Issue: 14 - 9th December 2016

Happy, Healthy, High Achievers

admin@greatleighs.essex.sch.uk

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Dear parents

Christmas is well and truly upon us! Thank you to all parents,

grandparents and visitors who came to our two Christmas

productions – Little Blue Star (Foundation Stage) and Lights,

Camel, Action (KS1). We were very proud of all the children;

they sang with enthusiasm, danced and entertained us as

well as telling the story of Christmas. We look forward to the

KS2 production of Once Upon a Christmas Time next week.

Christingle

“Last Sunday many children from Great Leighs went to St

John’s Church, Little Leighs to take part in the Christingle

service. We took part by singing, playing hand chimes,

acting, reading and saying some prayers. During the service

we all made our own Christingle and Louie became a big

Christingle. We enjoyed toasting the marshmallows on the

Christingle and eating the sweets. It gave us a chance to

think about the children who are helped by the Children’s

Society and the Christmas message.” By Archie and Phoebe

“My favourite part was when I was dancing on stage to Disco star; I was one of the Star’s of Bethlehem’s backing dancers. It was funny when Poppy got to dance in her camel costume because she was dancing very weird! The donkey played by Edward was funny as he did a funny voice every time he gave a score of ten or seven. I really liked it when the Nazareth people did their dance too.” By Freya

“The whole Rabbit class, Robins, Otters and Squirrels all went to the Post Office to post our letters to Santa. It was fun my mum went.” “On Friday 9th December 2016 we went to the Post Office to post our letters it was really fun walking and posting the letter. My partner was cute.” “I walked to the Post Office it was fun because my mum came and my annoying sister.” By Maisie, Freya and Cameron

“Letters for Santa we took to the post box. We walked all the way to where the shop is. Lots of Mums came too. I am small but just reached to put my letter in. It was very exciting and fun. We made people smile when they saw us.” By Tilly (Squirrel Class)

Yesterday we had a visit in assembly from Excellent Eve from Mad Science. Details regarding the after school club

will be sent home after Christmas should your child be interested in joining.

Girls Football Match against Moulsham

“We were very excited to be playing our first match against Moulsham last Friday. Within the first ten minutes Mousham

had scored. We were very good at defending and managed to get the ball away from Moulsham. We were really good with

our communication and team work and we were very confident. I managed to score during the first half to equalize. The

first half lasted half an hour and the second only 15 minutes as it was getting dark. Unfortunately, we did not score in the

second half, neither did Moulsham so the game ended with one goal each. “ By Phoebe

Boys ‘B’ team football match against Moulsham.

“We were really excited for our first ‘B’ team football

match. In the first half Moulsham played really well, and

although we were very good at defending, in the first

five minutes Moulsham pulled off a goal. They managed

to score 5 goals in the first half – winning this half of the

game. In the second half we had more enthusiasm and

confidence and Moulsham were tired! Coby managed to

score first, Mousham then scored their sixth goal just

before Henry scored our second goal. Although we lost 6

goals to 2 overall, we won the second half! It was a

great experience.” By Archie

Staff News

As many of you are aware, Mrs Savage will be leaving us at the end of this term. We have much to thank Mrs Savage for,

particularly in developing the Foundation Stage over the last couple of years, for organising our Breakfast Club, for enter-

taining us with her variety of costumes and for giving us a couple of years of chickens! We wish Mrs Savage every success as

she pursues her teaching career.

We were very pleased that, following an advertisement for a member of staff, we were able to attract several excellent can-

didates for our Squirrel Class, and are delighted to announce that Miss Eleanor Pond will be starting with us in January. Miss

Pond will be visiting Squirrel Class for a day next week so that the children have an opportunity to meet their new teacher.

Carol Assembly Tuesday 20th December

Parents are welcome to join us at our Carol Assembly when we shall be singing a variety of Christ-

mas carols and hearing readings of the Christmas story.

Fitness Circuit Winners

On Wednesday all the pupil in KS1 and KS2

participated in a Fitness Circuit Competition.

Congratulations to the following winners:

Year 1 - Emmie and Luke

Year 2 - Rosie and Theo

Year 3 - Alessia and Jimmy

Year 4 - Amelia, Macy and Tommy

Year 5 - Gaby and Coby

Year 6 - Poppy and Harley

DVD’s of the FS and KS1

Christmas Productions will

be available to purchase

from the school office at

£5.00 each from Monday.

This Week’s

Awards

Golden

Award

Reading

Star

Handwriting &

Presentation

Squirrel Oliver E Oliver O Fin

Otter Millie Abbie Jaden

Robin Edward Lillie Erin

Rabbit William Joseph Paige

Badger Jimmy Taylor Noah

Hedgehog Thomas William Jess D

Mole Josh Finley Jamie

Owl Harry Eliana Tabitha

Macy, Libbie

and Evie prac-

ticing “Silent

Night” on their

Ukulele’s

Calling all happy eaters and budding garden designers!

School dinners/packed lunch competition

We have entered the following competition:

‘Growing Communities’ is a project managed by the Rural Community Council of Essex (RCCE) and we are inviting all schools in Essex to take part in designing a healthy kitchen garden plot and also create a recipe for a healthy packed lunch using the produce.

We are asking the children to think about the vegetables, fruit and herbs that could easily be grown at their school or at home and when harvested, could be used to make the perfect healthy packed lunch. The 'dish' can be sweet or savoury but must include the produce from the plot. You can also use additional ingredients for example: pasta, rice, bread, couscous, meat, fish or chicken and not forgetting some seasoning!

We want to hear some exciting and new ideas for lunches, try putting a twist on the usual packed lunch and create an explosion for the taste buds!

We also want to grow produce to supply our own kitchen so if you have some sizzling ideas for growing vegetables and fruit for our dinners or tasty ideas for lunch boxes please spend some time over the holidays planning our veggie plots and thinking up some yummy menus. At present we have two 2m x 1m raised beds for veggies and another one with some raspberries canes and strawberry plants – but we can adapt that.

The Gardening club will be spending the dark Thursday evenings in January sifting through your ideas and putting together our entry. By registering for the competition, we have already earned a Wyevale voucher and the prizes include equipment and vouchers.

There will be a small prize for the best school entry. Mrs Dyke

Reading at Home – give your child an excellent Christmas present – reading time together! Reading is a vital life skill and one that is valued highly at Great Leighs School. Hearing your child read at home is an important way to help develop reading skills, in partnership with the school. It is proven that children who read regularly at home make better progress in reading and, for this reason, we expect children to read at home, to an adult, on a regular basis, preferably daily. It is important when hearing your child read that, as well as focusing on fluency, time is spent developing their abil-ity to use inference and deduction. This is particularly important when your child’s reading is fluent, so please do not assume you no longer need to support them. Higher order reading skills are developed at this stage and your child will benefit a discussion of the more complex aspects of the text. We really appreciate the invaluable support given by many of our parents.

Barnardos Young Supporters Concert

http://www.hiskett.net/Events/Barnardos-young-supporters-con

This is the site to purchase photos from the Royal Albert Hall Concert that the Choir attended on 28th November.

Look what's happening at Stay ‘n’

Play special event nights up until

Christmas. Sessions cost £9

from 3.10 - 6.00 pm. Places are

limited, so please book in advance

to avoid disappointment!

Christmas Jumper Day – 16th December + Hats

All children are invited to wear their Christmas jumper or

Christmas outfit on Friday 16th December – which is also

our Christmas Lunch day. There is no charge for this.

All children are invited to design a Christmas hat and wear

it for their Christmas lunch. These hats will be judged dur-

ing lunch and a winner from each class found.

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“On Tuesday morning we did some sewing. We had to choose a robin, rein-

deer, tree or a penguin. When we cut out the template we sewed them to-

gether. We got some stuffing to look like a pillow. When we finished it we

could put a bell on it and it looked very Christmassy. The we get to take it

home ad out it on our tree! “ By Jessica D

ATTENDANCE CUP

The Attendance Cup goes

to Owl Class with an

attendance of 98.8% for

last week.

Well done

Owls!

The school of golf at Great Leighs Primary school

The school of golf is an exciting club offering a fun, safe and educational environment for young children to learn the sport of golf. What child has not grown up whacking objects over the fence in their gardens pretending to be a sporting superstar? Why do they do it? Because it’s fun! The school of golf provides bright coloured plastic clubs, foam balls, cones, targets and expert coaching to give your child the ultimate golfing experience including an end of term tri-golf championships. Club will be run outside on the school playground.

Club starts Tuesday 10th January finishes Tuesday 21st March 7.45 - 8.30 10 weeks £35. Please see Mandy for more details

“Me and Oscar went to Little Stars at

Chelmsford Cricket Ground last week.

My favourite bit was the dancing and

cricket. There were lots of other peo-

ple there. I made a friend called Jessica

from Melbourne. Every single step I did

I had the mascot with me . We got a

lollypop at the end.” By Rosie

Christmas Tree Event

On Monday Anne Wilson came to our assembly to let the children know about this year’s Christmas Tree Event which is being

held outside the village hall on Tuesday 20th December from 7.00pm. Everyone is invited to come and sing traditional and

popular Christmas carols around the tree before having a hot drink and mince pies in the village hall.

All children are invited to take part in the Christmas Tree Ornament competition. The ornaments can be made from anything,

preferably no bigger than a tennis ball, and have something attached to hang it on the tree. All entries should be put in a

small food bag with the child’s name and class on the front. There are two age groups for the competition – Foundation Stage

and Key Stage 1, and Key Stage 2. Entries need to be into school by Friday 16th December. The winning child from each group

will be invited to switch on the outside main Christmas tree lights. Those in 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in each group will each receive

a small memento.

There will be a collection during the evening in aid of an anti- bullying charity.

Dates for your Diary

Many thanks for all the support you give your child and the staff of Great Leighs. To-

gether we can provide the very best learning opportunities.

Yours sincerely Janis Waters

Staff Training Non-Pupil Days 2016 2017

Wednesday 21st December 2016

Friday 10th February 2017

Monday 5th June 2017

Friday 21st July 2017

Date Time Event

Tues 13th Dec 8.50 am Keyboard Assembly with Alex

Boyle

Wed 14th Dec 8.50 am

pm

Guitar Assembly with Ronnie

Watts

KS2 Christmas Production

Thur 15th Dec

6.00 pm

Flu Vaccinations

KS2 Christmas Production

Fri 16th Dec Christmas Lunch

Christmas Jumper Day + Hat

Mon 19th Dec 1.30 pm Talent Show

Tue 20th Dec 8.50 am

2.00 pm

Carol Service

School finishes

Wed 21st Dec Staff Training/Non Pupil Day

Thu 5th Jan

2017

Return to school

Please ensure that all dinner money is paid

up-to-date by Monday 19th December.

Thank you

Change to menu .............

Next Wednesday is chicken chunks chips, peas or beans

or corn dippers due to Friday being our school Christmas

dinner.