Dear All,
Hello and welcome to your weekly FoBS update. Such a lot to tell you this week!!
Burhill Fireworks - A huge shout out to all of our amazing volunteers who worked so hard on Friday to produce another brilliant Burhill Fireworks. Without each and every one of you we simply wouldn't be able to put on these events, so it is very much appreciated. Now for the list of thank yous - sorry, it's long! First props go to our wonderful sponsors Transgas, Pioneer Decorators, Beech House Vets and Merino Hospitality. Next it's all the teachers who did a stint on the ever-popular glow stall, and Mrs Adams and Mr Hill for their time and support leading up to the event and on the night itself. Huge thanks also to our very committed Sarah and Ian King who did an awesome job with the lighting and electrics (spending two whole days setting up and clearing away). We'd also like to give a special mention to our wonderful compere Giles Harding, and to Mrs Bungay and her group of super-talented Year 5 and 6 dancers. The dance display was excellent! Then there's a massive thanks to the fantastic local band Risk Assessment. They can be contacted for bookings on markymid@me.com. So many people commented on how good they were! Thanks also to Kenny, the brother of a Burhill parent, who stepped in at the last minute to help from set-up on Friday morning and worked tirelessly all day, helping on stalls and generally filling in wherever he was needed.
And finally, a great big thank you to the fabulous Fireworks Committee who did such a tremendous job in bringing this all together. It was a fantastic evening and details will follow on how much money we raised once we've counted all the money!
Christmas Cards - Thanks to all of you who have already ordered your Christmas cards from APFS (www.apfsorders.co.uk). We've already raised over £500 for the school from the items that have been purchased so far! If you haven't placed your order yet, remember that the deadline is midnight tomorrow 11 November - any orders placed after that date won't raise us any money and you'll also have to pay postage and handling charges. If you don't have your unique code (it's on the back of your child's artwork) just drop us a line and we can email it back to you. The cards are so pretty and you can order gift tags and wrapping paper too. Completed orders should be with us by the end of the month so you'll have plenty of time to write your cards before the Christmas rush really starts! PS If you're reluctant to order following last year's debacle, please be assured that we are using a different company this year who have thousands of happy customers. For what it's worth, our own experience of them so far has been nothing but positive!
Tea Towels - As well as the artwork for the Christmas cards, the children have also drawn lovely self-portraits which are then transformed into beautiful tea towels for each year group by our printing partner company. These tea towels are great quality and make ideal presents for friends and family. Please see the attached letter for further information and details of how to order.
Christmas Fair Treasure Jars - At our upcoming Christmas Fair (7 December) we will be running our ever-popular Treasure Jars stall - but we need your help. We are asking everyone to collect up some empty jars (jam, marmalade, coffee, whatever - as long as they're clean!). Next you fill up your jars with goodies - we suggest sweets, stickers, little toys, anything that a primary-aged child would enjoy. Then you can decorate your jars with whatever you like to make them look really festive! Hold onto your completed jars and we'll let you know very soon when and where to bring them into school. Treasure jars have become a true Burhill tradition and the children really enjoy filling and decorating them - it's a great craft activity for a rainy afternoon now the nights are drawing in! You can bring in your filled jars on Mufti Day (see below) or during the week leading up to the fair - trolleys will be at both entrances each day that week for donations.
Mufti Day - Talking of the Christmas Fair, you'll have seen an email from our Fair Committee last week asking for sweets and alcohol donations for the Christmas Fair Mufti Day which is taking place on Friday 29th November. We've had a few enquiries from parents wondering why they've been asked to bring donations - our apologies, we didn't provide enough info! Basically, at the Christmas and Summer Fairs we always run a sweet tombola and an alcohol tombola. In order to "stock" these stalls, we hold a Mufti Day just before the fair where children can come into school dressed in their normal clothes in return for a donation to one of the tombolas. Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are asked for donations to the sweet tombola (boxes of chocolates, bags of sweets etc) and Years 3 to 6 are asked to donate to the alcohol tombola (anything you like as long as it's alcoholic - if you don't want to donate alcohol please donate to the sweet tombola instead). The tombolas are always hugely popular and raise a lot of money for the school, so please bring a donation if you can. All will be gratefully received!
Christmas Jumper/Costume Donations - If you're anything like us, your house has probably got a fair few outgrown Christmas jumpers and Nativity costumes lurking at the bottom of wardrobes. In the name of reduce/reuse/recycle, we've organised for donation bins to be at the flagpole entrance all of this week for you to bring in your unwanted festive clothing. One bin will be for jumpers and T shirts (both adult and child sizes are welcome), which will then be sold on at knock-down prices at the Christmas Fair. The other is for Nativity costumes, accessories and props which will be used to replenish the stocks of the Nursery and Reception classes.
Christmas Decorations - Every year, FoBS is tasked with decorating the school for Christmas. We always get this done after close of play one day so the children get a big surprise the next time they come into school. This year we will be decorating from 3:30pm on 29 November. We'd love as many people as possible to join in with this, so if you're available please do come and help. It's such fun and the children really do appreciate everything suddenly looking festive. You never know, there might even be a mince pie in it for everyone who turns up! If you have any unwanted decorations you'd like to pass on, these would also be much appreciated - some of our stash is starting to look a little shabby!
Year 6 Leavers Fundraising Events - We've attached a poster listing all the great events the Year 6 Leavers Committee have organised to help raise funds for our annual leavers party. Please join in as much as you can!
Dates for your Diary
15 November 2pm in the Children's Centre - FoBS Meeting (please come if you can! We'd love to see you)
29 November after school - Year 4 Cake Sale
29 November 3:30pm onwards - decorating the school for Christmas (see above)
7 December 11am - 2pm - Christmas Fair
FoBS Volunteers WhatsApp Group - If you think you might be able to spare a bit of time occasionally, even if it's only half an hour, why not join our Volunteers WhatsApp Group? Whenever we need people to lend a hand, be it helping to supply refreshments at a meeting or delivering leaflets to advertise our events, we post to the group and if you're available, you just let us know. No pressure! To join the group, simply reply to this email and include your name, child's name and class and your phone number.
Thanks for reading and have a lovely week!
FoBS