School is closed today due to poor weather conditions.
We are a top performing school!
Praise for Stretton Handley CE Primary School from the Minister of State for Schools
Dear Parents, Governors and Children,
I am delighted to inform you that at the end of term I received a letter from Rt Hon David Laws MP, Minister of State for Schools praising the
“…excellent performance of the pupils in the 2012 national Key Stage tests as published on the 13th December 2012.”
The letter goes on to say –
“The overall percentage of your pupils achieving Level 4+, combined with excellent rates of progress in both English and mathematics place you amongst the top performing primary schools this year…..
I would like to congratulate, your staff, governors and pupils for their hard work and success, and to thank you for your leadership in continuing the drive towards the highest standards of educational achievement.”
As I am sure you will agree, this is fantastic recognition for all the hard work and effort of everyone involved in the life of the school. I look forward to continuing to work in partnership with all of you to ensure that all the children get the best possible start at Stretton Handley Church of England Primary School so they are prepared for the next stage of their education and for their future success.
Nativity – Derbyshire Times
A photographer from The Derbyshire Times visited on Friday 14th December and took photographs and a video of some of the Nativity performance – ‘The Magical Christmas Jigsaw’. Watch out for editions of the newspaper for the photos and there will be a link on the Derbyshire Times website to the clip.
Update: Our nativity photo is in the 20th December edition of The Derbyshire Times. The photo can be purchased from this link and the video can be viewed here.
We also have some school photos taken prior to the performance. If you would like to purchase prints of your child please call at the office to view the proofs. Prints cost 40p
WANTED! Book List
We would like to create a list of books to buy to enhance our school reading library and we need your help. We want you to make suggestions for books that you would like to read or books that you would recommend to others. Perhaps there is a particular book that you have enjoyed and you would like to read more by the same author. Maybe you would like the next book in a series e.g. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Perhaps you have some really good recommendations that you think other children would enjoy. Send us your ideas. You could do some book reviews for the web site and school library too.
Click on the comment bubble above to add your suggestions.
Geocaching on the Woolley Moor Trail
On Thursday afternoon, not dissuaded by the bitterly cold weather, Class 3 donned their wellies and warm clothes to walk the Woolley Moor Trail. They were accompanied by Mr Cooke, Mrs Mahadevan and Mrs Gill (Chair of Governors). The children had a great time stamping in partially frozen puddles as well as completing their question sheets!
We also took the opportunity to hide our first Geocache somewhere along the trail. Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. We registered our cache, ‘Give Way’, on geocaching.com and within an hour of being published, a first to find (FTF) was logged on the web site!
If you want to find out more about geocaching, visit geocaching.com or download this leaflet.
Bird Bonanza at Ogston Reservoir!
Well done to the children (and adults!) who managed to get up early to take part in this morning’s bird watching session at Ogston Reservoir. Children kept a record of the birds they could identify on their bird spotting sheets. In total, we managed to spot 24 different species:
Coot, Moorhen, Cormorant, Canada Goose, Black-headed Gull, Little Grebe (Dab Chick), Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Mallard, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Tree Sparrow, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Nuthatch,Wren, Robin, Blackbird, Magpie and Goldcrest.
What an eagle-eyed lot you are!
Can you remember what these birds are called?
The next bird watching session will be from 8.00 am to 8.50 am on Thursday 22nd November. Please confirm if you wish to attend as we do need to restrict numbers.
We would like to thank Ogston Bird Club for allowing us to use their bird hides. A special mention must go to Mr Mike Swain for topping up the bird feeders before we arrived; this allowed us to see many birds close up in addition to those out on the reservoir. If you are interested in joining Ogston Bird Club, you can download a membership application form from their web site. An annual family membership only costs £12 (memberships purchased now, run through to the end of next year).