Dear Parents and Carers,
Well done all, we’ve nearly made it to half term! I hope everyone enjoys a fun filled, yet restful week, when it arrives.
NEWS
THIS WEEK
Scarf
The children’s charity Coram Life Education visited our school on Thursday with their Mental Wellbeing-focused workshops. These workshops aimed to provide children with the skills and positive mental attitudes they need in order to be resilient, bounce back from setbacks and develop strong, positive mental health habits. All classes were involved and thoroughly enjoyed their workshops.
Disco
My thanks to The Friends of Stower Provost who ran a disco yesterday after school, and to teaching staff for their involvement and support with the event. Much fun was had by all. If you are yet to pay for your child’s attendance do please either use the attached QR code to make payment (£2) or drop the money into the school office.
WEEK AFTER HALF TERM
Big Bap Friday – 7th November
Yes it’s back, as the first Friday of the month. Please order your sausage, bacon or sausage & bacon rolls through the office. Sausage or bacon rolls £1.50 each, sausage & bacon rolls £2.50. Orders by 15.30 on Wednesday 5th November please.
| Sausage in a roll | £1.50 |
| Bacon in a roll | £1.50 |
| Sausage and bacon in a roll | £2.50 |
CLUBS
Lego Club
The last challenge of this half term was to build the Great Pyramids of Egypt, our winner was Brett who built an emerald pyramid.
Gardening Club
Gardening club will be run for three weeks on Wednesdays after half term i.e. until 19th Nov. There are extremely limited places in the club, which will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please sign up with Mrs Pike if your child is interested.
Other Clubs
| Clubs | Day & Time | Year Group | Led by | Cost |
| Lego Club | Mon 15.30 – 16.30
|
Year 1 – 6 | Miss Buxton | Cost per half term
(see site on booking) |
| Football Club | Tues 15.30 – 16.30
|
Chestnut and Oak
KS2 children |
Prime Sports | Free – school supported |
| Maths Club | Weds 15.30 – 16.30
|
Oak Class | Mrs B | Free! |
| Gardening Club | Weds 15.30 – 16.30
|
All | Mrs Berwick | £10 for the 4 weeks |
| Multi Sports Club | Fri 15.30 – 16.30
|
Chestnut and Oak
KS2 children |
Prime Sports | Free – school supported |
Should you require further information or clarification regarding any of the clubs above, do please contact Mrs Pike in the school office.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
FRIENDS/PTFA MEETING
The next Friends of Stower Provost Meeting will be held on Tuesday 4th November at 19.30, with the venue to be confirmed.
Please find attached the first Friends/PTFA newsletter. Within the newsletter it mentions about the possibility to purchase Christmas cards. We have been very fortunate for our neighbour, Tim to be willing to share the copyright to his latest Christmas card design featuring the school. To express your interest in purchasing these cards, do please let the school office know. Prices and ordering information to follow soon.
EARLY FUNDRAISER
With Christmas, dare I say it, fast approaching it is an ideal time to download the Easy Fundraising app on your phone, and raise funds for the school without having to do anything, other than going through the app to make online purchases.
Remember businesses can use our Easy Fundraiser page too. Larger items like insurance and travel can also be purchased through the Easy Fundraiser page.
You can raise even more money by asking others to join the merry throng – use the QR code!
How it works: Easyfundraising partners have over 7,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. It won’t cost you any extra. The cost is covered by the brand.
So why not get organised and make those Christmas purchases online through the Easy Fundraising app!
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/panel/
AN INTRODUCTION TO AUTISM
Please find attached a flyer for a Free ‘An Introduction to Autism’ session, which all parents/carers are invited to. You do not have to have a child with autism or an autism diagnosis to attend.
The session will take place at:
The Vale Family Hub 22B Butts Pond, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 1AZ Friday the 14th of November 2025 – 9:45am until 11:15am
To book a place, please scan QR code.
PINS COFFEE MORNING – OPEN TO ALL
We now have a date for the PINS (Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools) coffee morning and workshop. The new date will be 25th November at 9am in the school hall. There will a workshop lasting 1½ hours, followed by tea/coffee and cake.
The workshop on the day will be led by Anna Willis, Director of Active Play Therapies (Occupational therapist and Advanced SI practitioner).
The tea/coffee and cake session will be led by Rowan from The Parent/Carer Council, who will welcome your views and questions.
The school nursing team will also be available between 11.00 -12.00 on the morning, should you wish to make an appointment with them. Please see the attached poster linked to this, with the booking of appointments going through the school office.
CHILDREN IN NEED
To support this year’s Children in Need 2025 on Friday 14 November, the children are invited to adorn their school uniform with Pudsey items. For example, Pudsey t-shirt with school trousers or skirt. A voluntary donation of £1 would be appreciated, and this will be passed onto Children in Need.
CLASS NEWS
OAK
This week has been a refreshing peek into the world of a myriad of number types. Composite numbers, square numbers, cube numbers, factors and multiples! We looked at them all. We saw a small number getting torn up and stamped on – this is the number which denotes the ‘square/power of two’ operation. We have been writing, too, as we combine our knowledge of Macbeth to produce a small piece of narrative writing. In geography, we looked at biomes and vegetation belts. In science, we look at pulleys theoretically, and hope to do our practical experiment by the end of the week. We are looking forward to having a rest over half term, and then continuing our ‘China’ topic. Well done to all those in Oak who have worked so hard this half term.
CHESTNUT
What an action-packed and varied week it has been in Chestnut Class! We finished off last week with a highly rewarding ‘Langar’ meal shared with the Preschool as part of our RE topic on Sikhism. The children baked, prepared, served and cleared up a meal for our community as a sign of equality and respect for others. The children loved it and Elsie even told us, “I felt like I was in a real Langar service serving everybody. I liked sitting in a circle on the floor because it made me feel like we were a big family”.
In English, the children have been devouring Stig of the Dump! We particularly enjoyed reading some of the text outside in a similar setting to where the story takes place. Chestnut Class have been applying their knowledge of grammar to find the different parts of speech in the text including proper nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs.
Chestnut Class thoroughly enjoyed the SCARF workshop on Thursday, where the children learnt about different parts of the brain and what we can do to keep our brains happy and healthy. Chestnut Class discovered that exercise, communicating with loved ones, doing kind things for others and getting lots of sleep helps our mental health. Let’s hope we can all do these things over half term!
BEECH
This week’s book focus has been on Colour poems where the children have been using similes. The children performed those to the class and did superbly well. In Maths this week, Year 1’s have been linking our knowledge of a 100 square to filling in number lines. Year 2’s have been looking at addition and subtraction strategies for quick recall.
In other learning, the children thoroughly enjoyed their time with Harold the giraffe – talking about feelings and friendships. The lady from ‘scarf’ was super impressed with the children from Beech Class. Well Done! The children also thoroughly enjoyed exploring outside for our ‘Outdoor Learning’ session this week we have been planting pumpkin seeds and talking about what it takes to help a seed grow.
HAZEL
Another busy week in Hazel Class with a shape hunt around the school for circles and triangles and creating their own colours to paint an Autumn Harvest picture. The children have explored maps and aerial photographs of the local area and drawn their own aerial photographs; we furthered this exploration by talking about things we find in the sky and looking at different aeroplanes before making our own paper aeroplanes and launching them down the corridor. We had an excellent session with Jane and Harold the Giraffe from SCARF all about our body and what we need to be healthy. We have made a plentiful autumn harvest basket full of different fruit and vegetables using salt dough.
Please see diary dates below for two important dates, to help support your children on their phonics and maths journey.
DIARY DATES
Dates in red have been added to the diary list this week.
| Date | Time | Information |
| 24th Oct | 14.55
15.20 |
Praise and Celebrate Assembly
Half Term – NO ASC |
| HALF TERM | ||
| 3rd Nov | 08.50 | Second half of term starts |
| 7th Nov | 08.30 | Big Bap Friday – sausage and bacon rolls.
Please order and pay in cash by 5th Nov to the office. |
| 7th Nov | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 11th Nov | 14.45 – 15.15 OR
15.30 – 16.00 |
(Hazel) Reception Class Phonics information event
(Hazel) Reception Class Phonics information event |
| 14th Nov | 9:45 – 11:15 | Introduction to Autism meeting at
The Vale Family Hub 22B Butts Pond, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 1AZ |
| 14th Nov | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 18th Nov | 14.45 – 15.15
OR 15.30 – 16.00 |
(Hazel) Reception Class Maths information event
(Hazel) Reception Class Maths information event |
| 21st Nov | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 28th Nov | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 1st Dec | All Day | INSET DAY (No school for children) |
| 5th Dec | 08.30 | Big Bap Friday – sausage and bacon rolls.
Please order and pay in cash by 3rd Dec to the office. |
| 5th Dec | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 12th Dec | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 18th Dec | After school | Disco
Hazel and Beech – 15.30 – 16.15 Chestnut and Oak – 16.15 – 17.00 |
| 19th Dec | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 19th Dec | 15.20 | End of Term – NO ASC / NO HOBBIES |
| HOLIDAY | ||
| 5th Jan | All Day | INSET DAY (No school for children) |
| 9th Jan | 08.30 | Big Bap Friday – sausage and bacon rolls.
Please order and pay in cash by 7th Jan to the office. |
| 16th Jan | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 23rd Jan | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 30th Jan | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 3rd Feb | 15.30 – 17.30 | Parent/Carer Meetings
Parents with children on the SEN register will be invited to meetings on a separate date tbc. |
| 5th Feb | 15.30 – 17.30 | Parent/Carer Meetings
Parents with children on the SEN register will be invited to meetings on a separate date tbc. |
| 6th Feb | 08.30 | Big Bap Friday – sausage and bacon rolls.
Please order and pay in cash by 4th Feb to the office. |
| 6th Feb | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
| 12th Feb | 15.20 | Half Term starts |
| 13th Feb | All Day | INSET DAY (No school for children) |
| 16th Feb – 20th Feb | HALF TERM | |
| 23rd Feb | 08.50 | First day of second half of term |
| 27th Feb | 14.55 | Praise and Celebrate Assembly |
Best wishes,
Mrs Ailsa Boardman-Hirst