Fairtrade Fortnight

February 2014
Mon 24th
	Back to school
	8.50am Barnardos Assembly
Tue 25th
	Year 3 visit to Castle Museum - Roman Artifacts
	9.15am Year 6 visit to Patchings
Wed 26th
	ISA U11 Girls Netball St Dominics
Thu 27th
	2pm Smartkids Workshop E.on Years 5 and 6
	7pm Parents Meeting about Normandy
Fri 28th
	9.15am Yr 5 visit to Patchings
	1.30pm Year 1 visit to Patchings

Did you know that one in three bananas sold in British shops is Fairtrade? Since the first Fairtrade bananas appeared on our shelves 13 years ago we've achieved a huge amount.

But there's still a long way to go! That's why, this Fairtrade Fortnight, we're launching a special campaign to celebrate bananas and focus on other changes that are needed so that millions more banana growers can get a fairer deal for their hard work.

This Fairtrade Fortnight, a man with a plan is coming...

Meet Foncho

Meet Foncho, a football-mad banana farmer from Colombia! He’s proud to grow bananas that we eat. He gets up at 4am every day to look after his banana plants. He says: ‘My banana plants are part of me. I care for them - because they take care of me!’ Most of Foncho’s bananas are Fairtrade. This means he gets the Fairtrade price for them. With the extra money, he’s saved up for a motorbike and early each morning he rides to his farm, 20 minutes away. This means his family can live in town and Sebastian, his son, can go to high school.

Foncho’s lucky compared to some. Many banana growers earn so little they can’t always afford to put enough food on the table or send their children to school. They can get hurt using dangerous chemicals and may work in difficult conditions. Fairtrade means Foncho has the things he needs to keep everyone on his farm safe.

Half Term

February 2014
Mon 10th
	4-5pm Romeo and Juliet Rehearsal
	Pre-Prep Assembly
Tue 11th
Wed 12th
	Year 6 Arts performance afternoon
Thu 13th
	Break-up for half term
	Y6 PE   Valentine's Day History Every February we celebrate Valentine's Day by giving flowers, candy and cards to those we love. We do this in honor of St. Valentine. You may be wondering, "Who is St. Valentine"? Time to brush up on your Valentine's history! There are different ideas as to where or how the celebration of Valentine's Day began. The Roman's celebrated a festival called Lupercalia on February 15. This festival was held to ward off the danger of wolves to their flocks and honored their God Lupercalia. Some people think that Valentine's Day is based on this festival. Another legend is that St. Valentine was a priest who served during third century Rome. During that time, there was an Emperor who ruled Rome named Claudius II. Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those that were married and outlawed marriage for all young men serving in his army. Supposedly, Valentine, decided this decree just wasn't fair and chose to marry young couples secretly. When Emperor Claudius II found out about Valentine's actions he had him impisoned, and later put to death. Some stories say that the young couples, who Valentine had married, gave flowers and letters to Valentine when they visited him in the prison. In a slightly different version of the legend, Valentine was an imprisoned man who fell in love with his jailor's daughter. Before he was put to death he sent the first 'valentine' to his love when he wrote her a letter and signed it 'Your Valentine'. These words are still used on cards today. Perhaps we'll never know the true identity and story behind the man named St. Valentine, but this much is for sure...February has been the month to celebrate love for a long time, dating way back to the Middle Ages. In fact, Valentine's Day ranks second only to Christmas in number of greeting cards sent. Another famous person from Valentine's Day that you may be wondering about is Cupid (Latin cupido, "desire"). In Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Venus, goddess of love. His counterpart in Greek mythology is Eros, god of love. Cupid is often said to be a mischievous boy who goes around wounding both gods and humans with his arrows, causing them to fall in love. Jokes Girl: "I can't be your valentine for medical reasons." Boy: "Really?" Girl: "Yeah, you make me sick!"   What do you call two birds in love? Tweethearts! Do skunks celebrate Valentine's Day? Sure, they're very scent-imental! Quiz There are 18 children in a class.  If everyone receives a card from each other, how many cards have been sent?

The Winter Olympics

Mon 3rd
	4-5pm Romeo and Juliet Rehearsal
	Class and Team Photographs
Tue 4th
	Yr 3 & 4 Gedling Athletics
	Main School Staff Meeting
Wed 5th
	Years 5 and 6 Cross country - Bedstone
Thu 6th
Fri 7th
	Cross Country

The Winter Olympic Games is a major international sporting event that occurs once every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating. The Games were held every four years from 1924 until 1936, after which they were interrupted by World War II. The Olympics resumed in 1948 and were celebrated every four years. The Winter and Summer Olympic Games were held in the same years until 1992, after a 1986 decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to place the Summer and Winter Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years. Because of the change, the next Winter Olympics after 1992 were in 1994.

Team GB have only won 9 Gold Medals in the entire history of the Winter Olympics.  If we win a Gold in Sochi, it will be a major achievement.
Possibly the most famous winners for team GB were the ice dancers Torvill and Dean.  They won Gold in 1994 on Valentines Day.  Over 24 million people tuned in to watch the pair crowned as Olympic ice skating champions who scored maximum points at the Zetra Stadium for their slow, sensuous free dance performance of Ravel's Bolero.



Another famous Winter Olympic event took place in 1988. Jamaica entered a team in the bobsleigh event. It was the first time they had taken part in the Winter Olympics. A film called "Cool Runnings" was made which told their amazing story.





Jokes
Q. What do you get when you cross a shark with a snowman?
A. FROSTBITE!

Q. What do Snowmen have for Breakfast?
A. Snowflakes

Q. How does a Snowman get to work?
A. By icicle -

Quiz of the week
Who won Team GB's last Gold Medal?