Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
-
End of Term
Mon 20 Jul 2020Dear Parents, Guardians,
What a challenging term it has been but we have made it to the end of term both healthy and smiling! Even though we have spent much time apart over the past few months, our school community remains strong.
I now wish to say a few thank yous.
Firstly for the support we I have had from governors, the Wokingham schools team and the Oxford Diosese, remote and collaborative working has been invaluable. We have also had local support with donations of stationary from the shop as well as The Greyhound pub allowing staff to use their carpark which has enabled us to use the front carpark for social distancing and outdoor learning.
I am incredibly grateful for the support parents have shown me and the school and for the attitude of the children which has helped us smile most of the way through! On behalf of the staff I would like to thank you all for your gifts and cards; we are so grateful and messages mean a great deal.
The word unprecedented is being used a lot at the moment; Covid-19 has completely changed teaching and learning and the expectations of staff since March. I could not have asked more of our staff. At a time of great concern, fear and insecurity they have shown strength, generosity, collaboration and skill. I thank them all and wish them a wonderful summer, as always, completely deserved.
Although it is only Tuesday, we have had a great couple of days. On Monday our year 4, soon to be year 5 children came in to work with Mrs Wirth, Mrs Stangroom and Mrs Williams and I am looking forward to them taking on extra responsibilities as year 5s. We also welcomed our new Reception children in for an hour session on Monday and one hour on Tuesday. I am delighted we could welcome them in and see them so happy in school.
On Monday evening we had the Leavers' show which was brilliantly put together and a showcase of our talented year 6; I wish them every happiness in their new schools.
I promised that I would share the virtual sports day results with you; well done to all of those who took part and sent in their results. We also received some great photos so thank you.
In fourth place..... well done to the Red team with 917 points.
In third place.... the Blue team scored a fantastic 1004 points.
In second place....well done to the Green team with 1065 points.
Congratulations to the winning Yellow team with 1275 points.
I want to wish you all a safe and happy summer; I know many of the children are booked into Nssport holiday club which I am sure they will love. You can still book Nssport sessions on their website if you would like/need to.
I will be in touch in August regarding more specific arrangements for September and we look forward to welcoming all the children back.
Thank you once again and take care.
Jacquie Vanstone
-
17th July 2020
Fri 17 Jul 2020Dear Parents, Guardians,
I can't believe we are at the end of the last full week of the school year. We are sad to be saying goodbye to different children on different days; it all feels very strange. As we reflect on how we wish this was not how we are ending the term, it is important that we focus on the positives; being thankful for the opportunities we have had, the lovely school we have and most importantly thankful for our continued good health. Going forward, September will be different but our school vision is key to our response. We will face all challenges with a positive, determined attitude although we look forward to a good rest first! Yesterday you should have received an email regarding the arrangements for September and I thank you for your positive feedback.
We are looking forward to continuing our transition work next week, especially welcoming our new Reception children for two visits. I will also be joining our staff and year 6 parents through Google classrooms to watch the Leavers' show on Monday evening. On Tuesday we will have a party for some of our Key worker children who have been in everyday with a big smile and super attitude; it has been a pleasure to support our key worker families as they make sacrifices to support us all.
Thank you to those of you who have completed the parent survey. Today I am adding a link to a Lockdown parent survey. Results to this survey will provide valuable support to us as we reflect and move forwards and if we have an Ofsted visit in the Autumn term, I am sure this feedback would be helpful to them. I also include a link to a transport survey which will provide Wokingham with valuable information in preparation for September.
Parent survey
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PPQFLLL
Lockdown parent survey
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/67ZB2P9
Transport survey
https://forms.gle/Mv2Uq6Ya3hipwx7a7
I will be writing a final newsletter on Tuesday which will include the very important virtual sports day results! In the meantime I wish you a lovely weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
-
10th July 2020
Fri 10 Jul 2020Dear Parents & Guardians,
I hope you are all well. This week we had a sports focus and it has been great to see so much participation in our virtual sports day from home and in school; it has certainly been competitive. For the last full week of term Mrs Dodds has put together lots of wonderful wellbeing activities for you to enjoy.
This week our year 6 had two days of Bikeability and mostly missed the rain! The first day was on the playground and the second out on the roads. They all did brilliantly and I was proud of them hearing the feedback from the instructors.
We have lots planned for the year 6 for their last two days in school; I can't believe their leaving has come around so quickly and under such unprecedented circumstances.
Sadly I must inform you that Mrs Demblon our SEND leader who has worked with us for the past year will be leaving us at the end of term. Mrs Demblon has been fantastic for our school and has supported our staff, pupils and families in such a positive way. I am sure you will join me in thanking her and wishing her well. This week I held a handover meeting with Mrs Demblon and Mrs Combe who will be taking on the SEND role from September. Some of you may remember Mrs Combe from when she taught here several years ago. She was a wonderful SEND leader for us then and we are excited to welcome her back and I know she will be an asset to our school.
Last week we received the guidance for school reopening in September. I have been working hard with the support of Wokingham, our Diocesan Advisor and the staff to make plans to fit in line with the rigorous risk assessments that I will be writing. On Tuesday the full Governing Board will meet and then towards the end of next week I plan to share further information with you in reference to September. As I said in a previous newsletter, we have the experience of the last few months to support us with this planning process. It has been such a challenging time; this week I was informed that in May the Dfe made 60 updated changes to the guidance we were following and then a further 70 in June and this just refers to the Covid-19 guidance! As exhausting as it all is, seeing the children so happy in school is wonderful and we are proud of what we have achieved and positive about September.
We were pleased to email out all the reports this week; thank you to those of you who have sent in the reply slip already. Report writing time is always a busy one for teachers but this year we had much more to contend with and I wish to thank the staff for their hard work. It is also the time of year for our parent survey and we would be pleased to have your feedback. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PPQFLLL
We do have a second survey relating specifically to lock down which I will send you a link to next Friday along with a transport survey.
Next week we will have some things to send home with the children, if you would rather your child did not bring anything from school to home please send an email to finchparents@finchampstead.wokingham.sch.uk. We also need to collect back any football kit, netball kit, Recorders and Ukuleles please.
I wish you a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you next week.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
-
3rd July 2020
Fri 03 Jul 2020Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope you remain well; most children have been in school at some point this week, which has been wonderful for their wellbeing as well as that of the staff.
I am sure many of you watched the government briefing as I did yesterday regarding schools reopening. Our current provision adheres to the June government guidance; it is centred on pupil wellbeing and transition; we are providing this safely and effectively but we are at capacity in the manner in which we are doing so. The primary focus now and in September will be prioritising mental health and in turn each child's readiness to learn.
Governors and I will now work to secure a robust risk assessment ready to open fully in September and as always, I will share information with you as and when I can. We closed on 20th March but school reopened for key worker and vulnerable children on 23rd March; we have remained open ever since. During this time we have made changes to our provision, risk assessments and policies to open for Key worker children, then 1st June for wider opening and since then when we extended opening further. All of this experience will be helpful in planning this next stage which is to have all children back full time and accessing a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum.
Next week we will be emailing out school reports; this will be done over a number of days so please be in touch if you have not received your child's report by Friday morning. We will send them out a class at a time so you may not receive all reports on the same day.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the Sports day activities set as well as the other learning opportunities on the website. Next week the year 6 children will carry out their Bikeability course, which I know they are looking forward to.
Before I close, I wanted to thank Mrs Gan and her son Jonathon who spend a morning cutting back the hedges around school. The difference is enormous and on behalf of us all I would like to thank them. Fortunately, they stopped moments before the heavy rain started!
I wish you all a lovely and hopefully dry and sunny weekend.
Jacquie Vanstone