From this week, we will trial our weekly updates via our news-blog rather than producing a Word document and uploading it. This may well refine our practice and make it more accessible for families; less clicks and things to download! As I become more proficient with the WordPress capabilities, it may well morph into something looking little more exciting!
STAFF NEWS:
There is happy / sad news to share with you all:
- Miss Kelloway, we are delighted to announce, is having a baby! I know you will all share in our joy at this news. She will be off in the Summer and, therefore, we will be looking for a brilliant maternity cover for the final part of the academic year and into next year. We will keep families fully up to date with developments and keep our Foundation Stage pupils at the heart of our decision-making.
- Mrs Chedzoy will be leaving us at half term. She will be moving out of primary education and into higher/further education with a new role. Anyone who has had Mrs Chedzoy as a teacher will know what a passionate, knowledgeable and conscientious professional she is and she will be greatly missed both here and in primary education in general. For our Pine and Willow Classes, this means some changes:
- Mrs Collings will be teaching Year 5 for an extra day, from Monday to Thursday.
- Miss Davenport will step into Pine Class and be the teacher on Fridays.
- Mrs Foster-Burnell will be the full time teacher in Willow Class.
I am delighted that we can utilise our current, excellent teachers in Years 4 and 5 to help with the loss of such a super teacher.
After 3 weeks of great attendance in school, many of our pupils have been hit with a variety of viruses and illness. I thank you all for your clear communication with us and for working with us to minimise spread through the school. Adhering to the Government guidance of 48hrs after the last bout of sickness has helped enormously.
In learning news, I have been very impressed with the retention of knowledge from our pupils, this term, as we focus our thinking on the incremental knowledge from Chestnut to Oak Class. Each classroom has its own ‘sticky knowledge’ display and pupils are routinely questioned on this, having their own opinions included as to what would be the most important knowledge to take away from that particular session. From this, I pick some to form into questions for a display outside the hall, where pupils can read them and – once again – have time for that knowledge to be revisited.
This, over time, will build a bank of knowledge for all pupils, and families can keep an eye on Class Dojo and Tapestry for those learning journeys, as well as looking at the half termly letters that come home for every pupil:
Building news: Lots of you will have seen the affects of heavy rain on our playground, with huge puddles forming very quickly, due to a lack of effective drainage in our school environment. After sourcing some funding, we now have an excellent new drain across the Chestnut outdoor area, which has been very effective at taking the rainwater away. In our main hall block, Years 4 and 5 have been re-painted and, in the Spring Half Term, we will see Year 6 re-painted and the main corridor and toilets refurbished. We are also looking at replacing some carpeting in the classrooms subject to a reasonable quote coming in!
WINNERS! In the past, lots of you have very kindly tagged the school in various social media posts when a firm is offering a prize; well, it has finally paid off! Mrs Hampson entered our school into a prize draw inside the Primary Times magazine that came home at Christmas. Normally, my luck is so bad I couldn’t win an argument…but we won this comp! I am delighted to say that 2 large boxes of quality books have been delivered into school and we will be distributing them early next week:
Mrs Carter has organised lunch menus and they should be with you today (Friday). Cut off is 31st January, so please get your orders in. Please do keep some form of copy – a photo etc – and let your child know what they are having that day, if they ask! We have a number of children who tell us their parents/carers haven’t ordered what we offer them!
With 2 weeks to go until half term, after schools clubs are coming to an end. Please ensure you have paid any outstanding club fees. New clubs will be coming out very soon and the Values Team have been gathering Pupil Voice to see what might be popular in the following 5-6 weeks.
Thank you to families for the communication when another family member or friend is on pick-up. Without this, we will not send your child home with anyone other than you.
As we come out of these few weeks of illnesses around school, we have updated our attendance data. Specifics are important in the systems updated to the Local Authority and so please do let us know why your child is off; we need more detail than just ‘feeling rough’ as it needs categorising!
Monday: Years 3 and 4 Cross Country @ King’s
Tuesday: Years 3 and 4 Drama Workshop (in-school)
PCSO visiting Chestnut Class
Thursday: Celebration Worship Year 4
Friday: Dress Down Friday
Cake Sale Year 3
Finally, well done to the girls’ football team for reaching the regional finals. A tough set of games…but I still got a message from Mr Gunstone about Cornelia’s outrageous lob in the dying seconds of the match! Well done, girls.
