HILLCREST PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER. Friday 26 th May 2017 SCHOOL CLOSED

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1 HILLCREST PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Friday 26 th May 2017 Dear Parents /Carers, SCHOOL CLOSED Please note that Hillcrest Primary School will be closed for the Whitsun Half-Term Break from Monday 29 th May through to Friday 2 nd June (inclusive). School reopens at the usual time on Monday 5 th June. Have a good break and we hope the weather remains great. Sponsored Run Today, the children took part in the annual fundraiser organised by Year 6 pupils. A great time was had by all with lots of healthy physical activity enjoyed along the way to, hopefully, raising lots of money for some great causes. The funds raised will be split four ways between the Friends of Hillcrest and three charities selected by the Year 6 pupils. These are; Make-A-Wish, Scotty s Little Heroes and Macmillan Cancer Support. Last year s event, organised by what would now be Year 7 pupils, raised over 2,400, enabling the school to provide the four charities with over 600 each. This year s Year 6 pupils are hopeful that, with your support and the support of children from across the school, that last year s figure can be topped and that over 2500 can be raised. This target can only be achieved with your support. Hopefully the children have been raising lots of money in the past fortnight since the first letter went out about the event. Although the event has taken place, there is still plenty of opportunity, especially with half-term on the horizon, to get some last minute sponsors who are not only willing to support the children s efforts but also to support the chosen charities. On returning from the half-term break, we would like to ask that parents return the monies raised along with the sponsorship form in a sealed envelope with your child s name, class and amount raised written on the front. If you wish to pay by cheque, these should be made payable to Hillcrest Primary School. We would like to request that all sponsorship money is handed into school by Friday 16 th June. Many thanks in advance for your support. Year 3 and 4 PE - Tuesday 6 th June Students from Downham Market Academy undertaking a Young Leaders sports award will be visiting Hillcrest on Tuesday 6th June, along with their staff, to deliver a series of PE lessons to pupils in the Year 3 and 4 classes. Could all pupils in Years 3 and 4 please ensure they have their PE kit with them on this day.

2 Sickness We would like to remind parents that children should not be in school for 48 hours after experiencing their last bout of diarrhoea or sickness. We have received some calls from parents convinced that the sickness is down to something they ate rather than a bug. However, without any way of verifying whether that is the cause, we cannot accept any child into school after experiencing sickness. Wise Pay Our new electronic payment system WisePay is proving a huge success and is currently being used by over 95% of Hillcrest parents. All things from school trips, school dinners and school uniform can be purchased through WisePay and, from September 2017, when we return after the Summer we require all parents to be paying for their children s school meals through this system. We are aware of some glitches very early on as we were all, both parents and office staff, getting used to the new system and teething problems were always going to occur. We are exploring additions to the system which will allow the authorisation for all trips from the Autumn Term onwards to be carried out through WisePay. This would mean that as well as paying for the trips via WisePay, you would no longer need to return a reply slip confirming your child s attendance on the trip with this authorisation instead coming through WisePay. New Build Hopefully you had the opportunity to view the plans for the proposed new block of 9 classrooms that was put on display at the school by Norfolk County Council on Thursday. The majority of the children who will be taught within the new block are already on site with six of the classes from September 2017 accommodated within mobile classrooms, therefore alleviating any concerns from those in the community who feel that the school is expanding massively overnight. This is not the case. The new build will however, give us the opportunity to grow by one class per year over the next three years, therefore completing the expansion from a two-form entry to a three-form entry school. The proposed plans will remain in school and therefore anyone who didn t get an opportunity to see them can call the school office and make an appointment with Mr Try to view them. Internet Safety Further to the letter sent home by Mr Reeve-Hayes in recent months which outlined the concerns that exist over a number of popular apps that children are using and ways in which this can be monitored by parents, we would like to also warn people about Musical.ly. This app provides people with the chance to make and share music videos. However, as with other forms of social media, Musical.ly is not intended to be used by anyone below the age of 13 and there are concerns over the explicit nature of images being shared via this app and the ability for adults to hide their age and therefore seek the friendship of children without them being aware of the age or gender of the person they are communicating with.

3 Class Changes Hillcrest has historically been a school that has always kept the children in the same class groups as they move through the school with just the teacher changing each year. However, on occasion a year group comes along where, despite best efforts and a degree of perseverance on the part of the school, it is in the best interests of the children and their education to mix the classes up in order to give them the most positive learning experience we can. We have therefore decided that September 2017 will provide an ideal opportunity to reorganise the way in which the current Reception and Year 3 pupils are grouped. It is often more difficult to initially get the balance right of children in a Reception group as, despite the range of opportunities that are provided for the staff to meet with the children beforehand, it is never until you have spent a significant period with your class that you get a sense of the balance of characters and personalities within it. All parents of children in the current Reception and Year 3 classes should have received a personalised letter today with news of their child s new teacher for September. All other children will move up years with the same children they are currently learning alongside and will therefore not be affected. We have one more teaching appointment to make for September and once this is confirmed we will be able to let all classes know who their new teachers are. However, this announcement won t be made until after half-term. Sporting Success! Well done to the Hillcrest Cricket Team who took part in the cluster event this week. We were fortunate enough to be able to take two squads due to the enthusiasm and high standard they demonstrated in the weekly cricket club. Out of 6 teams that took part in the event, Hillcrest came 4 th and 2 nd narrowly missing out by 9 runs in the final. Due to this success, we have been invited to take part in the next round which will take place on Wednesday 7 th June. Also in that week, the Hillcrest Netball team will be travelling to Kings Lynn to take part in the next round of next High5 Netball event. A massive congratulations to both the Netball and the Football team as both teams have won the cluster leagues this year. We have just received the gleaming trophies which are now proudly standing in our rather full trophy cabinet.

4 Term Dates for 2017/18 Please note that there are two differences to the Norfolk County Council Model Dates for the year and therefore it is important that you refer to Hillcrest s dates below when planning the year ahead. The children will be OFF school on Monday 30 th October 2017 whilst other schools in the area will be open. School will then be OPEN to Hillcrest pupils on Thursday 29 th March 2018 whilst other school in the area will be closed on that day. Autumn Term School reopens to pupils on Wednesday 6 th September 2017 Last day of Autumn 1 st half-term is Thursday 19 th October 2017 Half-Term Holiday: Friday 20 th October to Monday 30 th October 2017 (inclusive) school reopens to pupils on Tuesday 31 st October 2017 Last day of Autumn Term is Tuesday 19 th December 2017 Christmas Holiday: Wednesday 20 th December 2017 to Wednesday 3 rd January 2018 (inclusive) school reopens to pupils on Thursday 4 th January 2018 Spring Term Last day of Spring 1 st half-term is Friday 9 th February 2018 Half-Term Holiday: Monday 12 th February to Friday 16 th February 2018 (inclusive) school reopens to pupils on Monday 19 th February 2018 Last day of Spring Term is Thursday 29 th March 2018 Easter Holiday: Good Friday 30 th March to Friday 13 th April 2018 (inclusive) school reopens to pupils on Monday 16 th April 2018 Summer Term May Day Bank Holiday: Monday 7 th May 2018 Last day of Summer 1 st half-term is Friday 25 th May 2018 Half-Term Holiday: Monday 28 th May to Friday 1st June 2018 (inclusive) school reopens to pupils on Monday 4 th June 2018 Last day of Summer Term is Tuesday 24 th July 2018

5 PE with Parents PE with Parents will soon be upon us after half-term. As with all of the with Parents sessions, we would ask that those parents who join us are ready and prepared to take part in the physical activity which would naturally mean wearing clothing and footwear that is both appropriate and comfortable for outdoor fun and games. Just to remind all parents, the dates for the sessions are as follows Tuesday 13 th June, 1.30pm Tuesday 13 th June, 2.30pm Tuesday 20 th June, 11.15am Tuesday 20 th June, 1.30pm Tuesday 20 th June, 2.30pm Wednesday 21 st June, 11.15am Thursday 22 nd June, 11.15am Friday 23 rd June, 11.15am Tuesday 27 th June, 11.15am Tuesday 27 th June, 1.30pm Tuesday 27 th June, 2.30pm Thursday 29 th June, 2pm Tuesday 4 th July, 1.30pm Tuesday 4 th July, 2.30pm Tuesday 11 th July, 11am Tuesday 11 th July, 1.30pm Tuesday 11 th July, 2.30pm Mr Cooper s Retirement Miss Hancox class Miss Nelson s class Mrs Harris class Mrs William s class Miss King s class Mr Brown s class Mrs Freeman s class Mr Chalkley s class Mr Steel s class Mrs Wakely s class Mrs Mather s class Miss Shaw s class Mr Martin s class Mrs Cawley s class Mrs Fysh s class Mrs Tempestini s class Mrs Spademan s class After 15 years making sure that the school building and grounds are in the best possible condition that they can be, Mr Cooper, our much-loved Site Manager, is retiring over the Summer. The huge hole that Mr Cooper will leave needs to be filled and towards the end of this newsletter you will find an advert containing details of how you can apply for the position. Therefore, if you know of anyone who may suit the Site Manager position, then please pass the information on to them. If any parents would wish to contribute to a retirement gift for Mr Cooper, then please drop by the school office. School General Election At the same time as adults across the country are entering the polling booths to cast their cross against their chosen candidate, the pupils at Hillcrest will also be getting an opportunity to cast a vote of their own. We will be holding a School General Election to mirror the real one that will be taking place. However, rather than voting for the traditional parties that will be taking part in the real thing, the children will get to choose from a selection of party names chosen by Year 5 pupils.

6 The Year 5 pupils, representing six different parties of their own, will create their own manifesto pledges that will be presented to the children across the school before they then have to make their decision as to which party to cast their vote for on June 8 th. Pupils across Key Stage 2 will get to hear the parties plea for their support in a special assembly on Monday 5 th June whilst pupils in Early Years and Key Stage 1 will listen to the same pitch on Tuesday 6 th June. This gives us a great opportunity to discuss democracy with the children and allows us to deliver our duty to teach British Values to the children in a practical and topical way. Hillcrest Primary School is seeking a Site Manager from Se THE NEXT NEWSLETTER WILL BE OUT ON FRIDAY 30 th JUNE