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Whole School Letter 20.07.17
Thu 20 Jul 2017Thursday 20th July 2017
Dear Parents,
As the academic year draws to a close here at Cropthorne-with-Charlton CE First I wish to thank all of the efforts of everyone who has worked together this year to make our school the best place it can possibly be for our pupils. Our dedicated staff and governors have worked ceaselessly over the course of this year and I know that those efforts are appreciated by our whole school community. I know that all the staff have very much appreciated the warm wishes and many thanks received over the past few days as we approach the end of term. I would also like to thank our parents, including of course our fabulous PTFA, for your support over the past year. Finally, of course, we thank our pupils for showing their endeavour, positivity and enthusiasm for their learning every day.
As ever it has been an eventful last few weeks with children taking part in their transition sessions, Lego Workshops, and our Cross Country event at the Sheppey. Our Year Five pupils in particular have enjoyed their final weeks at Cropthorne with a range of celebration and transition activities such as their visit to Aztec Watersports, the ‘Main Games’ event at Fladbury, and their Leavers’ Assembly and Barbeque. Again many thanks to our PTFA who worked tirelessly in the heat to help make the Barbeque a memorable send off for our Year Five children.
Over the holiday period the children have been invited to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge by becoming ‘Animal Agents’ and have been asked to support Leukaemia Care by collecting postage stamps. Further details have been outlined in our weekly class letters and I look forward to celebrating much success and endeavour with both projects when we return in September.
We have concluded our academic year with a wonderful service in the beautiful setting of the Chapel at Holland House led by Reverend Ian Spencer, where we were also able to take time to reflect upon moving on, as the children say farewell to their former classes, look forward to new opportunities and wish our Year Five Leavers the very best for their future lives.
School will reopen for all children on Tuesday 5th September. Until then, on behalf of everyone here at Cropthorne with Charlton CE First School I would like to wish you a wonderful summer holiday.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Bothma
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Whole School Letter 07.04.17
Fri 07 Apr 2017Friday 7th April 2017
Dear Parents,
It has been a long and busy term for all of the children which has been filled with amazing successes and many wonderful learning experiences. I know many of you were able to join us for our performances of ‘What a Knight!’ at Number 8 last week and were as proud of the children as we were. They put on two extremely enjoyable performances and I know they were delighted to receive all the positive comments about how well they performed in both of the shows. We are fortunate to have such talented children at this school and are committed to providing them with the chance to let their talents shine by providing the children with these opportunities. Of course, as always, there was also a huge amount of hard work going on behind the scenes too resulting in those superb costumes, props, musical accompaniments and memorable dances. I wish to thank all the staff and volunteers who helped with the production in supporting the children to achieve so successfully.
PTFA
The school’s PTFA have also been working extremely hard too. They were busy selling raffle tickets at Number 8 and put on a great Fashion Show recently. I am sure if you asked the children if they enjoy working on their new laptops or playing in the Pirate Ship area on the playground they would give a resounding ‘Yes’! It is important to remember that both these improvements were made possible as a result of the PTFA’s fundraising efforts. If you think you would be able to support the PTFA in any way, large or small, please see Sue Kelly or Joy Haywood who would really welcome any help you may be able to offer. We thank all of the PTFA for their on-going efforts.
The Walkabout
The annual Cropthorne Walkabout will be taking place during the Bank Holiday Weekend shortly after we return following the Easter break. We would like to congratulate Adi Clive and Alfie Freeman who won prizes for their excellent Walkabout poster designs. These will be used to advertise the Walkabout in the local area, so be on the lookout for them appearing near you! School will be open for tea and coffee on Sunday 30th April from 1pm-4pm. School will also be open on Monday 1st May from 12pm – 4pm with stalls and a variety of refreshments available. This year, a choir led by Mrs Komor will be singing at St Michael’s Church at 1pm before the traditional Maypole Dance takes place on the school playground at 2pm. We look forward to seeing you there.
Parking
Sadly we have received complaints from our neighbours recently about some very inconsiderate parking from a small minority of drivers. Please remember that there should be no parking on the yellow zig-zags and to park responsibly at all times.
Cropthorne Plus
As you are aware we are extending our wrap-around care until 4.15pm following the Easter break. Please contact Mrs Evans in order to secure a place. As we will now have pupils on site every day after school we will need to lock the school gates at 3.20pm. All after-school collections will now take place from the back gate.
A wonderful week…
It has been a busy final week in school which saw Year 1 enjoying a sports workshop afternoon at the Sheppey, Cats class attending the Duck Race at Charlton, the Chimps heading off to Berkeley Castle, and a superb Piano Concert taking place too! The Year 4&5 football team are also representing the school at a tournament in Evesham on the final afternoon! Again we are so pleased to be able offer these opportunities to our pupils and wish to say thank you to all the parents who support us in doing so. We would also like to thank all of our parents who support pupils’ learning through listening to them read regularly and supporting them with homework when required. It is crucially important and appreciated by all the staff at Cropthorne who endeavour to ensure our pupils achieve the best possible start in life.
Finally I hope that all of our pupils and families are able to enjoy quality time together over the Easter Break before returning (hopefully) refreshed and recharged for the Summer Term ahead on Monday 24th April. We look forward to seeing you all then.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Bothma
Head teacher
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Whole School Letter 16th March 2017
Thu 23 Mar 2017Thursday 16th March 2017
Dear Parents,
Rehearsals for ‘What a Knight!’ are now in full swing as we approach the dates of our performances. The school has been full of dazzling dancing, superb singing and amazing acting over the past few weeks! Thank you to all of you who have worked with the children to help them learn their lines and prepare for the production, which I am sure you are aware will take place on the 30th & 31st March at Number 8. The children have been working extremely hard on their parts and I know as always at Cropthorne they will enjoy the wonderful support from all of our families.
We look forward to what I believe is our first ‘Mother’s Day’ Service next Thursday at St Michael’s Church in Cropthorne. The service will be led by Reverend Sarah Dangerfield starting at 9am on 23rd March. Therefore we would be grateful if you would bring all children to the Church by 8.50am instead of coming directly to the school that day. Due to nature of the service we have decided to provide the option of pupils being able to sit with their families. As a result there will be three sections in the Church, divided into school, pupils and families, and the general public. If you wish your child to sit with us please make this clear to their class teacher when handing them over. If you wish to sit with your child, please take seats in the relevant section and hand your child over to their teacher at the end of the service so we can register them. If you wish to select this option please ensure your child remains closely supervised, as staff members will be unable to leave our allocated ‘school’ area. We request that all pupils be registered by us at the end of the service so we are able to walk back to school in our classes. Although this may sound complicated we hope it will actually be very straightforward and allow us to celebrate together as a school community in a slightly different and welcome way.
Comic Relief takes place on Friday 24th March and our staff will be running a cake sale at playtime in support of this good cause. If pupils would like to purchase a cake, they can bring in a small donation to do so. Pupils may also wear Red Noses on this day if they wish to.
Following on from our previous consultation on after-school provision I am pleased to announce that, after the Easter break, we will be extending ‘Cropthorne Plus’ to after-school. We will now offer places until 4.15pm every day after school. Each session will cost £5 and this will include a small snack and drink. Mrs Freeman and Mrs Harrington will run the sessions and pupils can be collected from the front gate at the end of the session. Initially pupils will only be able to be collected at the end of the session unless under exceptional circumstances. Although I understand that some parents have indicated they would also prefer us to offer later provision, sadly the numbers when collated together were not high enough to offer sustainable provision at a reasonable enough cost to parents. If you are interested in booking a place, please see Mrs Evans in the school office. We hope these will be welcome changes which will run smoothly and conveniently but please do bear with us should there be any initial ‘teething’ problems.
Extra-curricular clubs will run as they normally do next term, but to avoid confusion we will ask that children either attend ‘Cropthorne Plus’ or an extra-curricular club after school on a particular evening. This should also ensure payment options are able to be made as clear as possible, as you will be aware that we run some clubs which are free to attend and others which require a set fee to attend the sequence of clubs. Extra-curricular clubs will continue to end at 4pm. Club options as always will be made available shortly after we return following the Easter break. We thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Bothma
Head teacher
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Whole School Letter 17th January
Tue 17 Jan 2017Tuesday 17th January 2017
Dear Parents,
It is wonderful to see the new spring term very much up and running this week. We hope that all of our pupils and families enjoyed the holiday period and were able to spend some valuable quality time together. Everyone at the school were touched by the generous Christmas gifts and warm wishes received at the end of last term, they were much appreciated, thank you.
This term begins with high anticipation as we begin auditions and following those, rehearsals, for our traditional spring term production at Number 8 in Pershore. This year we will be travelling to the legendary castle of Camelot to perform ‘What A Knight!’, a tale of Dragons, Princesses and heroic deeds! The afternoon performance will take place on Thursday 30th March, with the evening show taking place on Friday 31st March. Further information on times and ticketing will be made available close to the half term break.
Much of our classroom learning will link into the theme of our performance over the course of this term and I have already seen a staggeringly impressive array of castles begin to take pride of place in Mrs Komor’s classroom! Well done Chimps! Information about some of our upcoming educational visits has also already been issued through our weekly class newsletters and as always we will aim to give you as much notice as possible. We have already received some of our voluntary termly contributions of £25 which help us to supplement activities such as these which provide the children with such exciting and memorable experiences to enhance their learning. We really would not be able to run anywhere near as many without your continued and valued support.
We welcome back the Open the Book team to school this week, who will be continuing to regularly involve children in leading our whole school worship sessions, putting on their brilliant and very enjoyable adaptations of many of the stories from the Bible. Swimming for Years 2 & 3 also gets underway this week, with Year 1 looking forward to heading off to Sandfield Farm on Friday.
Following the success of our breakfast club, Cropthorne Plus, we have also been continuing to explore the possibility of providing a longer, daily after school club. To help us gauge likely usage of any such club, please complete the form in your child’s book bag and return to us as soon as possible.
In other developments, and following the uncertain weather forecast last week, we will be introducing AMBER days at Cropthorne with Charlton First from now on. In unusual weather conditions we will do our best to ensure the school remains open. In order ensure children are as well prepared as possible for changeable or challenging conditions we will aim to send you a text message and update the school website indicating that it is an AMBER day and that all children should come dressed not in school uniform, but in warm outdoor clothing. Years 3, 4 & 5 children should also bring in wellies (Years R-2 normally have these in school anyway due to Forest School) and a change of footwear that day. This will mean that children can still be comfortable when outdoors. We do not take school closure lightly and if we are forced to do so please follow the information previously issued in our weekly newsletters in order to stay informed. Please also make sure Mrs Evans has your up to date contact details, especially if Santa Claus delivered a new mobile phone at Christmas!
Finally, after school clubs begin next week with a range of activities on offer. Both Cooking Club and Lego Club were specifically requested by our pupils at our School Council meetings and we expect them to be very popular! Unfortunately numbers at clubs are limited, and this will inevitably lead to some disappointment. Therefore we do ask that if you have been allocated a place at a club and decide not to take it up or to no longer attend for any reason, please let Mrs Evans know as soon as possible so we can quickly allocate the place to another child.
We all look forward to an exciting term ahead.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Bothma
Head teacher
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Wishing you a Merry Christmas
Fri 16 Dec 201615th December 2016
Dear Parents,
It seems amazing that we have come to the end the school year for 2016. It has been a fabulous half term here at Cropthorne-with-Charlton CE First with marvellous learning taking place and memories to treasure being created. This very week our pupils treated us to an amazing retelling of the Nativity story with super performances by the Reception & Year One children, topped off by some stunningly enthusiastic singing from the rest of the school. I would like to thank all of those involved in putting on such a great show and thank you all for attending both shows and providing such a brilliant audience for the children over both performances.
‘Christmas Jumper’ day on Wednesday was a huge success with children really enjoying our Whole School Christmas dinner followed by their Christmas parties in their classes. Thank you to all the parents who came to help serve the children’s dinner, it’s quite the undertaking but lots of fun! We also enjoyed a visit from a very special someone in a red suit who is very busy at the moment and managed to find time to stop at Cropthorne and deliver presents to all our pupils, we are very appreciative of his visit and the hard work his elves have been doing to make sure everyone received a gift. Thank you!
A selection of other recent events which have been taking place included our Christmas Craft morning for Cats class, an excellent Disco provided by our superb PTFA, the Lempen Puppet Theatre visited Reception & Key Stage One, whilst Key Stage Two were thrilled by a production of Treasure Island at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. A choir of Cropthorne pupils also visited the Civic Centre in Pershore to sing beautifully for the Pershore Pathfinders, a social club for partially sighted and blind people. We thank you for your continued support for all that we do at Cropthorne to ensure our pupils enjoy a rich, varied and engaging school experience. Please continue to check our school website for upcoming events and further information on what children have been doing in school.
We conclude our term with a traditional Carol Service at St Michael’s Church led by Reverend Sarah Dangerfield, where we will take time to pause and reflect on this wonderfully special time of year. School will reopen for children on Wednesday 4th January and we are already looking forward to what will be an exciting Spring Term culminating with our annual show at Number 8 in Pershore. Until then, on behalf of everyone here at Cropthorne with Charlton CE First I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an extremely Happy New Year.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Bothma
Head teacher
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Christmas Letter
Fri 02 Dec 20162nd December 2016
Dear Parents
Our “Christmas time” here at school began this week 1st December with the Christmas tree up in the hall and the post box in the office reception for your child to send their Christmas Cards. Please ensure the name of the child and their class is clearly detailed on the front of the card.
The children will be performing in the Nativity at Cropthorne Village Hall on Monday 12th December at 2.00 & 5.30 p.m. Over the last few years the hall has been very full on these occasions and we do need to limit the number of people in the hall on health and safety grounds. So we will be issuing tickets for both events. The 2.00 performance is what we like to call our ‘pushchair performance’ for all those younger siblings & also grandparents, leaving the later performance just for parents.
Tickets will initially be restricted to a total of two per family (for each performance) which can be obtained by completing and returning or emailing the slip below to the school office. Extra tickets may be reserved by completing the appropriate line on the form. (These extra tickets will only become available if families do not take up their allocation).
Tickets for the times you require will be issued on a first come, first served basis and ticket numbers will correspond to seat numbers. So please make sure you order your tickets as soon as possible.
If you or members of your family are unable to use any of your tickets, would you please return them to school as soon as possible, rather than passing them on to friends and neighbours. It will be necessary to bring your tickets with you to performances as they will be checked at the door. Fire regulations prevent us from allowing extra people to stand at the back of the hall. All pushchairs will need to be left outside.
Christmas Dinner & Party Afternoon
On Wednesday 14th December there could possibly be a visit from a “very special person” in the afternoon! The children are able to wear Christmas Jumpers on this day. At lunch we will all sit down together for our Christmas Lunch. If you have not already ordered one and your child would like a hot lunch that day, please visit ‘Parentpay’ and book them a dinner on this day. The last day for ordering is this weekend. If your child wants a packed lunch that will be fine.
At 11.00 on Friday 16th December the whole school will walk to Cropthorne Church to perform a Christmas Carol Service. All parents are invited and each child will need collecting from this service at 12.00 and taken home.
As the winter is now drawing in I thought I would let you know about what happens in the event of the school closing due to bad weather.
In the first instance, please check our website. The Radio stations will also be giving out the names of any schools closed due to bad weather in alphabetical order. So please have a radio on and listen if you are in any doubt due to the weather.
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Check the School website at www.cropthorneschool.org
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BBC Hereford & Worcester 104fm 94.7fm or Free Radio 96.7 97.6 102.8
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Or check the website at www.worcestershire.gov.uk
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Or call the Worcestershire Hub on 01905 765765
The school closes for the Christmas Holidays after the carol concert on Friday 16th December at 12.00 and reopens on Wednesday 4th January 2017.
Yours sincerely
Rob Bothma
Head Teacher
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Christmas Nativity Ticket Order
Name………………………………………………………………………………………
Child/Children……………………………………………………..Class……………
Monday 12th December at 2.00 p. m ………….......tickets....................reserves
Monday 12thDecember at 5.30 p. m.……………tickets……………reserves
Please hand in or send an email to the school office office@cropthorne.worcs.sch.uk by Wednesday 7th December
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Welcome Back Letter
Thu 03 Nov 20163rd November 2016
Dear Parents,
I am delighted to welcome everyone back for a new half term here at Cropthorne with Charlton C of E First. This initial week has been an extremely eventful one so far with our Parent Consultations, a ‘Pirate’ day, and football tournament all taking place, not to mention a visit from Pudsey too with a non-uniform day still to come on Friday!
Firstly I am delighted that our Parent Consultation Evenings have so been so well attended, and I enjoyed hearing so many positive comments on how impressively pupils are progressing with their learning and how positively they are approaching school life. These are exceptionally valuable meetings to share important information so that children can achieve their very best in school and to take stock of how they are getting along so far. I thank you for your commitment to them.
I also wish to say a big thank you to everyone for the huge array of wonderful pirate costumes we saw in school on Tuesday as we gave a true ‘Cropthorne’ welcome to the one and only Pudsey from Children in Need! We were very lucky to have been chosen for this special visit and Pudsey left with an immense treasure chest of coins which will go towards this very worthy cause. Your generous contributions were much appreciated.
Years 4 & 5 have again been busy this week supporting our local community by planting bulbs at the Village Hall and making Christmas Puddings over at Holland House respectively. We are so proud to support our local community and especially of how our pupils contribute positively towards it.
I have been really pleased to hear positive reviews of our new school website of late and it is our hope that it will help us keep everyone as informed as possible about everything that is happening in school. As always we have a busy term ahead and we are particularly looking forward to our Open Morning on the 29th November.
We would also like to ask that everyone make a huge effort to ensure pupils are in school and ready to start their day by 8.50am. This includes making sure that parents have vacated all classrooms by this time. I am aware that the vast majority of children are ready to begin the school day at this time but it would be wonderful if we could do even better. Please remember that a late start not only impacts the learning of the child concerned but also the rest of the class who are trying to settle down promptly for the day ahead. We appreciate your cooperation on this matter.
I have been extremely impressed with how our pupils have started this new academic year and look forward seeing their continued success during the busy term ahead.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Bothma
Head teacher
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New Website Launched
Thu 22 Sep 2016Welcome to our brand new school website! We have created the website to keep parents up to date with school news and notices, and to showcase some of the great things our pupils are achieving. The website is extremely easy to edit by all staff at the school, so check back soon for new updates!
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Five Alive June 2016
Wed 15 Jun 2016There has been plenty taking place at Cropthorne with Charlton C of E First School and our pupils are enthusiastically looking forward to final weeks of the term which promise so much. Our Year 4&5 class have been busy improving their cycling skills and learning how to do so safely as part of their Bikeability week.
“We learnt to Stay Safe and Ride your Bike, always check behind you for cars and also to pay attention to the traffic. We enjoyed playing the emergency stop game and learning how to indicate which way you are turning.” (Annabelle, Y4)
They have also been learning about Gravity in their Science lessons, whilst the Year 5 pupils have been practising hard on their clarinets too. “We have been learning all types of songs and duets, like Mr Cool and Now the Day Is Over. We really need to work hard and keep on practising, we enjoy it when the music sounds like it should!” (Holly, Y5)
Our Year 3 class joined our older children to take part in tennis matches at Pershore Tennis Centre and as always were a credit to our school. “The tennis was marvellous! I thought I got better at under-arm serving, it really made me want to go again!” (Cameron, Y3)
Years 1&2 have been busy making bread, using their mathematical knowledge to measure accurately and produced some extremely tasty rolls! “I enjoyed putting my hands into the dough, it was really soft! It smelt lovely and it tasted really nice!” (Nicole, Y1)
Along with our Reception pupils, they have also been enjoying making potions at Forest School. The children have been busy with their writing too through reflecting upon all these experiences. There is much still to look forward to this term with our pupils representing the school at Charlton Fayre and once again showing off their wonderful Maypole dancing. Our oldest pupils are looking forward to their Residential Visit to West Malvern Outdoor Centre, with visits to the Big Sing, Wick Farm, Malvern Theatres, the Bell Boating Regatta, and Sandfield Farm all taking place with Sports Day fast approaching too. We also prepare to welcome our next cohort of Reception children as well as wishing good luck and farewell to our fantastic Year 5 children as they move on to their middle schools. On behalf of our school community, may I take this opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful and fruitful summer.
Rob Bothma
Headteacher
Cropthorne with Charlton C of E First School
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Whole School Letter
Thu 19 May 20165th September 2016
Dear Parents,
I am delighted to welcome all of our pupils and their families back to Cropthorne with Charlton First for the start of a new academic year. I would also like to wish a very warm welcome to our new reception cohort and their families also who start their Cropthorne journey with us today.This year sees exciting new developments at Cropthorne, with works on going to enhance our Forest School area and the introduction of Cropthorne Plus, our breakfast club which Mrs Freeman will be running from 8am each morning. Please remember for all children not enrolled in breakfast club, school will be open from 8.40am each morning ready for an 8.50am start to our day.
To celebrate the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth this term children throughout the school will be accessing learning themed around his works in a range of exciting ways, our weekly class letters will as always keep you updated in more detail.
As many of you are aware at Cropthorne we ask for a termly £25 voluntary contribution to help us in supporting the delivery of an enhanced curriculum, which we hope alleviates the issue of frequently requesting contributions for individual visits, workshops and other such events which are so memorable, engaging and enjoyable for our pupils but which we cannot offer without your excellent support.
I have been informed that roadwork’s on Main Street are progressing ahead of schedule but clearly are an obstacle for access if approaching school from the direction of Fladbury and Charlton. School remains accessible from the direction of the B4085. We will endeavour to pass on any information received regarding the work taking place.I have been so pleased with how all of the children have settled into school life over the course of today and look forward to seeing their many successes over the course of the term. I am also looking forward to our Achievements Assembly on Friday and hearing all about the wonderful achievements from home which have been taking place over the summer! Parents as always are most welcome to join us each Friday morning to celebrate with us.
Yours Sincerely,Rob Bothma
Headteacher
