Read this newsletter in Adobe Acrobat format
or Word document



NEWSLETTER MARCH 2008

1 Parents’ Evening
2 School Trips
3 Car Park
4 Adult Learning - ICT
5 ICT Development
6 Diary Dates
7 FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
8 FoHF News

Dear Parents

Thank you to everyone who supported us on World Book Day earlier this month. The children enjoyed the opportunity coming to school as a famous book character. They had a day focused around reading and writing activities. The Scholastic Book Fair has proved successful again this year, and will provide many new books for the school’s libraries.

1 PARENT EVENING
We had a very good response to the mid-year Parents’ Evening. An opportunity to find out how your child is progressing and how you can help them achieve their very best. We are always proud of the children’s achievements and value your support in helping your child. If you were unable to meet with your child’s classteacher you can still make an appointment through the school office, or speak to them after school to arrange a date. It is never too late to find out about how your child is doing at school.

2 SCHOOL TRIPS – Important Reminder
As we near the summer term, it is the time when all year groups take part in a school trip linked to their classroom’s work. With increased costs in fuel, transport and insurance this can make the cost of a day trip expensive, and even more so if you have more than one child at the school.

Teachers are beginning to plan trips and it is likely that the cost will range between £8.00 - £12.00. We will continue to subsidise the trips to try and keep the costs down as much as possible. If you do have any worries regarding this once you are aware of the exact costs, please do come and speak to us.

In Year 6 we have a residential trip to Blacklands Farm. This is the only residential trip that will take place during your child’s time at the school. The costs for 2009 are expected to be around £220. Parents will receive a letter when their child is at the end of Year 5 and can take part in our savings scheme.

3 CAR PARK
A reminder that the school car park is for staff use and disabled drivers only.

4 ADULT LEARNING – ICT
The ICT Course for parents has proved very successful. We are able to continue this next term with beginner and intermediate sessions. The sessions run every Friday morning (beginners - 9.00am-10.45am) (intermediate – 11.00am-12.30pm) in one of the ICT suites. Please inform the school office if you wish to attend. The first session will be Friday, 25th April, 2008.

5 ICT DEVELOPMENT
Hawkes Farm is one of the first schools in East Sussex to be linked up with Uniservity, the county’s chosen Learning Platform provider. We are very excited about it and believe it is going to strengthen significantly the home school partnership. Children in Years 3 & 6 will be given their logins first, with the rest of the school joining the platform in due course. As the platform develops, your child will be able to show you examples of their work, using the ePortfolio; teachers will be able to make lesson resources available for use outside school; copies of letters about visits and productions will always be available in each year group’s area of the platform; children with broadband connections will be able to do their homework online; main events and key dates in the school calendar will never be more than a click away; you will be able to subscribe to these newsletters using your internet browser; and lots more. Mr Thorn is overseeing this.

6 DIARY DATES
Fri 21/3 Good Friday (school closed)
Mon 24/3 Easter Monday (school closed)
Tues 1/4 Yr 6 Trip to Newhaven Fort
Wed 2/4 Yrs 3 & 4 Production 9.30am & 6.00pm
Fri 4/4 Last Day of Term 4
Mon 21/4 Start of Term 5
Thur 24/4 Class and Team Photos
Fri 25/4 FoHF Race Evening
Mon 5/5 May Day (school closed)
Tue 6/5 Years 3, 4, 5 SATs Tests
Wed 7/5 Yr 6 meeting re: Blacklands Farm 6.00pm
Mon 12/5 Year 6 SATS test week
Tue 20/5 Year 6 Residential Trip – depart
Fri 23/5 Year 6 Residential Trip – return 4.00 pm
“ “ Last Day of Term 5
Mon 2/6 Inset Training Day (staff only)
Tue 3/6 Start of Term 6
Sat 14/6 FoHF Summer Fair
Mon 23/6 Healthy School Week
“ “ Infant Sports Afternoon 1.30pm
Tue 24/6 Infant Sports Afternoon (backup date)
Wed 25/6 Junior Sports Day 10.30am (parents invited to picnic at lunchtime with their child)
Mon 30/6 New Reception Visit 1.30pm - Autumn born
Tue 1/7 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ - Spring born
Wed 2/7 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ - Summer born
“ “ New Parents Meeting 7.00pm - Infant Hall
“ “ Junior Sports Day 10.30am (backup date)
Tue 22/7 Last Day of Term 6
Wed 23/7 Inset Training Day (staff only)

7 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
a) When do National Tests take place?
This year the following dates have been set aside for the end of year assessments:
Year 2 – This is based around set tests and teacher assessment – these will take place during Term 5.
Years 3, 4, 5 – Optional SATs this year will take place between 6th - 9th May, 2008. These tests will be externally marked therefore cannot be administered at other times.
Year 6 – National Assessment Week will take place during the w/c 12th May. These are also externally marked.
Years 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be tested in English (reading and writing) and Mathematics. Year 6 will also have a Science test.
b) Why do we need to test?
We have two forms of assessment to track the progress of each child - the ‘Formative Assessment’ which is the everyday assessment that goes on and helps the teacher plan their work so that your child is ready for their next stage of learning. The second form of assessment is the ‘Summative Assessment’ which tracks where they have got to at the end of each year. It sums up the learning for the academic year and tracks to see if they are below, on track, or above the National Expectation.
The Summative results are used at the end of Year 6 by the secondary school to plan for your child’s next stage of development. Therefore, it is important that it really does reflect what they are capable of.
Year 2 – National Expectation Level 2
Year 6 – National Expectation Level 4
c) How well are we doing?
If you have internet access, try the following sites:
www.findmyschool.co.uk www.dfes.gov.uk
www.schoolsfinder.direct.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk
If you have further FAQs please do send them into the office and I will try and answer them in our monthly newsletters.

8 FRIENDS OF HAWKES FARM NEWS
Disco - Thank you to everyone who supported the disco and special thanks to those who gave up their time to help. Jo Pudsey pulled off a great evening of fun, laughter and great rhythm.
Race Night - Our next event is a race night on Friday, 25th April. Information on obtaining tickets will be put in your child’s book bag in early April. This event is being hosted by Jeff Park, our disco man so it looks very promising that another great evening will be enjoyed by all.
Summer Fair - Georgina Sheppard and her subcommittee are busy preparing our first major event of 2008 which will be on Saturday, 14th June. We need a small army of helpers for this event and Georgina will be sending out requests for help in due course.
Infant playground equipment and Junior adventure playground (previously donated by FOHF)
I am in the process of putting a team of volunteers together to spend a few hours repainting the wooden play equipment in the infant playground. I plan to have three teams, one to rub down, one to undercoat and one to top coat the equipment. I have 7 volunteers so far and probably need another 14, so if you can give about 2 or 3 hours help one sunny weekend please let me know by calling me on 01323 441576 or leaving your details at the office. Free sandwiches and drinks for our helpers will be provided.
The adventure playground has needed repairing for a long time and the new committee has decided to take on the responsibility of repairing equipment that we have donated. We are currently obtaining quotations to replace the tyres on the play equipment as unfortunately, we are unable to replace the tyres ourselves due to health and safety regulations. So our sincere apologies to all the children for the unacceptable delay in making these repairs but we are now on the case and hope to have it all working soon.
Art Competition - An exciting art competition for all the children will be given out during the last week of term. We have decided that the competition will be to design a new logo for the Friends’ of Hawkes Farm PTA. The winner and runners up will form the Friends’ art department and their designs will be used for all our brochures, tickets, posters and other fundraising requirements. We think that there will be some very proud parents and grand-parents of some budding young artists.

Thank you again for your continued support,

Mark Allen - Joint Chair FOHF

Thank you again for your continued support and we hope you enjoy the spring break. Let’s hope the weather is kinder to us this year.

Yours sincerely

Mrs V Cobb - Headteacher