Next week we will be welcoming 22 teachers from all over Europe to our school. The exchange is part of British Council funded 'Comenius' project which aims to develop links between teachers in various countries so that they can share good practice and enhance the children's knowledge and understanding of other countries and cultures.
The children have already been collaborating to produce a joint book. The story has been written by children in Antwerp and the illustrations provided by pupils in our school.
You can view the book by clicking here.
Wednesday 22 February 2012
Tuesday 21 February 2012
The Twins at Tretower
Long ago in the dark and murky castle of
Tretower, an adventure lurked throughout. Its wet fingers creeping down
the dark, dim lighted corridors, into rooms, through floors, waiting, waiting……
until it began to creep through peoples minds raveling them up and into the
excitement…….
Tretower
castle on this particular morning was flooded with sunlight, birds singing and
the sough swishing through the branches from left to right, left to right.
However, inside the castle a great racket took place.
“It’s gone!
It’s gone!”
“ It can’t
have!
“We need to
call the police!
In the
middle of the crime scene stood a crowd of restless people shuffling round
looking into every cobwebbed corner, scanning the underground cellars for the
missing treasure! Upstairs, however, Mrs Durbstone, a jolly old woman was busy
cooking one of her master pieces, for the twins that had come to stay for the
summer holidays.
“This looks
fabulous Mrs Durbstone!!!” said Toby, a young boy with a mass of golden curls
and a jolly smile.
“Thank you
dear, but really I love my cooking and with you children around I’m jolly
happy!”
Dakota, Toby’s twin, with a long mop of golden
hair that climbed down her back, began to eat up her breakfast like a dog,
spilling juice down her new white blouse!
“I’m afraid
that during the night a terrible thing happened! The treasure down in the
depths of the cellars was stolen and a great crime scene stands within this
castle!” said Mrs Durbstone.
“ What!!!”
exclaimed the twins together.
“ This
castle seemed so quite to us when we arrived but now it looks like an adventure
is lurking about!!! said Toby.
“Well that
thought has not lasted long children, I really don’t think that you should get
mixed up in this adventure, your parents seemed to think that it would be quite
enough for you here without any extra bother!” said Mrs Durbstone in her kindly
voice. The twins looked at each other with mischevious grins. “We’ll get to the
bottom of this!!!”
That afternoon the twins decided
to go out to Brecon, the local town. The lovely little shops with honeysuckles
climbing up the walls inspired the children to stay longer.
“This is a gorgeous little town!” said Toby,
“I say look at that antiques shop just over there, do let me
go and see it Toby?”
“Alright then, but I’ll have to come with you.”
The two children set off to the antiques shop and walked in
through a lovely old-fashioned wooden door.
“Hello!” called out Dakota.
“Be patient will you?” A loud voice bellowed through the
shop making both children jump. A large man appeared through a doorway behind
the counter.
“What do you want? Gaah, It’s children! What are you doing
here?”
“We’ve come to look at some of your antiques,” replied
Dakota in her sweetest voice.
“Antiques! Antiques! Why would you children want to look at
my lovely antiques?”
“Well I rather fancied buying a few of the those horse
brasses over there. I’m a great fan of collecting them!”
“Very well,” replied the shopkeeper who was overcome by the
way Dakota had spoken to him.
The twins spent quite a while in
the shop and when they finally came out of the old fashioned wooden door it was
nearly time for refreshments back at the castle.
“Well Dakota, you’ll never guess
what! I was talking to that old fellow in that shop whilst you were looking at
the horse brasses. He told me about Tretower castle - said something like - it
has underground passageways that lead on for miles! Back in the past stolen
goods and treasures were hidden so that nobody could find them and in the end
they were taken off by boat to foreign countries and were sold for thousands
and thousands of pounds!
“I say!” exclaimed Dakota “Does that mean that the treasure
that was stolen last night is hidden in those underground passages and could be
taken off any day to be sold?”
“Well that’s what I thought but it seems quite far fetched
to me!”
“Why don’t we explore the passageways tonight maybe we could
find something useful! Although we would have to find the passageway first
before we went off exploring wouldn’t we? said Dakota.
“Yes, but a bit of exploring wouldn’t do any harm would it?”
The
children were asked to help Mrs Durbstone with her chores that evening and by
the time they had gone upstairs to bed they were exhausted and couldn’t help
just to flop down onto their softly padded beds and fall fast asleep.
The sun
woke the two children next morning, to the smell of freshly cooked bacon and
fried eggs. They got out of bed and dressed before making their way down the
stairs.
After
breakfast the two children went out into the grounds of the castle and began to
look for any evidence of a secret way or underground passage.
“We could look in that old stable yard Toby, there are
panels for the walls maybe one of them could slide back and a deep dark hole
could lie beneath. Cobwebs hanging from the roof and spiders crawling up our
legs as we….
“That’s enough of your silly talk Dakota! We will definitely
look there, we are
going to find this secret way - today!”
The twins
knocked and hammered, banged and pushed but to no avail.
“It’s no use doing any more there’s nothing here!” Where
else are we meant to look?
“I say what about the cellar!!! If they really were
smuggling goods the night before last they wouldn’t want to be seen creeping
through the castle to the secret way would they?”
“Your brilliant Dakota! That’s a jolly good idea of yours
lets quickly go and explore it before lunch!”
The twins
ran to the cellar and began to look for the secret way and at last, there it
was under a big slab of grey stone, a dark hole going down into the depths of
the floor!!!
“Lets explore it know! Oh blow it’s lunch time, and I did so
want to help Mrs Durbstone with the clearing up today.”
“Well we’ll explore it tonight when everyone’s asleep!!”
And so it was that night two
children crept through the castle in the dead of night to the cellars!
“We need to lift that slab of
stone quietly so as not to wake anybody up!” whispered Dakota. Somehow they did
it and were climbing down the dark hole, torches to hand.
“It’s covered in cobwebs and it
smells all musty!”
“Dakota, how are we meant to find the treasure, the fellow
in the antiques shop said that it went on for miles and split into lots of
different passageways.”
“Well I guess we could look for
footprints with the light from our torches.”
“ Yes that’s brilliant! Come on
we better get a move on with this it might take up most of the night!” They
could see faint footprints but it was rather hard to follow!
After hours of walking they
finally came to a small hollow where the footprints stopped dead, a trapdoor
was fitted into the floor and it wasn’t long before the twins were climbing
down through it and came to a different sort of cave. It was lighted by a faint
candle which flickered as the children walked by.
“Look there’s another trap door! Please say it holds the
treasure!
Those words
seemed to come true before their eyes. As they opened the trap door a box of
treasure sat underneath dust already covering it in a thick blanket.
“The treasure!” The twins exclaimed together. We need to get
it quickly and get out of here. But suddenly, a big voice bellowed through the
cave that they were in.
“And what would two young children like yourself be doing
beside this box of treasure?”
“Run!!!!!” They grabbed the treasure scrambled up the trap door
and began to follow the footprints once again this time running for their
lives!! The footsteps of the men behind them echoed through the tunnel, they
could hear themselves breathing and their hearts pumping. Finally they came to
the big slab of grey stone. They threw the treasure up and scrambled through
the hole.
“Mrs Durbstone!”
“Mrs Durbstone!”
The twins screamed and shouted and soon the whole household
was up and about. Mrs Durbstone called the police and told them about the chase
through the tunnel.
Soon the big burly policemen arrived and had their strong
arms round the men. Toby and Dakota were asked to tell their story over and
over again. And Mrs Durbstone being Mrs Durbstone made some big mugs of hot
chocolate which sent the children straight into a deep sleep, dreaming of their
exciting adventure, their mother trying in vain to find somewhere else for them
to stay without the smell of adventure creeping down the corridors, but will
she ever succeed? I think that adventure clings onto those children, what do
you think?
THE END
By Abigail Fisher
Friday 10 February 2012
Gift Aid
Declarations - A plea of help to All, from Wendy Lock, Treasurer,
Friends & Family of CPS
Friends & Family of Crickhowell Primary School is registered with the
Inland Revenue for Gift Aid. These means Friends & Family, on behalf of
School, can the claim tax relief due to our Charity on all donations made
to school. Tax relief can be claimed for up to 4 previous tax years and
on all future donations made to School - i.e. basic rate income tax on
sponsor monies and personal voluntary donations of any kind.
To enable me claim the tax relief from the HMRC, parents etc. need to
complete the Gift Aid Declaration sent out 2 weeks ago (on green A4
paper). The Declaration is a simple tick in the applicable option - option
3 will apply to vast majority of donors - opting to apply Gift Aid all
donations made in the past and for future, together with confirmation of
the donor's full name and address, including postcode.
Please could I ask the taxpayer(s) in each household, to return their Gift
Aid Declaration to either myself of the School Office as soon as possible
- at present this is an untapped source of income School could be gaining
the benefit of for our children. My thanks in anticipation for your
assistance which is greatly appreciated!
Friends & Family of CPS
Friends & Family of Crickhowell Primary School is registered with the
Inland Revenue for Gift Aid. These means Friends & Family, on behalf of
School, can the claim tax relief due to our Charity on all donations made
to school. Tax relief can be claimed for up to 4 previous tax years and
on all future donations made to School - i.e. basic rate income tax on
sponsor monies and personal voluntary donations of any kind.
To enable me claim the tax relief from the HMRC, parents etc. need to
complete the Gift Aid Declaration sent out 2 weeks ago (on green A4
paper). The Declaration is a simple tick in the applicable option - option
3 will apply to vast majority of donors - opting to apply Gift Aid all
donations made in the past and for future, together with confirmation of
the donor's full name and address, including postcode.
Please could I ask the taxpayer(s) in each household, to return their Gift
Aid Declaration to either myself of the School Office as soon as possible
- at present this is an untapped source of income School could be gaining
the benefit of for our children. My thanks in anticipation for your
assistance which is greatly appreciated!
This Week’s Diary
Monday/Dydd Llun 20th
Chess Club for KS2 at lunchtime with Mrs Stahl
Dance Club for KS2 at lunchtime with Mrs Davies
Tuesday/Dydd Mawrth 21st
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday/Dydd Mercher 22nd
Year 6 Class Assembly, 9.10
Year 4 swimming
Running Club for years 3 to 6 with Miss Joyce after school
Football Club for Years 3 to 6 after school with Miss Jones
Thursday/Dydd Iau 23rd
Welsh Club at lunchtime with Miss Jones
Year 3 swimming
Artist, Penny Turnbull, working with years 5 and 6
Netball for years 5 and 6 after school with Ellen Wood
Friday/Dydd Gwener 24th
LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH – NON-UNIFORM DAY IN AID OF SCHOOL COUNCIL
Rugby at lunchtime for years 3 to 6 with Ian Morgan and Mark
Rhydderch-Roberts
Artist, Penny Turnbull, working with years 5 and 6
School Dinners this Week (Please note that the cost of school dinners is now £2)
Monday – Mini-grill Thursday –Roast turkey
Tuesday – Chicken Pie Friday – Fish fingers
Wednesday – Lasagne
Marie Curie Daffodils…will be available from the school
office after half-term in return for a small donation to the charity.
Fun Factory Holiday Club… is running in the school canteen
from 13th to 17th February from 8.30am to 3pm each day.
Children from 2yrs to 10yrs welcome. To book telephone 07840328292, email funfactory.asc@live.co.uk or pop in
to see Emma or Charlotte at Allsorts Playgroup.
Crickhowell High School – Sports Facilities…a public meeting will be held at
the Clarence Hall on Wednesday 22nd February from 7.30pm to 8.30pm
to discuss the further development of community sports facilities. More
information from James Ralph: james.ralph@powys.gov.uk
or 07788986365.
Superstars Holiday Club…Still some places left on the SuperStars Holiday
Club at Crickhowell Primary School next week. Just turn up and pay on
the day. £17 per day or £65 for the week. Call SuperStars on 08452413682
for more information
Saturday 4 February 2012
Food Standards Agency Performances
Friday 3 February 2012
School Disco
School Disco
Thursday 9th February
Infants 4 - 5pm
Juniors 5 - 6pm
£1.50 per child which includes squash and a biscuit
All pupils must be collected from the external school hall doors at the end of the disco
Thursday 9th February
Infants 4 - 5pm
Juniors 5 - 6pm
£1.50 per child which includes squash and a biscuit
All pupils must be collected from the external school hall doors at the end of the disco
This Week's Diary Sheet
Monday/Dydd Llun 6th
Chess Club for KS2 at lunchtime with Mrs Stahl
Dance Club for KS2 at lunchtime with Mrs Davies
Tuesday/Dydd Mawrth 7th
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday/Dydd Mercher 8th
Running Club for years 3 to 6 with Miss Joyce after school
Football Club for Years 3 to 6 after school with Miss Jones
Thursday/Dydd Iau 9th
Year 2 Class Assembly,
9.10am – Note change from Wednesday
Welsh Club at lunchtime with Miss Jones
Netball for years 5 and 6 after school with Ellen Wood
Friends Disco – Infants 4 to 5, Juniors 5 to 6
Friday/Dydd Gwener 10th
Rugby at lunchtime for years 3 to 6 with Ian Morgan and Mark
Rhydderch-Roberts
Football and netball matches against Llangattock School (away)
School Dinners this Week (Please note that the cost of school dinners is now £2)
Monday – Bolognese Thursday –Roast pork
Tuesday – Roast Turkey Friday – Salmon and chips
Wednesday – Shepherd’s pie
Hall Art Project…Thanks to the support of the
Friends of the school and volunteers from the community we have been very
successful in refurbishing and updating the school hall. It has now been
painted, the curtains replaced, stage lighting installed and a data projector
and screen erected. One final finishing touch is going to be the creation of
textile based artwork to adorn either side of the stage. The artist Penny
Turnbull will be working with the children during the next half-term to create
the pieces that will hang in the hall. As is so often the case we need your
help to make the project a success. Firstly, we are asking for donations of
fabric, ribbons and any spare material which could be used to create the
artwork. Secondly we need donations of time to help put the work together,
particularly during the week of the 19th March. Please let Miss
Jones, Miss Joyce, Mrs Williams or Mr Wright know if you are able to help out.
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