Dear Parents and Carers,

Christmas is fast approaching and we're getting ready for lots of festive fun in school! Unfortunately, when we've fetched our Christmas decorations out of the loft today, our very old Christmas tree has decided that its time is up! Before purchasing a new one, we wondered if anyone had a Christmas tree which they aren't using this year that we could potentially borrow until the end of term? We've decided it would make sense for us to wait until the January sales to buy ourselves a new one! If you can help, please let us know. 

Several parents and carers are raising concerns around parking on the main road at school drop off and pick up times. It is almost impossible to see traffic coming along the main road when you are pulling out of the village if cars are parked too close to the junction. The farmshop are happy for parents to park in their car park in a morning to help alleviate traffic congestion so do make use of this if you can. We appreciate that crossing the busy main road is not ideal, but the school has raised its concerns around safety and parking with the local safer neighbourhood team. The children's safety, as well as that of our parents and carers, is our utmost priority. 

Church rehearsals next week

A reminder to please collect your child/children from Edensor church on Tuesday 3^rd and Wednesday 4^th December between 3pm-3.15pm. The parking situation is pretty terrible in Edensor at the moment so please take care. The school bus will run as usual both afternoons and will collect the children from church to take them home. If your child usually goes to 623 club on a Tuesday or Wednesday, please make arrangements with 623 directly for your child's collection arrangements. Many thanks. 

Y3 swimming

As we are at church next Tuesday, the Y3 children will not be going swimming. The children's final swimming session this term will be Tuesday 10^th December. 

Old nursery classroom

After several weeks of liaising with our insurance company, I'm pleased to say that the downstairs classroom which suffered from a water leak, will have a new floor fitted the week commencing 9^th December. Our toddler group will continue to meet in Beeley village hall on a Friday morning up until Christmas but will then be back in school in January. 

Christmas craft fair- Bakewell Agricultural Centre

On Sunday 8^th December, Mrs Dey, Amanda Travis and some of our Class 3 pupils will be selling their handmade wreaths and other Christmas decorations in aid of school funds. This is part of Class 3's enterprise project and they can't wait to get selling!! Our thanks go to everyone involved.

Christmas service- Tuesday 10^th December- 5.30pm

Everyone is welcome to join us for our annual Christmas service at Edensor church on Tuesday 10^th December at 5.30pm. The doors to the church will open at 5pm. The infants will need to come to church dressed in their costume please. All junior children should be in full school uniform (no hoodies) and school shoes please. 

Y5/Y6 residential

The children in Class 4 will be receiving a letter next week regarding a residential visit in the summer term. 

Carol singing at the farmshop- Wednesday 11^th December

Mrs Townsend is taking a group of Y5/Y6 children to carol sing at Chatsworth farmshop on Wednesday 11^th December at 1.30pm. 

Trip to see Chatsworth Christmas decorations- Thursday 12^th December 

We have arranged to take the children to Chatsworth on Thursday 12th December to see the Christmas decorations. We aren't able to access the House until 9.45am so we are asking parents and carers to drop off children at the Lodge at Chatsworth House as close to 9am as possible please. We will take the children for a short walk before we are allowed entry into the House so, please ensure they are dressed appropriately for the weather as there isn't any indoor space for us to wait if the weather is bad. The children will come back to school on the school bus in time for their lunch. As we will be outdoors for part of the morning, please send your child to school wearing their school jumper/hoody with trousers (no jeans please) and either sturdy trainers, walking boots or wellies. If you could please put your child's school shoes into their bag, they can change their footwear once we're back at school at lunchtime. Class 4 will have their PE session on Thursday afternoon as usual. 

'Wear something Christmassy' day- Friday 13^th December 

We are having a non-uniform day on Friday 13^th December and theme is 'wear something Christmassy!'. We are asking for donations to be made via Parent Pay which will be split between Save the Children and school fund to pay towards Christmas party resources and refreshments when we go to the pantomime in Buxton. 

Musical and wellbeing coffee afternoon- Tuesday 17^th December 

This will take place in school hall at 2pm and everyone is welcome. 

Trip to Buxton Opera House- Jack and the Beanstalk- Wednesday 18^th December- Reception to Y6

The children will be having an early lunch on Wednesday 18^th December as we are leaving for the pantomime at 12.00. Please arrive at school for 4pm to collect your child afterwards. The children will be dismissed from their classrooms when we return as it will be dark on the playground. Once we are all back inside school, we will open the main playground gate for the junior parents to collect children from the hall and we will ask infant parents to use the main entrance (front steps) to come into school to collect your infant children from Class 2. 

Christmas disco- Thursday 19^th December

After much consideration, we have decided to run the school disco during school time on the afternoon of the 19^th December. There will be quiet activities planned in the annexe for children who don't want to join in with the disco. The community transport buses will take the children down to the Cavendish Hall after lunch.  Please collect your child from the Cavendish Hall at 3.15pm on this date. The school bus will collect the bus children from the Cavendish Hall as usual to take them home. If your child usually goes to 623 club, please contact 623 directly to arrange your child's collection from the Cavendish Hall. More details will follow as to what the children need to wear/bring etc for the disco. 

Christmas party day- Friday 20^th December

Following part food for lunch, we'll be having a Christmas party in the afternoon. The children will be in non-uniform and can come to school wearing their party clothes. We are planning for a visit from Father Christmas too!

PTA news

The PTA are having a meeting to discuss the Christmas disco on Friday 13^th December at 9am. The meeting will take place at school in the old nursery room downstairs. 

Following on from the PTA meeting held in school on the 18^th November, the new committee is as follows:

Amanda Travis- Chair of the PTA

Emma Coleman- Vice-Chair

Secretary- TBC

Kev Parkes- Treasurer 

Huge thanks go to Kev Parkes who has agreed to take on the role of treasurer again as well as Bex Vardy, Katy Wood and all previous post holders on the PTA for all the work that they've done in raising funds for our school. Their time and commitment are greatly appreciated and lots of money was raised last year through various fundraising efforts. The newly formed committee are ready and raring to go and have lots of lovely ideas already. 

The children return to school on Monday 6^th January after the Christmas break.

All best wishes for a lovely weekend,

Mrs E Bond
Headteacher 

In the interests of everyone's safety, the decision has been made to close school today due to the adverse weather. 
The teachers will put work on the class pages of the school website this morning.

Best wishes,
Mrs E Bond
Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back after the half term break. It's been lovely to see all the children and hear about what they have been doing over half term. 

Remembrance Sunday

There are services of Remembrance happening locally this Sunday. There is a short service in our school playground at 9.50am, a service at Edensor church at 10.50am and a service at Beeley church at 3pm. All are most welcome. We will also be observing the two minute silence on Monday morning in school following our Remembrance themed collective worship.

Parking

Parking is always a tricky and somewhat ongoing issue in our village. Pick-up and drop-off times are busy outside school. This can cause an increased safety risk to both children and parents and carers. Parking restrictions outside schools are there to keep you and your children safe. Yellow zig-zag road markings indicate the part of the road where motorists should not wait, stop or park a vehicle. This area must be kept clear so that children and other road users can see clearly when crossing the road. Therefore, please can we remind parents and carers not to stop on the yellow zig-zag lines at the beginning or end of the school day. If you could please share this message with any friends or family members who are responsible for bringing your child to school or collecting them at the end of the day, it would be much appreciated. 

If you are parking on the main road, please ensure you are not causing an obstruction by parking too close to the junction into the village. The farmshop kindly allows parents and carers to use their car park in a morning when dropping off children at school which can alleviate traffic on the main road at busy times. We understand that parking can be tricky but hope that we can all work together to make our village as safe as possible. 

Choir club-Tuesday

Mrs Townsend is running an after-school club on a Tuesday as an opportunity for all those children who are attending the Young Voices concert in February 2025 to learn and practise the songs. At present, there are only a few children who have signed up for the club which means the majority of children going to the concert are missing out on this rehearsal each week. We understand that an after school club may not work for everybody if children have other commitments after school on a Tuesday but if your child is able to come along, please reply to this email. Next week, Choir club will run as usual after school on Tuesday. However, if the take up for this club hasn't increased, we will switch to running this club at lunchtime instead of after school. We will keep you posted but the club will run after school on Tuesday 12^th November, as planned for now. 

PTA meeting 

There is a meeting in the school hall on Monday 18^th November at  6.30pm to discuss the formation of the PTA committee as there are currently vacancies for Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary. It would be great to see as many people there as possible so we can talk about events in the run up to Christmas once we have an established working committee. 

Children in Need

Please see the attached letter from the School Council regarding activities for Children in Need which is on Friday 15^th November.

Some Christmas dates for your diary:

Tuesday 10th December- Our Christmas service will take place at St.Peter's church in Edensor at 5.30pm

Thursday 12th December- Trip to Chatsworth House to see their Christmas decorations (more details to follow)

Wednesday 18th December- Pantomime trip to Buxton Opera House

Thursday 19^th December- Christmas dinner

Christmas disco  (more details to follow)

Friday 20^th December  (which is our last day of term)- Christmas party day

The children return to school after the Christmas break on Monday 6^th January 2025.

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Mrs E Bond

Headteacher 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you to everyone who was able to come along to our Harvest service last week, it was lovely to see you all! Our harvest donations were delivered to the Padley Centre on Monday morning, and they were so impressed with the children's efforts that they are going to come into school on the 22nd of October to talk to the children about how their donations have been utilised by the Padley centre and distributed to those in need. 

A reminder that if you haven't already done so, please do sign up for a parents evening appointment with your child's class teacher. 

Open afternoon

Next Wednesday (16th October), we are holding an open afternoon for any new parents who are interested in joining our school. 

School photograph orders

Just a reminder that parents and carers have until the end of this Sunday (13th October) to take advantage of the £5 discount off orders over £35 as well as the free postage option to school. 

***Friends of Pilsley School Team Update***

Thank you to everyone who supported the fashion show event the week before last. It was a fun and entertaining night, and we raised around £400! Well done everyone 😊

The monies raised will go towards helping with the general opportunities the PTA help with throughout the year including subsiding school trips, contributing towards the end of year play, picture news, certificates, music lessons etc.

All your donations are greatly received and help to provide great experiences for all our children.  We also have future fund raisers coming up, so please support ……

**Please note dates for the diary**

AGM – Monday 21st October @ 6.30pm – All welcome – Venue TBC

FRIDAY 18^th OCTOBER - Chatsworth Garden Winter Tour & Talk with Head Gardener Steve Porter – this is a great opportunity, £15 a ticket. Please encourage ticket sales to friends and family etc. We only have limited spaces and tickets are selling quickly, so please book quickly to avoid disappointment. It would be great if we could make this a sell out event again! Please book via the link https://www.pta-events.co.uk/pilsley-fops/index.cfm?event=event&eventId=83526

FRIDAY 29^th NOVEMBER – WREATH MAKING – BOOKING OPENING SOON

TUCKSHOP  Could anyone help with sponsoring a tuckshop? Once a month treat for all children. £10 for a half sponsorship / £20 for one month’s sponsorship. Please contact Bex/ Katy Wood/ Amanda Travis if you feel you could help 😊

From all THE FOPS TEAM 😊x

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Mrs E Bond
Headteacher 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Please find attached information and advice regarding term time absence and penalty notices.

Kind regards,

Mandy Read
School Business Assistant