Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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24th September 2021
Fri 24 Sep 2021Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope you are well. We have had a wonderful week in school and it has been great to have the opportunity to chat to more of you as the weeks go on.
I have not needed to email regarding Covid in the past week but I am aware that schools around us have cases and that nationally a lot of children are testing positive. I wanted to thank you all for your support in keeping our school community as safe as possible. Many parents have accessed PCR tests for their children this week which have all come back negative. The staff and I are so grateful for your considerate and caring approach as it makes us all feel safer.
As I have mentioned previously, we are developing our collective worship and Tuesday was such a special day for it. In the morning Rosefinch and Bullfinch learnt and sang with Kate and Sam from St James' and they helped to retell the story of Joseph, it was a lovely assembly. Chaffinch and Goldfinch waited for an afternoon collective worship on the field, time given for reflection of what we are thankful for. Beautiful moments of quiet, still, running, smiling and laughing.
On Wednesday evening I had the pleasure of attending the FOFSA AGM. We have such committed parents and governors and it was wonderful to celebrate the fundraising that has taken place over such a difficult time. Kelly Price, our Chair has now stepped down after 4 years and I know you will join me in thanking her for everything she has done for our school. She has done a fantastic job and our school has benefitted from all her hard work. I am delighted to announce that Adele Baker is our new Chair and I look forward to working with her, thank you Adele and all other committee members.
We are ending the week with a busy Friday. The McMillian coffee morning was a great success and a lovely opportunity for getting together and also for our School Council children to lead. They looked the part and enjoyed serving the cakes. Thank you for your support with donations, contributions and for those who came along. Our cake sale afterschool is always loved by the children and once again I thank you for your support. Well done and thank you to Mrs Dodds and School Council.
It has been such a long time since we played any competitive matches and today we had 2! The girls and boys teams both played against St Pauls the girls won 4-2 but the boys lost their match. Both teams worked incredibly hard and should feel proud of their effort. The girls have only had 2 training sessions so it is an exciting achievement for them. Thank you Mr O'Reilly for organising the matches, the children loved the opportunity and look forward to the next.
I want to finish by wishing our Year 6 children and staff a restful weekend ahead of their week away at PGL, Liddington. I know they are excited and once again Covid adds extra worry along the way but fingers crossed they will all stay well and be able to have a week to remember.
I wish you all a lovely weekend and please remember to contact me if you have any Covid related worries over the weekend. head@finchampstead.wokingham.sch.uk
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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10th September 2021
Sat 11 Sep 2021Dear Parents and Guardians,
Our first full week back has been wonderful but has flown by. It has been such a pleasure to spend time with the children, especially getting to know our new Reception children and the two other pupils who have joined us since September. Last year we tried hard to give the Reception children the support of a buddy but with separate bubbles, it was very difficult. This week has shown me the true value of the system for both our Reception and Year 6 and we have also given our Year 1s a Year 5 buddy. The care and responsibility shown by Goldfinch is something for us to be very proud of.
The children have settled to new routines and the learning going on in all classes is exciting to see. This week we have also started a slightly different approach to collective worship. We will continually review and adapt but it has been wonderful start and I look forward to being part of more learning and collective worship experiences next week.
So many children have started clubs this week and I know Mr O'Reilly is organising matches and tournaments. Beehive has been well attended, sessions can be booked via their website. Thank you to NSsport and Beehive, the children love the sessions.
I know ordering uniform has been a challenge for us and Mrs Lawrence is working so hard to fulfill orders (thank you Mrs Lawrence). Supplies have been hard to come by and this has also led to the delay in the fleeces arriving (hopefully soon) but other orders have now been delivered. I would like to thank you for your patience and once all orders are fulfilled we will expect correct uniform for all children. I have noticed this week a few children wearing incorrect uniform in regards to socks and shoes, please ensure you follow our Uniform policy.
Girls should have white socks with summer uniform and grey socks or tights with winter uniform. Boys should wear grey socks. Shoes should be black with no ankle boots allowed.
As we interviewed our Year 6 children for their Prefect role, they spoke of how important it is to wear our uniform correctly with pride. Thank you for your support with this.
I will be sharing information in an email on Monday regarding Covid as I have received further information from Wokingham that I will pass on to you. The key message is 'Be cautious, be kind, be careful'. It is vital that we care for each other as a community. We all have our own concerns, fears and circumstances which impact how we feel and behave in regards to Covid. Please can I remind you to keep your child at home if they are unwell and if you feel you need advice on what to do in relation to Covid, please email or call the school.
Whilst we are delighted to be working 'normally' in so many respects, we are keeping certain measures in place to keep us safe. The Covid figures for Wokingham are high and the number of cases in both primary and secondary schools reflect this. Thank you for all you are doing to keep our school community as safe as we can be.
I want to finish by sharing my thanks to the staff. They are working tirelessly to engage, inspire, develop and care for every child. They are proud of the children and are delighted to welcome them, teach them and help them to shine. I know you will join me in thanking them, sometimes just for the little things that we know make a big difference. We are starting the school year, as always, with high aspirations for the children and our partnership is truly valued in achieving that.
I wish you a wonderful and safe weekend and I look forward to seeing you next week.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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3rd September 2021
Fri 03 Sep 2021Welcome back!
Dear Parents and Guardians,
It has been such a pleasure to welcome back our school community in a much more normal fashion. I hope you all had a good summer and that you stayed safe. The roof work certainly kept me busy over the summer but we are delighted that such important work has been carried out.
The holiday club ran successfully throughout the summer and I would like to thank Mr O'Reilly for all of his support within school on top of running a fantastic club.
We started the week with an assembly altogether which felt like such a treat! We have resumed normal procedures in school however we have a risk assessment and contingency plan which we will revert to if we have Covid cases within school. I can assure you that we are doing everything with caution, care and great planning to keep everything as safe as possible whilst providing the best for the children.
I wanted to take this opportunity to ask if any parents have the capacity and desire to help in school. We would like to have regular parent readers, someone to support with our library and a parent to organise the new uniform stock and orders. These roles have such an impact on what we can achieve as a school and any support would be gratefully received.
We are also going to extend our advert for a Lunchtime Controller as we are yet to fill the post.
We have been back for 2 days and they have been filled with fun, learning and friendship. The new Reception children have had two lovely afternoons getting to know the staff and the school and I know the Year 6 buddies cannot wait to be with them next week. Goldfinch looked fantastic dressed up for their Greek day and I was so impressed with how hard they have worked on their projects. Such an exciting start to our new school year.
I thank you all for your support and look forward to seeing you next week. Please keep safe and well over the weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone