1. Rowan's Adventures...

2. Hazel's Exploits...

3. Oak's Endeavours...

4. Thorpe Woodlands

5. A gift from a neighbour

6. Do you know an Active School Hero?

7. Travelling Book Fair

8. Voicemail greeting

9. SET Ixworth School

10. Walk to School Week - 17th to 21st May

11. Monday Mile - 10th May

12. Forest Pre-School Group

13. Tree Planting

14. Thanks from Place2Be

15. Request for Plants/Seedlings

16. Safeguarding & Wellbeing

Where has this week gone!? Some superb sentence writing this week as part of our Train Ride writing for The Write Stuff. Our strawberry plants have sprouted flowers and we have fully investigated the life cycle of a dandelion. We eagerly await the first roots on our newly planted beans. We have found and measured the longest dandelion in our meadow. I have given out a huge amount of dojo points this week for the children being such Kind Communicators. I have witnessed many moments of real kindness and genuine friendship this week. They really are such a great bunch of friends as well as superstar learners.

We have been busy learning about the best materials for a boat this week which tied in nicely with our topic work on pirates. The children designed and made a boat out of junk modelling. They then had the opportunity to test it out in some water to see if it was able to float. We had lots of fun learning about suitable materials for a boat. We have also been planning and writing our independent write based on the book ‘Flood’. Once again I have been blown away by their work! The children have shown great perseverance with their writing and they should be very proud of the narratives they have produced.

This week Oak has been finishing off our work on the Katherine Rundell book ‘The Explorer’ by writing their own chapters. The class has imagined what it would be like to be lost in the amazon rainforest and writing about how the characters would survive. They have also created some amazing pieces of mathematical spiral art. In science, the class has been trying to answer the question “Why are planets round?” To do this they have been learning about gravity and how the solar system formed.

Our focus cog last week was ‘Aspirational’ and we could not have picked a more appropriate theme to encapsulate how every pupil responded to our day at Thorpe Woodlands. As a staff team, we could not have been prouder at how each and every pupil rose to the (quite considerable!) physical challenges that were on offer. The utter determination, the team spirit, and the sense of adventure that all the children showed were incredible. The staff at the centre commented on how independent and how skilled the children were, not to mention their impeccable manners and behaviour. We are incredibly proud of our aspirational pupils this week as I’m sure you will be as you look through the photographs from the day.

Francesca Wallace, a near neighbour of the school and the painter of our Key Worker stones, has kindly donated books to the children in our two younger classes. Pouch’s Journey in our New World was put together by Francesca working in a fundraising team with her work colleagues at PeoplePlus. Team Achieve took part in the Prince’s Trust Million Makers corporate challenge and came up with Pouch’s Journey as a response to the pandemic. Pupils in Rowan and Hazel Classes will bring home their copy in the next few days.

We know active kids are happier, healthier, and perform better at school and in life, and the right motivation can make a huge difference. That’s why ukactive and Nike created Active School Hero to celebrate and reward primary school staff for championing physical activity. Why not nominate your Active School Hero? Nominations close on 11th June.

https://activeschoolhero.com/

Our recent Travelling Book Fair sales total was £325.56, which gives us vouchers to the value of £90.22 to spend on books. Thank you all for taking part, we hope you are enjoying your books.

Voicemail greeting - Elliott is our current voicemail greeter, listen out for him if you phone the school and need to leave a message!

SET Ixworth School has asked us to share their newsletter with Y4 and Y5 pupils in particular.

Keep Moving Suffolk has designated 17th-21st May it's Walk To School’ week. If you can, leave the car at home and walk to school instead. We will have charts and stickers in each class to log our activity.

Congratulations to all the children who have managed 35 miles between them. Again, we have a long list of pupils that did a full mile either walking or running or a combination: Lily, Josh, Henry, Danielle, Jacob, Zara, Ted, Jake, Ethan, Oliver, Albie, Joseph, Noah, Coire, Henley, Cooper, Alexa.

It seems like this list grows every week - perhaps today’s weather has helped!

Forest Pre-School Group

Mrs. Boyd has welcomed the Forest Pre-School Group today. This will run for the remainder of the Summer Term and we hope that, from September, the group will be able to resume meeting in the school. Anyone with a pre-school age child or baby is welcome to attend but please note that parents/carers are responsible for their children at all times and that this is a community group hosted by the school, not a school-led activity. Sessions will only be cancelled in the event of very high winds or heavy rain.

If you are able to come along, please dress appropriately in sturdy shoes and waterproofs/sun protection. Please come first to the main Reception door, where you will need to sanitize your hands and one of the office staff will sign you in for Fire Evacuation purposes. There is a Test & Trace QR code on the main door for you to scan with your NHS app.

If you or anyone in your household has any Covid19 symptoms, please do not attend and ensure you follow government advice.

All participants will be asked to access the forest area by using paths around the outside of the school. The Green Room (former portacabin) will be unlocked for access to a separate toilet and kitchen area. The Toddler Group refreshments box will be available in the Green Room.

Parents and carers joined the children to plant Woodland Trust ‘All Year Colour’ trees around the school premises last week; thank you to those who came along. Also, our thanks go to Parish Councillors Peter, David and John who had kindly marked all the replacements needed for the Community Field boundary.

Tree planting is a rewarding task; we hope the children enjoy seeing their saplings grow.

Thanks from Place2Be for our contribution to their Children’s Mental Health Week fundraiser.

Request for plants/seedlings

Calling all keen gardeners! We are looking for donations of spare seedlings to fill up the planters around the playground shelter and the greenhouse. Do you have courgettes, sweet peas, summer annuals, peas, beans, or anything else to spare, please?

If so, please bring them to school and we’ll take care of them.