Fri 29 November No.

Francis Baily News

Shoo Rayner Visit

On 20 November, Years 2 and 3 were treated to a very amusing and captivating talk by the childrens author Shoo Rayner. He empathised with the children about how difficult it can be sometimes to think up stories on a cold, wet Monday morning! Shoo showed the children how he takes inspiration from his real life, and turns them into imaginative stories. The day he taught his son to ride his bike without stabilisers, became the inspiration for Ricky Rocket Up, Up and Away. The children loved this story about the boy who learned to ride his spaceship without stabilisers and he drew a great picture of Ricky, dedicating it to Francis Baily. If they havent told you already, Im sure the children will agree that Shoo was Brilliant Utterly Magnificent! If you would like to know more about Shoo, please visit his website www.shoorayner.com.

Teacher Training Days Mon 6 January Friday 4 April Thurs 24 July

Diary Reminders 30 Nov PTA Christmas Fayre Week beginning 9 Dec Christmas Dinners 11 Dec 10.00 Year 2 play 12 Dec 1.30 Year 2 Play 16 Dec 7.00 Carol Concert 17 Dec Foundation Party 7.00 Carol Concert 19 Dec Year 1 & 2 Christmas Party 20 Dec School finishes 2.00pm

Children in Need15 November Thank you to everyone for their donations for Children in Need. The PTA collected 140.47 from their mug sale in the playground plus another 111 going to PTA funds and school raised 29 from their informal collection for Pudsey.

The Great Thatcham Santa Fun Run Thatcham Rotary Club are organising a 5km Santa Fun Run at 11.00 am on Sunday 15th December. It starts and finishes on Thatcham Broadway underneath a big inflatable red arch. Every runner will be given a Santa Outfit to wear and will receive a special medal on completion. The route goes down to and around the Nature Discovery Centre lakes; there is a shorter route for the very young and those unable to complete 5km. Entry costs are 10 for children and 20 for grown ups. Money raised from the entry fees is going support Thatcham relief in Need, The Rainbow Rooms, The Renal Dialysis Unit at WBCH, Polio Plus, Shelter Box (who are helping people whose homes are destroyed, and are sending a lot of help to the Philippines at the moment) and other local, nationand international charities

End of Term Update Reports We will be sending out information on childrens current levels in writing, reading and maths and tick sheets similar to those used last year at the beginning of January.

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We hope this will add useful information to that received verbally at the Parent Consultation meetings.

You can raise money for your own charities. Download a sponsorship form and get your friends to sponsor you. Entry forms are available from the school office or The Family Bookshop, or you can enter online at: http://www.rotarythatcham.org.uk/id15.html
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Primary Maths Challenge Thirty-seven Year 5 and 6 children took part in the National Primary Maths Challenge set up by The Mathematical Association. This is a Maths paper in which 1875 schools take part from all over the UK. The paper is based on the problem solving skills and needs children to apply the skills learnt in Maths. George Knight receive the gold award, Ryan Holmes the silver, Callum Yeo and Sujay Patel received bronze. All results have been submitted to the PMC and we are anxiously awaiting the results to see if any of the children will be through to the bonus round which will happen in February.

Basketball Nine year 6s entered a basketball competition at the Kennet on 20 November. Fourteen teams from different Primary schools took part in a round robin event, with the top two teams in each group going on to contest the final. We entered two teams, one in each group. One of our

Year 2Fundraising In summer term last year, all of the year 2 children planned and organised a fundraising event. They worked in house teams to decide on a stall to run to raise money for their chosen charity, the food bank. We are pleased to tell you that the children (who are now in year 3) raised 117. As well as raising lots of money the children learnt lots about money, team work and planning. Well done to all involved.

teams topped their group with a huge 68 points, winning five and drawing one of their games from seven matches played. The team fought bravely but ended up as runners up to St Finians by 3 baskets to one. All of our players displayed fantastic sporting attributes throughout the competition: team work, a positive attitude, fair play and above all they enjoyed themselves. Well done, FB! CHRISTMAS SING A LONG MUSIC EVENT - FRIDAY 13TH DECEMBER

Football Years 5 & 6 School Team Bill McIlvride Cup 2nd Round

On Thursday 21st November we travelled to Reading I have taken the decision to cancel this event which was advertised in the last PTA newsletter as I am keen that to play Springfield Primary in the 2nd Round of the when this is added to our Christmas calendar it is a great Cup, having previously beaten Lambourn. success. Unfortunately several events have conspired to As in the previous game we made a slow start commake the organisation of this at short notice very diffiing off at half-time 0-0. A brighter start to the second cult. half saw Tom W score the opener which was quickly followed by a rasping drive from Joe W. to put us 2-0 I will be looking at our whole response to the celebration of Christmas sometime before the end of this school up. year so that we have things planned early and in conjuncSpringfield reacted well and soon forced a goal tion with Kennet for Christmas 2014. which led to a nervous final 5 minutes. Whilst the size of our school does create its own probHowever, the team held strong and we march on lems it should not be beyond us to have events that more into Round 3. children and parents can enjoy at this special time. Our opponents are not yet known, but will come form Garland, Spurcroft or Hermitage. Indoor Sportshall Championship 2013 Organised by Team Kennet Francis Baily supported this annual event which took place at Pak House School on Saturday 23rd November. Our school finished 14th out of 30 teams. Each of our athletes had to complete a track event and a field event, so they had to be fully committed and motivated to represent our school. They all enjoyed the morning. Francis Baily can be very proud of our competitors well done athletes and thank you to all who took part! Congratulations to our athletes: Ruby Johnson, Euan White, Tia Sleighter, Owen Cliffe, Ella Willis, Thomas Walter and Thomas Smith.