8^th March 2024

There has been such a lot going on in school this week and there have been so many highlights.

Yesterday, for example, the amazing array of costumes that the children wore for World Book Day definitely made an impression, especially when I saw the children walking through the school gates and into the hall for school worship in the morning. We are really thankful for the extent to which families enter into the spirit of the day - it made a huge contribution to its success.

The many wonderful comments that the staff and I have received from parents and carers about the OFSTED report that was released earlier this week are greatly appreciated. It is pleasing to see the hard work and dedication of the team acknowledged so positively in the report.

Looking ahead to next week, there is great excitement in Year 1 as Aris Daryono will be visiting the school again. Aris is an Indonesian musician from the island of Java who will be starting his work with the Year 1 children on Tuesday. Aris will be sharing his culture and music with the children over the next 7 days and this will be a truly memorable experience for them.

Mrs Reynolds

Meat-free Monday

Eco warrior Noah wants everyone to know:

'A good way to help the environment is by eating less animals. It would be really good if more people had no meat on Mondays, like in their lunch boxes or choosing pizza.'

Fairtrade Fortnight

The RRS Ambassadors led school worship on Wednesday to tell the school about Fairtrade.

They presented the information confidently and clearly and the whole school were encouraged and inspired to buy Fairtrade products so that they could help to make a difference to Fairtrade farmers and their families.

Next Week's 'Learning at a Glance'

Walk to All Saints Church – Year 2

As part of our RE learning this term, we are visiting All Saints Church on Tuesday 19^th March. We still need 6 more 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.

A Celebration of Javanese Culture – Year 1

On Thursday 21^st 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.

We will be selling tickets for £1 each next Friday morning at the gate.

Wear blue for World Water Day – Whole school

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 it 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 to school on the day or paid for through JustGiving. The school councillors will be collecting the donations or the link to the World Water Day JustGiving page is here.

Planned Eco visits – Eco Warriors & Tidy Up Team

We have some exciting local visits planned for this month. Our Eco Warriors and Tidy Up Team will be involved over the following dates:

• Thursday 14^th March: Great Marlow School Eco Conference (All Eco Warriors)
• Tuesday 19^th March: Burford School Eco visit (Year 2 Eco Warriors)
• Tuesday 26^th March: Litter picking at Seymour Park for the Great Big School Clean with some Marlow Wombles (Tidy Up Team)

Great Big School Clean – Whole school

On Tuesday 26^th March, our Tidy Up Team will be litter picking outside Seymour Park Recreation ground with some of the Marlow Wombles. Other schools in the town will be litter picking in 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 the 26^th March.

We would also like to lend our litter pickers to families to use over the Easter break. A limited number of pickers will be available to take home at the end of the day on Tuesday 26^th March. Please collect these from the office.

Easter Service – Whole school

On Tuesday 26^th March from 9.45am-10.15, 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 school at 9.15am and return by 10.45am. If you can help, please let us know here.

Hot Cross Buns

The children will receive a hot cross bun to take home with them on Tuesday 26^th March. We would like a couple of parents to help bag these up for us, either in the morning around 11am or in the afternoon around 2pm. If you are able to help, please let the office know.

Easter Competitions – Whole school

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.

Tissues – Whole school

It's this time of the year when we go through a lot of tissues in school, and we would be most grateful for donations of tissue boxes from parents please. Thank you in advance.

Class-led worship

We will be holding the last class-led worships next Thursday. To book your tickets, please complete the Google form here.

• Bee Class: Thankfulness – Thursday 14^th March

Readathon

Amazing work to all the Sandygate readers who raised over £800. Thank you to all who took part, especially to Nisha Guilmineau who did a fabulous job organising it. The children that took part in the Readathon received their certificate and gift today as part of Book Week.

School disco

Thank you to everyone who made the spring disco on Saturday such a roaring success. We are so grateful to all of you who gave up your time. We hope all the children had lots of fun!

Fundraising update

After our update last week on the schools' wish list for the year, we thought you might like an update on how far we have got with the fundraising efforts. We are thrilled to report that we are just about halfway there!

Thank you to all the parents and carers who have stepped up and given up their time to help run events, and to everyone who has bought a ticket, or calendar or doughnut.

There are plenty more opportunities to raise money and get involved before the school year is out. If you think that you would like to get involved in fundraising, please get in touch with your class rep.

Easter Trail is getting a makeover

And finally, a quick heads up...the Easter trail will be revamped for 2024! The new trail will take treasure hunters around Marlow, and will be great fun for all ages.

Dates for your diary

• Wine & Cheese Tasting evening: Saturday 16^th March
• Second Hand Uniform: Friday 22^nd 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

First Soccer

To book your child into next term's lunchtime football club or their Easter Camp, please click here: https://firstsoccer.classforkids.io/