Cheddington
Combined School

Congratulations to Peter Collins who completed the Berkhamsted Half Marathon last Sunday to raise funds for the school's new Sensory Garden.

All year 5 pupils who completed Level 1 Cycle Training were given a 'blue' slip last week to complete if they wish to participate in the Level 2 Training. Anyone who is interested but not returned their slip could they do so as soon as possible. A cycle check list will be sent to parents next week. Could all children please bring with them a waterproof coat on the day.

Thank you.

Please remember to get your child to bring in as many of the items listed below next week, (March 10th onwards) to enable us to cover the 'carbon footprint' which is to be created by the 202 children's feet.

Aluminium drink cans (beer, lemonade, coke, etc), clean foil, old mobile phones, used printer ink cartridges.

Thank you.

All year 6 pupils will be bring home a letter from Buckinghamshire NHS Primary Care Trust. Could all parents/guardians please complete the attached sections and return them via the school office as soon as possible.

Thank you.

The Travel Plan has now been submitted to Bucks County Council to try to achieve Level 3 status.

Thank you to everyone who completed the recent Travel Survey.

81% of children responded to the Survey of which:

• 65% would prefer to walk
• 16% would like to take the bus
• 9% would like to be driven
• 9% would like to cycle or scooter
• 1% would like to use their house to get to school!

During Healthy School’s Week a giant “Carbon Footprint” will be created using each of the 202 children’s feet. The children will then attempt to completely fill this footprint with recyclable waste and packaging from home. As the PTA can turn aluminium drink cans, clean foil, old mobile phones and used printer ink cartridges into CASH for new school computers, it would be fantastic if we could “fill the footprint” with as many of these valuable waste products as possible. To achieve this we need you (and perhaps your family, neighbours, work colleagues) to start collecting these items (ideally more than enough to cover each child’s footprints). Items should be brought into school the week of 10th March.

Thank you for your help.

Re-think Rubbish!  Monday, 10th   -  Friday, 14th March 2008

The whole school is to have a special week of activities focusing on the themes of re-cycling, reducing the and re-using during the week beginning Monday, 10th March 2008. Jenny Hiscock, Waste Development Officer, will run paper making workshops on Tuesday 11th March and composting workshops entitled “Worms, Worms, Worms!” on Wednesday, 12th March. Mrs Hutson has organised some printing workshops for Thursday, 13th March.

This week is a follow-up to the excellent Re-cycler Robot show, which took place on Tuesday, 12th February and was greatly enjoyed by pupils and staff alike.

Further details will appear in next week’s newsletter.

Mrs Le Voi and Mr Jones

Your chance to use a potter’s wheel!

Maybe you could be our next potter of the year?

Join us for lots of fun making your own pottery. New projects every time.

Pottery Club will be running again during the spring term, starting on the 22nd April 2008 for 5 weeks (Tuesdays from 3.15 to 4.45). The cost will be £19 per child for the 5 week course.

If you would like your child(ren) to take part, please return the attached slip.

Please do not send any money yet: places are limited to 15, and they will be allocated on a first come/first served basis.

(Years 1 – 6 only)

M&M Theatrical Productions (Travelling Theatre Group) have been booked again to perform ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ on Thursday, 27th March at 2pm.

M&M Theatrical Productions come highly recommended, and in previous years, our children have really enjoyed and benefited from the opportunity to watch live theatre, particularly at this time of the year. The cost per pupil is £3.50, and the school is relying on parental contributions to cover this cost. There is no obligation to contribute and no one will be excluded because parents are unwilling or unable to contribute. However, if parents are reluctant to support this activity, we will not be able to book the company for next year.

We would be grateful if you could return the reply slip by Monday, 10th March 2008.

Yours sincerely,

D.R. Jones, Head Teacher 

Thank you to everyone who completed our recent Travel Survey. We had responses from over 150 children. The results will be published as soon as they have been collated.

18 Kilos collected so far this term you have donated almost 18 kilos of aluminium cans and foil which is a fantastic effort. Thank you!  Please continue to collect your cans over the half term holiday and bring them into school when we return. All money raised will go directly towards cost of new PC’s for the ICT suite.

We are collecting Tesco sport vouchers and Nestle box tops until end of March when this campaign will end. However we have now started collecting Sainsbury’s Active Kids vouchers too.  If you or your family and friends shop at Sainsbury’s, please bring the vouchers to school. We can use these to order sports equipment which will benefit all the school children.

Dear Parents,

As some of you may remember, two years ago the pupils in year 6 won £5000 in a garden design competition run by Woolworths. They then raised a further £3000 to try and make their design a reality. Due to staff changeover and the cost of the project being more than they had raised, this project has been put on the shelf for a while.

The Governors decided that too much hard work had been put into this project and it would have so much benefit to the school and village, it should not be forgotten. We have put together a working party to try and raise the extra funding to make this garden a reality.

The design of the garden is based on the five senses and will be used by the pupils as a play area as well as an area to study numerous parts of the curriculum. To implement this project we need, in the region of £6000. To raise this, we have to date, several initiatives.

• We are directly asking for any donations of money , labour and/or knowledge.
• We are writing to local businesses for the same reasons.
• We are planning fundraising events such as a musical evening, garden party etc.
• One of our governors is running a sponsored half marathon.

The work is planned to start in the summer holidays so we need to work fast.

I am sure you will agree that it would be a shame for the children’s hard work to go to waste. I hope you will join us in supporting this project when you are asked to sponsor our governor or support a fund raising event.

If you help our project and/or would like more information please contact Rhona Stapledon (Chair of Governors) on 660323.

The plans for the garden will be displayed in the dining hall along with our progress. 

Just a reminder to please complete the Travel Survey that was attached to last week’s Newsletter by next Monday. This is very important in order for us to implement the School Travel Plan. 

On completion of the Survey, every child will receive their first stamp in their “Go for Gold Passport.

Well done to all those children who played in the matches below:-

Girls’ Under XI Football

versus Overstone Combined             won  2  -  0

versus Eddlesborough Combined      won  2  -  1

Boys’ Under XI Football

versus Bierton Combined                  won 6  -  0

versus Bedgrove Juniors                   won 2  -  1

Please continue to RECYCLE your aluminium cans and clean foil, old mobile phones and used printer ink cartridges at School.

Thank You.

It is necessary that the school put in place and implement a Level 3 Travel Plan. In order to do this we need to collect some up to date information on how you currently travel to school.  It is essential that we get as much feedback as possible to put a realistic plan in place. So please take the time to fill in the short survey which is attached to this week’s newsletter.  'If' or should I say 'when' we achieve Level 3 status there is a financial benefit to the School. The Travel Plan is being put together as part of the Healthy Schools Plan. People involved include members of the Healthy Schools Committee as well as representatives from the wider Cheddington community.

Representatives include:  Kim Key, Liz Williams, Lois Bodenham, Sue Cole, Mr Jones, Mrs Le Voi, The School Council, Tony Johnson, Councillor Ayling.

PS: Fill in the Survey and your child will get their first stamp in their 'Go for Gold Passport' that we are looking to introduce to reward pupils walking to school, car sharing or using the School Bus.

Cheddington Pre-School is seeking an Administrative Assistant for 8 hours each week during term-time. This role will include creating, maintaining and developing the administrative systems and basic bookkeeping.

You will need to be computer literate, numerate and have administrative and bookkeeping experience.

This position is subject to a CRB check.

If you are interested in receiving further information, please contact Kim Goldhagen, the Pre-School Manager on 01296 662292.

The closing date for applications is 15th February 2008.

An after-school Science Club will shortly be available for children in years 3-6 on Wednesday afternoons from 3.15pm to 4.15pm.  We plan to start after half term, with the first meeting on 27 February.

The club will aim to explore a range of science topics in a fun way and will be run by Mrs Miles and Mrs Davies. There will be no charge for the club.

Those parents who would like their son/daughter to attend should complete the attached return the After-School Science Club Form.

I would like my son/daughter to attend the Science Club on Wednesday afternoons.

Name of Child ..........................................................Year .............

Name of Child ..........................................................Year .............

Signed (parent/guardian)  ............................................................