Merry Christmas

“I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.”

Shirley Temple

Christmas Quiz

1. Which act has had more Christmas number one singles than any other ?
   
2. According to the song “Frosty The Snowman”, what were Frosty’s eyes made out of ?
   
3. Which Christmas song won an Oscar for Best Song at the 1942 Academy Awards ?
   
4. The first line of the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas ?” by Band Aid was originally intended for which singer, who finally got to sing it during Live Aid ?
   
5. Which Christmas song includes the line “It seems so long since I could say ‘sister Susie sitting on a thistle’” ?
   
6. In 1965, which Christmas song became the first song to be broadcast from space ?
   
7. In 1987, the Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl were denied a Christmas Number One with the song “Fairytale Of New York”. Which song kept them at number 2 with Pogues singer Shane McGowan saying “we were beaten by two queens and a drum machine” ?
   
8. From which animated short film does the song “Walking In The Air” come ?
   
9. In the song “Twelve Days Of Christmas”, what are there 11 of ?
   
10. In 1986, whose song was Christmas number one in the UK, 2 years after he had died ?

We wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a good New Year.

Parents Helping Parents

There will be no more blog entries this year.
The next is scheduled for 3 January 2009.

Queue Ahead

As you might imagine, we have and are continuing to receive many e‑mails. We had expected that many more of you would contribute to the comments as we had hoped that there would be greater parental discussion. We will try to answer your e-mails but our time is restricted so please be patient.

---

We agree with the headteacher’s sentiments in the newsletter of 27 November. Duke Street is indeed a school of which to be proud. Our children and their successes should be recognised, publicised and encouraged. We feel sorry that the Chorley Guardian has not yet published the article, as we all love to see our children’s name in print.

Several parents have suggested that the school’s website needs to be updated and that it should contain some of the children’s work. (Some have said that it would be nice to see pictures of the children but, in our opinion, sadly it is not a good idea for many reasons.)

It is a pity that there is so little on the school’s website. Many children’s relatives and friends live miles away or even abroad and it is important to consider that they might enjoy seeing aspects of life at Duke Street.

The school brochure says “Our website is slowly evolving and we have had some positive feedback about it.” The reality is that nothing has evolved and that the ‘Pupil’s work’ page has been ‘under construction’ for many years.

Extract from The sky’s the limit: creating a school website :

“Creating a website for your school offers the world a window on its community and work, in what could be argued to be the most appropriate form for a dynamic educational institution. While a website doesn’t replace your school’s prospectus, it can support it by offering readers heightened depth and scope. But there are certain pitfalls to avoid; a weak website could in fact diminish your public standing ...”