20 Jun 2008 - Newsletter 35

 

Newsletter No. 35
Friday 20th June 2008

Dear Parents, Carers and Governors,

 

Green Class assembly
What a wonderful collection of Viking things we saw at your assembly this week! You really impressed everyone with how mature you all were – well done!

 

Year Two Parent Questionnaire
Attached to today’s newsletter (available to download below) will be a parent questionnaire for our Year Two leavers. I am aware that we’ve done a lot of consulting recently but we do find your opinions very useful.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any of the Ofsted forms; they go to make up the inspectors judgements, but can’t be used to inform schools as they are confidential to Ofsted.  So do feel free to include any comments you made on their sheet again.  We would particularly welcome any feedback in the section on our church school status. Our Diocesan inspection won’t be until the Autumn term now, so this is the best way to capture the ideas of our leaving parents – thanks for your help with this. 

 

Teddy Bear’s Picnic
Our foundation stage children from blue and red class had great fun this week holding their Teddy Bear’s Picnic. The photographer from the Twyford Times came along, so do take a look in their paper next week as we might be there.

 

Year Two Activities
Year two have been very busy this week! They had a fantastic time at the Piggott Senior school taking part in an inter-school multi-skills afternoon. This is the first event of its kind for infants in this region and we’re delighted that the Piggott School have initiated this for our younger children. Not only did they have lots of fun, but we also won a third place!!!
Yesterday afternoon saw the first “buddies” session where the year five children visited us to introduce themselves and become new friends to our children. They took this very seriously (they remember being buddies as year two children themselves!) and it was a lovely afternoon. Year two will visit the juniors again next week for further “getting to know you” activities.

 

Classes for 08/09
As usual, we are mixing our classes for next academic year. Being a two form entry school gives us this excellent opportunity to make changes.  Changing the classes encourages children to mix with a wider range of friends, gets them used to making new friendships and gives them practice in being flexible and coping with change.
There are many factors to take into account. The main issue is looking at each child’s needs on educational grounds, whilst taking into account their best interests in terms of personal and social development. We try to balance the classes in terms of age, gender and ability. We ask the children to tell us who they enjoy working with and who they work less well with. As you can imagine it is a challenging task for the teachers, but a worthwhile job to ensure the best for the children. The children will be told their new classes on our Changeover Day on July 1st and then have several opportunities to work with their new teacher before the end of term.

 

Sports Day
We are looking forward to sports day, which will be next Thursday afternoon from 1.30 until the end of the day. Everyone is invited to come along and cheer!
We have made the move from plimsolls to trainers, which means the children have better grip under foot – please make sure your child has these in school for PE lessons generally. We hope this will enable us to continue even if the grass is damp. Do check the school website or call on the day if the weather is unsettled – we will make a decision by 1pm if it looks bad.

 

Hats, Sun-cream and lots of Water
The British summer is being as unpredictable as ever, but I would like to remind everyone to take extra precautions in the sun. Wearing hats, applying a long-lasting sun-cream and drinking lots of water do make a difference and teach the children good habits for keeping themselves safe. I am quite happy for children to wear long-sleeved white t-shirts under their uniforms to give additional protection from the sun.
As we have 2 sittings now for lunch the children aren’t outside for particularly extended periods, and we will bring them in early if it is very warm. The staff are aware of keeping the children in on sunny days and we will monitor the weather and make changes where appropriate.

 

Mini IQ
Today we have sent home the new Mini IQ Spring/Summer 2008 Catalogue.  Please have a look through and return catalogue and any orders to the school office by Friday 4th July, as we will receive 15% of the total sales in free books. 

 

Request
If you have any spare boys underpants please could we have these for our spare clothing box – thank you.

 

PTA news
Just a quick note this week – we will be sending home a letter about the summer fair shortly. For now, if you have any contributions towards the Bottle tombola, you could start bringing those into school.

Cake sale next Thursday – it’s foundation stage’s turn to bring in the cakes, so if parents from blue and red class could bring their donations into school on Thursday morning, we’d be most grateful.

 

Junior School Summer Fair
Please pop this date in your diaries, particularly Year Two children who might want another chance to visit the Junior School - Saturday 28th June 2-4pm

 

Childcare
Green Class mum and newly qualified childminder, Amanda West, has asked us to let you know she currently has vacancies for all ages. If you need help with childcare over the summer holidays or during term time, please call Amanda on 07900 914481 or email twyford-childminder@hotmail.com

 

Local Weather Forecast
Sunny with light showers!

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Helen Ball
Headteacher