Lee Common SchoolBy Arabella Norton
Children at Lee Common School have been incredibly busy recently and many thanks must go to all those who have supported them in their activities.
Fund-raising success
I have had to go back a few months in reporting fund-raising events because the total amount raised was not available before now. Over the October half–term all the children were given spellings to learn (10 for Reception, 20 for Year 1 and 30 for Year 2) as a sponsored spell. They managed to raise £357 from this and the money went towards the Lee Common School Fund. This helps pay for activities such as putting on the school play and having a special workshop on Indian dance. This was held on the 18th November and was hugely popular; the children were seen continuing to practise the hand movements for days afterwards.
In that same week each of the classes also held a special class assembly for the parents. These had been meticulously prepared and every single child spoke with great confidence whilst holding up various pictures and other visual aids. Year 2 talked about puppets and showed examples of what they had been making in Design and Technology. Year 1 discussed what they had been learning in Science about ‘light and dark’ and the work they had done on houses in Design and Technology. Reception talked about life at home with their families and what they like to play at home. They held up beautiful pictures they had painted to illustrate this.
Christmas in school
November culminated in a hugely successful Christmas fair. Many, many thanks
go to all those who worked so hard for this, especially the LCSA chairs,
Bea Buisson and Max Haynes. A staggering £3,560 was raised thanks to
everyone in the village who came and supported us. This money is vital in
making our small school one of the best resourced in Bucks and the children
really benefit from all the money that is spent on them.The next major event to happen after the Christmas fair was the school Christmas play. All 50 children participate in the same performance which this year was ‘Christmas around the world’. In addition to the usual performances, special performances of this play were put on for the Leeside nursery children and the senior citizens of the village, who also greatly appreciated the refreshments offered afterwards. The children much preferred the new system of doing the play in the morning when they were fresh and then having the afternoon for creative activities.
A collection was held after four of the performances and raised £203 for ‘Hearing Dogs for the Deaf’. The children were fantastic and special thanks must go to the teachers who worked so hard to make this possible.
Carols for all
The next week, to continue with the festive spirit, the children walked down the road to the Parish Hall where they performed a Christmas carol concert on two consecutive afternoons to the Women’s Institute and Senior Citizens’ Afternoon Tea Club.
The following morning it was the parents’ turn to enjoy the carol concert, which they did. The soloists had been changed in all the performances and each of the Year 2 pupils spoke very confidently, introducing the carols and reciting poems. Not yet finished with performing, the next day the Year 2 pupils put on a ‘High School Musical’ dance extravaganza for the rest of the school to enjoy. Many thanks to Mrs De Bono for organizing this.
The last day of term ended with a wonderful Christmas party complete with an entertainer, a party lunch, and – as all the children had been so very good – Father Christmas came to give them all presents.
Thank you to everyone for all your hard work last term and every best wish for the term ahead.