A Happy new year to you all.

We hope that you enjoyed sharing Christmas activities with us, the Christmas Fair, sharing of Christmas music and the end of term service. Thank you for your gifts for N.S.P.C.C.; a cheque for £152.76 has been sent to them. The children also enjoyed entertainment in school and parties. There seems to have been a lot of illness over the holiday but hopefully this cold weather will kill many of the germs.

Lost Property

We acquire an amazing amount of lost property and it causes us a big problem in storage. Current lost property will be on display on Monday 13th January from 3.00 p.m. in the hall. Any not claimed will be disposed of appropriately. After that we will display lost property each Friday morning as the children leave assembly and unclaimed items will be disposed of on a more regular basis.

Please help us to reduce this problem by naming all property clearly.

Prayer Group

A group meets regularly to pray for the school. Next meetings are on Wednesday 15th January and Wednesday 12th February at 1.45 p.m.

Please contact David or Julia Thompson (2402036) for venues and more details. All are welcome, including pre-school children.

Outdoor Coats

It seems that a number of children are coming to school by car and not bringing an outdoor coat to school. On dry days children are outside for 15 minutes each morning and much of the 1-hour lunch break. Key Stage 1 children are also out for 15 minutes each afternoon. It is essential that they have coats for this time, rather than just a fleece.

Pancake Pandemonium

Following the success of last year's charity fund event, we have decided to toss (and eat) our pancakes this year in aid of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Appeal on Shrove Tuesday which is Tuesday 4 March. More details nearer the time.

Filming and Photography

Late in the term we received guidance about the filming and photography of school events about which there has been much bad publicity recently. We have always allowed filming throughout a performance and flash photography at the end when children's performance and safety are not affected by the flashes. This is acceptable, but we are asked to warn parents not to make these images available over the internet. School has, in the past, considered the possibility of recording a performance and making copies available to parents. This is no longer acceptable according to the Data Protection Act.

Whenever the press attends a school event, we only allow close up shots of individuals, and the publication of names with parents' permission. Parents who would not wish their child to be in any press photo, however small, should let us know.

School Photographs

As you know, we changed the school photographer this year. The process was considerably easier for us to administer in school but we would like to hear your views about quality, value for money and efficiency. Please let Mrs Davies or office staff know your views.

SATs

All classes from year 2 upwards will be taking SATs papers after Easter. Children in year 2 will do written activities on a variety of days from Easter onwards. Key Stage 2 children will have their papers in the week beginning Monday 12th May. The year 6 papers are statutory and dates cannot be changed.

For those parents who wish to find out more about the assessment framework and the SATs papers, there is a meeting on Tuesday 25 February at 7.30 p.m. to give more details. We strongly recommend that parents of children in years 2 and 6 who are new to SATs come to this meeting so that you can support your child

For parents of current year 5 children:- an early notification that statutory Key Stage 2 SATs for 2004 will be week beginning Monday 10th May 2004.

Sports Clubs

There is no White Rose Soccer this term. However, there will be soccer training on Mondays for the year 5/6 squad in the hall from 3.15-4.15 p.m. starting on Monday 13 January. Basket ball on Wednesday evenings has already started.