It hardly seems possible that another school year has come to an end and we are already well into a new academic year. The last lot of Year 6 students have now moved up to their secondary education, mainly at De Ferrers, but John Taylor and John Port have been chosen by some. Wherever they have moved to we wish them every success and happiness, but secure in the knowledge of a good educational and social grounding from their time at John of Rolleston Primary school. We also said goodbye to some of the last FOJORPS committee; children leaving to move up to De Ferrers, and emigration to Australia being some of the ‘excuses’ being made! Thanks especially to those people who have left after short or long service on the committee – we hope to see you still at future events.

FOJORPS continues to soldier on to improve the children’s experience at John of Rolleston with its social events. We were thrilled with Community Day this year – over £6,600 being raised by the event – a fantastic sum again, and once more our thanks for everyone who supported either on the day or beforehand to make this such a success.

The calendar is full again for the 2007-08 academic year. Already the ever popular Quiz Night on Saturday 6th October and Children’s Disco on Saturday 13th October have taken place. The Quiz saw our largest turn out for a long time with 20 teams battling for the accolade of Quiz Mastery. The disco was again better attended than it has been for a long time with children from all the school years dressing up and strutting their stuff on the Sherborne site. As we go to press, the Race Night is fast approaching – a new event where we all go horse racing for the night – watch this space for an update in the next issue.

Christmas is approaching very quickly, and in the next few weeks you should see our Christmas Raffle tickets appearing in children’s school bags. Prizes will include the ever popular Food, Wine and Spirit Hampers and a whole range of other prizes to win. The draw will take place at out Christmas Bazaar on Friday 7th December at the Alderbook site starting at about 3.45pm

May I take this opportunity on behalf of FOJORPS to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas, and we look forward to seeing you at our events for Christmas and next year. 

For more information on FOJORPS or its activities, you can contact the Committee through the school office. 

Adam McLoughlin 
On behalf of FOJORPS

FOJORPS continues to tirelessly support the school with its fund raising activities that also add to the social calendar of the village. But without the support of the people who come along we can’t do what we have done over the last few years.

As usual this year we have run the Children’s Disco’s and the Quiz Night – both of these seem to be ever popular with those that attend, and those that organise them. We have also tried to run a couple of newer events but have not managed to confirm a high enough attendance to make them viable. Just before the Easter break we had scheduled a revamp of the Easter Eggstravaganza that ran successfully last year and on Saturday June 12th we had organised a video Horse Racing Night. Last minute cancellations for both of these events were disappointing to the committee after working hard to organise them and try to come up with something different. If anybody has views on why these events were not supported we would be very interested to hear them – either call Sarah (533404) or Adam (732309) to discuss or send in comments via the school office. 

On a lighter note, it’s that time of year again – you may have seen the banner at the front of the school advertising Community Day on Saturday 9th June. As last year we will open the gates at 11.00am until 4.00pm for you to enjoy both new and old attractions. 

We are very fortunate this year to have the portable railway from Burton Model Engineering Society that runs a steam train with a couple of carriages that people can ride on. On a similar theme, Clive Baker is displaying his model of the Jinny Track that used to run through the village. Other attractions will include Pole Bashing, Ducking Stool, Rollercoaster, Inflatable MegaSlide, Inflatable Obstacle Course and Bungee Run. Pinxton Puppets will entertain the younger element again this year after a break last year while Tutbury Band will provide something to attract the more adult element. If you have an hour or two to spare either on Saturday morning, or during Friday, we will be grateful for any help to set things up for the day – just turn up, and we’ll find you a job. 

Dates for your Diary

· Community Day ’07 – 9 June 2007
· Fun Quiz – September 2007
· Children’s Disco – October 2007
· Christmas Bazaar – December 2007

We will also try to reorganise the Race Night probably some time during the Autumn Term, so watch out for posters around the village advertising all these events.

For more information on FOJORPS or its activities, you can contact the Committee through the school office. 

Adam McLoughlin 
On behalf of FOJORPS

A belated Happy New Year to everybody from FOJORPS. We hope that this year will be as good as last year was for us. 

In the New Year we are hoping to continue to provide more Interactive Whiteboards for the school on both Infant and Junior sites. Those already provided are being well used by the school and giving the children a good introduction to the new fangled world of IT! For those who don’t understand – including me – they are really flip charts, updated with modern technology and connected to computers. I’m sure the children understand them much better than we do!

Before Christmas our Bazaar and Raffle, after school on Friday 8th December, brought together the usual array of stalls and entertainments to get people in the mood for Christmas. Santa visiting in his grotto for a couple of hours helped to create the magic of Christmas for all the children that he saw, and the singing voices of the school’s Christmas Choir provided a very nice music touch to the afternoon.

We have already run our first event this year. Our Beetle Drive seems to be fixed now as an annual event running on Saturday 27th January, and gives an evening of family fun just right for the lull after Christmas. We had about 16 tables of 4 madly throwing dice, sometimes on the table; sometimes on the floor with a lot of excitement, and that was just the adults! Once again, a big thank you to all the staff at Ye Olde Tutbury Fryer who provided the Fish ‘n’ Chip supper for us at a very competitive price, with hot food for over 70 people.

This year sees the return of some of the old favourite events; Children’s Disco, Quiz Night, Easter Eggstravaganza, Community Day, in their well tried form, but with that subtle new twist just to keep you interested! However, plans are in place to unveil a new event this year – we plan to run a race night after Easter – adults only – where you can bet on the horses and win your fortune while having a good night’s entertainment. The date’s not finally set yet – watch out for the posters after Easter.

Dates for your Diary

• Quiz Night Saturday 10 March
• Children’s Disco Saturday 17 March
• Easter Eggstravaganza Sunday 25 March
• Race Night Watch this space
• Community Day ’07 Saturday 9 June

For more information on FOJORPS, or its activities, you can contact the Committee through the school office. 

Adam McLoughlin 
On behalf of FOJORPS

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Last updated: 22 December 2007