Dear Parents and Guardians,

 

It has been such a lovely week welcoming back children and welcoming new children.  The Reception children have shown such fun and resilience and I hope they feel proud of their first school week.  We focused our Collective worship on new beginnings and the opportunities a new beginning can provide.  The children chose superpowers of kindness, determination, confidence, compassion to name a few.  A great focus for the start of our new school year.

 

It has been so hot this week, we are fortunate to have a lot of shade and it has been such a pleasure to be outside with the children at lunchtime.  Learning behaviours within the classroom and when learning outside have been pleasing to see.  Goldfinch have made a wonderful effort for the Greek day. They all looked fantastic and it is wonderful to see the time and commitment they have put into their presentations.  Thank you, Mrs Pasha and Mrs Martinez, for organising the day and thank you for parent support.

 

Next week, Mrs Wirth and I will be interviewing the Year 6 children who have applied to be Prefects.  It is always a pleasure to hear them reflect on children who have been role models in the past and share how they wish to serve the school in the role.  Letters have gone out today for Sports Leaders roles and Subject Leader roles for Goldfinch.  Within school next week, we will discuss School Council with each class and Librarian roles for Year 4.

 

NSsport clubs will begin on Monday 18th September and bookings can be made via the NSsport website.  Breakfast club and Afterschool clubs are running and I have attached a photo for your information.  The children love the clubs and often do not want to leave!  I have also attached information regarding NSsport parties which can take place in the school hall if you wish.

 

On Tuesday this week our Governors held their first meeting of the year.  Mr Cundy has been Chair of Governors for over 20 years and has made the decision to step down from the role.  We look forward to thanking Mr Cundy properly and celebrating the contribution he has made to our school.  Mr Cundy will continue as a governor and we are delighted that our Vice Chair, Nigel Kennington has taken the role of Chair of Governors and Samantha Khan is now our Vice Chair.  I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their service to our school along with all our governors.

 

During our Governor meeting, I shared the information I have regarding Racc. During the Summer term the DFE carried out a building survey and identified no concerns regarding Raac.  The Oxford Diocese also carry out routine condition surveys on our building which includes visual checks for Raac and again no concerns have been raised.  Wokingham are undertaking visits to all their schools in the near future which will provide further reassurance.  

 

We also discussed attendance at our meeting.  Ensuring we have strong attendance is a high priority for me and our school.  Mrs Lawrence and I are monitoring attendance on a weekly basis.  It is vital for both the wellbeing and education of each child that their attendance is at or as close to 100% as possible.  If you are concerned your child may not be well but are unsure, please send them in as we will always contact you if they are not well enough to remain in school.  We also monitor children arriving late.  If a child arrives 5 minutes late each day, this equates to 3 days absence a year.  We pride ourselves in making every moment of learning count so arriving promptly can make a difference to how your child settles to their learning for the day and therefore impacts progress.  Thank you so much for your support.  

 

I must inform you that there are going to be roadworks near school commencing on Monday 11th September on behalf of Gigaclear Ltd.  You can still access school but this may cause delays so please allow for this.  We will update via facebook if we have any further information.

 

I will finish by sharing links to our class webpages which will give you the information you need from your child's class teachers.  If you have any questions after looking at them, please ask.  

 

https://www.finchampsteadschool.org/rosefinch/

https://www.finchampsteadschool.org/bullfinch-1/

https://www.finchampsteadschool.org/chaffinch-1/

https://www.finchampsteadschool.org/goldfinch-1/

 

I wish you a lovely weekend in the sunshine and look forward to seeing you next week.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone