17^th November 2023

On Monday, we held our Remembrance Service in school and the Year 2 children recited the poem 'In Flanders Fields' by John McCrae. They were wonderful, so respectful, and they remembered the words and actions well. It was a lovely service where we talked about the significance of the poppy.

This week, the Rights Respecting Ambassadors led worship for the first time this year. They spoke confidently about children's rights and anti-bullying week in front of the whole school, and you can see some photos and more details below.

We are all looking forward to 'Walk to School' week which starts on Monday, and I am definitely looking forward to the Flapjack on Friday - I just need to make sure that I walk to school more often over the week!

Mrs Reynolds

Next Week's 'Learning at a Glance'

Data Collection sheets – Whole school

We have sent home a Data Collection sheet today with every child. This shows the details we have on our Information Management system in respect of you and your child, including emergency contact numbers, addresses and allergies. 

Please check if the information on the sheet is correct and then return it to school by Friday 24^th November so that we can ensure the information we have is correct. If there are any changes that need to be made, please ensure that these are clearly marked on the sheet. Please return the sheet whether there are changes or not.

Advent Service at All Saints Church – Whole school

The whole school will be walking to All Saints Church on Tuesday 5^th December for the Advent Service from 9.45am-10.15am. We will leave school at 9am and return by 11am.

We will require at least 6 volunteers per class to walk with the children. Thank you to those parents who have volunteered already.

• Ant class needs 3 more
• Bee class needs 6
• We now have enough for Butterfly class
• Ladybird class needs 4 more
• Year 2 classes both need 5 more

If you are able to help walk with us and join us for the service, please click here.

Christmas Jumper Day 2023

On Friday 15th of December (not the official day), we will be taking part in Christmas Jumper Day to get into the Christmas Spirit, and help raise money for Save The Children. So get your festive jumper ready, and don't forget to make your donation to Save The Children online here or via the QR code we have up at school.

Christmas – Whole school

We are pleased to announce that the tickets for this year's Christmas Nativity Plays are now available; please book here! We have a limited number of tickets available per performance. Due to the capacity of the hall, we can only offer up to 2 tickets per family for 1 performance. Once the capacity for a performance is reached, we will contact you to change your booking, should it take us above that capacity. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. We will confirm your ticket/s over the coming weeks.

The children will perform twice over two days:

• Reception Performance 1: Tuesday 12^th December - 9.30am
• Reception Performance 2: Wednesday 13^th December - 2.30pm
• KS1 Performance 1: Tuesday 12^th December - 2pm
• KS1 Performance 2: Thursday 14^th December - 9.30am

Christmas lunch – Monday 18^th December (LAST ORDERS)

Please make sure your child's Christmas Lunch has been ordered on SchoolGrid by Monday 20^th November.

Christmas nativity costume

Your child will come home with a Christmas Nativity costume request slip today, with details of your child's role and the items of clothing that they will need for their costume. The Reception childrens' costume letter is in their red phonics folder. Please could these be brought in to school in a named bag by Friday 1^st December.

Christmas nativity memory

We would like to offer families a chance to buy a digital photo of your child/ren dressed in their nativity costume, together with a video link of your child's nativity performance. This bundle is now available to purchase on ParentPay.

Norden Farm – Year 2

Norden Farm are visiting the Year 2's in school on the 1^st December. They will lead a theatre workshop to go through our Snow White story with actions and voices. Norden Farm helps bring new meaning to stories through drama that children will remember forever!

The Big Ambition survey

We would like to invite the families at Marlow Infants to participate in The Big Ambition survey, and have their say.

Children or parents can complete the survey here: www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/thebigambition. Further resources are available on our website.

The Office of the Children's Commissioner for England is a non-departmental public body in England responsible for promoting and protecting the rights of children as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as other human rights legislation, such as the Human Rights Act 1998

Walk to School week & Road Safety week – Whole school

Walk to school week is back! From Monday 20^th – Friday 24^th November we will be holding our first walk to school event of the year.

Walking, cycling or scooting has so many benefits from helping us to stay healthy, helping the children be ready to learn once at school, helping the environment and reducing traffic around our school and local area.

We would love as many pupils to take part as possible. We recognise that not everyone is able to complete their whole journey sustainably, but there are still ways to be involved. For example, park further away from school and then walk part of the journey.

There are lots of events happening over the week:

• We have relaunched the Living Streets Travel Tracker scheme and the children are recording how they travel to school daily. Those who regularly travel sustainably (at least 3 times per week) will receive a badge at the end of the month. This will begin next week.
• All children will be given an 'I spy sheet' to tick off things in nature that they see on their way to school.
• The Eco Warriors and Rights Respecting Schools Ambassadors will be working together on a petition for improved signs along Seymour Park Road which they will send to Marlow Town Council.
• On Tuesday 21^st all the children will take part in safety day, which will include, Scootability scooter training, first aid, and, in KS1 the children will learn about looking after their bikes.
• On Friday 24^th all the pupils who have made a commitment to travel sustainably through the week will receive a flapjack at the end of the day.

We hope it will be a fun week and that everyone enjoys taking part.

The Travel Plan Team

Reading for pleasure – Whole school

This week's recommendation comes from Dragonfly Class.

Tom recommends Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl. He says, "I like Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator because when the glass elevator goes up and comes down, it crashes into the chocolate factory. You would enjoy this". 

Lily recommends Paddington at the Zoo by Michael Bond. She says," I enjoyed the part when the parrot takes a big bite out of Paddington's sandwich".

Christmas wish list

We have made a wish list of books we would like in school as these will really help with our Core Read Aloud programme, and to instil a love of reading in our pupils in the future.

If you would like to purchase a book from our wish list as a Christmas present for the school, please click here. We will label these to show who they were donated by.

Lantern trail – thank you!

We were delighted to see so many of you come along to our Lantern Trail on Sunday. The amount of effort that the children put into decorating their lanterns was amazing. A huge well done & thank you to Nisha Guilmineau and Victoria Kay Barrero for organising a terrific event and thank you to Lynne Hopkins and Lauren King for all their hard work both beforehand and on the evening.

Christmas packs

A year two parent, Jenna Williams, has kindly offered to organise a Christmas pack full of activities (including a map of decorated houses to visit) that will be available to buy on ParentPay in the run-up to Christmas, but first we need your help! Do you decorate the outside of your house with lights over the winter break? Would you be willing for us to add your house to our Festive Light Trail map? If you can help, please drop us an email with your address at pfa@marlow-infant.bucks.sch.uk 

Mufti day & donations please – Friday 24^th November

A reminder that your child can come to school in mufti next Friday (November 24th). If you are able, we would love donations of mince pies (nut free) and/or gifts suitable for the Christmas tombola or Big Sing raffle (e.g. bottles, smellies, other gifts) to help towards our various Christmas events – thank you! 

Christmas Wreath Making – last chance for tickets!

Tickets for our annual Christmas wreath making evening are selling well, but there are still a few left. We're hoping that you can all join us and craft a beautiful wreath under the guidance of our expert. The cost is £30 per person, which includes all the materials needed to make your beautiful wreath and a few glasses of mulled wine and prosecco. Tickets are available via ParentPay, and you're welcome to bring friends and family from outside school. 

Coming up…

• Christmas disco & Santa visit: Saturday 25^th November
• Wreath Making Workshop: Thursday 30^th November
• Second hand uniform: 1^st December
• Late Night Shopping: Thursday 7^th December
• Christmas Bake Sale and Raffle: Friday 15^th December
• Wycombe Wanders Football event (TBC): Monday 15^th January 2024
• Family Bingo: Saturday 3^rd February 2024

Traditional Late Night Shopping event – children singing carols

A message from: Marlow Chamber of Trade

Children are invited to join us on the 7^th December for a short carol concert at 6pm, for the opening of the event. Please meet at the Marlow FM stage (about 2/3rds up the High Street on the left-hand side) at 5.45pm. We will have a pianist accompanying us.

Please see the words to the carols below.