It is that time of year when we enjoy our traditional harvest festivals and think about our community and where our food comes from. We are also really looking forward to seeing the children perform.

Reception/Key Stage 1: there are two Harvest performances for FS/KS1 in the School Hall on Wednesday 9^th and Thursday 10^th October, each starting at 9:15am. The services will last approximately 30 minutes.

Key Stage 2: there are also two Harvest performances for KS2 in the School Hall on Wednesday 9^th and Thursday 10^th October, each starting at 10am. These services will last approximately 45 minutes.

Donations: as part of our celebrations, we collect harvest gifts of food. This aspect of the celebration is "caring for our community" in practice. This year's donations will go to the local food bank.

If your family would like to make a harvest donation, please send please see the list below for their most wanted items. Please note that fresh goods are not required, and just one item per family is enough. Please send donations to school with your child from Monday 7th October and leave them in the crates that will be provided at the front of the school. We will collect them and make a display on our stage as part of the festival.  The collection will close at the end of the day on Thursday 10th October.

Thank you in advance for your generosity. The most wanted items are:

Tins of spaghetti bolognaise, fruit, rice pudding and macaroni cheese
Cartons of fruit juice and dairy UHT milk
Jars of pasta sauce
Packets of sugar, chocolates and sweets
Sponge puddings
Essentials such as toilet rolls, toiletries, washing detergent pods and washing up liquid.

If you wish to make a personal donation or find out more about the charity please go to the Keynsham Food Bank website here.

Tickets: each family has been allocated two tickets. Please collect them after school. Parents in FS/KS1 should collect their ticket from the teacher of the youngest sibling in FS/KS1. In the same way, KS2 parents should collect from the teacher of youngest sibling in the KS2 phase. The final deadline for ticket collection is Friday 4^th October.  If you don't collect your child from school, please send a named envelope in with your child with the required day and number of tickets (maximum two). Staff will put the ticket in the envelope and send home with your child.

Please have your ticket with you on the morning of the performance to show Mrs Sage on the door and please do double check the day of the performance on your ticket so we can ensure the right number of seats are available.

The PTA are very excited to be holding the first disco of the year, on Friday 18th October. The disco is split into Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2) followed by Key Stage 2 (Year 3 - 6 ) later in the evening.  There will be a second school disco later in the year which will also be open to Reception children as they may enjoy it more after more time with their class.

Due to the fire limits of the hall, it is not possible for parents to stay with their children during the disco. There are sufficient parent helpers attending to ensure full supervision. Pick up and drop off are via our Claverton Road entrance only – accessing the Hall via the front door (which leads to the office). For Year 1 and Year 2 you will need to drop them at the hall at 5.30pm and collect them at 6.30pm. The disco for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will start at 6:45pm and will end at 8:00pm. If you wish to stay at school, there will be refreshments for parents in the library (for a small donation to PTA funds).

The tickets for KS1 include a small bag of sweets, so they do not need to bring any money into the disco. There will a tuck shop for Years 3-6 so please bring your pocket money (change is always helpful). All children will need to bring a labelled water bottle as drinks are not provided as part of this.

We appreciate that a disco is not something that every child wants to take part in. If your child receives one to one support or adjustments at school to support sensory overload and they are attending, please see Mrs Sage to plan support needed.

Tickets are available online from Wednesday 9th October at 6pm – please click on the following link to purchase your tickets: www.pta-events.co.uk/saltfordschoolpta. Parent helpers are needed on the evening so please sign up online if you can help. Prices of tickets:

£3.50 – FS/KS1 (including a small bag of sweets)
£2.50 – Years 3-6 (these tickets do not include refreshments). 

Swimming for term 1 starts on Monday 9th September. The current timetable is here.

Helpers needed for this activity

Volunteers are essential to support this activity and we would be very grateful if you could consider if you are able to help.  All volunteers must hold a DBS certificate with this school. For your DBS still to be valid, you must have helped in school in any capacity within the last 3 months. If this is not the case and there has been a gap longer than 3 months, please reapply for your DBS.

If you do not hold a current DBS for this school, it needs to be organised prior to your volunteering.  If this applies to you, please contact the school office for an application pack as soon as possible.

If you are signed up to help, or are wondering what is involved with regard to safety, please read the current guidelines for swimming helpers here. 

Quick links to helper sign-up sheets

There is an electronic sign-up sheet for each class which shows the number of helpers required and how many spaces are available. When you offer to help you will be asked for your first and last name, email address and phone number. You cannot proceed without this. Personal details are not used for anything other than running the site. Please see more information about volunteersignup and privacy below.

Apple Class: Mon 1.30–3pm https://volunteersignup.org/K9TTF 

Pear Class: Thurs 1.30–3pm https://volunteersignup.org/878XD

Palm Class: Tues 1.30–3pm https://volunteersignup.org/TF3TX

Cherry Class: Wed 1.30–3.00pm https://volunteersignup.org/MLTXF

Sycamore Class: Thurs 10.30–12 noon https://volunteersignup.org/HCBCM

Maple Class: Tues 9.00–10.30am https://volunteersignup.org/K444X

Lime Class: Weds 10.30–12 noon https://volunteersignup.org/3PM4L

Willow Class: Mon 9.00–10.30am https://volunteersignup.org/3L4EC 

Elm Class: Mon 10.30–12 noon https://volunteersignup.org/AQPLL

Horse Chestnut Class: Tues 10.30–12 noon https://volunteersignup.org/AYMJ9

Ash Class: Weds 9.00–10.30am https://volunteersignup.org/3HA4F

Oak Class: Thurs 9.00–10.30am https://volunteersignup.org/JRE94

Electronic sign-up and privacy

We have used the volunteer sign up website  https://volunteersignup.org many times before. When you offer to help you will be asked for your first and last name, email address and phone number. You cannot proceed without this. Personal details are not used for anything other than running the site. The website’s privacy notice is available here: volunteersignup.org/legal/privacy.

Kit reminder

The current timetable is here. Please take note of when your child/children will be swimming to ensure that they have the appropriate clothing available on their swimming day as we do not have the capacity to contact home for forgotten kit with so many children swimming. NB: No jewellery is to be worn. The required kit is:

• A one-piece swimming costume or trunks – no bikinis
• A named towel
• A named swimming hat (use permanent marker to name)
• A waterproof bag to be sent in with the child’s swimming kit weekly
• Goggles are not compulsory but may be worn if preferred. They must be named.