December will soon be upon us and in homes across the country, cardboard doors will be opened in the traditional countdown to Christmas. But just as some look to luxury, the children of Saltford School are once again hoping to reverse things this advent - with a calendar which gives back. The idea is simple; instead of opening the door to a chocolate or picture, we do the giving.

Some of us are lucky enough to be able to spend December preparing for the festivities with happiness, not dread. Christmas is going to be a time for celebration.  But for many, this time of year proves to be very difficult when families struggle to put a meal on the table, let alone begin to think about any of the little extras that so many of us will enjoy over the festive period.

And so, following past success and the overwhelming gratitude of the Keynsham Food bank, we would once again like to invite the children to take part in our reverse advent calendar and in doing so, help a family in need this Christmas. 

This means from Monday 13^th November, we will be collecting items for the class box. Please send these in with your child. Then on Thursday 7^th December, we can deliver the donations down to our local food bank, where it will be gratefully received by the Trussell Trust.

This year we are looking to fill the boxes with non-perishable items such as jam, cereal, tinned goods or festive treats such as biscuits, mince pies, panettone, chocolate yule logs etc (Of course, please make sure anything you donate is in date). You don’t have to spend a lot, all donations will be gratefully received.

For more information about how to access help from the Keynsham and Saltford food banks, see our Pupil premium page. If you would like to know more about the Keynsham food bank, you can see their website here.

Remembrance at school

On Friday 10th November the whole school will mark Remembrance Day with an assembly. We will also all go outside to observe tw minutes' silence at 11am. Mrs May will play the Last Post before we fall silent and she will mark the end of the silence by playing the Reveille.

In their classes, children will learn about Remembrance Day, why people wear poppies in November and why we are observing the silence. Remembrance can bring people of all ages and backgrounds together to reflect upon the service of the Armed Forces and join together in hoping for a peaceful future.

Poppy appeal

From the first week of term, we will be selling poppies and a choice of poppy appeal items in support of the Royal British Legion's poppy appeal. The extra items and suggested donations are listed below. You can see what they look like on the RBL poppy shop here. You can also donate direct to the poppy appeal here.

Zip pull, suggested donation 50p
Wrist band, suggested donation £1
Ruler, suggested donation £1.50
Poppy reflector, suggested donation 50p.