Newsletter 21.12.12

 High Beeches Primary School Newsletter 21.12.12

What busy week we have had! The children have enjoyed a number of festive treats this week including our trip to the Pantomime and our School Christmas Lunch. KS2 performed beautifully in the Carol Concert last night and thanks to Mrs Hadley for organising this.

 

This week, however, has been tinged with sadness for us all at High Beeches. Today we have bid a fond farewell to Mrs Brannon after nearly 25 years of service to our school. She has always been an integral and highly-valued member of our school team who will be sorely missed. Mrs Brannon has worked with all the Headteachers since the school began and has seen many changes. We know she is planning to visit us regularly and look forward to hearing all about her retirement plans. On behalf of the whole school, Mrs Brannon, we thank you for all your hard work and service to the school and wish you a very Happy Retirement. We will miss you!

 

Well done to the Learners of the Week, we are very proud of you all.

w/b 17^th December 2012

EYFS      Raphaelle Pesez – imaginative role play ideas 

Yr 1        Ella Condon – having lots of ideas and sharing them

Yr 2        Jack MacDonald – having lots of ideas

Yr 3        Bethan Hancox – Imaginative ideas

Yr 4        Ben Blackburn – having lots of ideas to improve his work in DT

Yr 5        Mariette Hancock – having lots of ideas and using them to help her learn

Yr 6        Abigail Roy – having lots of ideas

 

Children return to school on Tuesday January 8^th.

 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

 

Paul Driver

Headteacher

Midday Supervisor Vacancy

Would you like to become a member of the High Beeches Staff team? We have a vacancy for a midday supervisor for Five days a week working from 12.00 – 1.15pm. For more information please speak to Mr Driver.

Pupil success

Congratulations to the following pupils:

Georgia Clothier (Y6) was awarded Kaizen Martial Arts High Beeches Student of the Year.
Joseph Clothier (Y6) received a Gold Award in Kumon Maths.
Georgia Clothier (Y6) received a Gold Award in Kumon Maths.

FOHBS News

A quick reminder that if you shop online please use the following link www.buy.at/FOHBS to access most major stores. FOHBS then receives commission for all your purchases,

Key dates for your diary in 2013               

Friday 18^th January – Year 4 Cake Sale

Friday 8^th February – Infants and Junior School Disco

Friday 15^th February – Year 3 Cake Sale

Friday 8^th March – Wine Tasting Evening

Monday 25^th March – FOHBS Clothing Collection

Saturday May 11^th – High Beeches Ball

Severe Weather

In the event of severe weather and the school is closed we will notify BBC Three Counties Radio (103.8fm / 95.5fm or 630mw/1161mw) and Heart Dunstable 97.6fm. The notifications will either be read on air or displayed on the radio station websites. We will also send out a text via our text messaging service. Alternatively the information for all schools will be linked to the home page of www.hertsdirect.org.We will obviously use our best endeavours to ensure that the school remains open.

Newsletter 14.12.12

High Beeches Primary School Newsletter 14.12.12

It was wonderful to see so many attending the FoHBs Xmas Fair last weekend. Thank you to all of the members of FoHBs for their hard work in organising the event and parents and carers for your continued support. Two very special mentions, firstly the Ellis family for donating the takings from their hand made craft stall to the school – over £200. Secondly thank you to the Snowden family for their work with the Grotto once again especially after a night sleeping outside for charity the previous evening.

 

Well done to all the children who performed in the Nativity. We are always overwhelmed by the talented children we have at the school. All of the children performed beautifully. Thank you to Miss Nye and the other staff for ensuring that the Nativity was such a huge success.

 

There are still a high number of children riding scooters or bikes through the car park gates, across the car park and into the bike shed. Please ensure that your child enters the school via the footpath gate. Children must not ride or walk across the car park it is far too dangerous as a number of members of staff are still entering the school at this time.

 

 

Well done to the Learners of the Week, we are very proud of you all.

w/b 10^th December 2012

EYFS      Georgia White – having lots of ideas for role play          

Yr 1        Tom Cunningham – having lots of ideas in all areas

Yr 2        Kiera Smith – for imaginative role play

Yr 3        Ellie Osborn – for imaginative description in her story

Yr 4        Freddie Stephenson – for having lots of ideas to improve his work in DT

Yr 5        Alice George – using her creative ideas in all areas of the curriculum

Yr 6        Arun Osborn – having lots of ideas in DT and using them creatively

 

I hope that you have an enjoyable weekend.

Paul Driver

Headteacher

Midday Supervisor Vacancy

Would you like to become a member of the High Beeches Staff team? We have a vacancy for a midday supervisor for Five days a week working from 12.00 – 1.15pm. For more information please speak to Mr Driver.

Pupil sucess

Congratulations to the following pupils:

 

Dan Mountain (YR 1) – received most improved gymnast award for the Autumn Term

Jessica Marsden (Yr2) – received most improved gymnast award for the Autumn Term

Abbie Thomas (Yr 3) - received most improved gymnast award for the Autumn Term

Lucy Piper (Yr 4) - received most improved gymnast award for the Autumn Term

Abigail Roy (Yr 6) - received most improved gymnast award for the Autumn Term

 

FOHBS News

A huge thank you to everyone who helped out at and supported the Fair on Saturday. Details of the amount raised to follow.

A quick reminder that if you shop on line please use the following link www.buy.at/FOHBS to access most major stores. FOHBS then receives commission for all your purchases,

Key dates for your diary in 2013               

Friday 18^th January – Year 4 Cake Sale

Friday 8^th February – Infants and Junior School Disco

Friday 15^th February – Year 3 Cake Sale

Friday 8^th March – Wine Tasting Evening

Monday 25^th March – FOHBS Clothing Collection

Saturday May 11^th – High Beeches Ball

Key Dates for the week.

As this can be such a hectic time of the year we wanted to remind you of a few of the key school events.

 

 

Tuesday 18^th December Pantomime Visit – all children will need a packed lunch

 

Wednesday 19^th December School Christmas Lunch

 

Thursday 20^th December 7.00pm – Junior Carol Concert, High St Methodist Church

Friday 21^st December 2.00pm – Term ends

Newsletter 30.11.12

The weather really is beginning to have a wintery feel to it and we are surprised to see children still coming into school without coats on. Please ensure that all children have a named coat with them each day and are wearing appropriate clothing for the weather.

 

Don’t forget that the school is closed on Monday 3^rd December for an Occasional Day.

 

Thank you to everyone involved in the Year 6 Cake Sale. The total raised was £77.85

 

 

Plea for help

We have been unable to find a pianist for the Junior Carol Concert. It would involve playing for the rehearsal in the morning and at the concert in the evening. If you are able to help or know somebody who would be able to play at the Church please speak to Mrs Hadley.

 

 

Well done to the Learners of the Week, we are very proud of you all.

w/b 26^th November  2012

EYFS       Amelia Salisbury – imaginative role play

Yr 1         Dan Mountain – having lots of ideas and being prepared to have a try

Yr 2         Anastasia Herries – having lots of ideas in class discussion

Yr 3         Zara Miller – having ideas in writing

Yr 4         Olivia Herries – having new ideas for solving maths problems

Yr 5         Sam Norris – using his ideas to bring his writing to life

Yr 6        Jessica Nottingham – asking lots of sensible questions

 

I hope that you have an enjoyable weekend.

Paul Driver

Headteacher

Midday Supervisor Vacancy

Would you like to become a member of the High Beeches Staff team? We have a vacancy for a midday supervisor for Five days a week working from 12.00 – 1.15pm. For more information please speak to Mr Driver.

Pupil sucess

Congratulations to the following pupils:

Jessica Poulter (Yr 2) who achieved her Pool Frog 2 Award for swimming

Lewis Poulter (Yr 4) who has achieved his Bronze Swimming Challenge Award and 400 Metres Distance Award

FOHBS News

 

High Beeches Christmas Fair, Saturday 8^th December, 12-3pm                             

The rota for manning stalls will be put up outside school from Tuesday 4^th December. Thank you to everyone who has already offered to help. Your name should be up on the board for the timeslot you volunteered for. Please check that it is correct and adjust accordingly. We are also desperately in need of more volunteers to help man the stalls so if you haven’t already please, please do sign up to help.

 

Next week is a very busy in the run up to the fair, so we would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the key dates:

• Wednesday 5^th December - Christmas themed sweet jars are due in school
• Friday 7^th December is a non-uniform day for the children in exchange for a drinks bottle for the adult tombola
• Friday 7^th December or the morning of Saturday 8^th December – please bring in a cake for the cake stall
• Please return your raffle ticket stubs (folded if possible) and money to school, as soon as possible, in sealed envelopes marked FOHBS.

 

Other dates for your diary          

Friday 18^th January – Year 4 Cake Sale

Friday 8^th February – Infants and Junior School Disco

Thursday 14^th February – Year 3 Cake Sale

Friday 8^th March – Wine Tasting Evening

Saturday May 11^th – High Beeches Ball

Sleep-out for the homeless

 

Lily Snowden in year 5 will be taking part in the Sleep-out for the homeless at St Albans Abbey on 7^th December. Lily and other members of her family are raising money for LAMP a small charity that provides accommodation and support to young homeless people to try and help them turn their lives around. If anyone would like to sponsor her they can do so at http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/snowdenssleepout1

If you would like to wish them luck that would be lovely they would be very grateful for your support.

Letters sent home

26.11.12               Infant milk EYFS – Yr 2

26.11.12               Yr 3 and 4 Swimming

26.11.12               Yr 1 – 3 Mini tennis

27.11.12               Yr 1 and 2 Art Club

27.11.12               Yr 1 and 2 Nativity

28.11.12               Choir – Rotary Carols

Newsletter 23.11.12

Newsletter 23.11.12

It has been a privilege to show prospective parents around the school this week and receive so much positive feedback. After the Open Morning a number of parents wanted to express how impressed they were with the school and the children.  We are all very proud of the school and it is great that others recognise this.

Plea for help

We have been unable to find a pianist for the Junior Carol Concert. It would involve playing for the rehearsal in the morning and at the concert in the evening. If you are able to help or know somebody who would be able to play at the Church please speak to Mrs Hadley.

The time for the Junior Carol Concert is 7.00pm on the 20^th December rather than 6.30pm as previously stated in the newsletter. EYFS concert is 2.30pm not 2.00pm as stated.

 If Gym club members would like their badges before Christmas, please bring in the money by the end of November.

 Please ensure that children are wearing appropriate school uniform at all times. We have noticed an increase in inappropriate headbands / hairclips being worn. These should be fabric and in the school colours.

 Well done to all of the children who were the class winners for the ‘Anti Bullying’ poster competition. Many of the entries are displayed around the school. Thank you to Mrs Button for organising the activities linked to the Anti-Bullying Week.

Well done to the Learners of the Week, we are very proud of you all.

w/b 19^th November  2012

EYFS       Oskar Whalen – for imaginative play ideas

Yr 1         Olive Whalen – for having lots of ideas in drama

Yr 2         Erin Gibbs – having lots of ideas about dragons

Yr 3         Madeline Roy – Imaginative ideas

Yr 4         Mary Kershaw – having good ideas in guided reading

Yr 5         Ruby Ellis – having lots of ideas to help her learn

Yr 6        Josh Dooley – having imaginative ideas for role play

I hope that you have an enjoyable weekend.

Paul Driver

Headteacher

 

Year 6 Maths Challenge

On Thursday four children from Year 6 attended the Aldwickbury Maths Challenge. The challenge involved three rounds of questions including mental maths and problem solving. Twenty six state and independent schools attended the event and we are all very pleased that High Beeches finished 6^th in the Red Section (Rohan and Georgia) and 7^th in the Blue Section (Jean –Emmanuel and Johnny M). We were the highest place state school finishing above all of the local Primary schools, a fantastic achievement.

FOHBS News

High Beeches Christmas Fair, Saturday 8th December, 12-3pm               

With just two weeks to go we would like to take this opportunity to remind you of some of the key dates for donations:

•Wednesday 5th December - Christmas themed sweet jars are due in school

•Friday 7th December is a non-uniform day for the children in exchange for a drinks bottle for the adult tombola

•Friday 7th December or the morning of Saturday 8th December – please bring in a cake for the cake stall

•If you haven’t done so already, please donate an item to your child’s Class Christmas hamper

•Please continue to leave your nearly new donations for the Secrets Room in the Year 2/3 corridor

Other dates for your diary

Friday 18th January – Year 4 Cake Sale

Friday 8th February – Infants and Junior School Disco

Thursday 14th February – Year 3 Cake Sale

Friday 8th March – Wine Tasting Evening

Saturday May 11th – High Beeches Ball

Sports Update

 

Well done to all of the children who competed in the Harpenden District Cross Country Tournament on Tuesday. Firstly I know the children all looked very smart in the new tops purchased by FoHBs and these hopefully kept them dry. Thank you to Miss Thomas and Mrs Kershaw for supervising the team. There were a number of excellent results including a 7^th place in the Yr 6 boys event, and 8^th place in the Yr 6 girls and 14^th in the Yr 5 girls.

Well done to all who participated in such difficult conditions. We finished in fourth place in the small schools competition. Unfortunately because we did not field a full team for the Year 5 girls we received a 200 point penalty. If we had fielded a full team we would have won the small schools event, our best result ever. As we always tell the children, it is the taking part that counts. Please encourage your children to participate in events.

Pupil sucess

Congratulations to the following pupils:

Abbie Thomas (Yr 3) who has been awarded her level 3 British Gymnastics Proficiency Award

Daniel Thomas (Yr 2) who has been awarded her level 5 British Gymnastics Proficiency Award

Jack MacDonald (Yr 2) took part in his first swimming gala and won two gold medals for his 20m backstroke and freestyle races

George Kershaw and Max Norris (Yr 6) who are representing High Beeches in the Divisional Individual Primary School Swimming Championships this evening.

 Diary Dates

Thursday 29th November Open Morning EYFS intake 2013

Thursday 29th November Yr 4 Hudnall Park parents meeting 7pm at school

Monday 3rd December Occasional Day – School closed

Wednesday 5th December Rotary Carol Concert

Thursday 6th December Open Morning EYFS intake 2013

Saturday 8th December FOHBS Christmas Fair 12- 3

Thursday 13th December Nativity 2pm

Friday 14th December EYFS Christmas Concert 2.30pm School Hall

Friday 14th December Nativity 6.30pm

Tuesday 18th December Whole School Panto Visit pm

Thursday 20th December Junior Carol Service – 7.00pm High St Methodist Church

Friday 21st December Term Ends @ 2pm

Spring Term

Tuesday 8th January Children return to school

Friday 18th January Year 4 Cake Sale

Friday 8th February FoHBs Valentine Disco

Thursday 14th February Year 3 Cake Sale

Friday 15th February Half term ends

Monday 18th February Half term holidays begin

Newsletter 9.11.12

Thank you to everybody who filled shoeboxes for the Rotary Appeal. We sent 97 filled boxes to the appeal for children in war torn countries. The representative from the Rotary Club was amazed at our fantastic total.  Thank you to Miss Nye for organising the collection and sending out reminders.

 

This week we had a visit from our LEA advisor who judges the ‘standards’ at the school against the Ofsted Criteria. The standards are the achievement of the pupils in each year group, their learning and progress and an update on the work towards the targets that we previously set. The school was graded as Outstanding, a result that we can all be proud of.

 

Well done to Year One who were the winners of the Walk To School Week competition. EYFS were a very close second. Thank you to everybody who participated in this event.

 

The Junior Carol Concert will be held at the High Street Methodist Church on Thursday 20^th December at 6.30pm. The EYFS class will be holding their Christmas concert on Friday 14^th December at 2.30pm.

 

Netball club will be finishing at 4pm on Monday 12^th November.

 

Well done to the Learners of the Week, we are very proud of you all.

w/b 22^nd October 2012                                                  

EYFS       Joanne Ellis – working hard and always concentrating

Yr 1         Thomas Neylon – working hard and giving his best in all areas

Yr 2         Thomas Wellham – having fun whilst working hard on our transport topic

Yr 3         Joel Shankland – working hard in maths

Yr 4         Cameron Smith – working really hard in Literacy

Yr 5         Isabel Jenkinson – working hard on creative writing story

Yr 6         Isabel Heneghan – working hard on our enterprise project

 

I hope that you have an enjoyable weekend.

Paul Driver

Headteacher

 

Children in Need

We are supporting Children in Need again this year on Friday 16^th November. The School Council have decided to follow the Blue Peter idea for the day and would like all children to wear pyjamas to school for the day, with clothes underneath. The children will need to bring in £1 for Children in Need to be able to wear their pyjamas.

The School Council will also be organising games for the children to participate in at playtime, e.g. guess the number of sweets in a jar. The children will need to bring in a few 20p pieces to play the games. All monies raised will go to Children In Need.

 

FOHBS News

Infant and Junior School Disco, Friday 16^th November

Thank you for the high level of responses we have received for this event. We look forward to hosting the disco next Friday and don’t forget that the suggested dress code is “sparkly and shiny”!

High Beeches Christmas Fair, Saturday 8^th December, 12-3pm

Please watch out for a separate letter in your child’s book bag next week, detailing all the help and contributions we require to ensure that this year’s Fair is better than ever.

Other dates for your diary          

Friday 23^rd November – Year 6 Cake Sale

Friday 18^th January – Year 4 Cake Sale

Saturday May 11^th – High Beeches Ball

 

 

Harpenden Town Council Christmas Poster Competition

Well done to all of the children who entered the competition. I am very pleased to announce that a poster from High Beeches was chosen by the Mayor as the winner. Congratulations must go to Zoe Birch in Year 5. Zoe has been invited to the council chambers on Monday to receive her prize. Her poster will be used throughout the town and she has been invited to switch on the Christmas lights in Harpenden and Southdown. The school also receives a cheque for £100. Well done Zoe!

 

Diary Dates

Friday 9^th November          Parent Carer Forum – 9am

Friday 16th November      Children in Need

Friday 16th November      FoHBs Disco

Tuesday 20^th November   HDSA cross country 1pm

Thursday 22^nd November Open Morning EYFS intake 2013

Friday 23^rd November        Yr 6 Cake Sale

Thursday 29^th November Open Morning EYFS intake 2013

Monday 3rd December     Occasional Day – School closed

Wednesday 5th December Rotary Carol Concert

Thursday 6^th December    Open Morning EYFS intake 2013

Saturday 8^th December     FOHBS Christmas Fair 12- 3

Thursday 13th December Nativity 2pm

Friday 14th December      Nativity 6.30pm

Tuesday 18th December Whole School Panto Visit pm

Thursday 20^th December Junior Carol Service – 6.30pm High St Methodist Church

Friday 21st December       Term Ends @ 2pm