We have been tentatively dipping our toes in to Christmas in November and now, as the Aldi and John Lewis adverts are on the tele and we’re nearly at the end of Strictly, I think we can all start to get in to the Christmas spirit at Whitefield!

If you are new to Whitefield in Reception or throughout school, we love Christmastime at Whitefield and we have lots of activities and productions for you and your children.  All the information you need to know about the next four weeks in school are enclosed in this newsletter.

We always decorate our school for this period and this year we have chosen the book The Snowman and The Snowdog by Raymond Briggs as our corridor theme for Reception, Year 1, 2 and 3.  We have continued with the snowman theme for our hall decorations for Year 4, 5 and 6 with a twist of using recyclable items to produce our art work.

The Christmas trees are ordered and we should be ready to start our celebrations from Monday 2^nd December.

It’s been lovely to have conversations with you about the gifts the children are asking Santa for this year. I need to continue to live my Christmas joy through some of you who have your girls asking for unicorns and sparkles – Milly is coming to the end of her 12^th year and has stated ‘I still like unicorns mum but I don’t love them as much as I did so don’t get me loads of stuff like last year’.  B&M bargains will hit an all- time low profit this year now I can’t just ask Santa to nip in there.  She’s asked for airpods, which to us oldies are headphones. And anything that she can spray to make her smell nice.

I can’t wait to see you all at one or more of our many events over the coming weeks. I’ve pushed the boat out this year and have purchased three new tops to add to the Christmas outfit collection – this year’s jumper is very special!

So, get yourself settled down with a brew or a G&T, have a read and transfer all the dates to your diaries or electronic calendars.

Nativity, Christingle & Services

The timetable for our Christmas week in school is outlined below.

Grasshoppers Nursery Nativity is on Monday 9^th December at 2pm in the school hall.

Reception - (Classes RLW, RCM)

are performing their Wriggly Nativity on Monday 16^th December at 2pm and 5.30pm

Year 1 (Classes 1CG, 1JK)

are performing their Christingle Rock! production on Tuesday 10^th December at 2pm and 5.30pm.

Year 2 (Classes 2SW, 2LN)

are performing A Miracle in Town on Thursday 12^th December at 2pm and 5.30pm.

Year 3 and 4 (Classes 3HW, 3VK, 4AJ, 4HH)

are performing Carols by Candlelight on the infant playground outside the Year 2 classrooms on Monday 9^th December at 5.30pm (bring your coats, scarves and gloves!)

Year 5 & 6 (Classes 5SK, 5SAS, 6SM, 6CG)

will host a carol service at the United Reform Church on Liverpool Road, Penwortham on Wednesday 11^th December at 2pm and again at 6pm.

HOW TO GET YOUR TICKETS

Each year group will receive a letter with further information on ticket requests. 

Grasshoppers Nursery will arrange the admission to their nativity.

Tickets are FREE however bring a pound to be in with a chance of winning one of Mrs Foster’s Luxury Hampers.

We expect that all children will attend the evening productions to celebrate the spirit of Christianity at our school and within our local community.  If you are experiencing difficulties in getting your child to an evening production, please see their class teacher.

Photography and Filming

Parents are reminded that photographs and video filming is permitted at all performances for personal use only – if pictures are posted on social media, please ensure you get permission from the parents of any other child who is in the photo.

There will always be time at the end of each performance to get some photographs of your children.

Collecting your children after the afternoon and evening performances

Once the performance is finished, you will have time with the children to take some photographs.

The children will need to change out of costumes prior to leaving so will be taken back to the classroom to change and you can relax and enjoy the Christmas music and a festive mince pie before collecting children from their respective classrooms. 

Rehearsals

You will probably already be learning the songs your children will be singing during their performances.  Rehearsals will be taking place from next week and the dress rehearsal will take place the week before production week.  Class teachers will send a note home with your child if any special kind of clothing is required.

Christmas Mail

Children like to be able to send Christmas cards to each other and to the teachers so we are going to use pupil post once again this year to deliver internal mail.  We will start collections and deliveries on Monday 4^th December. 

Please ensure the envelope is filled in with the FULL NAME AND CLASS of the recipient before posting in our Christmas Mail Box.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner will be available to all children, with a vegetarian alternative, on Tuesday 17^th December.  Those who normally take a school meal will automatically be counted.  Look out for information coming out next week on how to book a Christmas dinner even if you normally have packed lunch.  Children who choose to have a packed lunch will also join in with the festivities in the hall.  This is a great tradition where all the staff serve the children their meals, wearing appropriate headgear and accessories.  I have already chosen my outfit and festive earrings, expanding the ever growing Christmas wardrobe! And following their meal, we will all be having a movie treat.

Whitefield Christmas Choir – The 2019/20 Tour

Our choir tour plans are steaming ahead.

We are currently booked to perform on Sunday 15^th December at Jubilee Ministries Carol Service held in the school hall at 10.45am.  More details will follow but if your child is in choir put this date in your diary!

We are also waiting for a couple of dates to come back from other local venues and will keep you posted on those as they come in.

Parties

All year groups will host a Christmas party in the afternoon during the last week of the term, where the children can play party games, dance, and have fun and eat lots of party food!

Whitefield Playgroup will be having their Christmas party on Friday 13^th December from 2pm-3.15pm.  Come along with your children aged from birth to 4 and have a wonderful festive time with Val and the gang.  (Playgroup WILL NOT be held on Friday 20^th December).

Grasshoppers Nursery will be having their party in the morning on Wednesday 18^th December.

Reception and Years 1 & 2 will be having their parties the afternoon of Thursday 19^th December.

Years 3 and 4 will be having their parties the afternoon of Wednesday 18^th December.

Years 5 and 6 will be having their parties the afternoon of Friday 20^th December.

The children can come in their party clothes for the whole day but make sure you have appropriate footwear for playtimes.

Secrets’ Room

The Secrets’ Room will be ‘open for business’ on Friday 13^th December for children to choose a gift for the special member of their family.  These gifts will be sent home on Friday 13^th for your child to put under the Christmas tree.  The Secrets’ Room is a ‘child only room’, filled with gifts suitable for children to purchase for members of their family.  These are bought and wrapped by Friends of Whitefield so your child can give you a present that you haven’t seen.  It is such a wonderful morning, seeing them choose for you all.

You will receive information from the Friends of Whitefield regarding the Secrets’ Room very soon.

Santa’s Visit

I have to write to Santa every year to see if he can fit in a visit to our school at such a busy time.  I have written to him already and he can’t confirm a date yet but has promised it will be in the week of 16^th December.  He said he would love to visit the classrooms and deliver some special presents.  How exciting!  The Friends of Whitefield have very kindly donated some money to Santa so that he can buy some gifts for all the classes. Thanks FoW!

The staff and I are looking forward to seeing you all at some point over the festive period. 

As always, we hope that you and your families enjoy Christmas at Whitefield and that you have a very merry and peaceful Christmas at home.

Holiday

The children finish school at 3.30pm on Friday 20^th December (BOLA will be from 3.30-6pm) and will return at 9am on Monday 6^th January 2019 (BOLA will open at 7.30am).