What's Up Doc?

The Friends of English Martyrs love a good chat - 'More rabbit than Tesco's' to rephrase an old Chas and Dave song! But this time, it's literally true!

Frances Scoular, Bridget's Mum, is looking for a new home for a beautiful young rabbit that was found in Tesco's car park in Oakham. It is currently being cared for by Oakham Veterinary Hospital, where Frances works, but it really needs a more permanent home .... Can you help?

The bunny is a female, short haired rabbit and still quite young, probably only about a year old. She is very pretty with black and white markings and a black patch over one eye. She is used to people and being handled and is very friendly.

If you are interested in adopting this lovely little bunny, please contact Oakham Veterinary Hospital on 01572 - 722646 or have a word with Frances at school. Please help!

Calling all Elves...

Friends of English Martyrs are delighted to announce that a certain elderly gentleman from the North Pole has accepted our invitation to attend the Christmas Disco on the 7th December.

Father Christmas is sparing some of his very valuable time to come and see the children but unfortunately will not be able to bring any of his Elves with him. Obviously the Elves are all hard at work and annual leave has been cancelled until December 27th.

Father Christmas doesn't want to disappoint the children and is well aware of Union Rules and would love to know if there are any 'freelance' Elves that would like to accompany him on his visit - perhaps there's an Elf or two who'd like to come out of retirement?

So, if you can help, please, please get in touch. We can help with uniform, transport and rates of pay include the usual Elf currency of mince pies and giggles!

Blog Fundraising Update!

From time to time we will keep you up to date on the progress of how much money this Blog has raised for our school.

The Friends of English Martyrs Blog has only been running a short time and yet we have already raised a wonderful £27.08! This is the amount we have earned in commission from your online shopping - it really does work! If you shop by clicking on any of our hand-picked online store adverts we raise cash for our school and what's more it doesn't cost you any extra.

Whilst this is great news, we can do even better.

Tell all your family and friends to log on to the Friends of English Martyrs Blog and do their Christmas online shopping through us! Why not send an email to everyone in your address book to let them know about our Blog and what we're all doing for our school.

Marks & Spencer, Letterbox, Early Learning Centre, Amazon and Boden have been the most popular stores so far.

Please visit our Blog regularly as it is constantly being updated with news and new online shops for you. Don't forget to let us know what you think of it and whether you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see here.

Can you help?

Mrs. Maxwell needs your help!

To enhance outdoor experiences for the reception children, she would like to have more equipment for them to play with. Can you help? Is there anything from the list below that you could supply?

If you can help or know of someone who can help, please get in touch by using the contact form at the end of the blog or by speaking to Mrs. Maxwell at school. Your help, as always, is much appreciated.

• Tyres
• Logs
• Planks of wood
• Drainpipes or guttering
• Rope
• Milk Crates
• Bricks

Help Kids Read

'One in five children leaves primary school

in the UK unable to read properly.'

That's a shocking statistic!

If you are interested to learn more about encouraging your child to read have a look at Channel 4's excellent site Lost for Words. Synthetic Phonics are the latest buzzwords in Literacy these days and there's an excellent guide to read and download. There's also an opportunity to watch a video of the excellent documentary 'Dispatches: Why our children can't read'. Lost for Words is packed full of interesting information, celebrity snippets, videos, a forum and favourite books - have a look when you have a moment, it really is worth it.

If you'd like to purchase a book for your child's class or the school library, please click on the link below. By purchasing through Amazon, you help us raise money for our school at no extra cost to you.

Friends of English Martyrs Meeting

The Friends of English Martyrs meeting at Joanna Sayers' home last Tuesday evening was a great success. It was a great chance to relax over a glass of wine and talk about our wonderful school.

A number of topics were discussed including:

• FEM will be purchasing a new electric fan double oven so that the children can benefit from better and more frequent cookery lessons.
• School Christmas Disco will be held on Friday 7th December - there will be the usual DJ, games, face painting and lucky dip. Father Christmas has advised us that he will be making a guest appearance but we are looking out for volunteer Elves to assist him.
• We now have a 'Wish List' from school staff which will be displayed shortly on this Blog.
• Update on the progress of outdoor facilities.
• All members of the committee felt that the school Library could do with a refit and it was agreed that this is added to the FEM action plan.
• Various fundraising opportunities were discussed including a Spring Ball, Quiz Nights and a Bingo Evening.
• Our Blog was discussed, especially how it is making money for the school (more on this later) but more people need to visit it and use it. An announcement in the Parish newsletter and Magazine about the Blog will be made.

If you'd like to receive a copy of the minutes of the meeting, contact us by using the contact form at the end of the Blog.

Bitesize Primary

If your children are keen to play computer games but you'd rather they did something a bit more educational then help is at hand from the good old BBC.

Click here for a great selection of KS1 and KS2 Bitesize Games. They're designed to help strengthen your children's skills in Numeracy, Literacy and Science. There's 'Alien Punctuation', 'Camel Times Tables', 'River Rhyming' for KS1 children. And for KS2 children there's an online science project to make plants grow, mental maths games and Dictionary puzzles.

If you know of other websites that you'd like to share with us here on the Friends of English Martyrs Blog then please leave a comment after this post.

Poll Results

If you've visited the Friends of English Martyrs Blog before, you'll have noticed a Poll on the right hand side of the site asking for your views. We asked you what would you like to see FEM raise money for.

Well, it's results time and this is what you told us:

• 28% of you voted for more Sports Equipment
• 42% of you were in favour of funding more School Trips
• 42% of you wanted more Playground Equipment
• but a majority of 57% of you wanted our fundraising efforts to support the purchase of more Classroom Equipment.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this, our very first Blog Poll. We shall now canvas the School staff to find out what each class needs most.

Some suggestions already received are:

Painting overalls

Arts & Crafts supplies

Fiction and Non-fiction books

If you have any suggestions about what your child's class needs, please get in touch. You can use the contact form at the bottom of this page or use the comment button at the end of this posting.

It's Panto Time...Oh yes it is!

For those of you who didn't know, Friends of English Martyrs will be funding the transport costs so that the whole school will be able to have a magical time at the Pantomime in Nottingham on December 20th.

This year's production of Peter Pan at Nottingham's Theatre Royal stars Debra Stephenson (best known as Frankie Baldwin in Coronation Street) as Peter Pan

John Challis, the inimitable Boycie from Only Fools and Horses and The Green Green Grass, plays the menacing Hook.

A full supporting cast, including tumbling pirates, THE ACROLOONS, add to the spectacular blend of fairytale magic, hilarious comedy, show-stopping songs and swashbuckling action.

It will be a wonderful treat for the children and I suspect that the accompanying teachers and helpers will have a jolly good time too!