Kent Children's University Passports

We've already received lots of really good applications for KCU Passports and have issued many.

A reminder that when your child receives their passport there is a space for a photograph- it is entirely up to you whether to use a real photo or just allow your child to do a self portrait in the space.

Please also remember to really take care of the passports, they are the only record of number of stamps gained- if they are lost, so are the stamps.

If you haven't yet put in an application and are interested in the scheme please do so. Remember they are really aimed at Key Stage 2 children, although we may issue to older KS1 children. It is simply that the activities in the venues are designed for ages 7-14 children and much younger children may really struggle with them. 

PTA Bingo

World Book Day

It's that time of year again!!!!

Next Thursday (1st) is World Book Day, time to dress up as a fictional book character of your choice. I know many of you have been planning it for a while and we certainly can't wait to see your wonderful imaginations come to life!!!

There will be other activities going on during the day, including a Book Swap. All children are invited to bring in 1 book they no longer want, they can then bring a different book home.

Kent Children's University

We are delighted to announce that we are now affiliated with Kent Children's University.

KCU operates across the county and is an excellent way for KS2 children to develop their learning and thirst for knowledge beyond the normal school day. Any child who registers is given a KCU passport, the children can then 'collect' stamps in their passports by completing tasks at a huge number of 'learning destinations' across the county.
Many notable tourist attractions such as Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, Chatham Dockyard, Dover Castle, Gravesend Library are registered as 'Learning Destinations'. Equally children can gain stamps through attending our own Study Support activities and clubs.

There are awards for specific numbers of stamps gained with the ultimate accolade being presented at a 'Graduation Ceremony' at a local University.

More information and a list of learning destinations can be found here.

We are having an information session this Wednesday straight after school for any KS2 parents who wish to attend. I hope to see many of you there.

I have approached KCU and stated that we may well have some KS1 children who would wish to be involved, which they are looking into piloting.....watch this space!

New Parent & Staff Governors

I'm delighted to report that we now have 2 new Parent Governors- Amarjit Kalsi & Alex Bolingbroke. We had run the nomination process for one post when Jeorge Tehara's term of office ended. Jeorge decided not to stand again and our very many thanks go to Jeorge for all his hard work and commitment to the school over the years. Amarjit & Alex were nominated and we were able to free-up another Parent Governor position when Julian Parkes moved from a Parent Governor post to that of a Community Governor. So- with a little bit of "juggling" we have been able to appoint both Amarjit and Alex. We are delighted to have them both as part of the team.

Mrs Feather was also nominated and reappointed as a Staff Governor so she can now continue to make her significant contribution to the Governing Body.

I hope make regular postings here on the blog and we plan to have an updated Governors' page on the website very soon.

Ann Walker, Chair of Governors.

Find out more!

Why not carry out some additional research with your children....

Find out more about Chris Cook and his career at:

www.chriscookgb.com

An inspirational visit

Today has been wonderful, Olympic, Commonwealth and World Championship swimmer Chris Cook has been with us all day.
He has inspired all of us with his interesting stories and anecdotes about his life, his dreams and the hurdles he had to overcome to achieve his dream.

I'm sure the children will be buzzing tonight, many got autographs too!!!

Special Visitors

I hope you all enjoyed the snow at the weekend, it was great to see so many children out having fun sledging, but I'm glad we've managed to avoid any disruption at school.

We're very excited here as we have Commonwealth 50m and 100m Breaststroke gold medalist and record holder, and former Olympic swimmer Chris Cook spending the day with us tomorrow. He will be delivering inspirational speeches to all children throughout the day and doing workshops with Y6 and Y5 children. It should be an experience to remember.

This follows on from our commitment to provide exciting, inspirational visitors for the children which we launched with Jeremy Strong's visit last year. Further to this we have booked world famous children's author and illustrator Petr Horacek to visit in June. You can find our more about him here:

http://www.petrhoracek.co.uk/

School Open

School should be open as normal on Monday 6th.

Polls!

Not sure if I mentioned it, but the 'quick polls' on the right of the page are completely confidential, please take a moment to add your vote.

It really helps us to get a good picture of overall opinion if we get a large number of responses.

Thanks

Breakfast Funding

Before Christmas I applied to Kellogg's for funding for our Breakfast Club, which I'd almost forgotten about!

Today we received a cheque for £400 and £50 worth of vouchers, this is a real boost for the club which remains really popular and provides a fantastic service.

We will be using the voucher for cereals and the additional funding for new activities including a First News children's newspaper subscription.

Breakfast club run's from 7.55am each morning, if you would like your child to attend please contact the office.

Leigh

Communication

Don't forget the Blog is a two way communication medium, please feel free to add your comments to any posts.

Leigh

Tell us what you think.

I'm going to start using the survey 'gadget' a bit more on this blog, every few weeks there will be a different statement on the right-hand side of the page, you have the option of stating whether you agree or disagree and whether you do so strongly.
It'll be a really useful exercise for us to measure opinion and consider areas for development.

Incidentally, there is a new element to the OFSTED web site that allows you to fill in a survey of your child's school, why not have a look:

http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results/survey/result/13723/1

Celebrating Achievements

I had to share a couple of things with you...

First, an amazing video by Poppy, made during the holidays with an iPhone and a stop-motion app:
http://youtu.be/KlsSLnK3JQo


Secondly, a breathtaking poem written by Dominic:

THE MAGIC BOX

I will put in my box,

The slither of a ravenous green Anaconda.

The hissing steam of a crystal waterfall.

The feathers from a handsome hyacinth Macaw.

I will put in my box,

The whisper of a falling snowflake.

The  whirl of a raging hurricane, in the middle of a thunderstorm.

The blazing heat of the scorching sun.

I will put in my box,

The shimmer of a silver, smooth tetra.

The salty spray from the greeny-blue sea.

The melodious song of a barnacle encrusted Whale.

I will put in my box,

The slyness of a hungry, red Fox.

The beautiful yellow from a healthy spring Marigold.

The silky feel of the Eucalyptus’s under bark.

I will put in my box,

The amazing blackness of the never-ending cosmos.

The unimaginably huge size of a supergiant star.

The brightness of each glittering galaxy.

My box is fashioned from dark matter from the furthest reaches of the known universe.

I will use my box to travel through time to the dinosaur era.

By Dominic

Latest Newsletter

Y6 Rockets!

We've just uploaded some more videos to our You Tube channel, you can now see the result of a Y6 project before Christmas to design and make their own water powered rockets!

Enjoy!

YouTube Channel

Our school YouTube channel is called WRPSVideos, we hope to gradually share lots of videos through this media.


Please note that while we control the content uploaded to our channel, we cannot be responsible for any external links clicked upon. Parents should supervise their children's use of the Internet and at very least ensure that they know what to do if their 'surfing' leads them to a site which they do not feel comfortable with.

iPads

We have now been running our iPad pilot for a few weeks and I have to say we are all very impressed with the positive impact. Children in Y6 and some in Y5 are being given opportunities to use the iPads as a tool to enhance their learning experiences across the curriculum. They are using them in such wonderful creative ways including recording science experiments through video, using the iPads to film and then editing with iMovie, finally uploading finished films to our new school YouTube channel.

The first of such videos can be seen here:
http://youtu.be/fkc6da0GrGU

Drama Academy

The Helen O Grady Drama Academy who have been running clubs here for the local community for three years now are starting an exclusive club for our Year 5&6.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to a very wet and windy Spring term!

I hope you all had a wonderful break and enjoyed the time with friends and family, the children certainly seem refreshed and raring to go.

As always we have an exciting year ahead, with lots for the children to look forward to. In particular, I’m sure we’re all looking forward to being the host nation for this year’s Olympic Games and we will be doing lots of work to celebrate this with the children between now and July. This will probably be the only opportunity in a lifetime for many of us that we see the Olympics taking place in our own country, so we all need to encourage the children to make the most of it.

We are very excited to announce that former British Olympic swimmer and Commonwealth Gold Medalist and Record Holder Chris Cook is coming to spend the day with us at the beginning of February, I will send out further details nearer the time.

I am also liaising with many other local schools to ensure as a community we do lots to mark the Olympics.

As you know Mrs Bird has now started her secondment at Darenth School, her class is being ably covered by Miss Christine Daniels this term.

Unfortunately, Mr Sheehan continues to be unwell, his class will be covered by Mrs Lisa Whatley until he is well enough to return. Mrs Whatley has spent a lot of time with us before covering various classes and is an excellent teacher, so we know that the class are in very good hands.