Wednesday 17 October 2007

Whole School Letter No 14

NON-PUPIL DAY – FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER 2007
Just a reminder that this Friday is a non-pupil day. Half term is from Monday 22 – Friday 26 October and we return to school on Monday 29 October.

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
This is a project of the organisation Samaritan’s Purse and it delivers shoeboxes filled with gifts for families in Romania and, as in the past few years, the school is prepared to be a collection point. Some pre-wrapped shoe boxes will be available from the office if you require one. Please find enclosed a leaflet which will help you with what items can go in the boxes. PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO CUSTOMS REGULATIONS there are items that cannot be included – please read the leaflet. We cannot send the boxes if there is no £2 to cover the Charity’s expenses as they will not be accepted. So please only send in shoeboxes with the accompanying £2. For reasons of security, cheques are preferred (made payable to Samaritan’s Purse) and please note that you may send one cheque to cover any amount of boxes in a group to save making individual cheques. If you are a tax payer look for the box to tick on the envelope and the Charity may then claim tax back on your gift.
Although the leaflet mentions the 4 to 20 November as the campaign dates – our final date will be FRIDAY 9NOVEMBER as the boxes are to be collected shortly afterwards. Extra leaflets are available from the school office.

OMEGA-3 & OMEGA-6 FOOD SUPPLEMENT
You may have seen in the local and national press articles about an observational study with Toft Hill Primary School children in County Durham who took regular supplements of Omega 3 and Omega 6 for two years. During this time the staff noticed those pupils taking the supplements exceeded the expected attainment levels, with the best results yet being recorded in English, Maths and Science SATs in their school. They also observed that the pupils, when in Year 5, had by the end of the year improved their concentration (observed by teachers and measured using Conners’ Teacher Rating Scales). We are not supplying these supplements as a school, and I am not endorsing this product, but I thought parents might like to find out more and if interested contact the company direct. Information can be found on www.equazen.com or Tel: 0870 2415621. The supplements come in many different forms, for example, £8.99 x 60 chews (taken daily). The newspaper articles are available from the school office should a parents wish to read them.

HALLOWEEN AND GUY FAWKES NIGHT
Suffolk Police have asked us to remind young people to take care with basic safety procedures over the next few weeks:
If children wish to engage in “trick or treat” please can parents suggest they call only on their family or known friends and members of the community because elderly, or people living alone, can feel vulnerable to unwanted callers in the evening.
The DTI runs an annual safety campaign to promote the safe use of fireworks in the run up to Bonfire Night. Information can be found on their website: www.dti.gov.uk/fireworks