Burford School

 

Marlow Bottom  Marlow  Buckinghamshire   SL7 3PQ

T:  01628 486655   F: 01628 898103

E:  office@burfordschool.co.uk

W: www.burfordschool.co.uk

Headteacher: Karol Whittington  M.A., B.Ed. Hons

 

Newsletter - 18^th January 2008

 

Dear Parents/Friends/Guardians

                                                                            

 

 

Welcome back to a New Year at Burford School. Once again, we hope for a year full of achievement, enjoyment and success for all. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all on behalf of the staff at the school for your cards, presents and good wishes at the end of last term. We are looking forward to many established and new activities this term, and throughout 2008. We hope that you will be able to join us for many of our events – your support and encouragement are warmly appreciated by all who work at the school – and vital to the success of the pupils.

 

 

Staffing

We would like to welcome our new staff to Burford this term. Mrs O’Sullivan, Oak class (Y1), Miss Hicks,  Elm class (Y2), Miss Murrell, Cherry class (Y4), Miss Loveridge, Juniper class (Y5) and Miss Steel, Hawthorn class (Y6). We also welcome Mrs Jo Howarth who will be working in the school office on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.

 

 

Thank you from Mrs Chadwick

School has been back a week and at the moment I still feel like I am on holiday. It is a very good feeling but I cannot help around lunchtime thinking about what the children will be doing that day. I wanted to say a huge thank you to you all for the wonderful send off you gave me. It was very heart warming that so many people sort me out to say goodbye.

 

The presents that I was given were fantastic. I shall really enjoy playing with the camcorder. It could be my new career! My lovely class in Year 4, the Cherries, gave me an amazing present and one that I shall enjoy for quite some time. The theatre vouchers were an inspiration so thank you all very much. Not forgetting all the other children from other areas of the school who were so very kind giving me such lovely gifts. Thank you.

 

Burford is a very special place because of the super children and the dedicated staff who teach and care for them. Thank you Burford for everything, I shall always have a place in my heart just for you.

 

Best Wishes for the Future

Sylvia Chadwick

 

 

Lost Property

There still seems to be a large amount of lost property left in school at the end of each week. If your child has lost an item, please feel free to come and look in the school hall on Friday 25^th January between 2.30 and 4.00pm. After this date it will be taken to the charity shop. I would advise checking that ALL items are named in future. Thank you for your co-operation.

 

 

Reading Books

As I am sure you are all aware, we are developing a new individual reading scheme for the children across the school by combining existing books from both Key Stages.  This will enable the children to access books at their individual level and to develop an enjoyment of reading from a range of scheme and ‘real’ books, be they non-fiction, fiction, poetry or plays.  At the moment the scheme is in its infancy and we would like to develop it to include a broader range of genres within each level.  We would therefore gratefully receive any donations of books that are in good condition – in particular modern authors of more challenging fiction such as JK Rowling, Anthony Horowitz, Philip Pullman or Terry Pratchett, or poetry books at all levels!  Please leave any donations with the office staff so they can be included in our scheme.  Many thanks for your support!

Mrs Williams

 

 

ROH Visit

The children from Y4 & Y5 had a wonderful afternoon yesterday at The Royal Opera House. They saw the ballet ‘Sylvia’ and found it a superb experience. They were all extremely well behaved and a credit to the school.

 

 

 

Art Display

We are looking for some old curtains to use as display boards in the hall. If anyone has any large old curtains they no longer need we would be very grateful for them!

 

 

 

 

 

 Safety issues around school from your School Travel Planning Committee

 

We want to point out  a few safety issues regarding cars and your children's safety.

 

 

1. Unfortunately there are still drivers who insist on parking on the pavements / curbs and opposite the zig-zag lines. Similarly, there are others who continue to turn their vehicles around in residents’ driveways, Squirrel Rise/Kingsley Drive and Burford Close at drop off / pick up times. Not only are you breaking the Driver's Code of Conduct, but you are also endangering the children of Burford and Marlow Bottom. Please be more considerate about where you park/turn when you are within the vicinity of school.

2. We have asked BCC to consider extending the zig-zag lines in order to improve visibility around the school entrance gates. BCC, however, have confirmed that we cannot officially extend our zig-zags any further! However, despite this, we feel that better visibility from the school gates towards St Mary’s Church, is still required to help improve the safety of our children walking to and from school. As a temporary measure, we are politely asking you not to park in the first space from the school towards St Mary’s (in front of 133/135 Marlow Bottom) – We feel that the extra visibility would improve safety no end. We will review this in the New Year.

3. We have issued our Annual Travel Survey this week. We would be pleased if you could fill it in and return it to us as soon as possible, together with suggestions for further safety ideas we can incorporate into our travel plan in the future.

 

On a positive note, we did receive a comment from one of our neighbours on Highwoods Drive, last week, who said that parents dropping children off at school (and picking up) were very considerate where parking was concerned and did not block the roadway for ambulance access, or driveways!

The School Travel Planning Committee.

 

 

School Crossing Patrol

Mrs Humphreys and Mr Watts, our School Crossing Patrol, would also like to remind parents that for the safety of the children they should not park on zigzag lines as well as opposite when dropping off or picking up pupils.

 

 

 

 

Telephones

Apologies to those of you who tried to phone the school last week on Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday! The phone lines were down and BT couldn’t fix it until Wednesday. Unfortunately it sounded like the phones were ringing but we couldn’t hear them at our end!

 

 

 

 

 

New or amended dates in bold

 

Dates for your Diary

 

 

2008

Tuesday 22^nd January                 Y3 Vikings Day

Tuesday 22^nd January                 FOB

Monday 28^th January                  Y6 to Tutenkamun exhibition

Monday 4^th February                  NFER tests Y3 – Y5

Tuesday 12^th February                FOB

Friday 15^th February                   School closes for half-term 3.15pm

Monday 25^th February                 School opens after half-term 8.45am

Monday 3^rd March                       Parents Evening 4.00 – 7.00

Thursday 6^th March                    Parents Evening 4.00 – 7.00

Monday 17^th March                     FOB

Friday 21^st March                       Good Friday

Monday 24^th March                     Easter Monday

Friday 4^th April                           The ‘B’ Factor

                                                School closes for end of term

Monday 21^st April                       Staff Training Day

Tuesday 22^nd April                      School opens for summer term 8.45

Thursday 24^th April                     FOB AGM

Monday 28^th April                       Y5 trip to Osmington Bay

Friday 2^nd May                           Children return from Osmington Bay

Tuesday 6^h May                         SATs week Y3 -Y5

Thursday 8^th May                       FOB

Monday 12^th May                        SATs weekY6

Saturday 17^th May                      FOB Ball

Monday 19^th May                        Yorkshire trip Y6

Friday 23^rd May                          School closes for half-term 3.15

Saturday 24^h May                       Children return from Yorkshire trip

Monday 2^nd June                        Yorkshire Trip Y6

                                                School opens after half-term 8.45pm

Saturday 7^th June                       Children return from Yorkshire trip

Monday 9^th June                         FOB

Wednesday 18^th June                  KS1 sports day 9.30 – 11.00

Thursday 19^th June                     KS2 sports day 9.30 – 12.00

                                                11+ meeting for Y5 parents

Monday 23^rd June                   Creativity Week

Wednesday 25^th June                  KS1 Reserve Sports Day

Thursday 26^th June                     KS2 Reserve Sports Day

Monday 30^th June                       New Reception Parents meeting

Tuesday 1^st July                         Secondary induction day/new class visits

Wednesday 2^nd July                    KS1 Reserve Reserve Sports Day

Thursday 3^rd July                        KS2 Reserve Reserve Sports Day

                                                Summer Music Concert 7.00pm

Friday 4^th July                            Staff Training Day

Thursday 10^th July                      Open evening 6.00pm

Friday 11^th July                          Reports go out

Monday 14^th July                        FOB

Tuesday 15^th July                       Wycombe Swan Concert

Wednesday 16^th July                   Lower KS2 Concert pm

Thursday 17^th July                      Lower KS2 Concert pm

Friday 18^th July                          Y6 Leavers Assembly for School and Y6 Parents 9.30am

Monday 21^st July                        Tea Party for parent helpers PM

Wednesday 23rd July                 End of term – school closes for summer

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Mrs. K Whittington

Headteacher

 

 

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