Great effort raising funds for St.Bees RNLI

Mrs Hunt and the early years class had a cake sale and raised £115.11 for the St Bees R.N.L.I.  The money will go towards buying a new boat.

10^th January 2008

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Welcome back to a new year and I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas break.

School exams begin next Tuesday for Years 5 to 10.  Years 3 & 4 will have tests in their lessons.  Although exams are but one of many indicators to your child’s progress, it is important that pupils learn to organise their thoughts and express themselves within a  time limit.  It is also sensible to master the revision process as soon as possible.

Please remember that we are holding a Parents’ evening on Thursday 28^th February from 6pm to 8.30pm for Years 1 to 11.  I hope everyone will try to come to this, but if it is inconvenient please let me know and I will try to arrange an alternative time for you to see the appropriate teachers. 

As this is a shorter term and includes a Parents’ evening there are no reports at the end of term.  There are reports, of course, in the summer term.

I know everyone is familiar with the credit system at school but perhaps a reminder of why we apply debits may be appropriate.  Debits are recorded if a pupil gives poor effort, poor work or misbehaves in class.  The debit itself is not a punishment (although it can be seen as such) but is rather a mechanism that allows us to monitor what is going on with each pupil.  It is at the discretion of the teacher whether a punishment is given to a pupil when a debit is recorded - a punishment consistent with the misdemeanour.

Please can you make sure that your child remembers to bring to school  the correct books and stationery each day.  It is very frustrating for teachers when important items have been left at home.  Thank you.

With my best wishes,

Paul Block

HARECROFT  HALL  SCHOOL

12^th December 2007

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Many of you with children over the age of 7 will have missed a magical Nativity put on by our pre – prep department.  The performance exuded fun, enthusiasm and confidence and was a marvellous way to begin the run in to Christmas.  I think the pre prep trip on The Ratty the following day was much deserved and I thank the Friends for kindly paying for this.

The autumn term is a long one and is often plagued by illness and tiredness towards the end.  On the whole most pupils have kept going and I am very pleased with their effort and attainment.  The pupils certainly benefit from small classes but more pupils are needed in some year groups.

The recently held scholastic book fair has been very successful and we sold £350 worth of books.  This meant we were able to select an equivalent value of books for the school, free of charge.  Fantastic, so thank you to everyone who purchased books.

We have held various fund raising initiatives this term.  As you know we raised £350 for Marie Curie and in return received all those daffodil bulbs from Boonwood Garden Centre.  Our thanks go to Mr Mackintosh for providing and working the necessary farming equipment to dig the area to plant all the bulbs.  Bags 2 School raised £92.25 and the next collection will be on Wednesday 27^th February 2008.

Our Children in Need appeal was both good fun and fruitful, raising £270.  An excellent total and thanks go to Mrs Hunt for all her hard work towards this cause.

The card making workshops that are run by Mrs Eldon are very popular and I would certainly urge you to attend a session in the future, in order to explore your ‘creative side’ in a relaxing and friendly environment.

I would like to thank the Friends for hosting a very successful Halloween party.  The costumes worn were both scarey and artistic.  Good fun was had by all.

Under the terms of his work permit Mr Hawke has to leave us at the end of this term.  Andrew is very popular and has contributed fully to the life of the school.  He will be missed by us all and we hope that he will stay in contact with us.

School Council elections took place yesterday and congratulations are due to Jessica, Cameron, Carman, Alistair and Tasha, as the duly elected representatives.

We had mixed results in our sporting fixtures this term, but the highlights were a senior hockey win against Lime House School and junior tag rugby success at Hunter Hall.

I look forward to seeing you all at the carol service and wish everyone a happy, peaceful and restful Christmas.

With my best wishes,

Paul Block

Headmasters letter ( updated 18 October 2007)

18 October 2007

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Our recent English Day was a resounding success.  Everyone, pupils and teachers alike, donned costumes (look at the web site) and came as a character from a book or poem.  A lot of thought was involved and it was interesting to hear each person in turn communicate why their character had been chosen.  Books were brought to life in a fun and colourful way.  All activities were enjoyable and I think the work accomplished on producing the front page of a newspaper produced the best results.

We held a thoughtful Harvest Festival service at School and the sale of cakes and buns etc was very well supported.  Thank you to everyone for helping with this.

The money raised from the above events goes to Marie Curie Cancer Care.  I am delighted to tell you that we managed to raise £350.00 which is a fantastic amount.  Thank you.  In return the school has been given 1,200 daffodil bulbs to plant in the grounds.  Many thanks go to Boonwood Garden Centre for this kind donation.

On the theme of giving may I remind everyone that the deadline for the shoe box appeal fast approaches.  We need all boxes in by the Monday immediately after half term (29 October).  Please use the stickers in the brochure handed out earlier this term to tick the appropriate sex and age group the gifts are for.

The West Midland Theatre Company visited us this week and produced an enchanting version of the Firebird, a Russian fairy tale.  All pupils from Kindergarten to Year 8 watched the production and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ms Collinson is organising a voluntary trip for Year 9 to Year 11 to see an evening performance of Cavalleria Rusticana on Wednesday 7^th November at the Theatre By The Lake, Keswick.  The cost will depend on numbers, but will be around £12 to £15.

The Scholastic Book Fair will be held at school from 28 November to 4 December.  This will be a good opportunity to view some exciting books and to purchase some early Christmas presents!  Every book sold contributes to free books for school.

May I wish you a happy and enjoyable half term break.

With my best wishes,

Paul Block

18^th September 2007

Dear Parents,

English Day  will be held on Wednesday 3^rd October.  As you know, two or three times a year we pick on a particular teaching subject and spend a day celebrating its different dimensions.  Many things have been planned including improvised drama, poetry competitions, designing the front page of a newspaper, call my bluff, other word games and so on.  However we may need your help with one planned event. We would like all pupils to come to school dressed as a character from either a book of sensible fiction or from a poem.  We will hold a ‘fashion parade’ during the afternoon.  So please can you help your children find appropriate clothing for the day.  If an elaborate costume is envisaged please bear in mind that it will need to survive the morning sessions and two outdoor breaks!

Marie Curie Cancer Care nurses visited the school last Wednesday to give a short presentation about their work in the community.  You may well have seen the brochure given out to your child.  Of course they would like to raise some funds and I hope that we can help.  In return, in November, the school will receive lots of daffodil bulbs to plant in the grounds as a Field of Hope.  The bulbs are being generously donated by Boonwood Garden Centre and our thanks go out to Mr and Mrs Mossop for that.

Harvest Festival will be held at school on Friday 5^th October.  This will be an internal event and will take place during prayers.  We would encourage pupils to bake biscuits and fairy cakes etc to bring to school that day and then everything can be sold at morning break.

Charitable fund raising is an important aspect of education.  Important as our pupils need to recognise that there are many people less fortunate than ourselves and that many charitable organisations can only survive on the generosity of others.  Every other year Harecroft supports a local charity over three terms and we have raised a considerable amount of money.  In the recent past we have supported the Gosforth First Responders, Red Alert North West and last academic year the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team.  Now in an ‘in between’ year  we normally do some one off fundraising.  So I hope we can raise a bit for Marie Curie.  One way to do this would be by linking it to English Day and Harvest Festival.  Please can all pupils donate £1 in return for not wearing school uniform on English Day and all the proceeds from the sale of biscuits and cakes at Harvest Festival will also be included.  I hope that is acceptable to everyone.

Games kit must be named otherwise it is almost impossible to track down lost items.

With my best wishes,

Paul Block

Headmaster

4^th September 2007

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back!  I hope everyone feels refreshed after the summer break and you as parents are glad to return your children to school and that all children are ready for the return.

Exam results went well for us over the summer.

Eight of our ten students gained 5 grade C’s or better, with just two of the Cantonese failing to reach the target.  Remember that at Harecroft all of our pupils take academic subjects to GCSE.  At many state schools two vocational subjects can result in 8 grade C’s.  There is nothing wrong with that, but it is not a level playing field for comparison purposes.

Our SATs results are very pleasing.  All pupils achieved at least Level 4 ( the required level) and in fact more Level 5s than Level 4s were achieved.

There will be a Parents’ Evening for parents of Kindergarten and Reception children on Monday 12^th November from 3pm.

Spanish has now replaced Latin for Years 3 – 6 and will be taught by Ms Mancebo.

In the past, as each new academic year begins, I have wondered why every pupil orders new stationery in every subject.  Surely not all exercise books from last term can be full.  Please encourage your children to return with last term’s books, if not to save paper, to save you money.

All pupils should have and use a homework diary.  Please check the diary at night to make sure homework has been set and completed.  Feel free to make a comment if appropriate.

Please can I ask that your children arrive at school correctly wearing their uniform.  This also applies to games kit in the afternoons.  Only the official school games kit should be worn during games or school matches.

Karate club commences next Monday 10^th September.  Please complete the reply slip below if your son / daughter wish to take part.

With my best wishes.

Paul Block.

Headmaster

FRENCH DAY

Following last year's very successful 'Science Day', the MFL Department held a 'French Day' in school on Tuesday, 26th. September. By coincidence this day was actually 'European Day of Languages', but as nearly all pupils at Harecroft study French, we decided to concentrate on this language. All pupils adapted to this French theme and came to schoo