10 July 2009
Dear Parents,
We have reached the end of a very busy year and I would like to reflect on some of the events and achievements.
We have had a number of “firsts” at The Firs; our first eco council, our first chess and sewing clubs, our first ensemble, our first movie club and our first tag rugby club run by a former professional rugby player. These groups have enriched the life of the school considerably and I would like to thank all the staff involved for their enthusiasm in providing opportunities for our children to take part in such a diverse range of activities.
Our sporting teams have taken part in matches and tournaments against both independent and maintained schools in a range of sports including football, netball, hockey, cricket, rounders, athletics and handball. I am very proud to announce that both our girls and boys teams are the Chester hand ball champions! Special congratulations also go to Jade Parker, Tiffany Hughes and Abigail Fisher who all qualified for the finals at the Independent Schools Association regional athletics meeting at Robin Park in Wigan and to Harriet Fisher and Katie Merrick who came fourth in their events and Douglas Brereton and Freddie Cheshire who came fifth in their events at the same meeting. Thank you to Mrs Cheshire, Mr Gresty and all the staff and parents who help in any way at our sports clubs and matches.
Music is an important part of the life of The Firs and it is wonderful to see so many children involved in making music, either through membership of the choir and chamber choir, our ensemble or through individual lessons. Thank you to Mrs Arran for all her hard work. Our ensemble will meet at lunch time on Friday from the Autumn term so that children don’t have to choose between music and a sports club!
Congratulations to Anne Stairmand and Eleanor Wood-Bowyer who have reached the semi finals of the Junior Language competition. To achieve this they have had to learn Greek and now have the “holiday homework” of learning Korean to prepare for the semi final which will be held in September! Thank you to Mrs Wilcock for her enthusiasm and support.
Our young writers have been in action too with twelve of our J1 pupils having their mini sagas published, Hannah Batson of J4 won prizes for writing a story for younger children and Max Reeves gained a Blue Peter badge for his poetry writing.
Congratulations to Toby Kimber on gaining a green Blue Peter badge for making an eco friendly cold frame and to Josh Dawson who is an excellent sailor and has represented Wales in competitions!
Thank you to our Junior Road Safety officers, Amy Lewis and Joshua Roberts, who have done an excellent job raising awareness of road safety issues; to our stalwart team of parents who have run our park and stride sticker distribution scheme and to Pete Robson, our estate manager, for running the Let’s Bike scheme for J4 pupils.
The FSDF have provided a diverse range of social and fund raising activities including the Christmas Fair, our fabulous Fun Day which raised approximately £2500 pounds and of course the amazing ball which raised over £10,000 for Motor Neurone disease research and the Chester & Wirral renal care unit. Thank you to Mrs Patton and all of the FSDF for giving so generously of their time to organise these events. I would also like to thank Mrs Michelle Ellis, who has been part of The Firs family for 10 years, and has worked hard for and supported the school in so many ways. I would like to wish her and her family every future success and happiness as her youngest son now joins his brother in senior school.
Thank you too for your support and generosity for so many charitable events including Red Nose Day, Barnado’s, Action Research, Contact the Elderly, Chester Aid to the Homeless, Azariah and Shelter. I am very pleased to be able to tell you that the J4s have raised over £1000 to share between their nominated charities, Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Dogs Trust.
When we return in September our classes will be known by their year group names, i.e. MI will be 1F and 1R, TI will be 2P and 2W, and the juniors will be 3W, 4L and 4R, 5B and 6E and 6L. Reception and Kindergarten will remain unchanged. We hope that this will make progression through the school clearer.
I would also like to tell you about an important diary date change. As our building work will be in the” finishing” stage in September we have decided to have our Open Morning on Saturday 7th November instead of Saturday 3rd October. This means that children will be in school all day on Friday 2nd October but they will finish at 1pm on Friday 6th November. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this change may cause.
On behalf of everyone at The Firs may I wish you a safe and happy summer holiday.
Yours sincerely
Mrs M A Denton
