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The Year 6 children learning with the PiXL programme invited their parents to a special assembly on Monday 27th January. They demonstrated just how much amazing progress they had made since September. It was lovely to see so many parents there and Mrs Smith, one of our governors, came along too to find out all about PiXL. Miss Tiley thanked the teachers who take individual pupils and small groups. She also used the opportunity to show parents all about the PiXL resources that can be used at home. We were very proud of the children's work.
KCC Education Visit - Children and Staff Praised
Children and staff at Cliftonville Primary School have been praised following a top level Kent County Council education visit. Cllr Margaret Crabtree, deputy cabinet member for education and health reform, was “exceedingly impressed” during a visit on Friday 24th January.
Cllr Crabtree heard about the school’s partnership programme with other Thanet schools and how the overall school performance continues to improve across the board. She visited pupils from reception through to Year 6 and was impressed at the lively and stimulating lessons.
Her itinerary included visiting Cliftonville Primary School, Thanet Skills Studio at Westwood and Hartsdown Academy. After her trip she praised the attitude and behaviour of the pupils she had met. She added, “I am also so impressed with the commitment of the staff I have seen at all the centres I have visited. It is clear they pass this enthusiasm right through to all of the children and young people – it really shines through.”
BETT is the global meeting place for the education technology community, bringing together 35,000 educators and learning professionals every January. Four teams of Year 5 children have travelled to the Excel Centre every day from 22nd - 25th January to showcase our innovative work with iPads including the use of green screen technology. The children have been working with a company called Planet PC. It was a real honour to be asked to attend and we are very proud of our children. Thank you to Mr Burnett, our IT consultant, for all his help.
Dear parents and carers,
Appointment of permanent Headteacher for Cliftonville Primary School
You will be aware that, from September 2012, the school has been led by Mr Somers and Mrs Troth. The Governing Body of each of their ‘home’ schools, Hartsdown Academy and St Saviour’s Church of England Junior School, released them for a two-year period. These appointments formally come to an end in July 2014.
The Governing Body at Cliftonville feels that the school is in a much more secure position and the time is right to appoint a permanent Headteacher from September 2014. The advertisement has been placed nationally for the post, with interviews planned for mid-February. Governors, working with the Dane Court Grammar School and King Ethelbert School Trust, are confident that the school will attract some outstanding applicants to continue the school improvement journey.
The School Council run by the children is involved in the recruitment process and as such there have been discussions about a new Headteacher in and around the school.
I wanted to reassure you that the Governing Body are committed to the continued success of Cliftonville Primary School. Whatever the outcome of the recruitment process, continuity of progress and collaboration with other schools, both secondary and primary, will remain our key priorities.
Mrs Claudine Murray
Chair of the Governing Body
A determined Cliftonville primary pupil is one of the top five per cent of fundraisers on the Justgiving charity site for 2013. Lily, in Year 6, raised £1,560 for Cancer Research by completing a three-mile swim at Hartsdown pool.
Lily decided to raise the cash after her next-door neighbour Peter and her Auntie Sima were both diagnosed with the disease. She can up with the idea of the swim after being inspired by a visit to the school from Olympic swimming champion Chris Cook. The school is working with Chris as part of the Olympic Legacy programme.
Lily's mum Amanda said: “She organised it all with only a bit of help because of seeing people she loves diagnosed with cancer. She said she wanted to help the charity find a cure.”
In November, Lily, then 10, swum 192 lengths of the pool in one hour and forty-one minutes. Her mum, who is a senior teaching assistant at Cliftonville Primary School, said: “I thought this was quite an achievement. She didn’t even stop for a drink. Her fundraising target was £300 but she went well over that and we have just received a letter from Justgiving, where I set her site up, saying she is in their top five per cent. I’m really impressed and would like to thank the school, family, Margate swimming club - where she is a member -friends and Chris Cook who were all really supportive and Hartsdown for letting her have the swimming lane for free.”
Lily is now planning a new fundraiser for next year.
Creative Movie Success for Cliftonville
Young movie makers from Cliftonville Primary School are techno hot-shots when it comes to being creative with iPads. Their production called 'Why I Love Margate' was the winner of a short film competition run via Turner Contemporary art gallery at Margate involving seven east Kent schools. In recent months, Cliftonville pupils have worked with iPad and green screen technology to create weather forecasts in lessons. They have also filmed interviews and presentations as part of their learning and demonstrated their skills at the Kent Head Teachers’ Conference last year.
The school’s latest effort of a minute-long mini-movie impressed judges. All the entries in the Apple RTC iPad challenge were shown at the gallery to a packed audience of pupils and teachers. The judges who had a tough task selecting the winner included Julie Durnall from Stormfront, Canterbury; Richard Morsley, Deputy Director of Turner Contemporary and Karen Eslea, Head of Learning at Turner Contemporary.
The Cliftonville team now progress to the second stage of the iPad challenge this spring. The third stage will take place this summer. The overall challenge winner will earn a Mac Book pro for their school.
Cliftonville's executive head teacher Andy Somers said, 'This is a fantastic initiative and it really helps pupils engage with the technology. The results are impressive and at Cliftonville our children really enjoy the vast creative learning opportunities that this technology allows, which is why we have been offering such an innovative curriculum for the last eighteen months.”