We love, value and respect each other

St Godric’s RC Primary School

Important Dates for January 13.1.15 ChildLine Assembly Y5&6 pupils 14.1.15 Y3 to Mass 15.1.15 Friends of St Godric’s meet 7pm 16.1.15 Y6 parents can meet Mrs Platt—St Leonard’s transition worker 2.30pm 20.1.15 Y5 and Y6 Childline workshops 20.1.15 Bagpipes and Burns poetry work-shop. 21.1.15 Y5 to Mass 22.1.15 FHC Session 4 3.15pm - 4.15pm 28.1.15 Adam Bushnell - Storyteller in KS1

January 2015 Spring Term 2015

Dear Parents Happy New Year!Welcome to this half term’s edition of the newsletter. As you can see it is once again full of many of the events that have taken place during the last half term, as well as the many dates of events to come as we look towards Easter. We very much hope that you will be able to sup-port many of them. Please note that dates for all event s are also available on our web-site.

You will also find on our website the termly overview for each class so that you can find out what we will be teaching your child.

Miss Mc Mann took up her new role as Deputy Headteacher at St Bede’s RC Primary in Sacriston this week. She writes ‘Thank you all so very much for your kind gifts and words at the end of term. I feel so very privi-leged to have worked with such wonderful children and supportive parents. May God bless you all’. We are therefore delighted to welcome Mrs Vikki Bonnar to the staff team for the next two terms. Addition-ally Miss Sophie Clothier will be working alongside Mrs Oakes in Early Years.

Parent questionnaire

We are always seeking to develop our practice. With this in mind we would like to hear your views. Can

Important dates for February 2.2.15 Esafety briefing for parents 2pm 4.2.15 Y4 to Mass 5.2.15 School Disco 8.2.15 FHC children Mass at St Godric’s 10.2.15 Y5 pupils to Robot challenge at FMPS 11.2.15 Safer Internet Day 11.2.15 Y3 to Mass 12.2.15 Y2 to Gymnastics Carousel 12.2.15 FHC Session 5 3.15pm - 4.15pm 13.2.15 KS2 Liturgy 9.30am 13.2.15 Half Term holiday 25.3.15 Y4 to Mass and Mini Vinnie Fair Trade Coffee morning 27.3.15 Soup and sandwich lunch.

you therefore please complete the enclosed questionnaire, one for each child you have and return it to school in the envelope provided by Monday 26th January. The Governing Body will collate these for us and analyse your responses.

School Clubs

All clubs will commence again during wb 12.1.15. Letters for the club s were sent out in the mailshot before Christmas. Mrs Knox has returned to her full teaching commitment once again and has spac-es available if your child would like to learn the keyboard—please contact the school office for fur-ther details.

In this issue...

Page 1 Headteacher’s news Important Dates ICT Mark

Page 2 Do you want to build a snowman? Bikeability Y2 All Saints Wonderful Water

Page 3 Safety Carousel Mini-Vinnies Give us a ‘G’ Prickly Hay Gym Giants

Page 4 FoSG news

Important dates for March 4.3.15 Y4 Maths Challenge Day 5.3.15 World Book Day—children invited to come in fancy dress! 8.3.15 FHC children to Mass 10.3.15 Movie night 11.3.15 Y3 to Mass 12.3.15 FHC Session 6 13.3.15 KS1 Liturgy 9.15am 13.3.15 Mothers’ Day lunch 18.3.15 Y3 to Mass 18.3.15 Early Years Parents Evening (1) 19.3.15 Parents’ Evening & Early Years (2) 24.3.15 More Than Dance to work with Y5/6 - parents welcome to watch at 3.15pm 25.3.15 Y6 to Mass 26.3.15 School Photographs 27.3.15 Mass for Easter 9.15am 27.3.15 Easter holidays begin.

Future dates … 20.4.15 Family Learning Y1 - 4 weeks 1.5.15 EY and Y6 photos Wb 11.5.15 KS1&KS2 SATs week

Following an extensive external assessment our school is delighted to have been awarded the prestigious ICT Mark. The award recognises the school’s success in developing the strategic use of technology in administration and across the curriculum. It is a great acknowledgement that our school is offi-cially at the forefront of modern technology!

As a

reward

for

work-

ing

hard all

term

and fill-

ing the

marble

jar,

the children in Early

Years voted to have a

Disney Frozen day at

school. We all came to

school in fancy dress

and thoroughly enjoyed

all of the ‘Frozen’ relat-

ed activities, including

making marshmallow

snowmen, trying to

melt Elsa’s frozen

hands and

singing

along with

the movie.

PAGE 2 ST GODRIC’S RC PRIMARY SCHOOL SPRING TERM 2015

This time there was a shepherd who spoke to us and we all put cloths on our heads to look like shepherds. While we were with the shepherd the angel ap-peared again and told us about the birth of a special baby in Bethlehem. So we all left the tent and went on the next part of our journey. We sat down in front of a stable and there were animal puppets talking about the birth of Jesus. There was a sheep, a donkey, a cow and a camel.

We also had time to

look around the mu-

seum and we were

amazed to see bana-

na trees growing in the Winter Gardens.

We even had to be really quiet as we

looked around the art gallery - well

almost!

We learned how to stop and start, turn corners, signal with our hands, learnt all the different junctions and how to use them correctly, how to

pass parked cars and much, much more!!! Through this we have all learnt something new and we will never

forget this experience! Remember to always wear a hel-met when riding your bike.

In November 2014 Y5 had a special opportunity to do bikeability. Our les-sons were going on the road to cycle, where we were taught the safety of the road and how to cycle on it. Eve-ry Wednesday morning or after-noon was met with complete ex-citement and we always looked forward to our session. We wrapped up warm in our hats, scarfs and gloves and many other warm clothes on a freezing day but it was worth all of it.

Evaporation Gas cooling to form a liquid

Condensation Transport of wa-ter through a plant

Precipitation Liquid being heated up to form a gas

Transpiration Rain, snow or hail

Last term Year 4 visited the

Sunderland Museum and Winter Gar-

dens. We had been learning about

the water cycle in class and this was

the

perfect

opportunity to

consolidate

our learning.

See if you can match the process to its description?

At the beginning of December Y2 went to All Saint’s Church to take part in the Christmas Journey. To start the after-noon we learned all about the story of Creation and then started the exciting part… We went into a little tent and a lady called Mary was there – she had just baked some bread so we all had a piece to taste. It was really good. But then an angel came into the tent and told her she was going to have a baby. We all knew it was Angel Gabriel and the baby was going to be Jesus. Mary left .and we went into another tent.

The next tent we went into had a funny smell – it was incense be-cause this was the Wise Men’s tent. The last tent had a Christmas Tree and presents. We all made an angel to take home and hang on our trees. It was a great visit and we all really en-joyed taking part in the Christmas Jour-ney…then it was back to school and our own Christmas play.

Year 6 went to the safety carousel, and learned about: fire; electricity; safety at sea; gas; road safety and cyberbullying. We learnt about safety outside and inside our school. We should be safe and have care where ever we go. When we learnt about fire we completed a quiz about what you will do in an emer-gency of a fire. You should be safe on the roads and especially when you’re cy-cling. Watch the roads when you are crossing and stay safe. We also learned to be safe online. We need to be careful when using social networking sites such as: Fa-cebook, twitter, movietarplanet and stardom.

The next workshop we went into was the electricity safety room where we learned about being safe around high voltage electrici-ty buildings and factories. Next, we went to a Northern Gas

workshop. We learned about what to do when carbon monoxide leaks in your house. Finally, in the Safe at Sea workshop we

learned about a saying called F.R.I.E.N.D.S. The safety carousel was great fun and we would definitely go again.

awarded a certificate for our ex-

cellent performance.

Year 3 attended the Gymnastics

festival at Deerness Gymnastics

Academy on Thursday 20th Novem-

ber. We had spent a long time get-

ting our routine just right and put-

ting into practice all of the skills

that we had learnt with Mr Whar-

ton. It was very exciting to perform

in front of all the other schools on

the special sprung floor. We were

PAGE 3 ST GODRIC’S RC PRIMARY SCHOOL SPRING TERM 2015

The Mini-Vinnies have

been busy as usual.

Our fundraising got

off to a great start

with the cake sale

raising money for Cafod’s Ebola appeal

and then profits from the Christmas

raffle went to support the Shanti Spe-

cial Needs School in India.

We continue our weekly

visits to the residents

of Lindisfarne Care

Home and

were able to

sing Christmas

carols for them.

A big thank you

to everyone

who has helped us.

Year 1 have had a very busy term and one of the things we really enjoyed was performing our Na-tivity before Christmas. It was called ‘Prickly Hay’ and one of the most fun things was standing on the stage and perform-ing in front of our par-ents! We really loved getting dressed up in our cos-tumes and playing our parts. We think Elsie and Oliver made a

brilliant Mary and Joseph! We all worked really hard to learn our lines and we practised our songs so that our performanc-

es were as good as we could make them. We really hope that

you enjoyed watch-

ing us as much as we

enjoyed performing for you

and we can’t wait for next

year’s already!

St. Godric’s were very excit-ed when we heard there was to be a cheerleading club. We were all beginners at the sport at first but with the fabulous coaching sup-

port from Chloe we quickly improved our skills. The club took part on a Tuesday morning be-

fore school. We made up routines and re-

hearsed balances; she was very impressed by

our quick progress throughout the year. We

were delighted when we were asked to per-

form our routine for the whole school. We

can’t wait to continue this term.

Happy New Year to you all! We had a busy autumn term with our various fund-raising activities, and we raised just over £1500! Thank you as always for your time and generosity. Special thanks to everyone who donated raffle prizes – parents and the following companies: Adventure Valley; Mini Moos; Koko Hair; Salon 4 Hair; Beauty by Moonlight; Durham County Cricket Club; Tesco; Nandos, Chiquitos, Mandy Charlton Photography, The Newton Grange, The Kitchen, Marks & Spencer, and P&N Heating.

Future events

As always, the fundraising continues. Our next meeting is on Thursday 15 January at 7pm in St Bede’s Room. Please come along and support us. Also see below some dates to put in your diaries: Disco

Our Spring disco will take place on Thursday 5 February (3.15pm- 4.15pm for KS1 children and 4.30pm -5.30pm for

KS2 children). Tickets are £2.50 per child and a drink and sweets are included. Order your tickets using the form

included with this newsletter. Movie Night

Our next Movie Night will take place on Tuesday 10 March from 3.15 – 5.30 pm. (movie is still to be confirmed and

will be in our next newsletter). Tickets are £3.50 and a hot dog, veggie dog or jam roll drink and sweets are includ-

ed.

Guess the name of the bear Week commencing Monday 9 February, the children will have the chance to guess the name of the (Build-a-) bear – just 50 pence a guess – this will be circulated in school.

Don’t forget….

We are always looking for volunteers – especially for the movie night and disco – please contact us if you would

like to help.

You can email us directly - friendsofstgodrics@gmail.com – if you want to volunteer, or if you have any ideas or

feedback.

Join www.easyfundraising.org.uk for your online shopping. This helps support our school at no additional cost to

you. A variety of companies make a small donation to our school, take a look.

Well – a lot of information – thanks again and looking forward to the exciting events

this term!

Please can you have a look at home on your book-shelves and see if you have any books belonging to school? Our library is missing a considerable number of books and we would welcome their safe return. Merit marks awarded! Thank you.

We love, value and respect each other.