17th March 2023

In 2019, our school Eco Warriors asked the school governors to declare an environment and climate emergency on their behalf, and so they did. There were 3 main areas that the Warriors wanted to take action:

• looking for different ways to save, recycle and reuse the Earth's precious resources 
• Being courageous advocates for the preservation of the environment and particularly habitats
• Finding alternative ways to save energy

Since then Eco Warriors have been able to continue to work and develop their involvement in keeping to the pledge made by their predecessors in 2019. As part of this work, for the last 2 years, we have been working towards purchasing solar panels for the school, and I am very pleased to say that our funding bids have been successful, and we are very hopeful that we will have solar panels on the school roof before the end of the summer term. This year's Eco Warriors are also going to be involved in helping to design a new outdoor learning classroom using the current 'Barn' and the solar anal project to inspire the design. This is very exciting news, and we will of course keep you updated with our progress.

Other excitement has been the new playground equipment. You can see from the photos below how popular the 'Trim Trail' is. The children persuaded me to have a try on the equipment today - thankfully there are no photos of that!

Science Week has been a great success too with every class taking part in additional science activities and investigations. Thank you to Mr Creese for leading on this and pulling everything together. There are some super photos below.

Finally, Ant class worship yesterday was the last of our class led worship this year, and it was fabulous to see the children being able to talk about kindness so knowledgeably. Thanks to Mrs Madziwa, Mr Richardson and Mrs Snell for helping the children to get ready for the worship.

Mrs S Reynolds

Next Week's 'Learning at a Glance'

World Water Day - Wednesday 22nd March - Whole school

This World Water Day is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. You and your family, school and community can make a difference by changing the way we use, consume and manage water in our lives. This is a once-in-a-generation moment for the world to unite around water. 

On Wednesday 22nd March we would like to invite the children to come to school wearing something blue. We don't want you to buy anything special, so this could be blue socks, blue ribbons, blue jeans, blue leggings, blue shoes etc along with the rest of your school uniform. We kindly ask for no football kits to be worn.

In return, please bring in £1 on the day. The school councillors will be collecting the donations. Alternatively, you can donate on the World Water Day JustGiving page here.

Waste Week - 13th–17th March - Whole School

All the children were given a toy-tastic pledge this week and were set a mission by our Eco-Warriors.

It's been wonderful to see so many pledges come in to school, well done! Please click here to see some of them.

Sandygate Sunday - 26th March - Whole school

On Sunday 26th March from 11am-12noon, we would like to invite as many children as possible to come along and sing a song and read prayers at All Saints Church. Children can wear their normal clothes, but we kindly ask them to wear their school jumper over the top.

We don't have many children signed up yet so If you and your child/ren can join us for this lovely service, please sign up here.

Easter Competitions - 27th March - Whole school

The details for the competition for each year group are shown below. We are planning to have an Easter Hat parade on the 29th at which the Year 2 children can show off their headgear to the rest of the school.

We would like the children to bring their entries in to school on Monday 27th March so that we can judge them on the 28th.

The categories are:

Reception - Easter Basket 

Create an Easter basket using recycled materials and using some of the symbols of Easter that you have been learning about.

Year 1 - Easter Garden 

An Easter garden is a traditional way of remembering what happened on Good Friday and usually includes a hill, as the bible says Jesus was crucified on a hilltop, three crosses, a stone to represent the stone across the entrance to the tomb. Some simple instructions for a garden are shown below.

Year 2 - Easter Hat

An Easter bonnet is any new hat worn traditionally on Easter Sunday. It is the tail end of an English tradition of wearing new clothes for Easter and is in keeping with the spirit of renewal and redemption at this time of the year.

For our Easter bonnets, we would like you to take the theme of renewal further by reusing and recycling materials for your hat. 

Great Big School Clean - 28th March - Whole school

We are taking part in the Great Big School Clean this spring to help make a big difference to care for the places and the planet we love. During the day, our Tidy Up team and Eco Warriors will be litter picking outside Seymour Park Recreation ground with some of the Marlow Wombles. Other schools in the town will be litter picking other areas and the rest of our children will be litter picking in the school grounds. If the children have litter pickers at home, they can bring them in on  28th March.

We will need some volunteers to help in the afternoon with the litter picking.

Please contact the office if you can help.

Easter Service - 29th March - Whole school

On Wednesday 29th March from 2-2.30pm, we would like to invite all families to our Easter Service at All Saints Church.

We need a number of parents to help walk to the church with the children. We will leave the school at 1.30pm and return by 3pm. If you can help, please click here. Thank you!

A celebration of Indonesian culture - 30th March - Year 1

On Thursday 30th March from 2pm–3pm, the Year 1 children will be inviting their families to come in and taste some Indonesian food whilst being entertained by the children with shadow puppet shows. The children will be selling tickets for £1. More details to follow.

We kindly ask for 4–5 parents to help us cook some traditional Indonesian food; such as banana fritters, fried tempeh and Nasi Goreng (fried rice) in the morning of the 30th of March for a couple of hours from 10am. We will provide recipes and ingredients.

Please contact the office if you can help.

Dogs - Whole school

Thank you to those who wait at the gate with their dogs at collection time. As we have a few nervous children, please can we ask you to stand to one side away from the main entrance while you are waiting. This way the children don't need to walk past them. Thank you.

Bag2School Day - Friday 24th March - Whole school

Our next Bag2School day is on Friday 24th March. Please bag up items for donation and leave them under the barn by 9am. Bag2School collect our donations and uses them for charitable purposes - the more it weighs, the more money they give us. Examples of items they are happy to accept include men's, ladies' and children's clothing, paired shoes, handbags, hats, bags, scarves and ties, jewellery, lingerie, socks, belts, soft toys and household linen/ curtains/ towels/ bedding.

Sandygate Easter Trail - Whole school

Join the Sandygate PFA Easter trail over Easter by finding Easter pictures in the windows of some school family homes! Sign up on ParentPay to receive your pack including trail maps, quiz, some Easter activities to do at home and a sweet treat. Packs available to buy on ParentPay (£4 per pack) and will be distributed at the end of term. Closing date to purchase the trail will be Friday 24th March. 

Bingo Night - Tickets now on sale! - Saturday 22nd April 3.45-5.45pm

Tickets are available to buy for our Family Bingo event. Come and join us in the school hall on the afternoon of Saturday 22nd April for some family fun! Paper bingo boards, bar, tuck shop and pizza. There are prizes for the winners and a chance to get together with some Sandygate families for fun, games and a catch-up. Tickets are now available to purchase on ParentPay (£15 for a family ticket and £5 for additional individual tickets) along with pizzas to pre-order for the night.

Wild World - First session

A huge thank you to all the parents who helped today. They have already made a difference with the work they did along the Nature Corridor and the Sensory circle in the top end of the field.  There is going to be another session in June so If this is something that you would like to be involved in, then please contact the  school office.

Summer Term Clubs - Whole School

Our external clubs are now taking bookings for the summer term. If you're interested in booking your child into a club, please contact them directly. You can see the club timetable on our website here.