Attached is a letter regarding reading together with a questionnaire which has been sent home with children tonight. We would be grateful if completed questionnaires are returned by Thursday 9th February 2012. Thank you.
Our children have recently been learning to sign this years "sign to sing" world record breaking attempt song, which is called "Sign 2 Sing."
Last year the children learnt how to sign the song "I'd like to teach the world to sing." With the help of many other schools we broke the world record for the most people singing and signing at the same time.
This year we are trying to break our own world record on Wednesday 8th February, when the children will perform" Sign to Sing."
During the event we will be raising money for Deaf Awareness.
Although our Reception children have lots of fun painting pictures every day, they now take part in "Paint a Person!" This helps them with their co-ordination. The children (and grown ups too!) work in pairs and paint each other, only pretend though! They don`t paint with a paint brush, they paint with a scrunchie ball. This means they have to work together and follow and repeat instructions. It is lots of fun!
A huge thank you to everyone who attended Parents Evenings on Monday and Tuesday this week. As always, the event was very well supported with lots of positive feedback. Here are just some of the comments left by our parents and carers:
"It`s great to get a "one to one" chat with the teachers in this way. No real way to improve but keep up the Open Evenings."
"I found Parents Evening very reassuring, it was nice to hear how well my son had settled into nursery and I now have peace of mind that he`s doing well."
"Many thanks to the teachers for their time. Very informative and enjoyable. Nice to see the children`s work."
"We are extremely satisfied with the progress in all her school curriculum activities and lessons. Thank you to all concerned."
"This was a wonderful evening where I heard about my son`s improvement. I should say many thanks."
"Very useful, very helpful. Nice to know my daughter is working hard and identify where improvements can be made and need to be made"
Once again, thank you for your support.
This term Year 4 have enjoyed reading and comparing books by Dick King Smith. The children also enjoyed "hot seating", asking Mr Ape about his funny way of life!
Mrs Jennings class have been very busy collaging an Anglo Saxon and a Viking in preparation for their topic Invaders and Settlers. They thoroughly enjoyed the task and are looking forward to learning lots more about the subject.
This term in Year 4 we have been preparing for our PE lessons with warm up exercises and stretches, once everyone was warmed up and ready we practiced rolling and balancing sequences with our partners:
So far this term in Reception children have been looking at combining two groups. They made number sentences using the addition and equals symbols. They did it in practical ways and looked at different ways of making 10. It was tricky learning all the different vocabulary for addition. They also weighed objects to see which were the heaviest and which objects were the lightest. They also went on a hunt to find objects that were heavier or lighter than certain objects. We tried to use the correct words when weighing.
One very frosty morning we wrapped up warm in our coats, hats, scarves and gloves and went for a walk around the school grounds. We searched for frozen objects in our little pots, poured water and food colouring onto the ice and watched what happened. We used scrapers, rollers and lolly sticks in the frost to make patterns and write our names. The frost felt very cold to touch!
This term Reception had a visit from Elaine and Danielle from "Dance Fuse", a local dance company, they taught us Zumbatomic. It was very hard work and extremely fast moving. We did lots of silly dance moves and played the frozen ice lolly game where we all had to freeze in the shape of an animal when the music stopped!
Here in Reception we do "Squiggle and Wiggle". This helps us with our writing and fine motor skills. We use feather boas and pom poms and dance to music! We make different movements in the air with our pom poms and feather boas, then use pens in each hand to make the movements on the paper. It is very lively and fast !
In Reception we celebrated Chinese New Year in lots of different ways. We did our very own dragon dance to music and played instruments too. We also made Chinese lanterns and painted blossom trees. Some of us even practiced writing words in Chinese. Later on we tasted different Chinese foods, including prawn crackers, noodles, rice, seaweed and vegetable spring rolls. Everyone got a fortune cookie to take home.
Last week Year 5 had a visit from David Hunt. He came into school to share his experience of his visit to India. He went with a Christian charity and told us about their work and the lives of the Indian children. We all learned a lot about their culture and how different our lives are to those of the children who live in India.
As part of their topic this term, Mr Allen, Mrs Hamilton and Mrs Wilson organised a food tasting session for the children. They all tasted various Indian foods including curries, onion bhajis, popadoms, naan bread and dips. Some of the children thought the foods were delicious, others, were not so sure !
Year 2 recently visited
Groups then went into the hothouse and planted some vegetable seeds. These were brought back to school where the children to continue to look after them. They also looked carefully at the plants and flowers in the hothouse and used pastels to draw their favourites.
Another activity was an eye-spy hunt around the gardens and everyone found out lots of interesting facts. Did you know there is an underground stream at Wallington? A brilliant day was had by all! Thank you to all the parents and volunteers who gave up their time to support this visit.
Toddler Group continues to run every Friday morning between 9am and 10:30am. Come along and join us for lots of fun as well as various activities, including: painting, playdough, singing, story telling sessions and much more. We offer a range of healthy snacks for the children and coffee and biscuits for the grown ups! Everyone welcome!
Please see below information provided to us which gives you an idea of the impact lateness and missed school days can have, over the course of the academic year, to your child`s education. We hope you find this information useful :
every school day count primary.pdf
Last term 90 pupils achieved 100% attendance, can your child achieve the same ?
We still have some unclaimed raffle prizes from our Christmas Fair. Any prizes not claimed by Thursday 9th February, 2012 will be donated to charity.
Below is the new topic web for the Spring term in year 3:
Our school choir are once again working extremely hard after school, on a Thursday evening, learning new songs, with the help of Chris and Sara Walton, (who give up their time every week), and our own Miss Donkin. Following the success of their performance at Christmas, they will be showing off their talents again on Thursday 9th February, 2012 at 9:30am. We hope parents, family members and friends of the choir can come along and join us.
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Parents evenings will take place on Monday 30th and Tuesday 31st January 2012. Letters will be sent home next week, appointments will be given on a first come, first served basis, so please complete the form and return to your child`s class teacher. Appointments will be available between 3:20pm and 5:50pm. Thank you for your support.
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Just a reminder that we are holding a parents coffee morning between 9am and 10am on Wednesday 18th January, 2012. All welcome!
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Please note, Year 2`s sharing assembly will take place on Friday 27th January, 2012 @ 2:45 pm.
School meals are available, provided by Gateshead School Meals Service. All food is fresh, prepared daily and provides everything your child needs to feed their bodies and minds without compromising quality and choice. The cost of a school meal is £1.90 per day or £9.50 per week. Dinner money should be paid, by either cash or cheque, in a named envelope, on a Monday morning. Menus are available on line at Gateshead Council or in the free Herald & Post newspaper. Please contact the school office if you require further details.
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Below is the new topic web for the Spring term in Reception:
Below is the new topic web for the Spring term in year 6:
Below is the new topic web for the Spring term in year 5:
Below is the new topic web for the Spring term in year 2:
Below is the new topic web for the Spring term in year 1:
Below is the new topic web for the Spring term in Nursery:
A new gymnastics after school club commenced today for children in year one and two. The club is being run by Premier Sport. Spaces were restricted to a maximum of 20 pupils. Due to the high demand, Premier Sport have agreed to run an additional club commencing Thursday 19th January, 2012. At the end of the course, children will receive the British Gymnastics Proficiency Award. New forms will be sent out however places will be given on a first come first served basis. Further information can be obtained at premiersport.org
Attached is the latest edition of our newletter :
On Friday 16th December our school choir performed a selection of songs which they have been practicing at their after school choir club. They did fantastic performances of, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, We wish you a Merry Christmas, So long farewell and Rolling in the Deep. Many thanks to all who supported this; we look forward to their next performance.
Our new topic for the Spring term is 'Journeys'. We will be looking at transport and how we move, as well as many different journey texts within this topic.
Our texts are Goldilocks, The Jolly Postman and We're Going on a Bear Hunt.
We will be carrying out a spring walk, identifying signs of spring in our local environment. During this term we will also be learning about 'Chinese New Year' as this year is the year of the Dragon! We will be making and tasting our own pancakes this half term.
Miss Donkin, Mrs Anderson and all of the nursery children would like to welcome our new children who will be joining our nursery this half term. We hope you have lots of fun with us!
During autumn the nursery worked very hard to learn all about the Christmas story, sing lots of new songs and produce a fantastic nativity. Miss Donkin and Mrs Anderson were so proud of all of the children and would like to thank the parents for their support over such a busy term.
On Thursday 8th December our nursery held their Holly Hop In session. We invited our parents/guardians into nursery to join in festive art and craft activities. We made wooden spoon puppets, snowman soup, door hangers, decorated biscuits and lots more. We even had a visit from Santa!
We celebrated 'Children in Need' at nursery by having a pyjama day! We had a special snack time, made bandages for our teddy bears and decorated spotty cakes!
It was lots of fun and we raised lots of money towards this event. 
During the second half of the autumn term we made our very own memory boxes at nursery. We had to fill them with special memories to share with our teachers and friends at nursery. Some of us put our favourite toy in the box, a special object or a photograph of someone special to us. This was fun and we learnt lots about each other. 
On Tuesday 8th November we learnt all about 'Road Safety'. We sorted out pictures to understand what belongs on the pavements and what belongs on the roads.
We even practiced how to walk safely near a road.
Remember it is important to 'Be Bright at Night!' to help us stay safe !
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On Wednesday 2nd November we had a visit from the dental nurse. She told us about good and bad foods for our teeth. We learnt how to take care of our teeth and how to brush our teeth properly. We even met Magic the dragon, who let us brush his teeth too!
On Tuesday 11th October we had a visit from Bob the builder in our nursery!
Bob came in to talk to us about how to look after our wildlife in the autumn. He explained that during autumn, birds are looking for a nice place, or box to nest in for the spring. We thought it would be a fantastic idea to make bird boxes to put up in our outdoor area, and around the school grounds to help the birds.
Bob showed us all of his tools. He carefully explained how dangerous some of these tools could be so we used our eyes to look at them. We watched Bob saw the wood for the bird box, and then we helped him to put it together. We counted out the nails and then hammered them into the wood. We used the drill to put the screws into the lid, and we even glued a little stand onto the outside for the birds. When we felt the box it was rough and might hurt the birds, so we had to sand it down with sandpaper and brush off all of the wood chips.
We had lots of fun making our bird boxes! Can you find where we have hung them in our outdoor area and around the school?
We hope to see Bob again soon!!
On Monday 26th September we went on an autumn walk around out school. We looked carefully at our surroundings and how they were beginning to change. We enjoyed collecting signs of autumn using magnifying glasses and small baskets. When we returned to the nursery we looked at what we had found. Miss Donkin had also set us a challenge to find signs of autumn outside of school with our parents. We found lots of different objects, such as twigs, acorns, pinecones, conkers, and leaves. We put all of the different objects into our areas in the nursery. We used our senses to investigate the signs of autumn we had found and even made autumn pictures!
It`s been a very busy week at school this week with many of you showing your support at the Christmas Performances, and the musical celebration assembly, we hope you enjoyed them as much as we did. We also managed to fit in Christmas parties and a school disco! The excitement for the children grew again today with the arrival of the snow!
We would like to thank you for all your support this term and take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
School returns on Tuesday 3rd January, 2012.
Huge thanks to everybody who came along and supported our Christmas Fair on Saturday. It was a huge success with lots of money raised, we will let you know the final total later in the week!
Congratulations to the following people:
`Name the Teddy` was won by Aimee Watson in Reception
`Where am I?` was won by Lewis Moulding in Nursery and
`Guess the number of sweets in the jar` was won by Jack Ellis in Year 4
Prizes are at the main office ready to collect. Well done to all!
As part of the Christmas festivities, Miss Donkin and Mrs Anderson would like to invite parents/carers of our Nursery children into school on Thursday 8th December. Due to the number of parents involved the day will be organised into 45 minute time slots. Please speak with Miss Donkin to book your slot. We anticipate this will be a popular event so please sign up quickly as places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
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As you may know some of our children take part in choir practice and guitar, violin and keyboard lessons during their lunch break or after school. On Friday 16th December at 9:00am we would like to invite the parents/carers of these children along to school to enjoy a festive `sing a long` and to listen to some of the songs and music their children have been learning this term. Children involved in this will bringing home a letter this week.
On Thursday 8th December, 2011, children from both our reception classes will be taking part in a visit to Whitehouse Farm where they will visit Santa and take part in lots of fun activities including a tractor ride, writing letters to Santa, as well as seeing the animals. Please ensure your child wears suitable footwear and a warm coat. Below is the letter sent home giving full details together with a permission slip for you to sign:
Rec trip 8th Dec 2011.doc
This year, school Christmas dinner will be on Wednesday 7th December
2011. This will be a traditional dinner, including crackers. A vegetarian option will also be available.
A letter has been sent home tonight with your child, if they would like to stay stay for lunch that day, please complete and return the slip on the bottom of the letter.
Forms must be returned no later than Monday 28th November.
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Below is the letter sent home with all pupils today regarding industrial action due to take place on Wednesday 30th November. We will keep you up to date with any further information as and when we receive it :
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I am delighted to tell you that thanks to your generosity we raised £329.46 which has been donated to Children in Need.
Thank you all for your support.
Thank you to everyone who took part in the `guess the weight` competition. The Pudsey Bear cake weighed in at 815 grams. Well done to Nadine Pringle. We hope you enjoy your cake !
Many thanks to Debbie Stobbs and Elaine Pearson for arranging such a fun afternoon. The "bake off" has been under way all afternoon with lots of children having the opportunity to make cakes/biscuits. We hope those children who haven`t yet helped will get the chance tomorrow to ice and decorate them. Thank you to those parents who gave up their valuable time this afternoon to help the children, and of course those of you who donated ingredients - it couldn`t have happened without your generosity!
Big thanks must also go to Julie Wright who kindly made and donated a Pudsey Bear cake. Tomorrow at the cake sale you will have the chance to win the cake in our "guess the weight" competition. Come and have a try for only 20p.
We will let you know the final amount raised next week. Thank you again for your support.
We have a range of after school activities currently running as follows :
Monday 3:30pm - 4:30pm - Taekwondo with Master Brian Bell. For further details please see www.taekwondotigers.co.uk or call 0191 4220521.
Tuesday 3:20pm - 4:20pm - Gymnastics with Premier Sport.
Wednesday 3:20pm - 4:20 pm - Keyboard Tuition with Mr Nicholson. More information can be obtained from the school office.
Thursday 3:20pm - 4:20pm - Choir practice.
Thursday 3:20pm - 4:20pm - Gymnastics with Premier Sport.
Mr Nicholson also offers Guitar lessons during lunch time, on Wednesday for beginners, and Thursday for advanced lessons. More information is available from the school office.
We are holding a Coffee Morning for parents / carers on Thursday 24th November at 9:00am. This will give you a chance to meet some of our Governors as well as Mrs Stephenson. The focus this term will be around homework so if you have any views regarding this please come along and share them with us. We look forward to seeing you there.
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It has been fantastic to see the huge number of parents and carers attending our Toddler group on Friday mornings. The group runs from 9am - 10.30am in the school hall. The children can play, sing songs, listen to a story and many other fun things, whilst parents and carers can have a chat and a cup of tea/coffee. Please come and join us if you can.
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As part of the Christmas celebrations, children in year 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be visiting Northern Stage for a performance of `The Glass Slipper`. The visit will take place during the school day on Tuesday 29th November, a letter will be sent out later this week with all the details, this visit is being funded by school so no contribution is required, however, please sign the permission slip so that your child can participate.
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Our Christmas Fair takes place on Saturday 3rd December, 2011 between 10:00am and 12:00 noon. There will be a variety of stalls, raffles, face painting etc, with all proceeds going to our school fund, from which all children will benefit.
We would be very grateful for any donations to this cause :
Foundation stage : bottles, eg pop, squash, wine, sauce
Year 1 & 2 : toiletries and un-used gifts
Year 3 & 4 : treat / fun size sweets
Year 5 & 6 : cakes and biscuits
We are also having a children`s book stall so would greatly appreciate any donations of childrens books.
Image by Julep67 via Flickr
Following the recent launch of our Reading Reward Scheme, children have brought photographs in showing them reading in unusual places. Some of these are now displayed in the main entrance. There have been some fantastic ideas! Please keep the photographs coming in to show in school. If you prefer, you may email photographs to me suewood@gateshead.gov.uk and I can print them off in school for you.
![Reading[Day12]*](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/355369679_236316a33f_m.jpg)
Image by Chapendra via Flickr
As part of their topic this term Year 2 will be visiting Newcastle Safety Works later this month. Below is a copy of the letter you will be receiving shortly giving details of the trip.
Below is a copy of the letter sent home with children today :
Please note there was an error on the recent Newsletter regarding Christmas parties for our Nursery children. Below you can access the letter sent out today giving the correct information. Apologies for any inconvenience caused :Nursery christmas party.doc
Once again we are taking part in the annual fundraising day for Children in Need on Friday 18th November, 2011. This will be a non-uniform day and we will be selling cakes made by the children, with a little help from some grown ups too ! Attached is the letter detailing how you can help :
On Monday 7th November, 2011 our Year 4 pupils will be visiting the City Learning Centre. Here you will find details of the trip and the permission letter :
As part of their topic Year 4 are taking part in an educational visit. Details and permission letter for the Year 4 trip to The George Stephenson Railway Museum can be found below:
Details of our Year 2 trip to the Baltic and St Mary`s Heritage Centre can be found on the letter as follows:
Attached is a uniform order form/price list for your information. Forms should be completed and handed into the school office with cash or cheque made payable to Harlow Green Community Primary School :
A huge thank you to everyone who supported the Speedmark challenge which took place recently. The children had a fantastic time and sponsorship money raised totalled £3,631.50. As we receive 50% of the total raised this means a whopping £1,815.75 has been raised towards our school funds. The orders have been placed and the prizes will be given out as soon as we receive them from Speedmark. Thank you again for your generosity and support.
Following the success of our healthy tuck shop in the past, we will be starting this again from Monday 31st October, 2011.
It will run as before with each class having an allocated morning slot:
Monday morning : Reception pupils
Tuesday morning: Key stage 1 pupils (Year 1 & 2)
Wednesday morning: Lower key stage 2 pupils (Year 3 & 4)
Thursday morning: Upper key stage 2 pupils (Year 5 & 6)
Mrs Knox`s class were overall winners of the Year 4 Sports Event. As a reward, the children in Mrs Knox`s class have chosen to spend Thursday afternoon (20th Oct 2011) having a pyjama party! Children will change into their pyjamas after lunch so should come into school in uniform as usual.
Children can bring pyjamas, slippers, dressing gown, a small pillow and a blanket (no sleeping bags or duvets please!) They may also bring a healthy snack if they wish and can share this with others.
Well done!
Two of our school council members, Eleanor Sherwood and Neve Caithness, attended the Full Governing Body meeting held on 12th October 2011. They explained to the Governors what they and the other members of the school council have planned for the term. Many thanks to Eleanor and Neve for giving up their time to attend. Well done girls !
Summer break Monday 23rd July 2012 - Friday 31st August 2012
Half term Monday 29th October 2012 - Friday 2nd November 2012
Christmas break Monday 24th December 2012 - Friday 4th January 2013
Half term Monday 18th February 2013 - Friday 22nd February 2013
Easter break Friday 29th March 2013 - Friday 12th April 2013
Half term Monday 27th May 2013 - Friday 1st June 2013
Summer break Monday 22nd July 2013 - Friday 30th August 2013
Autumn term From Mon 5th Sept 2011 to Fri 16th Dec 2011
Half term 24th - 28th Oct 2011
Please note Friday 21st Oct is an Inset Day - school closed to all pupils
Spring term From Tues 3rd Jan 2012 to Fri 30th Mar 2012
Half term 13th - 17th Feb 2012
Summer term From Mon 16th April 2012 to Fri 20th July 2012
Half term 4th - 8th June (including 2 Bank Holidays 4th & 5th)
Payment envelopes are available to purchase from the school office at a cost of £3.00 for a pack of 50 envelopes.
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