Dear Parents and Carers,
Our first full week back in school has been a busy one, and it has been lovely to see the children, across the year groups, engage with their learning opportunities.
Car Park Etiquette
I would respectfully like to remind everyone to drive carefully in and out of the car park, and try to keep to the 15.15 – 15.30 no movement of cars in the car park to ensure the safety of pupils and other adults.
Parent Forum
I would like to draw your attention to two parent forum dates added to the list of dates below.
Thursday 19th January at 14.50
Tuesday 28th February at 14.50
Inset date change
To facilitate Oak Class residential trip, our Summer Term Inset day will need to change to 21st July instead of 26th June. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
PTFA
The PTFA met at the beginning of the week and have kindly offered financial support to each year group to be put towards travel costs for up and coming visits – our thanks to members of the PTFA past and present who have been involved in fundraising to facilitate this support.
The next PTFA meeting will be on Monday 6th February at 14.40 in the library. Minutes of the meeting are being proof read and will be disseminated as soon as possible to one and all.
Up and coming parent information afternoons
Tuesday 17th January – 15.30 – Phonics meeting for Hazel and Beech Class parents.
Thursday 19th January – 15.20 – Oak class residential trip meeting.
Nits
Please could all parents check their children’s hair for nits, as there are a number of cases across the school, and it is only with continuous vigilance and by daily nit combing (if nits are found), that these critters are kept at bay!
Class News
Oak Class
This week, Oak have been filming their mini-documentaries and they really enjoyed thinking about how they can edit their work to improve it, because it is surprisingly challenging to say your script well once the camera starts rolling! We have also been comparing the South American and North American continents. Next week we are looking forward to starting our chemistry topic – properties and changes of materials.
Chestnut Class
Children have been looking at explanation texts in English and identifying their features, with pupils doing well to use these features to explain the water cycle. In Maths Year 3s have been looking at multiplying two-digit numbers, whilst Year 4 children have been multiplying and dividing powers of 10. In science the children investigated different materials to see which was the best reflector.
Next week pupils will continue their learning about the Ancient Egyptians in preparation for their up and coming trip.
Beech Class
Year 2 pupils have been learning about 3D shapes, including identifying and counting vertices, while Year 1 children have been learning about two-digit numbers in Maths. During English children have been looking at characterisation and the use of adjectives when writing descriptions. Animals adaptations has been the focus in Science lessons, new beginnings in PSHE and in Art the pupils have been introduced to the early work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo and how stained-glass windows are produced.
Hazel Class
We started off this week getting ready for the arrival of 10 dogs to our (pretend) Animal Shelter, we organised beds, blankets, food and toys for the new arrivals. Unfortunately, there was great disappointment when the children realised that we weren’t allowed dogs in school! We then painted dogs to take the place of the pretend dogs. We have started work on our focus artist this week, Yves Klein, with the children making their own colour. The children have been learning about the life cycles of animals such as a chicken, frog and butterfly; and investigating where minibeasts live.
Diary dates for the forthcoming week and beyond
| 17th Jan | 15.20 | Phonics meeting for Hazel and Beech Class parents |
| 19th Jan | 14.50 | Parent Forum in the library |
| 19th Jan
|
15.20 | Oak class residential trip meeting |
| 6th Feb
|
14.40 | PTFA meeting |
| 9th Feb | Heights and Weights for Year 6
|
|
| 10th Feb
|
15.20 | Half term starts |
| 20th Feb
|
08.40 | Second half term starts |
| 22nd Feb
|
London Theatre Trip for Year 6 pupils | |
| 28th Feb | 14.50 | Parent Forum in the library |
| 2nd Mar | World Book Day – dress up as a character from a book. | |
| 13th Mar
|
INSET Day | |
| 27th Mar
|
Parent Meetings 5 – 7pm | |
| 28th Mar
|
Parent Meetings 3.30 – 5.50pm | |
| 31st Mar | 15.20 | End of Term |
| 21st July | INSET DAY |
Best wishes,
Mrs B