School Newsletter : 01 March 2024

This year’s World Book Day is on Thursday 7th March. We are planning to celebrate by asking pupils to dress up as their favourite book character. Every pupil will also receive a World Book Day voucher which can be used to buy any of the selected £1 World Book Day books.

We would also like to invite parents & carers to join us in celebrating World Book Day, by coming into school to read your favourite childhood book to your child’s class.

If you would like to share a book with your child’s class, please email the school office, indicating when you’re available (within school hours) and the book you intend to read.

We would also like to ask pupils to bring in their favourite book to share with their class. During the day they will have the opportunity to share their favourite book with their peers and discuss what they like to read at home.

• Our Spring Term parent-teacher meetings will take place on Thursday 21st March.
• You’ll be able to sign up for these via the Arbor App from Wednesday 6th March.
• Kindly ensure that you arrive 10 minutes before your meeting time so that you can sit with your child and discuss the work they have selected together.

Due to the awful weather, regrettably we have had to cancel the Easter Fair.

However, we will be hosting a Spring Fair after the Easter holidays, on a day TBC (sometime towards the end of April or the beginning of May). We will let everyone know as soon as we can confirm the date.

Our meetings are usually on Thursday mornings in the Ground Floor Hall from 9 – 10am. Please come if you can, it’s always lovely to meet new parents and it’d be great to have you onboard.

If you’d like to find out more, please speak to our Vice-Chair, Miss Rachida in the Early Years.

After nearly 16 weeks of commitment, dedication and teamwork, our Year 4 & 5 pupils are ready to take to the stage with their production of Disney’s Lion King!

All the hard work and many hours of practice are nearly over, and they’re ready to WOW everyone with a truly outstanding performance of music, dance and drama.

There will be 3 showings at school:

• Wednesday 13th March from 2pm- 3pm
• Thursday 14th March from 6pm – 7pm
• Friday 15th March from 2pm – 3pm

Tickets will go on sale (£3 per adult and £2 per child under 16 years) via the school office on Monday 4th March.

Thursday 29th February Year 6 Trip to Linden House:

As Geographers, Year 6 visited Linden House to take part in a workshop run by the brilliant Thames Explorer Trust. Firstly, they consolidated their learning on the history of the Thames through practical activities before heading down to the foreshore.

They then took part in river dipping and were fascinated to discover all the life which lives within the river and discovered that its pH was 7. They especially enjoyed mud larking, where they discovered old animal bones, pottery, parts of a Victorian smoking pipe and fragments of stone from a Tudor bottle.

Despite the rain, nothing dampened their spirits and a fabulous day of hands-on learning was enjoyed by all!

For the rest of this term, all pupils will be participating in two major whole school projects linked to our wider school initiatives.

The first project will be around the theme of ‘Identity‘; which is part of the process of revising our Rights Respecting Schools accreditation.

Our second project is linked to our School Council’s pledge to raise awareness of the impact disposable products, and our use of them, are having on our planet and climate.

For this, we would appreciate all donations of the following items to recycle into our sustainability art project:

• Lids of all colours from juice, milk or soda bottles
• Magazines and old newspapers
• Beads and buttons
• 1.5 litre and 500ml plastic bottles
• Cans
• Snack bags (eg: those from the snack bags of biscuits etc)
• Ribbon/lace/wool/twine and string

We’d be grateful if all items are cleaned beforehand. All donations can be left in a box located in the school office from Monday 4th March.

We are so egg-cited to be launching our Easter Bonnet competition again as the entries last year were truly egg-ceptional! 🙂

Time to dig out your glue guns, decorative material, feathers and other crafty pieces to start hatching your egg-citing bonnet designs! Parents & carers, please note that all entries should be designed and made by the children (with adult support only when needed).

But fear not, this year we’re going the egg-tra mile with a special parent category, so all you creative yolks can get in on the competition and design alongside your children at home.

Bonnets will be available to buy from the school office for £1 each on Monday 4th March. All competition entries must be submitted to school by 5pm on Wednesday 20th March.

The bonnets will be judged by externally, with winners announced & prizes awarded on Monday 25th March. All the bonnets will then be displayed as part of our Art Gallery installation from Monday 25th to Thursday 28th March in the First Floor Hall.

Happy crafting with this egg-tremely fun project 🙂

Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct PE kit to school each week.

Pupils who are not wearing their full PE kit will not be able to participate in lessons, and a note will be sent home indicating why they were not able to participate.

The full PE kit for the Autumn/Winter term is as follows:

• Plain navy blue leggings or tracksuit bottoms
• School navy blue PE t-shirt
• School navy blue sweatshirt (all year groups).
• Pupils in KS2 (Years 3 – 6) must wear a school navy sweatshirt for PE and NOT their school jumper.
• Plain black trainers (velcro if your child struggles with shoe laces)
• Please ensure all items of uniform are clearly labelled (with a permanent pen or label)

On Monday 8th January, parents were sent a welcome email from Arbor via the school office email account. Please read this carefully, as it contains vital information of the steps required to download the Arbor app, which is now live and ready to use for our school.

Once you have downloaded the app and followed the setup steps, you will be able to pay online for the following:

• Breakfast Club
• After School Club (6 o’clock club)
• School Trips and Visits
• Nursery Extended Day Fees
• Preschool Fees

You will also be able to view your child’s details held by the school, such as their attendance record  and the named adults allowed to collect them from school.  After the Easter Break, you will also be able to sign up and pay for Extended School Day (Enrichment) Clubs.

We understand that while paying online is the preferred option for many of our families, those wishing to continue paying by cash will still be able to do via the school office.

If you would like your child to move from bringing a packed lunch to having a school meal, you must inform the office at least a week in advance of this change being made. Kindly note pupils are not allowed to alternate between having packed lunches and/or school meals on a daily or weekly basis. If you have any questions, please see a member of the school admin staff at the school office.

You can find the current school lunch menu here >

If you require a printed copy, please ask at the school office. Should you have any questions about the menu, kindly make an appointment to speak with Miss Barnett.

February 2024 half term vouchers for pupils eligible for FSM are available for collection from the school office.

We have noticed several pupils are consistently late to school each day. It is essential that every child arrives at school by 08:45 so that they are in class and ready to learn at 09:00. If your punctuality has slipped recently, please ensure that you take steps to arrive in school on time after the February half term break.

Why good school attendance matters: Missing a few days of school here and there may not seem a big deal, but research shows that it can have a significant impact on children’s learning.

Children who miss a substantial amount of school fall behind their peers, and struggle to catch up. Most of the work they miss is never made up, which can lead to big gaps in their learning.

• Poor attendance often starts at primary school and children who fall into this pattern are likely to under-achieve at secondary school.
• Pupils who miss between 10 and 20% of school (that’s 19 – 38 days per year) stand only a 35% chance of achieving five or more good GCSEs, compared to 73% of those who miss fewer than 5% of school days.
• An attendance rate of 95% is generally considered good; this allows for children to miss 9.5 days across the school year.
• Persistent absence (PA) is defined as an attendance rate of 90% or below.
• All pupils are expected to have an attendance rate of 95% or higher.

Attendance class of the week: Each week we will be celebrating the class with the highest attendance levels.