Dear Parent/Carer,

School Disco

Lets start the New year with a School Disco!

The Children’s Disco is on Friday 13^th January 2023

Reception & KS1:            4:45m to 5.45 pm

KS2:                                  6.00pm to 7.00pm          

 Entry is £4 per child

 Children will not need to bring any money.  Treats and drinks will be provided.

 Payment

Please pay for Disco entry in advance on ParentPay.  We will not be issuing tickets – we will print off a list of children who have paid for our Register.

There will be free entry for children eligible for benefits related Free School Meals.  Parents do not need to book in, these children are able to turn up on the night.

If your EYFS/KS1 child attends and pays for After School Club on a Friday, these children will be taken to the Disco by Miss Gregory and can be collected at 5:45pm by parents.

On the night – Arrival

Due to numbers and staff safely supervising the disco, parents are not able to attend.  For both Discos children should enter via the KS2 double doors.  Please drop your children off here.  We will have staff on hand to take in the youngest children and dance with them.  Once inside children will line up into year groups in the corridor and be checked off on the register before entering the Disco.  We have lots of Reception and KS1 staff attending to dance with the younger children and will have a chill out calm zone available too.

 On the night – Collection

Please come into school and collect your child from the school hall.  This will be very busy and congested with two-way traffic so please be patient.  Senior Staff will be on the doors to ensure every child leaves with a known adult. (family member, friend or parent)

Can you help?

We rely on the wonderful support of our parent community to help stage these events.  The Disco is a lot of fun for the children and requires lots of volunteers to help with refreshments and supervise key areas.  If you are able to help out at 1 or both Discos, please sign up on the Volunteer Rota in the foyer area or let the office know.

Kind Regards,

Miss Othen

Business Manager

Dear Parent/Carers,

Well what a week it’s been!  The children have done magnificently in their Nativity and Christmas Shows, we are so proud of them all.  It felt absolutely magical to hear all the children singing together in church and all credit to the children for their commitment.  It takes an awful lot of focus to be part of such a big show, for practising the songs in the run up, to rehearsals and finally performing to 3-4 different audiences.  A huge thank you to our Music Teacher Mrs Porrett who pulled out all the stops and to you all for coming along to watch.

GRAND HAMPER RAFFLE

Thank you for your generosity and hamper donations, we raised £900 to purchase lots of exciting resources for the children.

ELFRIDGES

Next week the children will visit ‘Elfridges’ in school time.  The Coach House has been transformed into the ‘Elves’ Grotto where children can shop for Christmas Gifts for loved ones and family.  Every child in school will visit and there will be a selection of gifts for all the family (sorry no pets this year).

Children love this experience and it is lovely to see them choosing gifts for members of their family.  It teaches the children the value of kindness and giving gifts rather than receiving them.

Gifts cost £2.50 each and can be purchased over the weekend on Parent Pay via your child’s account.  (The cost includes the gift, wrapping and a small donation to school.) You may purchase 1 or more gifts if you wish and we will have a class register recording the number of gifts purchased for each child.

It is important to us that every child in school is included in this experience and enjoys the Grotto visit.  We ask that if you are able to purchase a gift for your child, then please support this school event.  If not, please don’t worry we will ensure every child takes a gift home.

We really couldn’t do this without your support, so thank you!

PANTOMIME

Next Tuesday 13^th December EYFS, Years 1 & 2 will be visiting Theatre Severn to watch Beauty and the Beast show, finishing at 4:30pm.  Coaches are booked to bring the children back to school for approximately 5:15pm.  It will be dark and we need to release the children safely after they have collected their belongings from the classrooms so please do not wait on the pavement for the coaches to arrive.  We will open the front school gate and you should collect your children from outside Badgers & Foxes Classrooms or the playground where you would normally pick them up from.  Please be mindful of the traffic situation at this time outside the front of school with large coaches trying to exit, if you are able to walk to collect your child then please do so.

CHRISTMAS LUNCH

Our School Christmas Lunch will take place next Wednesday.  We’ll have an extra long lunch time so we can all enjoy a festive meal together, both staff and children.  This will be a NON-UNIFORM DAY and the children are free to wear whatever clothes they choose from home.  It will be School Uniform for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday although a spot of tinsel and Christmas hat can jazz this up!

Please see the menu below:

School Trips

Tuesday-Year 6 Liverpool Trip

Arrival at school: 7:50am

Collection: 4:00pm by Parent/Carer

School Uniform & Packed Lunch required

Thursday-Year 5 :Lions Synagogue Tripam

Arrival Time: 8:15am

Collection: Normal time

School Uniform & Packed Lunch required

Staff Christmas Video

As our gift to the children, we have for the third year running, produced a Christmas Song which will be released next week!  We are very excited about showing this to you as we had lots of fun making it.

Finally, have a super weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday morning for our last week of school in 2022.

Best Regards,

Mr Larkham

Headteacher

Dear Parent/Carer,

Health Information

There are a small number of confirmed cases of scarlet fever at Coleham.

Although scarlet fever is usually a mild illness, it should be treated with antibiotics to minimise the risk of complications and reduce the spread to others.

The symptoms of scarlet fever include:

• the first symptoms of scarlet fever often include a sore throat, headache, fever, nausea and vomiting.
• after 12 to 48 hours the characteristic fine red rash develops (if you touch it, it feels like sandpaper). Typically, it first appears on the chest and stomach, rapidly spreading to other parts of the body. On more darkly-pigmented skin, the rash may be harder to spot, although the ‘sandpaper’ feel should be present
• fever over 38.3º C (101º F) or higher is common
• white coating on the tongue, which peels a few days later, leaving the tongue looking red and swollen (known as ‘strawberry tongue’)
• swollen glands in the neck
• feeling tired and unwell
• flushed red face, but pale around the mouth. The flushed face may appear more ‘sunburnt’ on darker skin
• peeling skin on the fingertips, toes and groin area, as the rash fades.

Lots of these symptoms are similar to general illness and viruses but the ‘rough rash’ and ‘strawberry tongue’ are specific to Scarlet Fever.

If you think you, or your child may have scarlet fever the advice from Public Health states:

• see your GP or contact NHS 111 as soon as possible
• make sure that you/your child takes the full course of any antibiotics prescribed by the doctor.
• stay at home for 24 hours after starting the antibiotic treatment, to avoid spreading the infection.

Complications

Children who have had chickenpox recently are more likely to develop more serious infection during an outbreak of scarlet fever and so parents should remain vigilant for symptoms such as:

• a persistent high fever,
• cellulitis (skin infection)
• arthritis (joint pain and swelling).

If you are concerned for any reason please seek medical assistance immediately.

If your child has an underlying condition which affects their immune system, you should contact your GP or hospital doctor to discuss whether any additional measures are needed.

Please be assured that we are following Public Health guidance and have introduced extra hygiene measures at this time.

Yours sincerely,

Claire Jones

Headteacher

Extra Resources:

Public Health Scarlet_fever_symptoms_diagnosis_and_treatment

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/scarlet-fever/

Scarlet Fever fact sheet

Dear Parent/Carers,

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas in school.  The children have made some beautiful decorations out of recycled materials and staff have decorated the school so it looks and feels special for the children.  See a sneak peak of staff ‘Decking the halls’ here:

In-between making Christmas decorations and practising for their Christmas nativities, the children have been busy with assessment in maths and reading – the data from these assessments will help teachers plan the learning over the next term to be more targeted for the children’s individual needs.  Well done to all the children for working so incredibly hard and taking everything in their stride.

GRAND HAMPER RAFFLE

Thank you for your generosity in donating treats for our Hamper Raffle! The Hampers look great! Our raffle ends tonight at 8pm and we’ve sold 928 tickets so far: will we reach £1000? You may purchase any last-minute tickets here:

https://raffall.com/273091/enter-raffle-to-win-grand-hamper-raffle-hosted-by-tracy-othen

CHRISTMAS PERFORMANCES

Our EYFS/KS1 Nativity and KS2 Nativity concerts are always a very special occasion for us all.  The singing in school sounds incredible and you will be in for a real treat!  Bring your tissues as it’s always emotional when we all come together at this time of year.  The performance times for parents are as follows:

Performances at Holy Trinity Church

• Monday (05/12/22) 1330-1430: Performance for EYFS parents
• Tuesday (06/12/22) 1000-1100: Performance for Year 1 parents
• Tuesday (06/12/22) 1330-1430: Performance for Year 2 parents
• Thursday (08/12/22) 1000-1130: Performance for Year 3 parents
• Thursday (08/12/22) 1330-1500: Performance for Year 4 parents
• Friday (09/12/22) 1000-1130: Performance for Year 5 parents
• Friday (09/12/22) 1330-1500: Performance for Year 6 parents

Guidance

• Please be kind and only attend your child’s nativity
• Please aim to attend the performance set aside for your child’s year group.
• For those wishing to see siblings, you may be able to see them all in one EYFS/KS1’s nativity (Monday and Tuesday) includes EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 in the same show.  KS2’s Nativity (Thursday and Friday) has Years 3, 4, 5 & 6 in the same show.
• Those of you with a child in each Key Stage can, of course, see both shows
• The KS2 children will be performing all around the church and in the aisles, so every seat in church will have a good view, including those at the very back of the church.

Arriving early

• The doors to the church will open 10 minutes before each performance.
• Please do not arrive early for a good seat. The doors will not be opened early and there is not a lot of room to wait outside the hall.  We need to escort all the children in beforehand through the same entrance and allowing parents in early often causes problems for the children when getting ready.
• There will be teas and coffees on offer for those waiting to enter the church

Photography

• You are, of course, allowed to take photographs of your children performing.
• Please do not, however, post these on social media as you may have other children in your photos.

Church donations

• Holy Trinity are finding it extremely difficult to fund the church running costs this year as the cost of energy rockets. We are incredibly grateful to them for allowing us to use the church again this year, despite the difficulties they are facing.  As well as heating and electricity costs, they also have a leaking roof, so we are asking that parents kindly make donations on the day they visit as a way to say thank you to the wonderful people at Holy Trinity Church.

ELFRIDGES

Today we are launching payments for Elfridges.  As a festive treat for the last week of term we will be running ‘Elfridges’ in school time.  The Coach House will be decorated and transformed into the Elves’ Grotto where children can shop for Christmas Gifts for loved ones and family.  Every child in school will visit and there will be a selection of gifts for all the family (sorry no pets this year).

Children love this experience and it is lovely to see them choosing gifts for members of their family.  It teaches the children the value of kindness and giving gifts rather than receiving them and is also a school fundraiser raising money for equipment and author visits.

Please see the video produced by some cheeky elves!

https://youtu.be/msTJphqew70

Gifts cost £2.50 each and can be purchased on Parent Pay via your child’s account.  (The cost includes the gift, wrapping and a small donation to school.)  Please purchase these next week so we have an indication of numbers and are ready to open the Grotto on Monday 12^th December.  You may purchase 1 or more gifts if you wish and we will have a class register recording the number of gifts purchased for each child.

It is important to us that every child in school is included in this experience and enjoys the Grotto visit.  We ask that if you are able to purchase a gift for your child, then please support this school event.  If not, please don’t worry we will ensure every child takes a gift home.

We really couldn’t do this without your support, so thank you!

All that remains for me to say is, have a lovely weekend whatever you are up too and we all look forward to seeing you in Church next week.

Your sincerely,

Mr T Larkham

Headteacher