Claires Court Bulletin
NURSERY AND GIRLS
Bulletin 1 | Lent Term 2014
Email: als@clairescourt.com
Website: http://www.clairescourt.com/news-and-media/bulletins
Location: SL6 6AW, United Kingdom
Phone: 01628 411480
Facebook: facebook.com/clairescourt
Twitter: @clairescourt
WELCOME
Welcome to our new format bulletin. We hope that it will help you to find the information you need more quickly, but still give you all the news if you have time to browse. To read on a mobile please click open in browser. If you have any comments do let us know at the email address above.
Make sure you check with your son or daughter's bag as the Achievements Brochure will be sent home to each family this Friday by 'pupil post'. We hope you enjoy reading it and sharing in our pupils' successes!
IMPORTANT NOTICES
LATE BUSES AND FULL ACTIVITIES COMMENCE MONDAY 13 JANUARY
SENIORS: New ‘Homework Clinic’ – Monday lunchtimes 1.30 – 2.10pm in TA1
Finding it difficult to organise yourself, get your work in on time?
Need some support? Then drop in and become a good independent homework manager.
SENIORS: New Revision and Study Skills Clinic – Wednesday lunchtimes 1.30 – 2.10pm in G12
Test, Common Task, Controlled Assessment, Examination coming up? Stressed that you’re not quite ready? Become prepared, find solutions to your revision problems, get creative with your study skills and watch your marks improve.
TALENT SHOW: this term we are holding our very first Junior/Senior School Talent Show which will be performed in alternate years to the Dance Show. The girls are all talking about it which is fantastic and “Yes, girls, you can perform two different styles of Acts”. See Dates for audition details.
FORTHCOMING DATES
Mon 13 Jan – PTA COMMITTEE MEETING IN SENIOR LIBRARY 7.30pm
Tues 14 Jan – YEAR 8 HPV INJECTIONS
Tues 14 Jan – SKI TRIP INFORMATION EVENING 7pm AT SENIOR BOYS
Wed 15 Jan – YEAR 11 iGCSE ENGLISH EXAM
The exam is 3 hours long. Students will finish lessons early and go to lunch at 11.50am. They should report outside the School Hall at 12.50pm in order to start the examination at 1pm in the Hall. Students should come prepared with the correct equipment in a clear/transparent pencil case/plastic bag containing 2 black biros, 2 pencils, a rubber, a ruler, a pencil sharpener and a calculator.
Thurs 16 Jan – OPEN MORNING ON ALL 3 SITES 9.30am - 12pm (until 11.30am for Nursery) All parents are welcome to attend to view the next stage in their child's education.
Fri 17 Jan – YEAR 11 REPORTS HOME WITH PUPILS
Mon 20 Jan – YEAR 11 PE GCSE TRIP TO INTECH SCIENCE CENTRE IN WINCHESTER
Tues 21 Jan – TALENT SHOW AUDITIONS FOR JUNIORS – 4pm in Chapel
Tues 21 Jan – YEAR 8 PARENTS’ EVENING 6pm - 8.15pm IN THE SCHOOL HALL
A letter has been sent home today via pupil post and emailed home to parents.
Wed 22 Jan - TALENT SHOW AUDITIONS FOR SENIORS (including Sixth Form) – 4pm in Chapel
TRIPS
*Mon 3 Feb - Year 10 Art Trip To Tate Britain Payment and consent are due by Friday 24 January.
*Tues 4 Feb - Year 11 Art Trip To Tate Modern Payment and consent are due by Friday 24 January.
*Feb 14 - Year 11 History Trip To Berlin Final information/medical/rules have been sent home. Forms to be returned to School by Friday 24 January.
Trips letters can be found here. *Letter have been sent home this week.
FUTURE EVENTS
Sat 25 Jan – Burns’ Supper – Book your tickets on line. To be held at our Junior Boys site at Ridgeway. Enjoy all the Burns’ Night traditions including the Addressing of the Haggis, Band, Dinner, Auction and Dinner Games. A really excellent evening.
Mon 27 Jan – Year 11 Spotlight on Sixth Form 7pm. Details to follow
Tues 28 Jan – ‘Looking Beyond GCSE’ – talk for parents 6pm. Details to follow.
Wed 29 Jan – Years 3 – 5 Secondary Information Evening 7.30pm. Details to follow.
Thurs 13 Feb - Talent Show Performance - 6.30pm in the School Hall
This will be in the format of a competition and, yes, Simon Cowell will probably have the final vote! Prizes to be won.
Fri 7 Mar - PTA Quiz Night – details to follow
Sat 10 May – May Ball - details to follow
NOTES AND TO DO LIST
JUNIORS: Drama - this week we have started our LAMDA sessions with Mrs Warren. All girls in Year 3-6 are receiving sessions on a fortnightly basis, withdrawing from half of their Music/Choir session. This is a fantastic opportunity for girls to gain more confidence and public speaking skills. Over the next two weeks girls need to research a piece of text they wish to work on further: this can be taken from a favourite novel or scripted text (a page length of dialogue). Bring your selection to our next session (to be held in the Library) in order to check the suitability of your chosen pieces. The hope is that all girls will have the confidence to perform in front of a LAMDA examiner at the end of the summer term to achieve a certificated accreditation.
SLIPS TO RETURN
REPORT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Please return the report acknowledgement slip immediately if you have not already done so.
SPORT
Tues 14 Jan - U14 Hockey League Match v LVS at St Mary's ATP
GK- S Sethi, SW - N Bates, LD - A Pusey, CD - T Gaster, RD - R Watkins, LM - V Noone,
CM - E Molhoek, RM - C Webster, LA - K Garthside, CA - J Thomas, RA - L Kidd,
Res - E Webb. Leave School at 4pm, match starts at 4.45pm. Kit: new hockey shirt, navy skort and socks. Pick up from Claires Court Girls at 6pm.
Wed 15 Jan - Year 9 Netball at Kidwells Park
Y9A: GS - A Pusey, GA - E Johnson, WA - S Sethi, C - L Kidd, WD - T Gaster, GD - N Bates, GK, T Wolfenden.Y9B: GS - Y Bratch, GA - V Noone, WA - E Webb, CS - S Price, WD - J Thomas,
GD - G Harper, GK - H Thomas. Reserves: K Boon, L Scott.
Meet at 3.45pm in the Atrium. Collect from Kidwells Park or 5.45pm from School.
Advanced dates:
Saturday 18 Jan- Berkshire Inter Schools Cross Country Championships at Wellington College. A letter has been sent home to all pupils who have been selected for this competition. Reply Slip to Miss Fuller by Tuesday 14th January.
Fri 7 Feb: London West ISA Cross Country at Sherfield School
RESULTS: U14 V Charters 2-0 Win; Scorers E Molhoek x 2; POM - C. Webster.
NEWS FROM THE HEADS
To those whom I have not seen at the School entrance or at meetings - a happy New Year.
The theme at the start of term seems to have revolved around change. At the beginning of term assembly we looked at the inevitable New Year resolutions, and how in the national magazines, both men’s and women’s, the exhortation to reinvent, restructure or reshape seems to be overwhelming. And of course despite best intentions such aspirations mostly come to nothing or grind to a halt by February!
Schools are in the business of change - it’s what we do, it’s our job. Last term, girls in Years 7 to 10 undertook a revised report reflection process with a real focus on changing, improving or developing better work habits. These SMART targets should by now have been transferred into homework diaries, so please ask to have a look. The point that was made in assembly was that change needs to be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Recorded and Time bound. The half term grading will be the time-bound element.
Two new initiatives for next week will be a lunchtime Homework Clinic and a Revision and Study Skills Clinic, both run by the Director of Studies, Mrs Thomas. The Homework Clinic is to help pupils become better at organising their homework so they become better self-directed learners. The Revision and Study Skills Clinic is aimed mostly at Year 10 and 11 and it is to build their generic skills in those areas. If you think your daughter would benefit from either of those clinics please encourage them to attend or let her tutor know. In addition for Year 11s, we are now putting together the lunchtime and after school support programme for each subject and you will receive information about that in the near future. At assembly we reiterated that the start of each term is a chance to START OVER and begin afresh. We cannot change the past only the future, and it is never too late.
On Thursday we had Bob Tait speak to Years 9 and 10 girls as part of our drug and alcohol education programme, with a follow up session to parents in the evening. As our speaker stressed, it is the young people themselves who make the decisions about their behaviour in this area and all we can do is to ensure that they are as well informed and as empowered as they can be to make the right decisions. If you were not able to attend please let us know if you would like a copy of the information that was given out. Nationally, school and other programmes seem to be having a positive effect as, compared to a decade ago, young people seem to be drinking less - see here for the BBC story.
Helping to change the future were members of Year 12 and 13 who performed splendidly in the Maidenhead Lions Swimarathon last Sunday, swimming over 7000m and raising money for both Maidenhead Lions Club and our 3 for 3 charities. Also aiming to do so is one of our Year 7 girls who forewent her Christmas presents and asked that the money be donated to one of the chronic pain charities - to date she has raised £805 - and what a marvellous example she is of somebody who really understands the Claires Court Values.
A big thank you to those who have had to battle through floods or the resultant traffic chaos to get to their child to School - much appreciated.
So a really brilliant start to the term and I hope to your year.
'In order to carry a positive action we must first develop here a positive vision'
Dalai Lama
We wish everybody a very happy and healthy 2014 from all of us in The Nursery Department.
It has been a wonderful start to the year with children coming in with smiling faces and full of chatter about their holidays and new toys. We have welcomed lots of new children into the Nursery rooms and are pleased to see how well they are settling in. The new children in Transition are having a wonderful time too and have had no problems transferring from their Nursery classes.
Our topic this term is based on shapes and colours. It would be lovely if you could support the children’s learning by talking about the shapes and colours that are seen in the environment, at home and on their toys. The week commencing 13 January the Nursery children will be learning about circles, the colour green, the number 1 and the letter a. Any small toys with wheels or those incorporating circles would be ideal as their “Show and Tell” item this week. Transition children will be learning about shapes and sizes and the letter r.
Welcome back to the Lent Term! I do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! We are pleased to see that your children have returned to school rested and filled with the same enthusiasm for their learning that they had last term. There are many exciting things to come this term – all which can be found on the Junior Girls Calendar.
We started the new term with an Assembly entitled “New Year’s Resolutions”. Mr Bevis chose Kelly Clarkson’s song ‘Breakaway’ and we focused on the words: “Take a Chance, Make a Change”. This is something which we will be concentrating on in terms of achieving goals and targets.
Points to note: As you know, my door is always open. However, I would ask that class matters are discussed with the class teacher prior to making an appointment with me as in the majority of cases the teacher is able to solve any query more quickly. Please could you inform the class teacher and School Office of any appointments and request for holidays well in advance, wherever possible. Most importantly, if parents are going on holiday without their daughter, we must have permission for, and contact details of, the responsible person caring for the child in the parents absence.
WELL DONE
.... and thank you to all staff and pupils who supported ‘Save The Children’ by wearing fun, sparkly (and a few dodgy!) sweaters. We raised £570.
Congratulations to our musicians who have the results of their recent ABRSM exams:
Hannah Hale: Grade 2 Flute Merit; Molly McNulty: Grade 1 Violin Pass;
Anjolaoluwa Odesanya: Grade 1 Violin Pass; Riley Hopley: Grade 1 Violin Merit;
Emily Tapner-Evans: Grade 1 Cornet Merit.
LATEST NEWS
Crumbs... more food?!
‘Splashulations'
Other stories this week
Junior Boys Greek Battle
Sixth Former joins Junior GB Rowing Training Camp
Chess success and other News from across the School
Young Enterprise start trading