1^st March 2024

There has been such enthusiasm and excitement in school this week. The children have been truly inspired by the vast range of science activities and visitors. You can see more details in the news story below. Mrs Browning has done a sterling job organising and coordinating the week, and I would like to thank her and all the visitors that have been in to help and make the week such a success.

Ant Class worship yesterday was wonderful. I thought the children were so brave, standing up in front of the whole school to deliver their lines and share their thoughts about the value of kindness. Thank you to Mrs Madziwa and the Ant class team for preparing the children so well.

Last Sunday was Sandygate Sunday at All Saints. Our children sang beautifully and did the school proud. Thanks to all those who came along to represent the school and to Mrs Downing for leading the children and getting them ready for the day.

Mrs Reynolds

The Marlow Schools' Eco conference – Whole school

Competition time – LAST CHANCE

We would like to remind you about the competition the Eco conference are running. 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 8^th March. All entries must have the child's name and age on them.

Parent Helpers – Year 2

As part of our RE learning this term, we are visiting All Saints Church on Wednesday 19^th March. This is covered by the walks to the local area consent that you completed when your child started school, but we will need some parents to walk down with us please. We will be leaving school straight after registration and aim to return to school by 12. If you are able to help, please sign up here.

Parent Helpers – Year 1

Year 1 need some helpers for a couple of things this half term!

Javanese food

On Thursday 21^st March we still need 2 more parents in the morning to help us to prepare some Javanese food for a Java performance in the afternoon. The children will also help to prepare this. Please let the office know if you are able to help.

Rookery Court

On Wednesday 27^th March Year 1 will be walking to Rookery Court as part of their Science learning, and we still need 10 more parents to help us with this. If you are able to help, please sign up here. We will leave school at 9.30am and return by 11.15am.

School Travel Plan – Whole school

Thank you to those who have already completed the questionnaire for us. We still need a few more, so please help us with our School Travel Plan by completing the 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

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 1 more Year 2 parent to help with this programme one afternoon for 4 weeks over the summer term.

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

Book Week – Whole school

This year, we have lots of events planned around World Book Day. Details of these are below:

From 9am Monday 4^th – midnight Sunday 10^th March there will be a Virtual Book Fair. Please read below for instructions on how to support our school.

1. Virtual Book Fair link: Gobbledybooks.co.uk
2. All books are only £2.50 each, whatever the RRP. There are gift books, board books, touch and feel, flap books, picture books and many more to choose from.
3. Parents will be supporting the school with every purchase – for every 5 books bought, 1 extra free book will be donated to the school.
4. The code to enter at the checkout stage to get the free postage for your order is Marlow not case-sensitive. The code will not work until the fair begins and will stop working after the fair ends.
5. After selecting your books, enter the child's name, parent's name and school address in the postal address along with your code. Your books will be hand wrapped and delivered to the school with the child’s name on them to be handed out by staff.
6. Parents can look at school information on the website if they have any further questions.

World Book Day

On 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 home-made 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.

• As Thursday is Year 2's Outdoor Learning day, please consider what your child chooses to dress up as.

Library visit

After school, throughout the week, children will be able to visit the library and exchange their book.

Favourite books

Every day during school worship, a different teacher will share their favourite book with the school.

Story time

At the end Friday, teachers will go to different classrooms to read the children a book.

Book recommendations

We will have a box of recommended books from the teachers in the hall for children to look through.

World Water Day – 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 Friday 22^nd 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 their school uniform. We kindly ask for no football kits to be worn.

In return, we are asking for a donation of  £1 which should either be brought into school on the day or paid through JustGiving. The school councillors will be collecting the donations or the link to the World Water Day JustGiving page is here.

Easter Competitions

We would like the children to bring their entries in to school on Friday 22^nd March so that we can judge them on Monday 25^th March. Please don't bring them in before this date as we don't have enough space to store them.

We are planning to have an Easter Hat parade on Monday 25^th March at which the Year 2 children can show off their Easter Hat's to the rest of the school.

The details for the competition for each year group's are shown below.

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

Stay & Play – Reception

The Reception team would like to invite parents/carers to school on Wednesday 27^th March between 2.30pm – 3pm for a Stay & Play session. This session will give you a chance to see what your child is learning and to get involved within your child's learning environment, as well as meet other parents and chat informally to the teaching staff. There will also be a cake sale at the end of the session.

If you would like to come, please click here.

Parent/carer regular helpers – Whole school

Mums, dads, carers and grandparents are all very welcome in school as helpers. We already have volunteers working on a variety of activities including listening to children read, mounting and displaying work and helping with sewing and craft activities – the possibilities are endless. The school operates a policy whereby parents need to attend a short training session before helping out in class. This training will be held in the school hall on Thursday 14^th March, 2.15pm-3pm.

If you are interested in becoming a regular helper, please click here to read the Confidentiality Policy and here to read the Child Protection Policy. Then click here to complete the form.

Class-led worship – Whole school

We will be holding the last class-led worships on Thursday 14^th March. To book your tickets, please complete the Google form here.

• Bee Class: Thankfulness – Thursday 14^th March

School Disco

Bag2School

Spring has officially sprung, even though the weather may not agree, which is the perfect excuse for a spring clear out. Bag2School will be collecting your unwanted clothing, shoes and accessories next week. The weather should be dry, so items can be left outside of school on Tuesday morning at drop off. For a full list of what Bag2School can collect, please visit their website https://bag2school.com/

 Wine & Cheese Tasting Night

We are hoping that a few more of you can join us for the Wine & Cheese Night on Saturday the 16^th of March. It's a great way to support the PFA and the school and will be lots of fun. Tickets, costing £25pp will be available on ParentPay until Monday.

Golf Day

There are only a couple of spaces left for Golf Day on 26^th April. To enquire or enter, please contact Patrick Tomnie patricktomnie@gmail.com, 07976 761616.  

Dates for your diary

• School Disco: Saturday 2^nd March 2pm & 4pm
• 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
• Parents Summer Ball: Saturday 22^nd June
• School Camp Night: Saturday & Sunday 13-14^th July