24^th November 2023

Can you believe Christmas is now one month tomorrow? I am not sure where the time has gone to this half-term. There is so much going on and so much to do before Christmas! Next week we will be planning our Advent Service with some Year 2 Worship Leaders, and we will be talking about how Advent is a busy time and sometimes people forget the real reason why we have Christmas. The worship leaders will be sharing this message in the service through a little role-play to music. Do come along to the service if you can - it is a lovely way to start the Christmas season.

To continue with the Christmas theme, we are all excited about the school Christmas Disco which is taking place tomorrow. The PFA will also use the Eco-Barn to serve mince pies and drinks to parents while children are in the hall dancing. I would like to thank the PFA for all their hard work in organising this special Christmas event for the children.

Our Safety Day on Tuesday offered children lots of opportunities to learn new skills and ways to keep themselves and others safe. Their interactive First Aid session with Mrs Burns was really popular, as were the bike sessions for the Key Stage 1 classes delivered by the team from Saddle Safari. The children also enjoyed their Scootability day. You can see below some of the things that they learned.

Mrs Reynolds

A message from the Eco Warriors...

The school has been collecting old plastic biros, fibre tips, gel pens and other writing instruments for a couple of years now. Once a year, we bag them up and give them to Medic to Medic. The aim of Medic to Medic is to guarantee the tuition fees for healthcare students who have academic potential, but are in financial need in Africa. Their recycling programmes add environmental and financial sustainability to their organisation.

Once the pens have been received for recycling, they are cleaned and separated into different materials, then the plastic is melted down and used to make new products. We handed over 20kg of old pens, they do not need to go to landfill!

Next Week's 'Learning at a Glance'

Walk-to-School Week – Whole school

What a fun and exciting week we have had for Walk-to-School Week, Road Safety Week and Safety Day. We welcomed several visitors and even managed to get some of our bikes checked. Thank you Mr Slyfield and the team at Saddle Safari. Also, we can all feel a bit safer after receiving some First Aid advice from Mrs Burns.

The class that won this term's Walk-to-School trophy for most improved 'active journeys' is Grasshopper class, well done!

As a whole school, we managed to make 56 more 'active journeys' than the previous week.

Today some children will be coming home with a flapjack treat for their more environmentally friendly way of travelling to school this week. Next Tuesday, we will be handing out badges to the children who walked, cycled or scooted to school at least 5 times this month.

Lost property – Whole school

From Monday morning, lost property items will be laid out on a table inside our Eco-Barn, every day next week. This will allow parents to have a look through unnamed items that have made their way into our lost property tub so far this term. After Friday, any items unclaimed will be donated to charity.

It is really important that all items that come into school are clearly named. All named items will be returned to their owners as soon as possible.

Singing to the community – Reception

On Monday 11^th December, we will be taking our Reception children to Liston Hall to sing to the U3A community group to help them with their festive celebrations. We have supported this event for many years and are excited about taking our Reception children to sing. This will be the first time we have taken 4 and 5-year-olds, and we are proud to be able to do so.

U3A is an organisation which supports older people and those no longer working full-time in our community, with activities to support further learning or personal development. Formed in 2006, it now has over 700 members and group activities such as engineering technology and transport, music appreciation day trips and walking groups, to name just a few.

As with all of these visits to the local area, we will require additional help from parents to ensure the safety of the children on the walk down. If you can help on Monday 11th December between 1.30pm and 3pm we would love to hear from you. Please complete the form here.

Science Week 2024 – Whole school

Are you a Scientist? Do you have a spare hour or two between 26^th February – 1^st March? We would love to hear from you!

At Marlow Infants, we will be hosting Science Week 2024 so that the children can experience an intense, fun-filled week of hands-on Science. They will be taking part in investigations, hearing from Scientists, such as yourself, about how Science is used in the world and generally having lots of fun honing their scientific skills.

In the past, we have had Engineers showing us how Hydrogen cars work, Geologists sharing slides of volcanic rock formations as seen from a hot air balloon, Botanists helping children to plant seeds and classify plants, Medics demonstrating how to attend to broken limbs and how germs are transmitted, the list goes on...

Children love seeing their parents talking about what they are passionate about and Science Week gives them a great opportunity to become enthused about Science at school. If you can offer any support for Science Week, please complete the form here.

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 still require a couple more volunteers per class to walk with the children. Thank you to those parents who have volunteered already.

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

Christmas – Whole school

Christmas lunch – extended deadline

Dolce have extended the deadline for Christmas lunch orders until Monday 4^th December. This will, however, be the final date, and we will be unable to take any further orders after this cut off. If you don't order a Christmas lunch through SchoolGrid for Monday 18^th December, you will need to send in a packed lunch for your child.

Christmas nativity

Thank you for booking to see your child's nativity performance. Every family should now have received an invitation to the performance they selected. We were pleased to be able to offer every family their first preference.

Christmas nativity costume

Costumes have already been coming in, which is lovely to see. If you have not yet brought yours in, 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 available to purchase on ParentPay.

Christmas Jumper Day 2023

On Friday 15^th 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.

Reading for pleasure – Whole school

This week's recommendation comes from Grasshopper class. Beth said 'I love the book 'Queen Elizabeth' because it teaches us about Queen Elizabeth and her life. My favourite part is when she made her wedding dress and how she became Queen when she was 27 years old'.

Isabelle likes the book 'Time to Share' because 'the characters are really good and very kind. Also, the book teaches us about the values of sharing and friendship'.

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.

Thank you to the families who have donated books already. These have been labelled and are being used throughout the school already!

Its Disco Time!

We are super excited to be seeing so many of your children tomorrow. You should all have had emails with details of the day. Please don’t forget a named water bottle and if your child finds discos a little loud, please consider sending them with ear defenders or some festive ear muffs. As a special festive treat, Father Christmas will be popping in with snacks and a story and leaving behind a small Christmas gift. To all the wonderful parents, grandparents and carers who have volunteered to come along and help, thank you so much, we couldn’t do this without you. It’s going to be a blast!

While the Kids Party

Don’t forget that the Eco-Barn will be transformed into a festive hideaway. Please stop by for a drink and chat while the kids boogie their hearts out. If the thought of a mince pie and a glass of wine isn’t enough, you can try your luck on the tombola and get a sneaky peak at some of the amazing prizes we will be raffling for school.

Christmas Raffle & Silent Auction

Your child will be bringing home raffle tickets in their book bags today as part of our Christmas fundraising efforts. They are £1 per ticket and can be sold to anyone: family, friends, grandparents, neighbours; just remember to pop their contact details on all the stubs. Please return the stubs with your payment, in the envelope provided, to the PFA Post box by drop off on Friday 15th December. The post box can be found just inside the main entrance to school, on the left-hand side of the office. We have some incredible prizes this year, including cinema tickets, vouchers, perfume, hampers and Harry Potter goodies. The raffle will be drawn on Friday, 15^th December at our after-school bake sale.

Spectacular Silent Auction

Our Spectacular Silent Auction will launch on 1^st December.  We have some truly incredible lots this year, including a beautiful gold pearl necklace, 4 tickets to Elf The Musical (with backstage passes!), a Jabra Headset, haircuts, photoshoots, beauty treatments…you are guaranteed to find something to bid on. The auction closes on December 8^th so it is the perfect opportunity to try some truly unique Christmas gifts.

Thank you to everyone who has donated their services and prizes, and to the McMillans and Zara McCarthy have done such an amazing organisational job; your support is invaluable and all the money raised will go towards enhancing the school and providing enriching experiences for the Sandygate children.

Coming up…

• 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