Newsletter 9 May 2014

Happisburgh (C of E) VA Primary School

Learning for Life

Website:

A Huge welcome to Catherine Dobson, our new Vicar – we are all looking forward to you being part of our Community and School.

SATs

Next week will be Y6 SATs week.

Monday – English Reading Test

Tuesday – English grammar

Wednesday – Mental Maths and Maths Paper 1

Thursday – Maths Paper 2

Friends’ News

A big thank you to our MSA Matthew Austin, who has now recycled 1kg of aluminium foil from lunch boxes.

Another big thank you – we have found out from Bag2school that we collected a staggering 260 kilos, which will generate a cheque for £130.

Scholastic

Please return order form with payment (cheques payable to Happisburgh Primary School) by Wednesday 14 May. Scholastic Book Fair will be on site from 15-20 May.

Maths Whizz App

Maths-Whizz have developed an app to use Maths-Whizz on tablets which is currently in the pilot stage of testing. Whilst this app is being tested, many of our users have installed the 'Puffin Academy' app, a free Flash mobile browser. This can be downloaded, free of charge, from your app store. (Please see the Maths-Whizz blog for further details)

Once installed, search 'Maths-Whizz' and click on to log in as usual.

Just to let you know, any children who do not have computer access at home will be given the opportunity to use Maths-Whizz at lunchtime to complete their homework.

HMSA (Hypermobility Syndromes Association)

Please see attached letter.

Y5/6 Visit to Holt Hall

Please see attached letter. Parents/Carers Meeting 4 June at 3:30 in Oak Classroom.

Governors’ News

Karen Basten, Lucy Shires and I shall be running two Parent Forum's next week in the library at the following times:

Tuesday 13th May 2.30pm - 3.00pm

Thursday 15th May 9.00am - 9.30am

It would be lovely to see as many of you as possible as the purpose of the sessions is to increase the involvement of parents in the life of the school and to ensure a better flow of communications between parents and staff.

Areas of focus will include the new Maths-Whizz tool, following which we would listen and discuss areas of interest with you.

All topics discussed will then be fed back to the governing body.

Many thanks,

Anni Coomer

Foundation Governor

Hoppers’ News

Happisburgh Hoppers will be having a community meeting regarding plans for our outside space combined with hosting a MacMillan Biggest Coffee "Morning" from 12pm - 2pm on Monday 19th May in Hoppers. Please come and view our plans and enjoy a slice of cake and a cuppa in the Hoppers setting. All money raised shall go to MacMillan Cancer Support.

School Nurse Visit

Our School Nurse Team will be here Friday 16 May to carry out Reception Vision Screening.

Community Sports Centres

Whitsun Holiday Activities Brochure attached.

HMSA's - Do a Mile for EDS

My name is Megan or as many of you know me “Alex’s and Jessica’s mum”, and I’m taking part in “Do a Mile for EDS” event that is organized by The Hypermobility Syndromes Association as a part of May - EDS awareness month.

About the event and charity:

Whether you want to walk or run, skip or swim, cycle or complete the mile any other way you can think of, the aim is to get the entire HMSA community together to complete enough miles to get from John O'Groats to Land's End between the 1st and 31st May. It doesn't matter how long it takes to do your mile, and whether you want to do 10 miles in one run or a mile throughout the month walking to work...the idea is to get everybody involved.

The Hypermobility Syndrome’s Association (HMSA) is a UK wide registered charity which aims to support people with all types of Hypermobility Syndromes (HMS).The HMSA aims to provide support and information to those affected by the Syndrome and to promote knowledge and understanding within the medical community and the public at large. We hope to assist sufferers to come to terms with the HMS and the distress that it can cause. The severity of the effects of HMS varies with the individual: some have few symptoms others are severely affected. HMS is an 'invisible illness' and because of this we can look well to the outside world but are often in severe pain. Moreover the nature of hypermobile joints combined with frail tissues means that we are prone to injury when performing simple everyday tasks. This opens us to skepticism, particularly by those in the medical profession who know little about HMS. The pain, stress and frustration can lead to depression: thus depression can often be mistaken as the cause of the illness, not a result of it.

Why am I doing this?

I've been diagnosed with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (also known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome type III) in the summer last year. In recent months, thanks toHMSA I've meet other people just like me, who struggle through life battling constantpain, injuries and other related health issues. Being inspired bythem and also by mywonderful partner Stuart,I've decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and do something to make, however big or small, change. Throughout May I will be walking everyday (weather permitting) from my house in Coastline Village right to the other end of Walcott and back. It's only 1.8 miles round trip but for one of "my kind" this is a walk of a lifetime.

To help raise awareness I will be wearing a zebra outfit. Why zebra you ask?

NOT EVERY CONDITION IS BLACK AND WHITE. Zebra is the medical slang for arriving at an exotic medical diagnosis when a more commonplace explanation is more likely. It is shorthand for the aphorism coined in the late 1940s by Dr. Theodore Woodward, professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who instructed his medical interns: "When you hear hoof beats, think of horses not zebras". Since horses are common in Maryland while zebras are relatively rare, logically one could confidently guess that an animal making hoof beats is probably a horse.

I will be taking some photos to document my walks so keep on visiting my fundraising page where you can view them and also make a donation

Thank you for your support.