We know families already have Countdown Calendars and are checking school uniform sizes and placing orders! Many retailers have uniform promotions going on and our super PTFA Chair, Kathleen, will be holding a second hand uniform sale on Friday 5th March if you can’t get hold of any items. We cannot promise all sizes to be available but if you are still stuck this might be an option to try. Thank you to those parents who have donated good condition clothes, shoes, trainers and wellies – they are much appreciated. Children will need PE kit back in school from Monday 8th so please ensure they have black or green leggings/track suit bottoms if they need these as well as green shorts.

For all of us this is another major change and some children my start feeling a little anxious about coming back. Please reassure them they are not alone and many children will be feeling the same. For those children who have been in school things will be changing as well. Help your child to be ready with their book bags, uniform and habits next week so they have some time to process the change. We will still have the LSA phone calls home and all school interactions continuing next week and these will help everyone get ready for the 8th.

We are working hard in school to prepare for the return of all children. We are doing our Risk Assessments but in the main you can expect a very similar set up to the autumn term; there will be a few minor changes to drop off and pick up which we will share with you next week. Breakfast Club has run throughout as usual and now Afterschool Club will be re-starting until 5.15pm every day. Please book your places as soon as possible via www.scopay.com to help us plan staffing.

In our classes and in Remote Learning at home children have been working very hard….

Year R are very excited about their new Space topic in Science and have already learnt so many interesting facts!

Year 1 investigated which materials are best for house building for the Three Little Pigs and thought about how materials would protect the pigs from the ‘huffing, puffing wolf’.

Year 2 are wowing Mrs Vogel with their geographic understanding about the new Antarctica vocabulary such as ‘permafrost’ and ‘tundra’.

Year 3 have been learning a piece of performance poetry by heart and we will be creating our own pieces next week.

Year 4 have impressed Mr Goddard with their understanding about adding fractions. Great work!

Year 5 reported that they very much enjoyed doing their termly assessments and also having the opportunity for a ‘free write’.

Year 6 created scripts for a wordless film with meerkats which they thought was a lot of fun.

I hope that you can all enjoy the lovely sunshine this weekend. Please remember Monday is the deadline for the charity donations to be paid onto Scopay, and the PTFA Virtual Quiz Night is on Thursday next week - click here for more details. 

Mrs Katy Pinchess, Headteacher

 

Well-Being Updates

You may want to use the social stories about returning to school - you can find them by clicking here. These are helpful for children to prepare them for school again. We will send more information next week.

Psychological First Aid: Supporting Children and Young People 

If you are concerned your child is struggling with their mental health you can get Psychological First Aid training to support children and young people’s mental health during emergencies and crisis situations.  This is a great course and is completely FREE - find out more by clicking here.

 

Thank you….

…to everyone who has made a chores sponsorship donation to the WWF already! This ends on Monday so please ensure all donations are paid by 9am.

…to the Lucas family for the book pack and the Barker family for the phonic books

…the MacMillan family for the yummy biscuits

…to the Proud family for the fun end of term treat

… to Steve Barnes for the really interesting talk about being a carer.  We loved learning about your fascinating job today.

…and to the Sarling family for the delicious baked goodies – they haven’t lasted long!

 

PARENT Talk

We are keen to continue our ‘Parent Talk’ slot until Easter.  Please get in touch if you, or another family member, have an interesting job experience or hobby to talk about to the children. We love hearing from our community and it is great for the children to hear about the world and different jobs.

 

School Lunches

For those children in school next week there is a change of menu.  Please download the menu from the foot of this page. We have a special Harry Potter inspired menu for World Book Day on Thursday! May we please also remind you to pay in advance for your lunches via Scopay.

 

World Book Day

Don’t forget it is World Book Day next Thursday (4th March).  We can’t wait to see you all dressed up on our morning Zooms and in school.  Click here to see our plans for the day.

 

Ever wondered how our School is Funded? 

Join us for an hour on Thursday 11th March from 8:30pm on Zoom for this School Governor led event. 

James, Laura and Paul will be online talking about how school funding works, why funding for our school is under pressure, National and Regional figures on primary school admissions and how this affects our funding, along with ways you can help.

An exciting, interactive evening is guaranteed! Pop the date in your diary and details of how to log in will be emailed prior to the event.

 

SEND Funding Consultation

The Department for Education has launched a consultation seeking views on proposed changes to the funding formula that will calculate allocations of high needs funding in 2022 to 2023, to ensure funding is directed where it is needed most. This closes on 24th March 2021.

 

FIRST News

The digital copy of this week’s First News may be downloaded from the foot of this page.

 

CHILDREN – We often need to ‘sign up’ before being able to use a service, such as a games website, or a social media platform.  Did you know that when you sign up for any online account or service you automatically agree to allow your personal information to be used and shared in a range of different ways?

Personal Information is one of the most valuable things we hold about ourselves and yet we often give it away freely without thinking.  Before giving away any personal information, stop and think… and always check with an adult before proceeding.

PARENTS – You have an important role to play in protecting your child’s personal information online as well as your own.

Most online services and accounts require you to share personal information when you sign up.  As parents and carers, you must manage what your child is ‘signing up’ for online and should know how their personal information is being shared by the people who it is revealed to. Take the time to find out how personal information is used and if it is appropriate for your child to be ‘signing up’.

Make use of privacy updates and ‘Privacy Settings’ and use these to secure online accounts.

Consider deleting accounts that have misused or misled you about how they handle personal information and how they allow it to be used.

Click here for more information about keeping your children safe online.

 

PTFA Quiz night – 4th March

Join us for what promises to be a fun evening and you could win a super hamper of lovely goodies kindly donated by our lovely Year 4 parents!  Click here for more details and sign up at www.scopay.com

 

School UNIFORM, shoes and trainers sale

Our super PTFA Chair, Kathleen, is planning a second hand uniform sale on March 5th and would like to include outgrown school shoes, trainers and wellies.  If your child has shot up over the last couple of months, please consider donating everything they can no longer wear to school - all proceeds will go to the PTFA.

There is a red wheelie bin at the entrance to the driveway of school house (the house next to school) and your things can be placed in there until Tuesday 2nd.

The sale will be on from 2pm to 2.45pm for those parents whose children are not yet back in school and from 2.45 to 3.15pm for everyone collecting their children from school on Friday March 5th.  The sale will take place in the staff carpark.  All items will be £1 each.  In order to keep everyone safe, face masks must be worn and social distancing observed.

 

Click here to find out what’s happening next week and here to get more information about what’s going on in the local area