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Dear parents / carers
I suspect you will have heard the news this week that schools will not be fully open until March 8th at the earliest. I imagine many of you are frustrated with this, but we know it is for the right reasons when we see the numbers of people admitted to hospital and the daily death rates. Please can I remind you that if you can have your children at home, you should, even if you are a critical worker, to help prevent transmission of this awful disease. As a school, we need to keep our numbers to the minimum they possibly can be. Thank you.
Alongside this – thank you for all of the efforts you are putting in with home learning! We continue to see some fantastic work from the children. Below you will see some pictures of fantastic creative work that has been sent to us.
Whole school project: All You Need is Love
We would like everyone to take part in our ‘All you need is love…’ project, whether at home or in school. (Well, it is nearly Valentine’s Day J ) In school we will be making hearts to decorate our windows, and some to display in the entrance, and we would love you to do the same at home. Obviously, they can be pink and red, but they could also be blue, in support of the NHS, or yellow to think of happier times. You could display yours in your windows, or you could send them into school – we will put a collection box in the lobby for them. For those of you at home, once children have made their hearts, please take a photo of them holding it – send it to us, but also send it to loved ones who you haven’t been able to see for a while; your children can choose who they would like to send it to! Please can you drop in /send in any hearts by Wednesday 10th February so that we can display them, & I will share a picture in the newsletter. Thank you for sharing the love with us!
Y6 News
We have confirmation that Y6 SATs will not go ahead this year. At the moment, the local authority are looking at what information primary schools will need to pass on to secondary schools in light of this, and one suggestion is that we all do past SATs papers. It is likely we will do something like this, but later on in Term 5/6 rather than in May.
We have also been told that no residential visits can take place before Easter, and as you know, we changed the date of Camp to the week before Easter. We have now changed it AGAIN! The new date is Monday 12th July to Thursday 15th July. It is only four days as we transferred the April booking over and are unable to book for 5 days. Hopefully by July we will be allowed to stay overnight in places and we can take the Y6 children for an end of year celebration. If we cannot go, you will receive a refund of the costs, and school will make a claim on our insurance.
Y2 News
I am pleased to be able to say that we have appointed Mrs Shearing as a permanent teaching assistant, and that she will be working with Deer class from Term 4. She will continue to work as a one to one teaching assistant in the afternoons in Hedgehog class.
National Tests
Like Y6 SATS, all national testing has been cancelled this year, although we have the option to take part in the Y4 multiplication check. We will continue to assess children, both formally and informally, when we have everyone back in school, so that we can plan the learning that needs to take place.
Five Mile Films is a TV company, who are making a brand-new TV series later this year for a major British channel.
They are looking for people to apply to take part, who are wanting to live a simpler life. The filming will take place this summer in rural Britain.
The idea behind the series is about saying goodbye to smartphones, Zoom calls, social media, Amazon etc – all the distractions and pressures of normal life - to go and live a simpler life, experience the ‘good life’ fantasy and think about what our modern life and its multitude of choices, has really given us. The programme will explore the idea of whether in fact, less is more.
Five Mile Films is looking for people of all ages to apply; families, couples, single people, a broad cross-section of society – to take time out from their normal life and step into a different way of living.
For more information on how to apply, please see the flyer below.
This week's book recommendations come from Hedgehogs and Pine Martens.
Mrs Leach says:
"I would like to recommend the book 'Boogie Bear' by David Walliams. I read this book on our EYFS and Year 1 zoom story time last week and it led to lots of discussion with the Hedgehogs who were in school about all of us being unique and different. In the story, a polar bear finds herself far from home and in a place where the other brown bears don't recognise her as a fellow bear, because her fur is a different colour than they are used to. The book has an important message about acceptance and inclusivity and, being written by David Walliams, it is of course funny and ridiculous in places too! There are some hilarious side notes added in the book which will amuse older readers and it is a beautifully illustrated picture book which will delight readers of all ages."
"Code Name Bananas is a great book involving action, laughs and bananas! It’s set during WWII and is about a gorilla called Gertrude and a boy called Eric. Eric tries to get the gorilla out of the zoo whilst WWII is going on in the background. How will he manage it? I recommend this book to anyone who wants some entertainment during lockdown!"
Congratulations to the following children who have received the "Champion of the Week" certificate for online learning:
Hedgehogs - Gracie, Squirrels - Ruby, Owls - Fatimah, Deer - Eddison, Foxes - Maddison, Bats - Eve, Badgers - Jack, Kingfishers - Riley W, Woodpeckers - Oskar, Otters - Oliver, Pine Martens - Amelie, Falcons - William, Kestrels - Ellena.
Congratulations to the following children who have received "Hot Chocolate Friday" packs:
Hedgehogs - Megan, Squirrels - Willow, Owls - Kallum, Year 2 - Elsie B, Year 3 - Poppy, Year 4 - Lexi-Rose, Year 5 - Elliot, Year 6 - Alexa.