Wed 18 December No.

Francis Baily News

The staff of Francis Baily Primary School would like to wish all of our community the very best this holiday season. We hope you really enjoy the holidays and look forward to hearing all of your exciting news in 2014. Senior Choir: On Wednesday 4 December the senior choir took part in the annual Christmas carol service at St Nicholas Church, Newbury. The service, which is in aid of Save the Children, was the 2nd of two concerts involving as many local schools as possible. As well as the traditional congregational carols, each of the 12 schools present, performed their own carol. We were treated to a lovely selection of styles. The senior choir performed The Donkey Song complete with coconut hooves played very ably by Anna Llewellyn. Last years sum raised for Save the Children was 5,000, so we are hoping to top that total this year. Updates Christmas Lunches: An enormous THANK YOU to the kitchen team who cooked our lovely Christmas lunches this week and to our special visitor, Father Christmas, who attended and gave a treat to the children. Year 5 / 6 Carol Concerts were really successful and enjoyable evenings the children worked hard to learn words in a short time to a great variety of songs and carols. Many thanks for your very generous donations totalling 184.14 for Great Ormond Street Hospital. Pantomime: Years 1 and 2 visited the Corn Exchange on 3 December to watch Sleeping Beauty. This was a traditional pantomime and was much enjoyed by all. PTA Updates Following on from the PTA Newsletter I just wanted to add my thanks to the PTA for organising such great events and to our parents for supporting them so well. The PTA Christmas Fayre raised 3006, including some matched funding from Vodafone. Many thanks to all parents who donated prizes for the Tombola and who attended the event it was an excellent day and really enjoyable. A big thank you to the Year 6 children who were running stalls and running around they were really helpful! A really big thank you to all the PTA who worked so hard before and on the day itself and helped make this such a lovely event! The PTA have raised over 4000 since September a fantastic feat and a huge bonus for the school! I am in the process of spending the money and will write to you at the beginning of the year to explain how each class spent their 100 for wet play equipment. The Year 2 Nativity Play; Prickly Hay What a brilliant show! full of very wellrehearsed singing, dancing and speaking parts. Moving the play to the Waterside Farm (thanks again to the Holland family) caused us some logistical problems but I am sure you will agree was well worth it! We had a great piece on BBC South, hopefully you saw, it but if not we hope to have it available soon via the school website.

Please dont forget we finish at 2pm on Friday - 20 December and return on Tuesday 7 January.
Christmas Jumpers / Non Uniform Day.
I have decided that Friday, our last day will be nonuniform. Children may dress as they wish but it would be great if there was some Christmas aspect, such as a Christmas jumper or Christmas headwear. Please dont go to any expense, simple non-uniform will be absolutely fine.

See Over for more news

Year 3 & 4 Tag Rugby On a foggy Wednesday evening recently these ten happy chaps played their 1st competitive but friendly Tag Rugby match against our close neighbours Spurcroft.

Football Team The Year 5/6 school team continue to go from strength to strength having won twice over the last fortnight. Playing in the Berkshire Sevens Cup competition the team beat Long Lane Primary 2-0 and Manor Primary 6-0 in the Preliminary Group Stage. We await news from the competition controllers of who we play next in both this competition and the Bill Mac Cup.

Harrods Choir Some of the Year 6 children have been getting into the festive period by singing Christmas carols to all the staff at Harrods distribution centre. They were invited on the 4th December to do some singing and to enjoy a Christmas lunch. The children sang incredibly well and entertained all the staff while they ate their lunch. In return for their joyous singing they received a Harrods teddy bear and bag which they were thoroughly pleased about. Both Miss Samsudin and Miss Hobbs were very proud and they represented the school so well!!

After a very fast highly skilful performance our boys were defeated by a couple of tries. The club has only been running for 1 term, thanks to the dedication of a number of parents led by Mrs Wallace. The boys were a credit to the school and looked great in their new kit.

Free School Meals If you are receiving any of the benefits listed below, you could qualify for Free School Meals for your child: (Please note, if your child has FSM they may be eligible for support in school please register even if you do not wish your child to have a school meal every day!) Income Support Income Based Job-Seekers Allowance Child Tax Credit only with income less than 16,190 Guarantee Element of State Pension Credit Employment and Support Allowance (Income Related) National Asylum Seekers Support Apply online today at www.westberks.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals Or call on 01635 42400
Adopted Children From April adopted children will qualify for the Pupil Premium grant. This grant provides the school with additional funding per child which can be used to provide academic and social opportunities. If your child qualifies for this grant please come into school to self-nominate . You will need to bring in some supporting evidence. The child will need to register by 14 January, the information will be kept confidential.

Advance Notice The lunch menu remains the same as this term for January 2014. ISS will be issuing their menu for the Spring term in the new year.