Latest News

27th April 2018

Fri 27 Apr 2018 Jacquie Vanstone

Dear Parents,

I wish to begin my news update reflecting on the success of last weekend's Sponsored walks. We had nearly 60 people taking part in the walks which included staff, governors, parents (past and present), family friends, pupils (past and present) and some dogs. Tim and Amanda De Meyer organised and led the walks which were beautiful and enjoyed by all. It was by chance that the 5 mile group and the 15 mile group returned to school together and everyone enjoyed the tea and cakes. I would like to thank FOFSA for organising such a successful event. I have added up the number of miles completed by the school children at school and both walks and we have a total of 761 miles! This is amazing and I feel that the passion I have for Sport is reflected in our school. The sponsorship total is rising each day and the details of how to sponsor are on Facebook and on the FOFSA page on the website. All proceeds will be shared between school and Sue Ryder and I can't wait to find out the total raised next Friday.

You may have noticed that our new chairs have arrived for Chaffinch and Goldfinch; we will wait for the tables before swapping old for new. We also have a beautiful new rug in the front entrance which captures the essence of our school values in our diverse world. Thank you so much to FOFSA and to everyone who supports them.

Chaffinch had their first swimming lesson this week and it was a pleasure to accompany them. The pressure was on for them to change quickly and they were brilliant! Again I was very proud to hear from the Swimming teacher how proficient our children are; he was very impressed.

As your children may have told you Mrs Dodds has not been at school since Monday. On Tuesday she had a knee operation which was a success and she is now recovering at home. I know you will join me in wishing her a speedy recovery and we look forward to welcoming her back to school.

On Tuesday evening the Governors gathered for a Full Governing Body meeting. This month I shared an overview of the progress made towards all the areas on our School Development Plan. We are driving forwards in each area; staff and governors are all working hard with great focus. I also presented our Spring term data to the governors. The Year 6 children in particular should be very proud of the progress they are making and I would like to encourage continuation of their focus and hard work in this final run up to their SATs.

This week is Girls' football week and today we celebrated it with a tournament for each class as well as a Ladies v Girls match at lunchtime. We have so many girls in our school who enjoy football so we had a great afternoon full of activity led by Mr O'Reilly and some of our Sports Leaders.

I wish you a lovely weekend

Jacquie Vanstone

School Bulletin

Fri 27 Apr 2018 Jacquie Vanstone

Working together for outstanding attendance

Spring Term 2018

Attendance: 95%

Lates: 211

Summer Term 2018

Admission places available: 2 Reception places, 1 Year 3 place and 1 Year 5 place.

We await confirmation for the acceptance of the September Reception starters for 2018. We possibly have spaces available. If you are aware of anyone interested they are welcome to contact the office to arrange a visit.

20th April 2018

Fri 20 Apr 2018 Jacquie Vanstone

Dear Parents,

Welcome back after what I hope was a relaxing and refreshing Easter holiday. We took the opportunity in the Easter holiday to have new lighting installed both inside and out which we are very pleased with. I would like to acknowledge the hard work many children put into their home learning over the holiday. At this busy time, with assessments approaching, parental support with home learning is incredibly valuable. There is support on our website for parents, and staff are always keen to provide any guidance or help you need.

The teachers were back in school on Monday. We focused the day on our SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) provision. Staff worked together exploring all aspects of intervention throughout the school as well as the new Rezone app which is being trialled with Goldfinch. Thank you Mrs Leen for organising and leading a great day.

We were delighted that 24 children attended the NSsport Activity Day, a fantastic uptake both from families in need of childcare and those whose children just wanted to have a fun day. The weather was perfect and the children enjoyed a variety of activities both inside and out. Thank you NSsport for providing such a fantastic and popular service.

Last term we had a whole school focus on responsibility and this term we are concentrating on respect. Mrs Wirth led our Achievement assembly on Wednesday which was a celebration of how we demonstrate respect to one another and to ourselves.

Our value this half term is Honesty; on 23^rd April Goldfinch will begin to lead Collective Worship on Mondays which will centre on the value of honesty.

It has been wonderful to restart our running this week; many children have missed it, I certainly have. I feel privileged when I stand in the middle of the Memorial Park and see our whole school running together with enthusiasm, fun and determination. This week all the children have had half an hour to run or walk around the field. This was to give the children the opportunity to participate in a sponsored event to support the FOFSA walks on Saturday. The information for the walks is all on the website, we would be delighted if you could join us. The children completed 211.5 miles between them; they were positive and motivated and we hope you can support by sponsoring them. Money will be shared between school and Sue Ryder.

The weather has been such a treat this week; it has been great to see the children enjoying picnic lunches and fun on the playground along with so much outside learning. I wish you a wonderful weekend in the sunshine and I hope to see many of you for either our FOFSA 5/FOFSA 15 or just for the cakes afterwards!

Jacquie Vanstone