Pool open Sunday 27 June 2:30 pm

With temperatures expected to reach 30 degrees today, we have decided to open the pool this afternoon to help everyone cool off. First session at 2:30 pm and second session at 3:30 pm.

Pool open after school

I am pleased to advise you that the swimming pool will be open after school for the remainder of the term starting today, Wednesday 16 June.

Pool opening will always be subject to weather conditions, pool safety standards and lifeguard availability. A decision on whether it is possible to open will be made at 3 pm every day, so please check the A-board in the playground for more information.

The lifeguards also need another adult with them so if anyone can help at any of the after school sessions, please see Terri Morley-Blackwell or add your name to the rota on the notice board by the hall.

The sessions will run from 3.30 – 4.30 and the cost will be £1.50 (please bring change if possible!). We do have a limit on pool numbers of 25 and places will be given on a first come basis. This will mean that on certain days we will be unable to accommodate all those children who want to come. Please understand that the lifeguard is not able to be flexible on this rule.

For safety reasons, under 8’s must be accompanied by an adult, and non-swimmers who are not comfortably within their depth in all parts of the pool should wear armbands or a floatation device.

Don’t forget that the pool is available for party hire outside of the sessions above. Terri and Mrs Spice have the details. During private hire the age restrictions are lifted and it is a great venue for a children’s party or a family swim.

Our new logo is unveiled

Jules Russell has digitized Niamh's winning competition entry and it looks amazing.

Nearly new sale at the Westwoods

We’re having a table at the NEARLY NEW BABY & TODDLER EQUIPMENT SALE this Saturday 12th June at the Westwoods Centre. We need your unwanted quality toys, clothes or equipment to raise funds for our swimming pool. If you have anything your child no longer needs that is still in good condition, please leave it at the school reception or with Terry Morley Blackwell by the end of Friday.

For those interested in going, the sale runs from 10am to 12 midday.

First time in the water this season

On Thursday 18 people (7 teaching staff and 11 volunteers) took the basic water safety course so that they can supervise swimming sessions at the pool. The course was delivered by Lynette, who has provided training for us before. Based on the National Rescue Award for Swimming Teachers and Coaches, the course covers general risk awareness, resuscitation and rescuing a casualty from the water, and has been tailored to our pool.

I can report that the water was warm, sparkling and very pleasant to be in, especially when the sun was out. If you're interested in doing the course next time please contact us. Here are a few photos from the day.

Tile-tastic

The tile painting session earlier this week went well. The children's designs were really creative and will look fab when we get them displayed by the pool. As a bonus, the event also raised £86, which will go towards the cost of running the pool. We are expecting to get the tiles back from the kiln after half term.

A splash of pool history

How often do we really look around us? Last night, I was up at the pool yet again, and I noticed two plaques on the outside wall of the plant room for the first time. The first told me that the pool was originally opened in 1965, the second that it was refurbished and re-opened in 1992. So now you know.

Painting the pool blue

We have finished painting the pool and yep, it's blue, although it is an attractive combination of two different tones of blue.

Just for the record, it took three tins of forget-me-not blue paint, two tins of white paint, and last year's left-over cornflower blue to get it all done (all acrylic water-based swimming pool paint).

Thank you to the volunteers who did the painting: Alex, Bev, Claire B, Claire D, Stacey and Tim - hope I didn't miss anyone out.

Spare places for chemical training

Friends of Northleach Swimming Pool has arranged a chemical training day on Friday 28th May to give volunteers the necessary information about carrying out chlorine checks etc. Some volunteers have signed up but there are more places available. If you think you may be able to help carry out chemical tests at the swimming pool, then please speak to Mrs Spice or to any of the Committee. Thank you.

UPDATE: the training course takes a full day, from 9:00 am to 3:15 pm.

Tile-painting sessions!

Tuesday, 25th May 2010
HALF-HOURLY between 2.30pm and 5.00pm
(in the TERRAPIN class room)

Maggie, from The Pottery Place in Witney, has kindly offered to spend an evening at Northleach School with both pupils and/or their siblings who would like to paint a tile (or two!) after school next week. The sessions start at 2.30pm to allow for any pre-school children that would like to have a go at finger painting or hand prints. After school hours, older children can enjoy decorating their tiles however they like, as we’d love to end up with a wonderfully colourful collection of tiles that, once fired in the kiln, will be used to brighten up one of the walls around our swimming pool area, where they are sure to be admired by future young swimmers for years to come.

Please see the chart in reception where you can book your time slot (either 2.30pm, 3.00pm, 3.30pm, 4.00pm, 4.30pm or 5pm). The cost is only £5 per tile, and any profit made will go towards maintenance of the pool. Please bring payment with you on the day - there is no limit to how many tiles you can paint! Paints are fully washable but you may bring an apron if you prefer.

Logo competition winner

Well done to Niamh Bleakley who was the talented winner of our “Design a Logo” competition - her wonderful design will appear on our letterheads shortly. Thank
you to everyone who entered for all your great ideas.

Wednesday raffle

Natalie was the raffle winner yesterday. She wins £15 worth of vouchers to spend in our local butcher W J Castle.

Water safety training

Swimming is all set to start after half term, and we also hope to open the swimming pool after school and during the summer holidays. But we will only able to do this if we have one trained supervisor and an additional adult helper available for each session. Please let us know if you are willing to help. If we have more volunteers we will be able to open the pool more often.

Supervisors must have a water safety qualification, and we have organised a training course for new supervisors, which will take place on Thursday 27 May from 3:30pm to 7:30pm. The training course is paid for by Friends of Northleach Swimming Pool. All we ask in return is that you agree to supervise a minimum of four swimming sessions during out of school hours.

The course covers first aid and general pool safety, and includes a short time in the water learning how to recover a casualty. You don’t need to be an Olympic swimmer because the pool is only 0.9 m deep at the deep end.

Benefits of training include:
# learn first aid – including how to give mouth to mouth resuscitation to a child
# priority for booking pool parties – no worries about finding a qualified supervisor
# your children can swim free of charge when you’re on duty

If you would like to go on the water safety course or would be willing to join the rota as the adult helper, please fill in the form and leave it with Mrs Spice in the school office or contact Pauline Rigby.

Create a logo competition

Friends of Northleach Swimming Pool is holding a competition to design a new logo for us to use on our stationery and posters. The best design from each year group, as well as the overall winner, will be announced in school assembly on Friday 14 May.

Entry forms were handed out at school. If you don't have one, or you need another, you can download it here.

Please return your completed entry together with a £1 donation to Mrs Spice in the school office by Wednesday 12 May at the latest.

Becoming a charity

One fundraising suggestion made at the AGM was to take advantage of Gift Aid, which would incease the value of donations by 20 percent. This tax break is only available to charities so Claire B (Treasurer) agreed to look into the matter to see whether it would be the right thing to do.

Claire reported back: "Having spoken to HMRC the early verbal indications are that our activities do fall within the charitable purposes qualifier, but they said the best way to confirm this was to apply."

"The main disadvantage is extra administrative work – Gift Aid donations have to be recorded in a particular way, and if not done correctly will not attract tax relief. This burden will fall largely on the Treasurer (hurrah)."

At a meeting this afternoon, it was unanimously agreed that Friends of Northleach Swimming Pool would register with HMRC for charity tax relief purposes. We also voted in a new constitution - one that will satisfy the requirements for small charities.

The constitution sets out the rules by which Friends of Northleach Swimming Pool will operate. Please take a look if you're interested.

Coming clean

After the pool emptying comes the cleaning... we have to clean the algae from the pool and pool cover. Thank you to Lucy and Giles, Claire B and others who gave up their time this weekend to help - sorry I don't have all the names. Photos by Nell Burditt (reception class).

Emptying the pool

Northleach Fire Service were on exercise at the swimming pool yesterday evening, where they pumped out all the water so that we can clean and paint the pool ready for the summer 2010 season. Claire provided cake, Fiona provided flasks of tea and coffee, Tim was in charge of keys and spent the evening doing odd jobs from weeding the pool surround to sweeping out the boiler room. Alex Barter (year 6) helped and took the photos. A huge thanks to all the firemen - who have saved us hours upon hours of bailing!

Letter to Parents 19/4/10

Dear Parents/Carers,

The summer term is rapidly approaching and it will soon be time for the swimming sessions for the children to start again - these take place regularly during the second half of term.

The children enjoy using the pool enormously; they get so much from it and we are incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful resource on our doorstep. However, as I'm sure you are aware, the pool is very expensive to maintain and can only remain open if the running costs are met. This year we have calculated that the sum needed will be approximately £3000. This means, inevitably, more fundraising!

We are planning to hold some events during the next few months which we hope will be fun for children and their families alike, but we are open to any ideas which you have (as well as offers of help!). If you are interested we would love to hear from you. We realise that people are busy and sometimes it seems that there are endless fundraising requests but the situation is somewhat desperate and we would be very grateful for your support.

In the meantime a container has been placeed in the entrance hall and we are hoping that you might put any spare coppers into it as you're passing. Any amount would be really appreciate as it will all make a difference and it would be fantastic to reach our target.

Thank you very much in anticipation of your support.

The Swimming Pool Fundraising Committee

Thinking about fundraising...

Fund raising must start soon. To keep the swimming pool open in 2010, we need to raise money for oil to heat the pool, chemicals to keep it clean, chemical training and water safety courses for parents and teachers who help supervise the pool, and other essential running costs. So far this year we have already needed to pay for a boiler service and burst pipe.

The thermometer shows our progress towards the target of £3000 - this is the amount needed to keep the pool open in 2010. We've just started so it's showing zero, but we'll keep you updated on our progress. We plan to keep a fundraising thermometer on display at the school.

Right now we cannot receive donations online, sorry. If you wish to make a donation please contact the treasurer.

New committee appointed

At a meeting on Wednesday 24th March, Friends of Northleach Swimming Pool appointed a new committee to run the pool for the 2010 season. They are:

Chair: Alex Mustoe
Secretary: Pauline Rigby
Treasurer: Claire Burditt

The pool costs in excess of two thousand pounds a year to run and at the moment there is no money in the bank account! After much discussion and several good ideas being suggested it was decided that a separate fund raising committee was needed. Lots of people volunteered - a great start!

Thank you to the outgoing committee - Fiona Eggerton, Wendy Crouch and Claire Hemming - for all their hard work keeping the pool open in recent years.