15th October 2021

The Year 1 children have enjoyed welcoming visitors in school this week and it has been so refreshing to be able to see this happening.

The last week of half term is shaping up to be very busy with lots of exciting things happening for the children as they complete the half term's topic.  

In response to some parents' feedback in the parent survey last year, for Key Stage 1 parents we have booked 2 dates for curriculum information evenings which will be held in school and aim to support parents to understand the expectations of the curriculum as well  giving advice on how to support their children at home. There is information below on how to sign up for these sessions. 

Mrs Reynolds

Year 1 Superheroes

We had visits from two real life 'heroes' this week. Thank you to Constable Gardener and Dr McCormack for coming in to talk to us about their jobs. 

Parent Consultations

Tuesday 19th & Wednesday 21st October

Parent Consultations next week will take place in your child's classroom except those for Reception classes which will take place in the Year 1 classrooms. Access to the school will be via the side gate next to Teatimers, past Butterfly classroom through the undercover outside area and in via the red door on the left between Butterfly and Dragonfly classroom. 

The classrooms where Parent Consultations are taking place will be indicated for each class and there will be chairs in the central area for you to wait until the teacher calls you in for your appointment. 

Please remember that children should not be brought with you to the Parent Consultations. Appointments are only 10 minutes and we would ask that you try not to overrun as teachers are fully booked during the evenings.  

Year 1 Superhero Day

Friday 22nd October

On Friday, to mark the end of their Superhero topic, Year 1 are having a Superhero Day. The Year 1 staff would like the children to come to school dressed as a 'real life superhero' thinking about the heroes they have been learning about this term eg Florence Nightingale and Captain Tom Moore. 

We would encourage the children to think about their real life heroes be they doctors, nurses, police officers or firefighters. 

Year 1 Walk to the Woods

Tuesday 19th October

On Tuesday afternoon the children in Year 1 will be walking to Hunts Woods to look for signs of the changing seasons. Please ensure that your child has footwear suitable for walking to and in the woods and a warm waterproof coat as necessary on the day. 

Year 2 Leadership Day 

Tuesday 19th October

Next Tuesday we will be holding a Leadership Day after which we will ask the children to apply for the position of Playground Leader.  if they wish to. During the Leadership day we have an outside expert coming in to run some team building games on the field and we will spend time discussing what it takes to be a good leader, how to work as a team and the meaning of some of our school values such as respect and kindness. 

On the day children can wear warm active clothing and will need trainers or sturdy shoes. 

Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal

As always, our school will be supporting the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal by selling poppies & other merchandise in school. These will be available in school from next week. If your child wishes to have a poppy or any of the other items please send them in to school with the donation and they will have the opportunity to purchase during the school day. 

Traditional paper poppies are for any donation, other items have a suggested minimum donation as shown below. We do not know how many of each of these items we will receive so not all may be available for your child to purchase.

Year 2 Remembrance Day Visit to All Saints & War Memorial

On Tuesday 9th November Year 2 will be walking down to All Saints Church. They will visit the war memorial on The Causeway and then spend time in the church looking at the memorials there and doing some activities around Remembrance Day. 

We will need some parents to walk with us and so, if you are able to help on the morning of Tuesday 9th November please sign up here

Year 1 Curriculum Information Evening Weds 17th November

Year 2 Curriculum Information Evening Weds 24th November

We are holding Curriculum Information Evenings for Year 1 and Year 2 parents next half term. The aim of these evenings is to give parents information on the curriculum expectations for their child's year group and also to help you in supporting your child's learning at home. 

We would love to see as many of you at these Information Evenings as possible but in order to prepare resources we do ask that you sign up before the date. To sign up please click here

Queen's Jubilee Bank Holiday change to term dates 

To mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year, the Spring Bank Holiday in 2022 will be moved to Thursday 2 June and an additional bank holiday on Friday 3 June will see a four-day weekend to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.  These days fall in the Summer half term and the DfE would like to ensure all school staff have an extra day of celebration too.

In order to accommodate this the DfE have reduced the number of school days in the academic year of 2021-22.  Buckinghamshire Council have advised all schools that this extra day will be taken on Thursday 21^st July, ending the Summer term a day early.  By doing this we believe there will be less disruption to schools, children, parents and transport.

The term dates that our school had already set had an Inset Day on Thursday 21st July and so this will now be moved to Wednesday 20th July and so the last day of the summer term will be Tuesday 19th July 2022. 

Reception & Year 1 After School Playball Club 

After the half term, Playball will be starting an after school club on Wednesday afternoons for children in Reception and Year 1. The club will run from 3.15 pm to 4 pm in the school hall.

Full details and booking instructions are in the attached letter here

Recycle to Read scheme

We have joined a 'Recycle to Read' scheme whereby we can collect broken hard plastic toys and working tech items and collect points for these which can be exchanged for books for school.

From next week there will be a toy recycling box in the barn so please drop in any broken hard plastic toys - they will not accept plushies,  clothing/accessories, blow-up plastic, electronic toys (eg anything that is powered) or bag or boxes. The tech collection box will be in the main entrance to school and can be used to recycle working phones, cameras, smart watches, tablets, wireless speakers etc they will accept these with or without leads and will take cracked screens. They do not take leads without a device, broken items and batteries should be removed unless they are part of the device eg mobile phone battery.  

Data Sheets

Thank you to everyone who has returned their Data Collection sheet. There are a few still outstanding so we would be grateful if you could return this before the end of next week if you have not already done so.

Sickness and Absence

As we move through the Autumn term there will inevitably be children absent with colds and other illnesses so we thought we would just remind everyone of the procedures.

If your child is going to be absent from school because of illness please call the school office by 10am on the first morning of their absence. You can leave a message on the dedicated answer phone and we will pick these up or you can email the school office. If your child is absent for more than two days we would appreciate if you could keep in touch to let us know how they are and when they are likely to return to school. 

If your child has sickness or diarrhoea then they must remain away from school for at least 48 hours from their last episode. 

When you inform us of your child's absence we would be grateful if you could confirm that they do not have any COVID symptoms. 

If your child does have any of the COVID symptoms listed below then you must arrange for them to have a PCR test before they return to school. A lateral flow test is not suitable if your child has symptoms. 

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

Finally, if your child is absent for any reason and you have booked a school lunch for them we would ask that you either cancel this or let us know that they have lunch booked so that we can cancel it. Any meals ordered but not cancelled result not only in a waste of food but in the school being charged for them. 

Beef Gelatine in Dolce jelly

As previously mentioned in the Newsletter, due to supply issues Dolce are unable to source their usual vegetarian jelly. The jelly they are serving in school contains beef gelatine. If there is any reason why your child should not be served jelly containing beef gelatine please let us know so that we can let the Dolce servers know. 

The countdown to half-term is on, but we are certainly not resting the fund-raising efforts and we have lots of events scheduled over the next few weeks.

PFA Calendars

The PFA calendars are available to order for a further 7 days via ParentPay.  Once orders close we sadly will not be able to offer anything additionally as they are then designed and printed ready for Christmas. 

Donut Day Friday 22nd October

Donut day is taking place at pickup on Friday 22nd October.  Donuts will be available for purchase, suggested donation 50p, at the school gate from 3pm.  Please remember your change.

Pre-loved Uniform Sale Friday 22nd October

There will also be a sale of Pre-loved uniform at pickup on Friday 22nd October.

Bingo Night Saturday 20th November

Following the success of the Circus we wanted to hold another family event where we can come together as a school and take part in a fun afternoon.  Family Bingo is taking place on 20th November at 3pm.  Old fashioned family fun, with a dabber and paper bingo board.  What can go wrong! Pizza will be served at half time and needs to be ordered in advance.  Tickets are limited for the event so if you want to give it a go, book a space. Tickets & Pizza can all be ordered on Parentpay from today.

Save the Date: School Disco 4th December

This will be a drop off event where the children will get a visit from Santa and receive a festive gift.  Bookings will open later in the term. Keep an eye out for more details.