St. Michael’s Weekly Post – 25th November 2022

25^th November 2022

Today we enjoyed the beautiful Christingle service in Church.  It was so wonderful to enjoy such a lovely service.  Thank you to the Church and Rev. Sue Rodd for providing all the materials enabling the children to make the Christingles.

Online Safety Workshop – 30^th November

As a reminder, we are fortunate enough to have SWGFL host an Online Safety workshop for parents on 30^th November at 5:30pm, in school or via Teams.  All parents are welcome and a recording will be made available if you are unable to attend.

Festive Dates

Following on from last week’s overview of our festive dates, we wanted to share  more information:

Saturday 10^th December              PTA Christmas Fayre 12pm – 3:30pm

Year 2 and above have been invited to sing as a School Choir at our Christams Fayre.  If your child would like to perform as part of the School Choir please arrive at school ready for a 3pm performance and complete the online permission form. The choir will then join Brass Ensemble at Aldbourne Brass Band Concert, in the Church.

If your child is part of the Brass Ensemble or would like to perform as part of a School Choir please complete this online permission form.

Brass Ensemble are to bring their instruments to church at 15:45 and the Choir are to arrive and be seated by 4pm. The concert is anticipated to run for a couple of hours, finishing around 18:30 but children are welcome to leave during the interval.

If you would like to attend, tickets will be sold in advance (more details to follow).  Not only will the music be fun and entertaining but there will be opportunity to sing carols with the band who are currently ranked 19th in the world after their recent contest success.  It is set to be a beautiful festive evening.

Thursday 15^th December               Our Nativity Perfomances in the Church – 2pm and 5:30pm

All children are to arrive back at school (through the main entrance) at 5:10pm to get ready for their evening performance.  Children are to then be collected from school after, at a time TBC.

The PTA will be raising money, selling drinks & mince pies.

Can we please ask that younger children attend the 2pm session if they wish to see the nativity, rather than the evening performance.

Friday 16^th December                     School Christmas Lunch – Plesae book through Lataca.

In the morning, children will be making hats out of newspaper.  If you have any newspaper for recycling, we would love to have it in school, please.

Tuesday 20^th December                 Pantomine Trip – We will be headed to Newbury Corn Exchange in the morning, wearing school uniform, to see Jack and the Beanstalk.

Wednesday 21^st December          Parent Workshop and early finish at 1:00pm

Come and enjoy a relaxed morning in school with your child. Following school drop off parents/family members are to meet in the school hall. We will start with a story which the staff will share in the hall. This year, after the story, we will all be making our own Christams tree decorations. Please bring with you any materials you may wish to use to make your very own Christmas tree decoration with your child. You can be as creative as you wish…..nothing is too small, big or glittery….  This parents session wil be finished by 11:30am.

We realise that not all children will have a family member available to join us.  We therefore ask if any children are without a familiy member please include them in your group.  Thank you.

School will finish at the earlier time of 1pm on the 21^st December.

Individual and Sibling Photographs

Following the photos taken on Monday, Parents should now have received a link from Tempest Photography, via email, to enable you to make a purchase should you wish to. If you have not received yours or are expereincing any difficultities please contact Tempest Photography directly.

Forest School Day – Oak Class

On Tuesday 13^th December, Oak Class will enjoy a day in the forest.  Please come to school in Forest School kit and we recemmned lots of layers.

Admissions Policy Consultation

Both Wiltshire Council and School have updated Admissions Policies, for the 2024/25 academic year, for consultation.  Our proposed St Michael’s School Policy can be viewed on our website, as part of the conultaion process. The consultation period is from Tuesday 22nd November 2022 until Tuesday 3rd January 2023.  Please send any feedback directly to Mrs Hamilton (sbm@stmichaelsaldbourne.co.uk) before 3^rd January.

Wiltshire Council is consulting on the proposed admissions criteria and admission arrangements for its Community & Voluntary Controlled Schools for the 2024/25 academic year. It is also consulting on the proposed schemes for co-ordination of admissions to all maintained schools and academies for the 2024/25 academic year.

Their consultation starts on Friday 25 November 2022 and it ends on Friday 13 January 2023.

The consultation documents can be accessed by clicking on this link.  Please send your comments by email to admissions@wiltshire.gov.uk or you can write to:

School Admissions Team, Wiltshire Council, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 8JN.

Poppy Appeal

Thank you so much to all those who donated to this year’s Poppy Appeal.  Our school collected an amazing £225.88!

Polite Notice

Can we please remind everyone to not walk on our lovely neighbour’s drives/property.  Please make sure children arrive and leave school in a respectful manner, acknowledging respect as one of our School Values.

Christmas Chocolate

This year the School Council would, once again, like you to bring in chocolate oranges (or selection boxes) instead of Christmas cards, please. We will be sending them to the Swindon Foodbank to make some children who do not have as much as us, very happy this Christmas. Please drop these off at the school gates in the mornings.

Egyptian Day – Cherry and Elder Classes

As a reminder, on Wednesday 7^th December, Cherry and Elder classes will be having an Egyptian Day in school.  This will be an opportunity to bring all our learning on the Ancient Egyptians together and to life. We ask that children come into school in Ancient Egyptian attire.  Please do not buy anything especially for the day, we encourage families to use what they already have at home, to recycle and save money. We are looking forward to this special day!

Christmas Lunch

Christmas Lunch in school will take place on Friday 16^th December.  This can be booked on the Lataca IRIS app. If you are not connected to Lataca on IRIS please request a permission slip from info@lataca.co.uk so they can set you up. Please note, unfortunately on the Lataca app, it states the Christmas lunch will be on Monday 19^th December in error and this is unable to be amended. Apologies for any confusion this causes. Any queries, please email info@lataca.co.uk.

Message from the PTA:

Burns Night – Sat 28 January 7pm-11pm 
Join us for a Burns Night Celebration with live ceilidh band and a disco at the Memorial Hall, Aldbourne. Tickets are £20 each, with dinner and a welcome drink included. A licensed bar will be available. Please purchase tickets on PTA page on school website https://www.stmichaelsaldbourne.co.uk/our-school/who-we-are/st-michaels-aldbourne-pta/.

Term 2

Term 3

TD days

Monday 20^th February 2023

Monday 26^th June 2023

Monday 24^th July 2023