‘Maximum Effort for

Maximum Achievement’

Friday 15th December 2017

Well - what a week we have had and how happy am I to see the back of the white stuff … hopefully not to be seen

again until 25th December - a light dusting - all melted away by 27th December! Thank you for your support this week - it’s not an easy time to be a Headteacher - ‘to open

or close’ is definitely one of the toughest decisions that ever has to be made in the role.

Have a lovely weekend - hopefully you’ll have time to draw breath before the festive season fully descends!

Diary Dates Lunch Menu - Week 2

Monday 18th December

Non-Uniform day for Year 5 Tuesday 19th December

Carol Services at Christ Church - Year 3/4 at 9.30am, Year 5/6 at 10.45am

Wednesday 20th December

Last day of the Autumn Term Tuesday 2nd January 2018

Children return to school Wednesday 20th December

On the last day of term, children are invited to bring in games to play for part of the day. Please note: no

electronic games, iPods, iPads etc and no games with lots of small pieces please! Thank you!

Christmas Carol Services - Tuesday 19th December Just a reminder …….

Please do come along and join us at Christ Church next Tuesday for our Christmas Carol Services: Year 3/4 at

9.30am and Year 5/6 at 10.45am. Please could we politely request that early birds don’t save more than one seat for a

family member. Please also be aware that there is no parking available at Christ Church during the Carol Services

due to a regular, weekly group already using the car park. Please park in the surrounding streets or walk. Thank you.

Holidays in Term Time Please could we remind you that we are unable to authorise

leave of absence in term time unless exceptional circumstances apply. Please check the school’s website for

the full policy. Thank you for your support.

Please don’t forget to check the Lost Property boxes before the end of term as all remaining un-named items

will be re-cycled during the Christmas break. Thank you.

PE Kit We will be sending PE kits home before the end of term.

During the Christmas break, please can you check that your child has a complete kit which should be labelled. Indoor kit consists of the school PE top, black shorts, blue socks and

black plimsolls. Outdoor kit consists of the same but, instead of plimsolls, children need trainers. They may also wear either the school tracksuit or a dark coloured tracksuit over the top

of their kit. Please note that under-armour and running leggings should not be worn for class PE lessons. Thank you.

Christmas Dinner Thank you very much to Jo and our Catering Team for

preparing such a lovely Christmas lunch for our children and to all our Midday Assistants and staff members who

helped to serve the delicious meals. Thank you also to the Friends’ Association who provided Christmas crackers for

all the children! We all had a lovely time! Thank you!

Parents to Lunch Having patiently waited until the end, this week we

welcomed the parents and grandparents of children in 3D to lunch! Once again, everyone seemed to have a lovely time

and thoroughly enjoyed their lunch. Thank you very much to our catering team, our MDAs and Mrs Risley who all played

a part in ensuring that everyone had a delightful lunch.

‘Well Done’ to all the children who were awarded MERIT certificates this week.

Jack Warren-Gunn Oliver McCreery Saxon Minto Megan Mecham Anya Mistry Lucas Popescu Thomas Cavanagh Freya Clark Elsa Ward Ethan Lee Theo Kirby Callum Pearce Naomi Clements Kesia Crees Angus Noble Harveer Bawa Iona McMorris Ella Holmes Evangeline Pierce James Baker Evie Carvell Taitum Barnes Emily Hagland Harry Martin Matilda Davies Jessica Clarke Mitchell Stimpson Ben Woolley Katie Hoare Brandon Burrett Caitlyn De Kok Oliver Gill Imogen Garrett Eloise Dodd Isabelle Hoffman Amy Baker Katie Woods Eloise Lock Toby Lashmar Bray Harris Harvey Barker

Football News Last Friday the Year 6 Boys’ Football Team played their

second match of the week in the third round of the Essex Schools Parish Cup against Shenfield St Mary. As anticipated, this was a closely contested tie and Buttsbury were 1-0 down just minutes from half-time. The boys battled hard for every ball in the second half and had several opportunities to score

before they eventually levelled the match. As the clock counted down to the end of full time and extra time looked

inevitable, Shenfield scored from a corner to dash the hopes of Buttsbury. Congratulations to the boys for a great cup run and thank you to our many supporters who braved the weather

and muddy conditions. Thank you also to Ms Marshall, our coach and Mr Tweedie, who refereed. Buttsbury’s focus now

returns to the quarter-finals of the Jim Smith Trophy.

This week’s ‘Writers of the Week’ are: Austin Kelly Elizabeth Salvatore Ruby Toll Sam Alger Rosie Howard Harrison Harlow

Harvey Barker Harry Weston Well done to our writing super stars!

This week’s attendance figure is: 93.5%! The snow has blighted us this week!

This year’s attendance target is 97.7%. A special ‘Well Done’ to Class 3Ma who had the highest attendance this week - 99.0%! Congratulations!

Year 5 Christmas Play - Squeak Congratulations to the children in Year 5 who presented two wonderful

Christmas plays earlier this week. The children had been working extremely hard and this could definitely be seen in the quality of their singing and the attention to detail throughout. The readers and actors

also delivered very high quality performances, with some beautiful dancing too. Well done to all the children and thank you to the staff for

preparing them so effectively. Thank you for coming along to the concerts and for your very

generous donations to Shelter Box which totalled £432! Amazing!

This week’s winning house: Lions

Overall, the winners this half-term were: Jaguars

As a reward, the children in Jaguars will be given 20 minutes extra lunch break on

Friday 5th January! Well done!

Afternoon Tea Our final Afternoon Tea of 2017 was celebrated yesterday afternoon with the same vigour as the very first one! An

observation from Miss Carroll though, ‘It’s getting harder and harder for the children to pick their favourite piece of

work to bring as they have a lot more to choose from.’ Bearing that in mind, I don’t envy the children who are the

very last number to be chosen!

Out of School Success

Congratulations to Aaron Bickerstaff (3Ma) who braved the cold to complete his 10th Park Run on Saturday.

Well done to Adam Havis (5S) who completed his 50th Park Run on Saturday and then ran in a 5K race at the Olympic Park on Sunday (in the snow). He was the

youngest competitor and won a medal!

Congratulations to Ben Simpson (5T) who recently completed a 40ft abseil inside the atrium of County Hall in Chelmsford and raised £242 in sponsorship for the Js Hospice.

Well done to Ben Bowden (5S) who recently passed his Grade 1 piano exam with Distinction.

Congratulations to George Betts (5M) who was player of the week for Billericay Bees U10 team, for playing well and putting the coach’s advice into action.

Well done to Jessica Betts (4T) who performed her first solo singing part in her drama show last week, playing Rockaria in Cinderella Rocks.

GET SET Awards Congratulations to the following children who

received their BRONZE GET SET award this week.

Ollie Alsemgeest Jack Warren-Gunn

Oliver McCreery Saxon Minto

Megan Mecham Anya Mistry

Lucas Popescu Elizabeth Salvatore

Elsa Ward Isabella Howlett Naomi Clements

Kesia Crees Angus Noble

Ruby Toll Iona McMorris

Ella Holmes Evangeline Pierce James Baker Evie Carvell Harry Martin Rosie Howard Jessica Clarke Mitchell Stimpson Ben Woolley Katie Hoare Brandon Burrett Imogen Garrett Eloise Dodd Isabelle Hoffman

Cloakroom Award - Autumn Term 2 Each week the children in Year 6 judge the cloak-

rooms in the lower school and the upper school and select a winning class in each section for the

‘Tidiest Cloakroom’ award. Each time a class wins, a blue star, with their class name on it, is put up on

the display in the hall. At the end of every half-term, the stars are totalled up, with each star

representing five minutes additional break. I am pleased to announce the results of the second half

of the Autumn Term: The following classes have all earned 5 minutes

extra break: 4T, 4P and 5M

Well done also to the following classes who earned 10 minutes extra break:

4C, 6U, 6R and 5T A very special ‘Well Done’ to 3D who earned a

staggering15 minutes extra break

Maths Master Class Some of our most able mathematicians recently attended the Maths Masterclasses at Billericay

School. The competition was extremely tough and the children did well to rise to the challenge. Well done to Fatima Ahmed and Dominic Glover for

coming fifth overall and to Freya Liggins and Oscar Nugent for winning the competition. This was a

fantastic achievement and the children deserve a very big well done!

Dom and Fatima Freya and Oscar

Amazing Advent Workshops Even the snow could not stop us getting into the Christmas

spirit! On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, Year 3 and 4 attended the Amazing Advent workshops. Throughout the day, each

class took part in four Advent themed activities. The first activity was a code breaker task based on the angel’s message to the

shepherds. Everyone loved trying to crack the codes and raced to complete all three! Next they learnt about the Kings’ journey following the star to Bethlehem. The children designed and

decorated their own very special star. The children also learnt about the different names that Jesus had in the Bible such as Emmanuel, meaning God is with us. Everyone decorated a bag to help them

remember all of the different names. The final activity was a lucky dip! The children had to find the characters from the Christmas

story and thought carefully about how each person was involved. Throughout the sessions, the children were also given Big Questions to help them think more deeply, such as why Shepherds were invited to the birth of Jesus. The children amazed their teachers with their thoughtful responses. Year 3 and 4 would like to say a very special thank you to the Schools’ Ministry team for not only creating and delivering the workshops, but also kindly relocating to our own

Small Hall when the weather was against us!

Clockwise from top left:

George Jessica

Ben Adam Aaron

These were the last ever Get Sets at Buttsbury - look out for details of Rainbow Awards in January!