were natural golfers and competed in an atmosphere full of encouragement and support for each other.

So much so that one Parkfield team won the 'Spirit of the Games' award and has been invited to compete at the Dorset School Finals at Bryanston School in the summer term.

GO PARKFIELD!

Earlier this term, 16 Year 4 student had a very enjoyable day at the Bourne Academy, participating in the Kwik Cricket Skills Festival.

The day was split into Skills sessions; in the morning, students worked on their batting, bowling & fielding skills. The afternoon was then spent playing games against other schools, which was most enjoyable, especially as we won our match! Well done to all the squad who were a real credit to Parkfield School.

Teams were: Sophie M, Lucia M, Sophia B, Freya W, Tia M, Grace T, Troy F, Oliver T, Archie B, Joseph O, Joseph L Rezqy M, Rowan G, Matthew E, Piotr N & Guy P.

Our combined Year 5/6 Tag Rugby team went to Bournemouth Collegiate School to compete in a Tag Rugby competition. There were 6 schools competing and all schools played each other.

Despite finishing 6th on the day, the team only lost 7 - 4 in tries to the team that won overall; which shows how close the competition actually was.

The team really enjoyed themselves and learnt a lot from the day that will only help them for future tournaments. Well done to everyone who played.

Savanah T, Wisseme M, Ollie A, Daniel H, Sammy H & Alfie B, Reece F, Beau R, Oliver H