Dear 3EE parents,
There are five points of information for you in this email: trips, author visit, parents evening, PE shoes, and the Christmas concert. We hope you find it helpful and apologise for the short notice of some of the details.
Many thanks,
Ruthy Trevitt and Sofia Morton
1) TRIPS
a) Pantomime is next Monday, please provide a packed lunch for your child. Parent helpers for this trip have been arranged, they will be our regular weekly volunteers. The coach leaves at around 9am and returns at around 1pm. There will be no violin or PE lesson that day.
b) Easter Experience is on Thursday 26th March in the morning at Trinity church in Abingdon. The coach will leave school just before 9am and return at around 11am in time for lunch as usual. Ruthy Trevitt will meet the trip at the church (as a volunteer), Eva (Spanish TA) and Sofia Morton will accompany the class as usual - apologies that this falls on the Spanish side of the week as the content of the Easter Experience will be delivered in English (by volunteers). The Easter Experience is open to families on the Saturday 28th March from 10am if you are interested in attending. Some parent volunteers will be required for this, so please do email if you are interested.
c) Science Oxford on Thursday 30th January is a trip which will include three sessions: a science show, a workshop on materials and a chance to try things out in their exploration zone. The coach will leave at around 9am and return at around 3pm. Some parent volunteers will be required for this, so please do email if you are interested.
d) Beale Park on Tuesday 12th May will see the children being animal guides. We create a non-fiction animal fact file in English and Spanish in class before going on the trip and encourage the children to present their research on some of the park’s residents in Spanish. Some parent volunteers will be required for this, so please do email if you are interested. It would be great to have some Spanish speakers to encourage the children in their presentations as Ruth Trevitt and Louise both have very limited Spanish.
e) Abingdon museum and nature walk. The date is not yet booked but a Thursday in June is the most likely time to hope for good weather, avoid a clash with swimming and ensure there are trips on both sides of the week. Some parent volunteers will be required for this, so please do email if you are interested. Spanish would be desirable as it is in the second half of the week but it is not a prerequisite.
2) AUTHOR VISIT
a) To be held on Tuesday 19th November (contrary to the newsletter - it is correct in the school base calendar), Matt Brown will be coming in (he will be there this time!) and Mostly Books owner Sarah will be there with discounted books as last time. It will be a chance for the children to put their questions and ideas to a real author.
b) books will be signed if children bring them in and further discounted books are available, use the same form and details emailed to you previously.
3) PARENTS EVENING
a) Please do email Sofia and Ruthy with any questions or concerns you have about your child well in advance of the parents meeting so that we can provide helpful answers on the day and may even be able to resolve some issues before the parents meeting.
b) It is running on a single afternoon/evening of Wednesday 20th November from 2-7pm. Note that appointments can only be 10 mins long so please respect the parents after you by keeping to time and we as teachers will aim to do the same. Emailing queries/concerns in advance will help us keep to time whilst still addressing the important issues. If the allotted time for your appointment has come round please knock on the door as a reminder. If you are running late please arrange your own swap with another parent. We have built in two breaks so please do not be surprised if we pop out briefly - as we are sure you can understand this is a long stretch of speaking and listening for both teachers.
c) Location is room 99 in the hostel block (thin building near the Thame Lane entrance), it used to be the Primary Head teacher’s office a few years ago and is opposite the small reception office on the Thame Lane entrance.
4) PE SHOES
a) Children need to have clean PE shoes which are not being worn outside (except to cross from the classroom to the old gym/Schumman hall), children need to change into these indoor shoes immediately on a Monday morning and a Wednesday afternoon so we can maximise our time for PE. There have been a lot of problems with children tracking mud and dirt into the PE halls which is very unpleasant when classes are trying to do gym activities on the floor with their hands etc. Children will be reminded to change but they need to make sure they have a pair of clean trainers or plimsolls for PE in school - ideally at all times which is why you may prefer for them to use an inexpensive pair of plimsolls.
5) CHRISTMAS CONCERT
a) The year 3 concert is on Wednesday 11th December, coffee served by the PTA until 9am when the concert begins.
b) We will have our class Christmas party after the concert, in 3EE with a chance for you to look at your children’s work from the term and to share some food and games with your children and their classmates and parents. Please could class reps coordinate what you would like to do as a parent group in terms of any refreshments at the party.
c) The English song will be the traditional Sussex Carol, On Christmas Night. It is a lovely Engish folk melody (a chance to share English culture) and also tells the Christmas story in a simple way. The words have been slightly amended to ensure that the children are singing about what Christians believe and not ascribing those beliefs to themselves so that it is suitable for children of any faith or none. If you would like to sing along at home as your child learns it please find the words below. We are also seeing if we can play along with glockenspiels - 29 violins/cellos take too long to tune! Any musical parents may like to know we are doing it in the key of F major and the glockenspiels will be playing a drone of C and F on the first beat of the bar for most of the lines, then a drone of C and G for the penultimate line of the verse before returning to C and F. At least that is the plan!
On Christmas night all Christians sing
to hear the news the angels bring;
on Christmas night all Christians sing
to hear the news the angels bring:
news of great joy, news of great mirth,
news of the merciful King’s birth.
All out of darkness there is light,
which made the angels sing this night;
all out of darkness there is light
which made the angels sing this night:
“Glory to God, goodwill and peace
be to all now and never cease!”
Mrs R Trevitt