Ten Pieces Primary is for 7 to 11-year-olds and aims to open up the world of classical music to children and inspire them to develop their own creative responses to ten pieces of music through composition, dance or digital art.  Our school orchestra worked with professional musicians this term which culminated in a performance at the Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury, on Wednesday 2nd December.  The children were amazing and a real credit to the school.  It was an evening for lots of Thanet Schools, but we were the only school that represented the district which shows our commitment to a broad curriculum.  I was very grateful to Mrs Seemann who taught the children during the absence of Mrs Ross.

This week is National Tree week and at Cliftonville Primary School we have used this as an opportunity to think not only about trees but also to appreciate our school environment. We are fortunate to have new buildings into which the children in our reception classes have just moved, therefore we spent some time planting bulbs to make the outside look as beautiful as the inside. Some of our older children have been using clinometers to help them calculate the height of trees; this was very challenging, especially when they were asked to try and make their own clinometers too! However, as usual our children rose to the challenge and were able to find the heights of the trees in our grounds.  Joe Weitzel, an ex-Cliftonville Primary pupil, is now a tree surgeon from Top Branch Tree Services.  He came in to talk to children about his career. The children were fascinated to hear about his work and enjoyed hearing about some of the machinery he uses. He is pictured giving some logs to the reception children who enjoyed the extra height they gave them! He also awarded prizes for the tree competition, where the children had to design and make/draw their own tree at home.  

Thanks to the fantastic support of all of our families, we have £1093 in commission to spend on books, following the recent book fair.

To follow on from their work during Parliament Week, Years 5 and 6 were visited this morning by Sir Roger Gale, MP for North Thanet.  Although our school does not fall into his constituency, many of the children and their families who live in central Margate, Garlinge and the Millmead area are represented by him as their local MP.  Sir Roger talked to the children about his job and told them about other roles he has had in Parliament during his thirty-two year career.  The children listened attentively and asked very intelligent and thoughtful questions.  

We were very excited to learn that Kieron in Year 6 was this year's winner of the Thanet-wide 'Design a Christmas Card' competition.  As the competition winner, run by Mr Craig Mackinlay MP, member of Parliament for South Thanet, Kieron's card has been commercially produced and will be sent out by Mr Mackinlay's office.  There were over 120 designs submitted just by our school so it was a hard fought prize.

Well done, Kieron.  We are very proud of you! 

The photograph is Kieron receiving a framed copy of his design from Craig Mackinlay.

We were thrilled to receive such a complimentary email from Mr Dominic Woodward who visited the school as part of Parliament Week.  Mr Woodward is a civil servant, based in London, who works for the Department of Health.  The children were very interested in finding out all about the workings of central government.  They listened very attentively and asked some very mature and thought-provoking questions.

Dear Miss Connellan,

I just wanted to put on record my thanks for yesterday. From the moment I arrived I was thoroughly impressed with the school, its facilities and its staff and, most importantly, its students. It was a pleasure to speak.

I hope that today goes (went) well, enjoy the remainder of Parliament week and have a restful weekend!

Dominic Woodward

Come and see.....Year 2 home learning projects!

Year 2 children have made some wonderful dragons at home.  Parents had an opportunity to come in and celebrate the amazingly creative designs.  Well done to everyone who took part.

Thank you for the amazing support for Children in Need.  Together we raised an incredible £922.28 through various fund-raising activities, mainly organised and run by the pupils.

We were delighted to have such positive feedback following the trip to the Houses of Parliament yesterday, received via the school office...

Sophie's mum has just called to say a big thank you for how well you kept the parents informed during the trip. She said she was very impressed with how the school dealt with the whole trip & wanted to pass on her gratitude.

Well done to the children for their exemplary conduct and to the staff and volunteers for arranging such a fabulous trip.

The overall school attendance for Term 1 was 96.7%.  Special congratulations go to Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 who were all over 97%.