Dear parents and carers,
I need to start this newsletter with the sad but exciting news that Miss Ingle is starting a new job after half term. It is of course sad that this means she has to leave us, as we will all miss her very much but we wish her lots of luck for her next job with the Warwickshire attendance team and keep our fingers crossed that our paths will still cross. Any children that are currently working with Miss Ingle will have final handover sessions with her before she leaves to make sure they know who will be working with them after half term.
Last week, we marked WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY with our 'Hats on for mental health' day and raised an amazing £174 for C&W Mind. A huge thank you to everyone that donated and to all the children that wore their hats and engaged in great discussions about mental health in classes and assemblies.
We also had a really successful harvest collection for Rugby Foodbank. We are waiting to find out how much we collected in total and will keep you posted when our certificate comes through.
However, when they collected our donations, Rugby Foodbank told us that they are more in need of donations than ever at the moment, so we would really like to make our collections a more regular thing to try and help. Therefore, we have set up a permanent collection point in the foyer of our office for you to drop off donations on a more regular basis if you are able to. You can either pop in yourself to drop things off or send your child in with any items you would like to donate. The Rugby Foodbank website is regularly updated with details of things they are in particular need of and we will post regular updates from them on our school social media too to help.
With only 1 week left before half term, I would like to thank you all for all your support in this first half term, which has just flown by! We have fit so much in to one half term and the children have all made a great start to this academic year. I can't wait to see what next half term brings! I hope you have a lovely half term, whatever your plans.
Mrs Webb :)
Book Fair Time
Next week, as well as it being parents evenings, we also have our book fair in school. It will open for the first time on Monday after school, and will then be open before and after school each day in the hall, including during parents evenings, when it will be open for you to browse while waiting for your appointment.
Farmers Forever Moments
Year 3 were lucky to have a visit from the Vets4Pets veterinary nurses a couple of weeks ago to learn about how to be responsible pet owners. We also have the Dogs Trust coming in to do a whole-school assembly and then workshops with year 3 and 4 about dog safety and welfare.
Year 3 have also been lucky enough to visit the beautiful Temple Speech Rooms in Rugby today for a music event hosted by Rugby School, along with several other schools in Rugby.
Year 5 have had some visitors in school this month too. The wonderful Loudmouth Theatre came and delivered their 'Helping Hands' programme which included a performance to the children followed by workshops. The children were all excellent role models for our school and demonstrated maturity and respect when discussing sensitive subjects, so we are very proud of them.
The Adventures of Chase
Chase has been very busy this past few weeks getting to know all the sights, sounds and smells of the school. He has had lots of children come to visit him and always shows excellent behaviour towards his visitors. He has even shown some of his visitors a few of his tricks that he has been learning.
He has also been walking round the school inspecting classrooms to see if they are ‘Chase-ready’ and went outside last Friday afternoon to see how year 6 were getting on with their orienteering lessons. He was particularly impressed with the 'wonderful walking' he saw from year 3 when they were moving around school this week.
He has his training with The Dog Mentor next week and we can’t wait to see what we can get him doing next!
Eco-Committee
Our school is currently participating in The Great Cable Challenge! Please take the time this weekend to look around your home for any unused or broken electrical items—anything with a plug, battery, or cable—that you no longer need. You can bring these items to school and drop them into our designated blue recycling bin, which will be on our playground each day.
The eco-committe are also currently collecting crisp packets and any other soft packaging that is recyclable, to take to a designated recycling point. They are getting lots of packets from children's lunches but would welcome you sending in any other soft plastics too. Your child can bring them in and pass them to any member of the eco-committee in their class.
Healthy body and mind
Sport and physical activity is an integral part of every school day here at AFJS! That is why HEALTHY BODY AND MIND is one of our school values. We provide as many different opportunities as possible for children to get active throughout the school day and it is our aim this year to try and get the School Games GOLD award. Here are a few of the HEALTHY BODY AND MIND opportunities that have been happening since we came back:
- Lots of extra-curricular clubs have now started for this term with different 'healthy body' sporting activities as well as other options to help with a 'healthy mind' such as singing
- Since we had our orienteering course set up on the school site, children have been outside for all kinds of different lessons, keeping active while learning new skills and knowledge
- After a really successful trial week, we now have the Rugby Borough Council Play Rangers coming to work with pupils at lunchtime on a Friday to help engage them in different activities and build their play skills
- Our year 6 play leaders are now helping run activities both on the playground and in the Den
- Year 3 have started their Forest School sessions on Friday afternoons and a new group of children have been doing Forest School club after school too
In order to keep this momentum for outdoor learning and activitiy going through the winter months, we are currently organising welly racks for each year group so that children can always keep outdoor clothing in school to use the field in any weather. I will send a letter out with further details once we have the racks installed but in the meantime, If you see any cheap welly deals, grab a pair ready to keep in school, along with a waterproof jacket. We will also be organising a 'welly swap box' to enable you to donate your child's wellies as they grow out of them and pass them to another family.
Rugby Parkrun
Mrs Jones has let me know that there is also a ParkRun on a saturday morning at the GEC park, which is specifically a junior parkrun, so perfect for our young sporting enthusiasts. If any of you are interested in going along, you can find more details on their website by clicking the button below.
Diary Dates
UPCOMING EVENTS - more information will be shared closer to the time but keep these dates in your diary
- Wb 21st October - Hunts book fair in school all week
- Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October - parents evenings - appointments to be booked through the Arbor app
- Thursday 24th October - The Dog Mentor training day for Chase!
- Wb 28th October - HALF TERM
- Monday 4th November - AFJS Diwali celebration day for all pupils
- Thursday 14th November - Orienteering experience day for all pupils
- Wednesday 20th November - NHS team delivering nasal flu spray vaccinations in school
- Friday 22nd November - training day - SCHOOL CLOSED TO ALL PUPILS
- Wb 25th November - open afternoons (see further details below)
- Tuesday 26th November - AFJS online safety day
- Friday 6th December - PTA Christmas Fair after school - PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE
- Tuesday 10th December - Year 6 magistrates workshops
- Wednesday 11th December - year 3/4 Christmas Play performances (2pm and 6pm)
- Wednesday 18th December - AFJS Christmas jumper and lunch day
- Wednesday 18th December - year 5/6 Christmas Carol evening (6pm)
- Thursday 19th December - all pupils to visit Macready theatre - A Festive Twist on the 3 Little Pigs
- Friday 20th December - break up for Christmas
- Monday 6th January - training day - SCHOOL CLOSED TO ALL PUPILS
- Tuesday 7th January - all pupils back to school
Term dates for this academic year
Class assembly dates
All class assemblies start at 9:05am this term - just come to the hall door and we will let you in as soon as we are ready. All welcome!
- Tuesday 22nd Oct - Miss Neel's class
- Tuesday 5th Nov - Mrs Berry/Mrs Solomon's class
- Tuesday 12th Nov - Mrs Hartwell's class
- Tuesday 19th Nov - Mr Evans' class
- Tuesday 3rd Dec - Mrs Beech's class
Open afternoons
Our open afternoons are a great opportunity for parents to come in and complete some activities with their children linked to their learning this term. You can also have a look through all of their books and chat to year group staff. If you would like to come along, they start at 2pm and you can come straight to the hall doors to sign in. We look forward to having many of you join us.
Messages from the office
School meal ordering
If your child is going on a school trip, please remember to cancel their meal order for that day in your Stir account. If your child is free school meals and you have advised the office that a packed lunch is required, then you do not need to cancel your order. Please note we can only offer packed lunches for trips for free school meal pupils.
To coincide with our AFJS Diwali Day on Monday 4th November, Stir are putting on a special Diwali-themed menu - keep an eye on your Stir Select acount and make sure you order for this as it is the first day back after half term. If you have already put an order on for this day, you will need to re-order from the new menu when it is uploaded. This should be ready by the start of next week.
Arbor accounts
We know that most of you are now signed up and logged in, but have you enabled your push notifications for the app? This is the most important thing we need you to do, to ensure that you get a notification whenever you have a new in-app message from us and do not miss any urgent messages. If you aren't receiving push notifications, or they vanish quickly, please click the button below to access the guidance on how to sort this out.
Please note that all updates now need to be done on Arbor. For example, if you want to alter the permissions you have given for photos, if you want to add new people that are able to collect your child or if you have new contact details to update us with.
The following payments are due and should be on Arbor for you to pay now:
- Current Y5 Gullivers trip balance
- Current Y5 deposit for Y6 Condover trip
- Cookery club fee for year 6 group
Kidzone bills for November will be in your accounts by the end of the week and will need to be paid by 1/11/24. PLease allow extra time if paying using vouchers and advise the office by email when the payment has been made, giving your child's name, the amount paid and the provider.
Messages from the PTFA
As we all know, lost property is a problem in all schools and I am sure we are all familiar with our child, at some point, coming home from school with a missing item. As parents, we are aware that time is precious, which is why we think Stikin labels are such a great idea; they simply stick onto the wash-care label of clothing. They can even be used in shoes! Naming of clothing is essential and we are hoping that with this opportunity we can start to eliminate some of parents’ frustrations around lost property whilst also raising some money for our school.
How it works:
Each order placed quoting the school reference number 61 will provide the school with 30% commission.