9^th February 2024

I can’t believe how quickly this week has gone! I suppose it is because there has been so much happening in school. Monday we saw some Year 2 children leading our Candlemas Service. It was a very special and reflective service, with a lovely procession and beautiful singing!

Butterfly Class were in the spotlight on Thursday, as they shared their ideas about the school value of Service with the rest of the school, their parents, carers and grandparents. There are only 2 classes left to lead worship this year – Ant and Bee. Please let us know if you wish to attend.

This week has seen the culmination of the half-term’s topics, and there have been so many highlights. The outdoor learning has continued, rain or shine (mostly rain), and both Year 1 and 2 have covered their Design and Technology learning with Little Muddy Me. Year 1's have researched, designed and made dens, and it was wonderful to see them carrying their dens home earlier in the week. The focus for Year 2 has been finding out about aeroplanes and using what they have learned to design and make a model plane. In Reception, they have been learning about self-regulation and the importance of following rules.

The weekend after the half-term break, we will be visiting All Saints church for Sandygate Sunday (25^th February). Please sign up if you are able to join us. It would be good to see a sea of red jumpers there.

Wishing you a restful and enjoyable half-term.

Mrs Reynolds

Trip to Woolley Firs – Reception

We have sent a letter to confirm our first Reception School Trip to Woolley Firs on Tuesday 5^th March. We must have a completed consent via ParentPay for your child to be allowed to take part in this trip. 

We are looking for 12 parent volunteers to accompany us on the trip. We will be out for the entire school day, leaving around 9.15am and returning before the end of the school day. If you would like to volunteer, please click here. Please sign up by Friday 23^rd February. There will be a parents' briefing on Wednesday 28^th February for all volunteers, further details to follow.

School Travel Plan – Whole school

Please help us with our School Travel Plan by completing a short questionnaire here. The aims of the School Travel Plan are:

• Reduce the number of car trips on journeys to and from school to make the school journey safer, healthier and more sustainable.
• Remove the barriers, both perceived and actual, to walking, cycling and using public transport for school journeys.
• Increase the number of pupils, parents and staff choosing to walk or cycle to school.

The School Travel Plan committee

Spring term parent consultations – Whole school

Most parents have now booked their parent consultations. If you haven't yet booked a slot, please do. We are holding these over two evenings, Wednesday 21^st February and Thursday 22^nd February, between 4pm-7pm.

To book, you will need to log onto our school website, then a 'Parents' Evening' button will appear at the very top left of your screen. You will not receive an email confirming your appointment, therefore please remember to write it down or take a screenshot.

Sandygate Sunday – Whole school

On Sunday 25^th February it will be one of our regular 'Sandygate Sundays' at All Saints Church. We will be taking part in their 10.59 service with some children reading prayers, and we will sing one of our worship songs. 

We would love to see as many red jumpers in the congregation as possible to identify them as Sandygate pupils. They should sit with their family during the service and the school staff in church will invite them up at the appropriate times. Please indicate below if you will attend the service. It is likely to finish at 12 noon.

Please let us know if you will attend by clicking here.

Sandygate Singers – Year 1 & 2

We still have space for 7 more KS1 children in our Sandygate Singers club. This club is led by Mrs Mitchell and the children will learn a number of songs throughout the term for 30 minutes during Friday lunchtime.

During our school worship this afternoon, we asked the children if anyone would like to join Sandygate Singers, and quite a few children put up their hand!

If your child would like to join, click here to sign them up.

The Marlow Schools' Eco conference – Whole school

The schools in Marlow have been working together for several years to raise awareness for environmental issues locally and globally. Eco Warriors have visited each others' schools to share ideas and see the progress we are making as a group of schools in the teaching and learning about environmental matters. 

Previously the schools have held a mini Eco conference at Marlow Infants but this year we will be holding a big conference at Great Marlow School which takes place on 14^th March. At the conference there will be representatives from many of Marlow's environmental groups there and Eco warriors from all the local schools have the chance to visit, talk to the groups and take part in activities.

The children in the schools will be choosing one environmental issue that they would like to work on together so that there is one eco vision statement that represents all the schools. In school worship on Wednesday, the children at our school voted to focus on reducing waste and increasing recycling. We will have to see what all the other schools voted for!

Competition time!

The Eco conference are running a competition as well for all children in the participating schools. Children need to choose an aspect of environmental work that they are most interested in (eg. looking after wildlife, improving habitats for pollinators, solar energy, recycling, litter picking...). They then enter the competition by creating any of the following: poster, model, collage, creative writing, fact file. The entry should be returned to Mrs Reynolds at school by 4^th March. All entries must have the child's name and age on them.

Book Week – Whole school

This year between 4^th – 8^th March, we have lots of events planned around World Book Day. Details of these are below:

• All week there will be a Virtual Book Fair for the children and parents to order books
• After school, throughout the week, children will be able to visit the library and exchange their book
• Every day during school worship, a different teacher will share their favourite book with the school
• On World Book Day itself (Thursday 7^th March), we are inviting children to come to school dressed as their favourite book character. The costume does not have to be elaborate or expensive and there are ideas for simple homemade costumes here. We love seeing which books the children are enjoying, and it's a great way to get reading ideas from your friends by looking at their costumes.
• At the end of every day, teachers will go to different classrooms to read the children a book
• We will have a box of recommended books from the teachers in the hall for children to look through
• Sandygate Sponsored Readathon – please see below in the PFA section of the newsletter for more information

Geography: Walk to the River – Year 2

On Wednesday 6^th March, Year 2 will be walking to the river on a geographical field trip. They will be studying human and physical features during their walk from school. This will be a fun, hands-on way of bringing their classroom learning to life.

Thank you to those parents who have volunteered. We are still looking for 5 volunteers to walk with the children down to the river and support their learning along the way. We will leave school at 9.15am and return by 11am. If you are able to help, please sign up here.

Footsteps Training Programme – Year 2

Footsteps is a practical pedestrian training scheme for children up to the age of 7, developed by Buckinghamshire Council. It involves taking children to the roadside and teaching them how to behave around traffic, what to look for, how to find safe places to cross the road and how to cross roads safely with an adult.

We are looking for 2 more Year 2 parents to help with this programme one afternoon for 4 weeks over the summer term.

If you would like to help, please contact the office.

Safer Internet Day – Whole school

On Tuesday 6^th February it iwas Safer Internet Day. This has given us the opportunity to have an even sharper focus on Internet safety. As well as online safety lessons in class, the children have learned about being SMART (Safe, Meet, Accept, Reliable, Tell) in collective worship. You can find out more information about the meaning behind the acronym here.

The theme for Safer Internet Day this year is Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online. Children aged between 3 and 7 are at the beginning of their journey through life with technology. It’s through these formative years that they learn to understand what they can access online, how they can access it and how it can benefit them, so its essential parents take an active interest in their children’s safety online. By starting conversations at a young age, children become accustomed to having them as they grow up. ChildNet has some useful resources for parents and carers. Their toolkit can be found here.

As you may be aware, we use a range of sources to teach children about online safety. National Online Safety provides us with some resources that we use in lessons, and we use the platform for training staff about online safety. They offer parents and carers who have children at Marlow Infants access to free training and updates about staying safe online. This takes the form of webinars and #WakeUpWednesday guides. There is a particularly useful webinar entitled Online Safety for parents & carers of children aged 3-7. You can access it via the web address:

https://nationalcollege.com/enrol/marlow-c-of-e-infant-school

You will need to set up an account first and then search for the webinar. 

Each week the #WakeUpWednesday guides are shared on the National Online Safety Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles. The guides provide expert advice on the latest platforms and online risks that parents and carers need to know about - a brand-new guide every Wednesday.

Science Week – Whole school

We have an exciting week planned for Science Week (26^th February – 1^st March). Our theme for the week is Time.

We have some parents who have very kindly offered to come in and share their science knowledge with us throughout the week.

Also, the Science Ambassadors decided on a name this week for our Science Mascot: Galaxy!

One Can Trust donations – Whole school

We are still looking for someone to drop 2 boxes off for us to One Can Trust in High Wycombe. If you are able to help, please contact the office.

Class-led worship – Whole school

We will be holding the last two class-led worships over the next month. Each class will be basing their worship on their class value, and we would like to invite parents/carers to join in with the worship. Each class worship will be from 9am-9.30am. We are limiting 2 tickets per family. To book your tickets, please complete the Google form here.

• Ant Class: Kindness – Thursday 29^th February
• Bee Class: Thankfulness – Thursday 14^th March

Bingo

We hope all who joined us for Bingo on Saturday had a great time; it was a brilliant afternoon and raised around £750 for school! A huge thank you and well done to Jenni and John McGill who did an incredible job organising and running the event with the help of Mandy Rooney and Leila Choleva. Jenni was a fabulous bingo caller and arranged some wonderful prizes.

Donut Day

Thank you to Nisha and Fabien Guilmineau, who organised the end of term donuts today, and their wonderful volunteers, Claire Miller, Katie Fallows, Anouk Seed and Claire Fitzgeorge. What better way to raise money for school than with a tasty treat to celebrate half-term!

Readathon

Readathon forms came home in your child's book bags today. Take up the challenge and see how many pages or books you can read. Please collect money by 29^th February and pay via ParentPay or hand cash into the school office in a sealed envelope marked ‘Readathon’. Please hand all completed Sponsorship Forms to the School Office. All participants will receive a certificate and a small gift to congratulate them for taking part. Happy reading!

 Wine & Cheese Tasting Night 

Don't forget to book your tickets for the Cheese & Wine tasting evening on Saturday 16^th March at 8pm in the school hall. Tickets are £25pp and non-school family/friends are welcome to join (adults only). Try a selection of 8 wines (sparkling, white, red & dessert) and learn how to pair your drink with cheese (& chocolate); the perfect way to spend a Saturday evening!

Golf Day – CHANGE OF VENUE 

There has been a change to the planned course for the Golf Society Charity Day on Friday 26^th April. Golfers will now enjoy a round at Winter Hill Golf Club. To enquire or enter, please contact Patrick Tomnie patricktomnie@gmail.com, 07976 761616.  

Sandygate PFA would like to thank you all for your continued support this half-term. We hope you have a fun-packed and restful break.

Dates for your diary

• School Disco: Saturday 2^nd March 2pm and 4pm – tickets will go on sale next week
• Bag2School: Tuesday 5^th March
• Wine & Cheese Tasting evening: Saturday 16^th March
• Golf Day: Friday 26^th April
• May Fayre: Saturday 11^th May
• Summer Parents Ball: Saturday 22^nd June
• School Camp Night: Saturday & Sunday 13-14^th July