February 2016

Park Lane Primary & Nursery School
Blues News
February 2016
Raising the roof in the O2 Arena
On Monday 8th February, forty six
pupils from Park Lane had the wonderful opportunity to join several
thousand other children at the O2
Arena in London to perform as part
of The Young Voices Choir.
Members of the
school choir
have been busy
rehearsing a
range of songs
Whittlesey Strawbear Festival
Fans of the Straw Bear were treated
to an exclusive performance by Park
Lane Molly during the Straw Bear
weekend. Children from Year 5
worked during their PE sessions to
devise an original dance based on
the Straw Bear music. They learned
the traditional Molly dance moves
and worked collaboratively to create
their own unique performance. The
standard of dancing this year was
since September and all their hard
work certainly paid off as they put in
a memorable performance to a sell
out crowd. Staff and parents
who attended the event were amazed
at the amount of material the choirs
had learnt and how professionally
they performed it, alongside professional musicians Limalh and Katie
Melua
Mrs. Bradshaw and Mrs. Porter were
incredibly proud of all pupils who
performed with such enthusiasm and
dedication.
particularly high and we were very
excited when Year 5 voted for our
first all boy Molly group to perform
at the annual Whittlesey Festival.
Thank you to Mrs Bradshaw for playing the music for us in the extreme
cold and for Mrs Ingham helping us
to keep up with the parade.
Key Dates and Events
Spring Term 2016
Feb 15-19
Mar 4
Mar 7-11
Mar 21-22
Mar 24
Half Term
World Book Day
Y5 Residential to Caythorpe
Yr 3/4 Production
End of Term
Summer Term 2016
Apr 11
Training Day
Apr 12
Start of Term
Apr 29
South 5 Class Assembly
May 2
May Day
May 6
Reception Sharing Assembly
May 9-13
SATs Week
May 20
West 1 Class Assembly
May 27
West 2 Class Assembly
May 30-3 Jun Half term
Jun 6
Training Day
Jun 10
North 2 Class Assembly
Jun 17
North 3 Class Assembly
Jun 20-24
Y6 Residential to IOW
Jun 24
North 1 Class Assembly
Jul 1
East 1 Class Assembly
Jul 11-12
Yr 1/2 Production
Jul 13
Music Evening
Jul 21
Yr 6 Leavers’ Assembly
Jul 21
End of Term
Percy in the Park
Our new Park Keepers designed new parks and built
What great fun the Reception children had recently
models of their ideas. What great ideas they came up
being Percy the Park Keeper. They came to school
with. We planted pretty viola flowers and vegetables
dressed as Percy and were very busy all day with
including carrots, onions and cabbages. Let’s see how
activities that are all in his
well they grow. The Park
day’s work! They made bird
Keepers checked all the park
food for the hungry birds and animals were well and they
counted how many birds they
found the rabbits hiding in
could see in the school
the shed!
grounds.
Park Lane Primary & Nursery School,
Park Lane, Whittlesey, PE7 1JB
E: office@parklane.cambs.sch.uk T:01733 203433 F:01733 203520
www.parklane.cambs.sch.uke Primary & Nu
@Park Lane
February 2016
Park Lane Primary & Nursery School
E2 Maternity Cover
in outdoor pursuits. He enjoys rock climbDear Parents,
ing and has many a good tale to tell about
his adventures.
I am delighted to announce that after much He enjoys teaching children bush craft and
searching we have found the perfect
survival skills, so hopefully we can look
replacement for Mrs Ingham whilst she is forward to finding out more about this in
on maternity leave. We will be joined by
the future.
Mr Mark Hanslip on Friday the 12th of
I'm sure you will all join me in extending a
February. Mr Hanslip is an experienced
warm welcome to Mr Hanslip.
teacher and has taught in both primary and
secondary schools. He is a mathematics
Best Regards
and science specialist with a keen interest
Rob Litten
team to measure the river's flow and to
investigate if the flow was the same at the
Year 5 and 6 started their new Rivers
centre and at the edges.
topic with a real splash. We were lucky
Warmer activities included investigating
enough to take part in a hands on course the effect of extensive residential building
'From River to Sea' run by Caroline and
on our rivers; creating our own simplified
Richard at the Stibbington Centre.
river to understand erosion and settleFunding from the Glassmoor Local
ment and using mapping skills to underEnvironmental Fund meant that we could stand why some rivers take the route they
offer this experience to the children free
take.
of charge. Despite the weather's best
What a fantastic start to our latest topic.
efforts to deter us, we wrapped up
The children all came away having
warmly and were able to carry out some learned a huge amount about rivers and
river investigations first hand.
are looking forward to further developing
After learning the geographical terminolo- what they have learned back at school.
gy for the features of a river, the children
walked to nearby Wansford to identify
some of these features in real life. Using
technical equipment such as apples and
dog biscuits(!), the children worked as a
River Investigations
Reception’s new pergola
The Badger and Otter children are delighted with their new
blue pergola in the Outdoor area. It was made by a local
community group called FACET based in March. The children
have used the pergola as a reading den and is currently ‘The
South Pole’.
Notes to Parents
For Health & Safety reasons PLEASE use
the safe routes to and from the office.
PLEASE DO NOT climb over the electronic
barriers or go under them to take short
cuts to the office or the bike shed/
entrance/exit. PLEASE DO NOT leave on
foot via the entrance or the exit. This is for
your own and your Child’s Safety.
Just a reminder to say Dogs are not permitted on the school grounds.
Parents with children that have medical
needs can request a IHP (individual health
plan).
Children arriving after the school bell has
gone MUST go into school via the office in
order for them to be marked here.
Please can we remind you all to be respectful to our neighbours when parking
your cars before/after school and DO NOT
block driveways. There has been an incident where a driveway was completely
blocked and the resident couldn't get out.
Safer Internet Day 2016
This was held on Tuesday 9th
February and the theme this
year was Play your part,
#shareaheart.
We encouraged every class to
come up with some ideas of
how to be nice online.
World Book Day
Friday 3rd March
Thank you to Whittlesey Lions
Members of the Whittlesey Lions presented a cheque recently for £50 to the
school. Many of our children took part in the shop window quiz held in
Whittlesey town centre at Christmas time. Bethany in Year 3
won first prize and as a result the school also received a
cheque.
What a lovely surprise for Park Lane and well done to
Bethany.
Park Lane Primary & Nursery School,
Park Lane, Whittlesey, PE7 1JB
E: office@parklane.cambs.sch.uk T:01733 203433 F:01733 203520
www.parklane.cambs.sch.uke Primary & Nu
Early Years Easter
Bonnet Parade
Wednesday 23rd
@Park Lane