Dates for your Diary

Friday 21st December 2018 Last Day of Term

Monday 24th December to January 4th 2019 Christmas Holidays

Monday 7th January 2019 Back to School

Monday 14th January 2019 Christingle at St Leonard’s Church at 2pm

Friday 11th January 2019 Swimming lessons start

Monday 28th & Wednesday 30th January 2019 Parents Evenings

Wednesday 6th February 2019 Cross Country RACE 4—Yeovil Showground

Tuesday 5th February 2019 Safer Internet day

Friday 15th February 2019 Inset Day

Monday 18th—Friday 22nd February 2019 Half term

Monday 25th March 2019 Back to School

Thursday 7th March 2019 World Book Day

11th—15th March 2019 Science Week

Dear Parents, Friends and Carers,

The end of this very busy term has filled me with pride and festive spirit. The children have excelled themselves in their Nativity performances, and on more than one occasion I was not dry eyed! The performances gave us the opportunity to celebrate the wide range of talents of our children. The staff have been amazing and I was very proud that every child had the opportunity to be involved and shine.

The Reverse Advent Calendar has been a huge hit with the children this year. To hear them talking about the kindness of giving and the less fortunate people that will be helped over Christmas is wonderful.

On Wednesday we said bon voyage to Mrs Bell as she moves across to Ashlands for the Spring and Summer Term. We interviewed on Monday and we are very much looking forward to welcoming Mr Forsey into the school community as our new Teaching Assistant Apprentice in the Spring Term. As an ex-pupil Ryan is excited about continuing his learning journey here with us! Today we say goodbye to Mr Obern, we wish him a very Merry Christmas and hope the new year brings him lots of new opportunities.

Please be aware that with Mr Obern’s departure there will be no crossing patrol at the end of the school day. We will continue to advertise this post locally but to date we have had no success in filling this important position. If you are aware of any interest in this role please pop in and see Mrs Hunt in the office.

I would like to thank the staff for their hard work and dedication over the course of the term. I am incredibly proud of the entire team. I consider myself very lucky to be head of a Federation where the staff really give 100 percent and more!

Have a lovely Christmas and we will see you all in the New Year.

Wow, what a performance, the children really did shine like stars. Thank you so much for coming along to St Leonard’s Church to see the performances, the staff and children have worked so hard and it really showed with their wonderful singing and remembering all their lines. I would like to thank Mrs Clarke for helping to make some of the costumes and the parents who walked up with us to the church. From the two performances we also raised £123.33 in donations for the church, thank you.

Visit our website for more photographs www.mistertonfirstschool.co.uk

Christmas Nativity

Yeovil Area Cross Country Event - Year 2, 3 & 4 Race

Two amazing races! With a few newcomers to Team MASH all nerves and butterflies were

soon quashed as the first race got underway!

Parents scrambled to the side lines of the course around the Yeovil Rugby Club grounds to

“shout it out” for Team MASH. In the distance, through the drizzle (rain without fail) it was

clear to see that the effort was immense as our purple T-shirts pulled away to close the gaps.

Results have yet to be confirmed but it is estimated that there were at least 200 girls and 200

boys in each of our races! Taking this into consideration and that some of the runners could

be up to three years older than some of our team members, an 11th place for Poppy Conroy

and a 33rd place for Lucus Dawe both in Yr3 were no mean feat! They were followed across

the finish line (in no particular order – tbc) by first time runners including Summer Cole Yr2,

Emma Astall Yr2, Samuel Tucker Yr4 and Patryk Gawrys Yr2 who all looked to our more experi-

ence runners Will Kirton yr4, Sayer Pilton Yr3, Sophie Synakova Yr3 and Chloe Willis Yr4 for

technique, determination and staying power. A tremendous effort well Done EVERYONE!

Great team spirit!

Coach Carter J

Please can you ensure that you use the following codes for making BACS payments:

Pre-fix with 122

71502 Clubs 71504 Trips 71505 Swimming 73109 Meals 75004 Breakfast Club 71300 Donation

Followed by surname

BACS Payments

Online Safety

Children's Social Care: 0300 123 2224

Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO): Anthony Goble (number as above) Childline: 0800 1111 NSPCC: 0808 800 5000

Helpful Contacts

Safeguarding Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Nicola Ball and our Deputy Safeguarding Leads (DDSL) are Lisa Carter at Misterton and Will Pearse at Ashlands. Please find below some recommended websites: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe

https://getsetsomerset.org.uk/

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents

We also have Mrs Bell, our ELSA (Emotional Literacy, Support Assistant) who is trained to provide emotional and social skills support to the children. If you have an concerns about your child at home or school, please contact the school office to book an appointment.

Our whole school attendance this month is 95.7%, this is just above our

expected attendance. Please remember that your child’s attendance is

monitored weekly and, if their attendance drops below 90% we will contact you

to see how we can support you with this.

Lateness It is really important that your child is in school and ready to start their learning by 9am. As staff we really appreciate the great start to our mornings this year.

Thank you for your support in this.

December

Oak Cedar

Late arrivals 6 6

E Safety

Please remember to refer to our website for details

on online safety.

Christmas Dinner

Attendance

What a fabulous time of the year, a time when we all get to sit down and enjoy a Christmas Meal together. It was lovely to have the Pre-school come and join us too. We enjoyed a dinner of turkey and all the trimmings followed by a delicious chocolate cake. It was very yummy!

The winners of the November 100 Club were:-

1st prize—Philip Masterman 2nd—Peter Swinnerton 3rd—Geraldine Loveless

100 Club

Misterton PTA

“There are not set guidelines for how much screen time is appropriate for children, but there needs to be a balance. Don’t be afraid to have rules, like ‘no tablets at the dinner table’. For younger children, use tech to help; the Forest app lets you grow a beautiful forest the longer you leave your device alone. And lead by example—make time to be a gadget-free family.” Carolyn Bunting, CEO, Internet Matters, an independent, not-for-profit e-safety organisation.

“Be curious and ask your children to talk about, or better still, show you, the services they are using and why they love them. Starting the conversation is key, both to help ensure that children know how to stay safe and respect oth-ers online, but also so they turn to you if someone or something online is making fell uncomfortable.” Will Gardner, CEO, Childnet International, and a director of the UK Safer Internet Centre. www.childnet.com

Digital Parenting Magazine

Reverse Advent This year across the Federation we have decided to do things a little differently. Our children are so wonderfully kind we thought we would use this during the festive period to help those who need it. We have become kindness warriors and have donated an

incredible amount of food and goodies to the Lord's Larder to help build up their Christmas hampers. Instead of the traditional Advent calendar where you take something out everyday we have instead put an item in. Each day a class has taken responsibility for adding to the calendar and added they certainly have! Thank you to every single person who has donated and been enthused by the calendar - you have created some wonderful Christmas memories for families in need. THANK YOU!

Mrs Gosden

Thank you to all the families that returned to school for our first Lighting up of the school Christmas Tree outside the school,

along with carols sang by the choir with Miss Ball. It was lovely evening and the carols continued over at the WI hall with mince pies and hot drinks.

The Misterton WI have very kindly donated £50 to the school from the money that was raised from their Carol evening. Thank you from everyone at Msiterton C of E First School.

School Admission Arrangements

2020/21 Consultation

Have Your Say

School Admission Arrangements

Active Play Supervisor

Christmas Party Day

Lighting Up

School admissions arrangements for children who are due to start or transfer school for the 2020-21 school year, and those moving schools during the 2020-21 school year will be consulted on for a period of 6 weeks ending 31 January 2019.

This consultation applies to a number of schools and academies throughout Somerset.

This consultation period allows parents, other schools, religious authorities and the local community to raise any comments or concerns about proposed admission arrangements.

To view the admission arrangements and for details of how to make comments, please visit www.somerset.gov.uk/admissions and choose the page School Admissions Policy or phone (01823) 356671.

Yesterday the children had a fun filled day with a very special visitor in the morning,

then a disco in the afternoon organised by the Misterton PTA.. Thank you to the

PTA for everything you have done this year.

Vacancy – Ashlands School

Lunchtime Active Play Supervisor

Permanent Position 6.25 hours per

week - term time only

38 working weeks (paid 47.53 weeks)

Grade 16.8 £8.62 per hour

Hours of work: 12.15-1.30pm Monday to

Friday term time only

Ashlands is a thriving First School in the town centre of Crewkerne. We currently have a vacancy for a Lunchtime Active Play Supervisor to support the organisation, delivery and supervision of active play and on occasion lunch supervision duties.

The successful applicant will be caring, compassionate, vibrant, flexible, willing, helpful, friendly, creative, energetic, able to work on his/her own initiative and an enthusiastic team player – every attribute essential to give our children the best playtime experience!

Please enquire at the School Office for an application form and job description, visits welcome.

Closing date 11 January – Interviews

w/c 21 February 2019

Internal Applicants: expressions of interest in writing to Lisa Carter

Appointments subject to our Safer Recruitment procedures and medical clearance.

Misterton PTA

Congratulations to the following children who have achieved their next

Rainbow Olympic Certificates in December:

Oak Class

Finley Swinnerton x 4 Reuben Palmer x 3 Marlie Denslow x 3

Chloe Masterman Seren Gowar Genevieve Long Harvey Craven Emily Newton Korbin Rodford Summer Darch Kahlan Corthine Oliver Hodder Sky Parkinson Matthew Hodder Christopher Clarke

Cedar Class Mackenzie Ball Lily Heathman Melissa Braley Chloe Newton Deven Shurvinton Hugo Helliar Sienna Madgin Maisie Djeebet Eliza Sugar Giulio Palmer Ashton Langdon Ciaran Emmerson Tom Goodison Lily Madgin Callum Gates

Rainbow Olympic Certificates Ashlands & Misterton Rainbow Maths

CONGRATULATIONS

Green leaves

Congratulations to the following children who have achieved a green leaf this month:-

Oak Class Holly Goodison Summer Darch Jesse Strawbridge Finley Swinnerton Reuben Palmer

Cedar Class Mia Hawes Melissa Braley Ellie Baker Evie Tucker Sienna Madgin George Vernon

Bronze Certificates Mia Hawes Evie Tucker

Panto

Miss Ball’s Proud Wall Congratulations to all the children who have made it on to

my proud wall this month!

20, 50, 100 Reads Well done to all the children who have achieved their 20, 50 and 100 Reads this month. Oak Class 20 Reads Korbin Rodford Shania Langdon 50 Reads Ruby Melvin Jesse Strawbridge Genevieve Long Chloe Masterman Oliver Hodder Matthew Hodder Cedar Class 50 Reads Summer Cole Violet Bown Miles Shurvinton Lily Madgin Maisie Djeebet Sienna Madgin Melissa Braley 100 Reads Harry Dennis

Presley has been working hard in the afternoon to spell his words. He read and spelt all his words right. Well done Presley, we can’t wait to see it in your work in English!

The school council interviewed our new apprentice. They asked sensible questions and listened carefully to the answers. The older children helped the younger children and worked well as a group. Thank you for your help on the day.

I was so proud to hear Eliza singing so confidently during the Church nativity. It can be daunting to sing a solo but she made it look effortless. You blew me away young lady!

Seren has really bloomed in confidence over the last few weeks. I have been so proud to hear her talking with confidence with members of staff and I loved it when she brought her work to show me her achievements. Well done young lady.

Chloe is such a good all rounder! She has super positive attitude to learning which is infectious to others. Chloe tries hard with everything at school and I am really proud of her!

We all had a great time and really enjoyed the performance. The

children sat and took part in three hours of humour and laughter.

Thank you to all those involved.