Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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25th June 2021
Fri 25 Jun 2021Dear Parents and Guardians,
Time is flying by towards the end of term and school is feeling busier by the week. Staff are working incredibly hard, writing reports, carrying out assessments, planning for next few weeks and September. Sadly, we are unable to offer the children a transition week, day or session. This is something we have worked hard to look at all options but to keep our school Covid secure, we cannot mix our bubbles at any stage. We will find ways for the children to meet new teachers outside and safely so that the children will be confident and secure returning in September.
The number of children isolating across Wokingham is so large. I would like to thank those parents who have accessed PCR tests due to Covid symptoms within the household. Your support is invaluable in helping to keep us all safe.
Next week, Year 6 will be going to PGL (all being well). This is such a long awaited trip for them which we moved from October to June, thank goodness we did. I will be delighted to see them on their way to have a fantastic week of new experiences, challenges and a lot of fun memories. I will be visiting on Wednesday evening and I am looking forward to that. Keep safe this weekend Year 6 and fingers crossed all will be well for the week.
Today, I gave the Year 5's the name of their Reception buddy for September, an exciting moment for them! Next week, we will have a supply teacher in for the Year 5's and I will also hopefully spend some time with them.
With the Year 6 going away, we have made the decision to cancel Netball club on Monday morning due to numbers. The Goldfinch multisports club and cricket club will both still go ahead.
I wanted to let you know that our Guinea pigs have a new home. When Nibbles died over 2 years ago, a parent kindly set up a Justgiving page and money was donated for any costs incurred and so we could buy a new guinea pig for Bingo to live with. I have been keeping that money safe incase anything else happened! Caramel and Bingo were is need of a new cage and that money has paid for it. They look very happy and it is lovely for the children to see them being so well cared for. Thank you for your generosity at that time, I have added some photos.
A parent has asked this week about gifts for staff at the end of term. I know the staff are always very touched by the cards and gifts they receive. If you would like to give a card or gift, please could they be brought into school Monday 12th July.
Whilst this week has been busy, I have enjoyed spending lots of time with the children, I wish them and you a lovely weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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18th June 2021
Fri 18 Jun 2021Dear Parents and Guardians,
The weather today has made me feel so grateful for the weather we have had since reopening in March; today was our first wet playtime since then, we have been very lucky.
On Tuesday we had our first church assembly on the playground in Key stage groups. It was Reverend Gemma's last assembly with us so it was lovely to thank her and wish her the best. Reverend Gemma has given so much time to our school and has provided wonderful support throughout the pandemic. I am very grateful and I know we will all miss her very much.
We have had the opportunity this week to further develop our work on Therapeutic Thinking. Our governors attended 2 hours of online training with Mrs Dodds and myself. We are planning to share this work with parents in the Autumn term and I am sure you will understand our enthusiasm and commitment to it when we do. As a result of the work we are doing, we will be sharing a new Behaviour policy and Home School Agreement ready for September.
As a school we are incredibly fortunate to have such dedicated, supportive and hardworking governors. On Wednesday evening, as part of a Governor meeting, we were able to reflect on our School Development Plan; because of the staff, governor and FOFSA commitment, we are moving our school forwards all the time.
We have recently reviewed our Uniform policy and I thank you for sharing feedback. We have taken feedback into account and I will put the final policy on the website soon. As part of the policy we wish for all the children to have a fleece to wear for PE when needed and if they wish to have an extra layer on in the classroom. I am delighted that we will be redesigning our fleece with the addition of the NSsport logo (previously bought school fleeces do not need replacing). NSsport are sponsoring us with this which is wonderful and is enabling us to sell the fleeces for £11 each, this is based on 1 per child. The price will need to increase the following year but by then we should have some second-hand fleeces which will support families. We will be making a bulk order for the fleeces a week today, 25th June. Please complete a facebook survey to show if you need to buy one and which size. If you do not use facebook, please email finchparents@finchampstead.wokingham.sch.uk Once the order arrives at the end of term or the beginning of next, we will add the fleeces to Parent mail for you to purchase online. Thank you NSsport for your support.
I know I have sent out a few emails this week. I do try hard to limit the number I send but with surge testing in Wokingham and with surge vaccinations as well, it has felt important to communicate with you. The Year 6 children are hoping their PGL trip can go ahead without any complications. I encourage everyone to take great care and especially our Goldfinches with just 10 days to go! I hope the surge testing has the desired impact locally and soon rates of Covid begin to drop. Please remember to contact me over the weekend if anyone in your household needs to isolate or tests positive. head@finchampstead.wokingham.sch.uk
I wish you a lovely weekend although I think the rain is set to continue. I must say it is easier for staff to write reports when it is raining than when the weather is beautiful!
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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11th June 2021
Fri 11 Jun 2021Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope you all had an enjoyable half term; I was very relieved that we had no bubbles isolating. The staff started the new half term with some fantastic training linked to our behaviour policy. I would like to thank Mrs Dodds for leading the day and we now look forward to adapting the training for Learning Support Assistants and Governors.
I have had the pleasure this week of attending online Collective worship training through the Oxford Dioceses. The training has given me a lot to reflect upon as we hopefully move forward to 'more normal times'.
Whilst transition is far from what we would hope, the Year 6 children who are going to Bohunt have had an outside meeting with Mr Hulland (Assistant Headteacher). We have also held our PGL parent meeting which we are desperately hoping can go ahead at the end of June.
The situation locally with Covid is very worrying, with surge testing happening very nearby. Please remain very cautious and safe as we progress through the half term. As more school and national guidance is released over the coming weeks, I will keep in touch by email.
I wanted to finish my news update with some highlight moments. Firstly, Key Stage One have had their first week of music with Mrs Gan and they loved it! We had our individual and sibling and class photos today which we couldn't do last year. Finally, we have all 200 books for Key Stage Two either in school or on their way, how wonderful for the children. Thank you to everyone who contributed and a huge thank you to the one parent who bought the rest of the list which got us to our 200 target for the start of term.
If you have any concerns relating to Covid over the weekend, please email me directly head@finchampstead.wokingham.sch.uk. I wish you a lovely and safe weekend in the sunshine.
Jacquie Vanstone
