Welcome to our October Newsletter: the first half term has been wonderful in school with lots of fabulous events and learning. The children have all be taking part in our 'Global Warriors' topic and have learnt a lot - they've been teaching me some very interesting facts too! There is lots of curriculum information at the end of this newsletter where you can hear all about this topic.
In this issue:
Harvest Collection
A huge thank you to everyone for the amazing donations for our Harvest Collection. The People's Kitchen were blown away by your generosity.
The children learnt some lovely songs to celebrate this event and our Year 4 children taught the rest of the school about the meaning of Harvest and importance of helping others. Reception also entertained everyone with their wonderful singing.
School Rebuilding Project
I wanted to update all of you on the plans for the new school building. As you may know we held a Public Consultation event in July and feedback from this was very positive. Over the summer holidays, there were some questions raised by planners and as a result we have been working with the design team to make some changes to the overall layout of the building. These changes mainly focus on the administrative area of school and the visitor entrance. Although it was very disappointing to have another delay to the project, we think the changes to the design have improved the layout both internally and externally.
As soon as these plans are finalised, I will share them with you. The team are hoping planning applications will be successful and work onsite will start late in the Spring Term - please keep everything crossed!
Christmas Fayre
We have started planning for our Christmas Fayre which will take place after school on Wednesday 18th December and we really need your help with a few things.
- We will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 13th December to collect any donations for our bottle tombola; this can be any bottle shaped item!
- We really need your help to gather raffle prizes; if you have any contacts who may be able to donate an item or voucher, please let us know.
- If you can donate any cakes for the bake sale we would be very grateful. These just need to come into school on the morning of the fayre.
- Finally, if you are able to help on the day running a stall, please let the office know.
Illness and School Absence
If your child is unwell and not able to attend school please telephone the office and leave a message on the answer phone before 9am so we can record their absence correctly.
Please leave the following information in your message:
- Your child’s name
- His/her class
- Reason for absence (please do not just say illness)
We understand that there are times when it can be tricky to decide whether you keep your child off school if they appear unwell. We encourage children to come to school whenever possible, and fully appreciate there are times they may feel a little under the weather, for example with a cold. Please be reassured that if your child deteriorates in the day, and we feel they are too unwell to remain in school, we will contact you. We have also prepared a summary guide about the most common childhood illnesses, this will give you further information about whether your child can attend school or should remain at home.
Messages
- We have noticed an increasing number of children arriving into school late. Please remember the gates shut at 8:45am. As you are all aware the government have made changes to attendance rules. If your child has 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in 10 weeks that means you could be fined by the Local Authority. This includes children arriving late after the register closes; the 10 sessions do not need to be on consecutive days for a fine to be applied.
- Please can I remind everyone that children should not be riding scooters or bikes on the school yard. There are at least six hundred children and adults on the yard at pick up and drop off and it is unsafe at these busy times to be on a scooter or bike. Can all adults ensure children push bikes and scooters when they are entering the school gates. This includes pre-school children who may be coming to collect older siblings.
- Children are welcome to use the yard and sensory garden when they are waiting to come into school in the morning, but you should remain supervising your child at all times. They are not able to use the field or bushes to play in. Please also ensure they do not play with any of the learning equipment which may have been set up, especially in Early Years and Year 1.
- All clubs continue next half term, children do not need to reapply. Clubs finish in the penultimate week of term; there will be no clubs in the last week other than Bumblebees which runs until 5:45pm on Thursday 19th December. We still have lots of spaces in Year 3 football club and Year 3-4 rugby. If you would like your children to join these clubs after half term please let the school office know.
Curriculum Information - Early Years
Early Years have made a wonderful start to the year with everyone settling into their classrooms and new routines. Lots of new friends have been made and a lot of fun has been had. Everyone is ready for a nice half term holiday and a big rest before we get ready to learn even more when we return.
The Nursery children have been busy learning all about life in school. They are becoming very independent and learning all of the different parts of the school day. Dough disco is a favourite part of the day and in Squiggle whilst you Wiggle the children are already onto the second movement. Nursery's books have all been traditional fairytales this half term and there has been lots of huffing and puffing, fe-fi-fo-fuming and even some trip-trapping over bridges! There was a visit from storyteller Chris Conaughton, which helped bring the stories to life in the classroom. The children have been involved in solving lots of problems along the way including things like trapping the witch from Hansel and Gretel or milking the cow from Jack and the Beanstalk. Three has been the number of the half term - with goats, pigs and bears all appearing in the stories and there has been plenty of measuring (beanstalks) and comparing sizes (bowls, chairs and beds) The "baddies" of the books have definitely been the stars of the show. With trolls, big bad wolves and grumpy giants to deal with, the children have been very busy making sure everyone can get to live "happily ever after".
In Reception the children have become superheroes this half term, thinking very carefully about what it takes to become "super". They quickly realised that real life heroes live among us every day and were so eager to meet all types of heroes including firefighters, police officers, nurses, doctors, dentists and supermarket workers. The children have learnt that superheroes have fears just like the rest of us and explored their own fears and ways we could help each other overcome them. They also explored their own super powers and how this makes them unique and special. The books for this half term have centred around fictional superheroes such as Eliot Jones the midnight superhero who tamed escaped lions and helped bring a stranded ship back to shore. A visit from the RNLI coastguard was a real highlight and helped bring the story to life. In maths the children have been focusing on subitising numbers - seeing a quantity without needing to count it (for example on dice) and also the skills of counting collections such as lining the objects up and touching them as we count. Everyone agrees that Reception really have made a SUPER start to the year and are already HEROES after all of their hard work this half term!
Curriculum Information - Key Stage 1
Year 1 have had a wonderful start to the year learning about many different lessons including Science, Geography, Art and R.E! They have settled well into their new routine and are impressing all the adults with the progress they have made in their reading and building of sentences.
To keep with the whole school theme for the year, this half term has been all about the small steps we can take to make big changes for our planet. The children have thought about the effects of plastic in the ocean; cutting down trees for palm oil; and what we can do with the things we no longer need. This was concluded by an amazing Environment Day where Year 1 focused on improving the environment of Regent Farm. They completed a survey of the grounds and bins finding toys and gloves left outside, and even cheese in a recycling bin! The children knew they had to act, creating posters, key rings and even imagining what inventions would help. Mrs Moore was so impressed with the work she came to thank everyone at the end of the day. Keep up the hard work protecting our planet Year 1!
Year 2 kicked off the year with the story of The Unexpected Visitor, which shared the impact of overfishing on our oceans. In Science learning about animals and their habitats has highlighted why it is so important to protect each animals food and shelter. On their visit to Northumberland Zoo, the children had the opportunity to meet lots of different animals and see their habitats asking some amazing questions. In Art, they have been exploring different grades of pencil, and how changing the pencil can create different types of lines and textures. Their final piece will combine their Art and Science knowledge, creating an animal inspired sketch.
Curriculum Information - Key Stage 2
Year 3 have explored the enquiry question 'Is it too late to save our oceans?’ The children have been particularly interested in how and why plastic is so damaging to our oceans. They used debating to discuss whether shops should stop selling plastic bags. The children were shocked to discover that turtles confuse plastic bags for jelly fish, and that it takes 250 years for a plastic bag to decompose. They wrote letters to a local supermarket to try and persuade them to stop selling plastic bags completely.
They also had a visit from St Mary's Lighthouse to discuss how we can help our local wildlife. The children learnt about the impact that plastic pollution has on our local wildlife and what we can do to decrease this impact. The children were also involved in a rock pooling workshop where they learnt all about the animals found in British rock pools. Year 3 showed great curiosity and asked lots of questions in both these workshops.
This half term, Year 4 have explored the enquiry question 'How can our actions affect the planet? The children have enjoyed learning about endangered species and finding out about all the different reasons animals may become endangered. In English the children researched endangered animals (Tigers and Leopards to match their class names) and wrote persuasive letters to our parents to help adopt an animal.
In Geography this term the children have been looking at the difference between climate and weather. They have looked at natural causes of climate change and the human causes of global warming. This has lead to lots of discussion and the children have thought about how we can help combat climate change. The have also learnt about the impact farming can have on bees and why these wonderful insects are so important to us.
Dates for Next Half Term
- Monday 4th November School reopens to pupils
- w/c Monday 11th November Parents’ Evening Appointments
- Wednesday 13th November Children’s Photographer in School
- Friday 15th November Children in Need
- Wednesday 20th November Author Adeola Sokunbi visiting school
- Week commencing 2nd December Whole School Christmas Book Week
- Tuesday 3rd December 2:30pm Nursery Mini Christmas Show (each child is able to bring a maximum of 2 adults)
- Tuesday 10th December 9:15am Reception and Year 1 Christmas Performance - show for parents from Miss Morgan/Miss Blanden’s Class (each child is able to bring a maximum of 2 adults)
- Tuesday 10th December 2:30pm Reception and Year 1 Christmas Performance - show for parents from Mr Hudson’s Class (each child is able to bring a maximum of 2 adults)
- Wednesday 11th December 9:15am Reception and Year 1 Christmas Performance - show for parents from Mrs Sisk’s Class (each child will be allocated 2 tickets)
- Wednesday 11th December 2:30pm Reception and Year 1 Christmas Performance – show for parents from Miss Drury’s Class (each child will be allocated 2 tickets)
- Thursday 12th December 2:45pm Year 2 Carols around the tree
- Friday 13th December - Non Uniform Day in exchange for bottle donations
- Friday 13th December Year 3 2:45pm Carols around the tree
- Monday 16th December Year 4 2:45pm Carols around the tree
- Tuesday 17th December Christmas Jumper Day and Decorations Morning - Parents will be invited into school to join in with some creative Christmas fun! We cannot fit everyone into school at once so will need to spread parents over two time slots 9:00am and 2:00pm. We will write to you after half term with more detailed information.
- Tuesday 17th December Christmas Lunch
- Wednesday 18th December 3:30pm Christmas Fayre
- Thursday 19th December Whole School Rock Band Performance
- Friday 20th December Christmas Movie Day and children break up for Christmas
Monday 6th January 2025 School reopens to Pupils
If you need any further information about the detail of this newsletter, please don't hesitate to contact the school office.