Weekly Newsletter
Friday 15th October 2021
This week in school
What a busy 'impressed with what's being addressed' kind of week!
The reason for the visits was that on Thursday, Day 1 of the Headteacher's interview process was held in school. The candidates faced a series of gruelling tasks, designed to test all the skills needed as a Headteacher.
Lots of prayer has gone into this appointment process and although it isn't yet finished - further selection processes are underway, we are hoping that once all the protocols and hard tasks are over, we will know who our next lucky Headteacher will be.
Yesterday, the children enjoyed a special worship with the candidates and also ate their lunch with them. The appointments panel also attended all day and got to see the children and teachers in action.
All of the visitors, without exception, commented on the stunning behaviour and excellent work ethic, amazing achievements and friendly attitude of the children. They recognised what incredible school development work has led us to this standard and I think this enthused all of the candidates even more - they all seemed to want to work here very much!
Ian Yapp, CEO of StarMAT, attended all day yesterday and was insistent that I tell you how proud you should be of your children due to their mature attitude to the recruitment process and their learning.
Today I did a learning walk of my own. I went into many of the classrooms and made notes on the work being tackled so that I could give some hopefully helpful feedback to the teachers. I am always impressed by what is being taught but today I kept thinking how much the children have caught up with missed school work due to the Pandemic and how talented our classroom staff are. There is a phrase I like to use to describe what trained and experienced practitioners do while children are working on a task. They intervene with the children's activity just at the right moment - the point of need. They seem to do it effortlessly and yet I know just how highly skilled they need to be to do this as well as they do.
Hope is one of our school values
The fact that the Trust is currently appointing a new Headteacher has triggered me to think very deeply about what is the most impressive thing about our school. I believe it is our hope and our perseverance. The staff have been through tough times over the years, the children have had to adjust over and again to different situations in the last couple of years and you parents have had to dig even deeper into your own resources to support your children and the school. But we are definitely getting there and we never give up hope in each other and we are certainly being rewarded for that!
Thank you for your help, your positive outlook and your encouragement - but more than anything - thankyou for your hope and perseverance.
Thank you for your continued support - have a really lovely weekend.
Mrs R - Proud Headteacher
Whole School Attendance
That's below target attendance
However - an amazing 324 children had 100% attendance this week.
Happy Birthdays!
Many many many many happy returns this week to.....
Thomas Rowley, Evie Priest, Reggie Russell
This week in classrooms
Our school values
Nursery - Stars
If anybody needed a doctor or a firefighter this week, nursery was the place to be! We have have great fun exploring the emergency services and people who help us. In the enhanced provision, we have used police equipment to capture fingerprints, squirted water at the pretend fire in our potting shed and treated many poorly dollies ( and teachers!!). We have talked about the importance of cleaning our teeth and created with cardboard boxes.
In maths we have learnt about the number 2 and our favourite phonics activity this week was picking sounds we like. We are becoming great listeners.
Superstar - Logan Chalmers
FS - Moon and Mercury
This week we have enjoyed sharing the story of 'The Great Big Book of Families' by Mary Hoffman. This led to a discussion about the idea of a traditional family and how today most families are different and unique.
The children have been investigating repeating patterns which they have shown can be made with a wide range of different objects. We then applied these skills to create 'repeating pattern' fruit kebabs that we enjoyed as a tasty snack
Superstars - Dale Russell, Georgia Legg
Y1 - Galaxy and Venus
Autumn has arrived! We have immersed ourselves in the Autumnal story, Pumpkin Soup this week. As well as creating our own story maps and re-telling the story using story language, we made and tasted our own pumpkin soup! In maths, we have continued working on addition skills; using a number line to count on and practising using the part, part, whole method to find a missing number. In science, we have focused on the sense of 'smell' and added a variety of different scents to homemade salt dough before discussing smells we like and don't like. We have also been busy preparing for next week's Harvest Festival creating artwork to share at church
Superstars - Sienna Bell, Nancy Mattinson
Year 2 / 3 Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune
This week, History led the way for a second time in Year 2 and 3, as we began our topic of The Gunpowder Plot. Excitedly and nervously, the children stepped into the shoes of the historical figures and in small groups performed the key events to their classmates – stage fright aside, their acting skills were truly impressive. After our drama session, the children wrote a detailed, factual recount of The Gunpowder Plot. In Maths this week, the children learnt how to use a place value chart as a pictorial method for adding and subtracting 10s and 1s or used formal column method to add and subtract 1s and 10s with 3-digit numbers. To celebrate Black History Month, we learnt about Rosa Parks and how her brave actions influenced equality across our world. In Science, we learnt about healthy eating, nutrition, and the food groups we should include to create a healthy plate.
Superstars - Sam Short, Ellie Cooper, Freddy Tonks
Year 4 Mars and Earth
It’s been a busy week in Earth and Mars this week with plenty going on. In maths we have been exploring number lines up to 10, 000 and looking at labelling integers. As the week has progressed, we have challenged ourselves by exploring number lines with negative numbers as well. In guided reading, we have explored black history month and why we celebrate it. So far we have looked at Martin Luther King Jr and Harriet Tubman just to name a few. In preparation for harvest next week, we have explored watercolours and painting the sky at different times with great success.
Superstars - Luca Cobbold, Frank Elwood
Year 5 Asteroid and Pluto
During a varied week, we have been putting the finishing touches to our edited reports about Tudor crimes and harsh punishments, which were designed to deter wrongdoing in society. We have been amazed and entertained, learning about some bizarre Tudor treatments for a variety of common ailments. Compared to a treatment of spiders in butter for a sore throat, a spoonful of modern medicine doesn't seem quite so bad any more! We have been working with inverse operations and revising different types of charts, in maths, and as we approach our harvest, church service, we have been practising signing for a favourite song.
Superstars - Harrison Abbot, Sienna Gibson
Year 6 Nebular and Constellation
In year 6 this week we have been so incredibly busy, the days have just flown by and we find ourselves looking forward to another week of learning.
Following on from last week's research sessions about a planet of the children's choosing, we began to create our non-chronological report: first by drafting, second, by editing and adding various grammatical features, and finally, by presenting the text with a variety of labelled diagrams. Some of the work would be at home in any published book on Space - it is that good!
In Maths, we have been working immensely hard on our reasoning and problem solving of square and cubed numbers. This week's Science has moved on from our knowledge of Space, to the linked topic of Forces. The children have gained an understanding of which forces are in action doing the simplest of things, like walking... or leaving the Earth's atmosphere in a rocket!
Superstars - Libby Fielder, Jacob Siddons
Honey Pot Prize Winners
Extra bee points
10 extra bee points go to:
Best attendance
Red 97%
No red slips
Sadly - all of the hives had red slips this week.
Hive with the most bee points so far this year
So far this year:
20770
Red Hive
Well done - keep it up!