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Branksome Heath Middle School

Newsletter February 2010

 

Congratulations to the girls' Football Team and their manager Mrs Gillingham, who won through to the Semi-final of the County Cup Competition. They defeated Wey Valley 8-3 after a hard fought game against opposition who had not lost a game for some time. Mrs Gillingham said that 'the girls had put on their best performance ever and now we look forward to the semi-final against Haymoor after Half Term'.

As we come to the end of a very frenetic half term I would like to thank all families for their support. We started with a shock of the snow, but in spite of the weather we have had good attendance and the children certainly had fun on the playground and field.

Many thanks to all who visited our Book Fair.  We raised over £1500 and the school will receive 60% worth of books for our library. It has been one of the greatest changes since I came to Branksome that we can now hold two Book Fairs a year and have such great support for reading.

Haiti Appeal - We are very proud of our children and families for the concern and care of others around the world. When the children asked if they could do something to support the earthquake appeal, little did we realize that we would have raised over £620. The day coincided with the Shoebox Appeal presentation where we saw pictures from BeloRussia where children received our gifts, which for many, was the first present they had ever been given. At a time when all families in our community have been affected by the recession, it is a great credit that we still support others less fortunate than ourselves.

Heating System - The snow and cold weather proved an enormous challenge to our Site Manager, Mr Noble, who did a great job to ensure that each class had heat. However, the system is over 30 years old and needs replacing, which will happen over the next 3 years. The new heating will allow for a boost in winter and the ability of turning it off in summer, as opposed to all on / all off at the moment!

Woodland - We have been trying to get the children out into the woodland as part of the curriculum, but we have been instructed to get certain trees lopped, canopy lifted and in some cases felled for health and safety reasons. The planned work has already begun but it has meant that the woodland will be out of bounds until the work is completed. This is a great disappointment to Mr Watson's hard working team who have been opening up the area for more children to use and particularly because the bird feeding area has just been opened.

Bike It - In March we will be taking part in a National Challenge when we record every journey on a bike as part of Route Around Britain. Jason Falconer who leads the Bike It project in Poole and Bournemouth, has started to come into school and will visit every class to explain the challenge. We hope to have so many cycling both to school and at home, that we will be able to complete the course in record time - more details will come out after Half Term.

E Safety Day, Tuesday 9th February - I am delighted to tell you that Mr Moore and a group of children, representing the whole school, spent the morning at Tesco, Fleetsbridge,  handing out leaflets to the general public to raise awareness of the 'E Safety' day. Children had designed the leaflets to be distributed and also had their photo taken by the Daily Echo! We have 'E Safety' as part of the curriculum in all years and it is essential that we all know how to keep ourselves safe when using the modern technologies so accessible today. I would also like to thank Mr Moore for arranging a super presentation evening for parents last week when we were able to view some of the materials that we use in school to help children learn to keep safe.

Oh no it isn't, Oh yes it is! - The children enjoyed a super pantomime, Robin Hood, on Monday with everyone taking a lively part in the M and M production. We have linked with this company for many years and have enjoyed their visits from Scotland as part of their tour of schools. As with all live shows, there is a cost and I thank families for their voluntary contributions. If you did forget to send in the money, I would be most grateful for you to send it in as we have to make up any shortfall from school funds and this will divert money away from other resources.

Student Support Centre - We are pleased to link up with this company who offer home based tuition to support children in their English and Maths. On 8 March, all children will bring home an information letter from the company outlining what they can offer. There is no obligation to purchase the tuition but for every reply slip sent in, we can get a contribution to school funds. So please, please, please send the reply slips back, even if it is a No!

Quiz Night  - Another super evening and congratulations to Mrs Smyth, Mrs Clark and the Office Revels who were the Champions!! It was great to see so many people and a close contest going down to the last round before we knew who was going to win. Thanks to everyone who helped arrange the event and we raised over £100 for the school funds which this year is going to go towards a set of 'Waveboards' for all children to use during their PE lessons.

Disco - The next Disco is on Wednesday 17th March. The arrangements will be the same as before with Years 4 and 5 from 5.30 till 7.00 and Years 6 and 7 from 7.30 till 9.00. The children will all sign in as they arrive and then we ask all parents to collect from the Hall at the end of each disco. We will send a reminder after Half Term.

Half Term - Enjoy a week away from school next week 15th to 19th February. We come back to school on Monday 22nd February,

End of Term is Thursday April 1st at 1.30 - no it's not an early April fool joke!! We really do finish on this day! We return for the Summer term on Tuesday 20th April.

Friends of Branksome Heath Beetle Drive - Please put the date in your diary.  Friday 5 March.  More details to follow after Half Term.

Puzzles!!
1. I'm really, really tired so I set my alarm clock for noon, wind it up, and go to bed when the evening news finishes at 10.30. How much sleep will I get before the alarm wakes me?

2. There are 5 numbers, the Mean is 5 and the range is 6, what could the numbers be?