Contents
- Week 2
- Our School Community
- OPAL
- Birthdays
- Welcome Meetings
- Grange North Run
- Circle Time
- Coffee Morning
- PTFA updates
- Dates
Week 2
Just like that, the second week of term has flown by! This week marked a big milestone for our Nursery and Reception children as they began staying full time in school. They’ve enjoyed school lunches, and our Reception children especially loved joining the rest of the school for OPAL playtimes. We are so impressed with how well the children have settled into their new classes.
Across the school, our staff are focused on getting to know each child, building strong relationships, and establishing clear expectations and routines to set everyone up for a successful year ahead.
Learning is now well underway, and it’s been wonderful to see the children’s enthusiasm in their English, maths, science, history, design technology, music, and other lessons. This week, we’ve also emailed home a half-term planner. This outlines the key learning your child will be covering in each subject, as well as the No Outsiders text for their year group. As a No Outsiders school, we teach children to value diversity and respect differences, helping them to understand that everyone is unique and everyone is welcome at Grange. Each half term, every year group explores these themes through a carefully chosen book, which is then discussed in class. These ideas are also reinforced through assemblies, encouraging children to see themselves as part of an inclusive, respectful community.
Our School Community
In this week’s assembly, we explored the idea of our school community—who is part of it and the important roles each person plays. Together, the children came up with a wonderful definition of a community: a group of people who care for one another and work together. We also thought about what school would be like without our cleaners, cooks, or office staff, and quickly agreed that no one would want to come to a dirty school with no lunch! The children concluded that every single member of our Grange community is special and valued, and that it’s by working together that our school can be such a happy and welcoming place.
OPAL Play
It has been lovely to welcome our Reception children into Opal play this week. They have had great fun exploring all the different play areas and it has been lovely to see them playing alongside the older children in school and meeting up with friends and siblings.
Our new Opal cadets have also been very busy this week tidying up in all the Opal areas and checking that our resources and equipment are safe.
Thank you for the donations this week.
Birthdays
On your child’s birthday, they are invited to wear their own clothes to school instead of uniform. This makes their day feel extra special and lets everyone know it’s their birthday! Throughout the day, staff and friends wish them a happy birthday, and at lunchtime they can invite four friends to join them at the special birthday table complete with a tablecloth and flowers.
We kindly ask that families do not send in cakes or sweets for classmates. The children really enjoy celebrating by wearing their own clothes, and this way we avoid the financial pressure for families to provide treats for the whole class.
Welcome Meetings
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend your child’s Welcome Meeting. These sessions are a great opportunity to meet the staff who will be working with your child this year, hear about what they will be learning, and find out how you can best support them at home.
We understand that not all parents and carers were able to attend, so the presentation slides have been uploaded to the year group pages on our school website.
For Reception families, there will be a special ‘speed dating’ curriculum session on Tuesday 30th September at 9am. This will give you the chance to meet key members of staff and learn more about life in the Early Years. The session will focus on how you can support your child with important early skills, particularly in reading, fine motor development, and early maths.
Grange North Run
A quick reminder that our Grange North Run takes place this Monday at 1:50pm. Parents of children from Reception to Year 4 are warmly invited to come along either to cheer from the sidelines or to run alongside your child!
Please enter school via the driveway, and we will guide you through the forest school yard to the gate leading onto the Academy field. You should already have received a sponsor form and a link for donations. This year, all funds raised will be shared between our PTFA and St Oswald’s Hospice.
We’re really looking forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a fantastic event. Don’t forget your trainers!
Circle Time
This week, we started Circle Time again with our children. Every Monday, the class splits into two smaller groups, where each child has the chance to answer a check-in question before playing a community-building game. On Fridays, the groups meet again to ‘check out,’ reflecting on their week at school and sharing what they are looking forward to over the weekend. The class then comes back together to look at the pictures and highlights from our weekly newsletter.
Circle Time is a valuable part of our school week; it helps to strengthen relationships, ensures every child has a voice, and fosters a strong sense of being valued and belonging within the class community.
Coffee Morning drop-in
Wednesday 17th Sep 9-10am in the Treehouse
If you would like to meet other parents, talk to staff, meet a rep from Welfare Rights please come along. Use this session to ask questions about school, ask for support or just have a chat.
PTFA update
We managed to raise an incredible £18,000 over the school year so far - thank you so much for all your help, we couldn't have done it without all our fabulous parents!
£2,600 from the Summer fair
£1,200 from the Spring fun day
£1,800 from the Winter fair
£2,000 Bunny Bounce
£1,000 Asda cashpot
£1,500 Tesco Blue Tokens
£1,000 Corporate Donation from Hargreaves Services Plc
Plus money raised from all your kind donations throughout the year to uniform stalls and refreshment stalls. And not forgetting the other wonderful workshops like the wreath making and slime and discos.
So what have we spent all the money raised on?
£10,000 to help kit out the Treehouse
£1,500 Equipment to enhance learning including maths equipment and sensory items
£1,000 Leavers Hoodies
£850 Planetarium
£450 School annual metro pass to allow the kids to go on trips to fun places like the Castle, the beach and the Baltic
Amongst other things we also paid for the book bags for new reception starters, the leavers' disco and a visit from Joe from Gladiators during physical week.
Dates
We have worked hard to produce a calendar of dates for the entire 25/26 academic year for our Grange families. This has been emailed to you all and had dates for sports events, Christmas shows, Welcome meetings, parent workshops, PTFA events.... If you would like a paper copy of this, please call into the school office and they will give you one. It might be a useful thing to stick on your fridge!
September
Monday 15th Grange North Run 1.50pm
17th Coffee Morning 9am
Mon22nd- Wed 24th Yr 4 Robinwood
Friday 26th Yr 3 Adventure Day
Monday 29th Rec-Yr 4 OPAL Play & Stay for parents and carers
Tuesday 30th Reception Curriculum Session for parents and carers 9am
October
Wed 1st school photos
Mon 13th & Wed 16th Parents' Evening
Wed 22nd PTFA Spooky Disco
Friday 24th School closed to all pupils- teacher training day
Half Term 27th - 31st
September
Tuesday 2nd September - Back to school!
Credits:
© Grange First School