Latest News

20th July 2022

Wed 20 Jul 2022 Jacquie Vanstone

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I can't believe the Summer holidays have begun! It was lovely to have parents with us for the end of year assembly today.

This week has been carefully managed with the hot weather but has still been filled with important learning and wonderful enrichment.

Our church service was special for our leavers and the rest of the school as we approached the end of the year. We walked back under the trees and once back at school benefited from all the shade we have.

Soak the teacher was a great success and we raised nearly £200 which was well deserved! The teachers were great and we were completely soaked. In the photos I have added, there is a photo of Alfie in year 6, moments before and moments after he poured water down my back, the evidence is definately there!

On Tuesday Mr and Mrs Fox treated us to an assembly in school. The children all enjoyed it and came out singing! This also provided the opportunity for the Year 6 children to look at their bibles in more detail; they really are great bibles and I thank the governors for them and Mr and Mrs Fox for giving such a valuable introduction.

The Chaffinch trade fair was postponed until today and whilst it added pressure having it on the last day, it was an absolute highlight. The children were proud, passionate, knowledgeable and confident. Every group showed such hard work and commitment and it was a wonderful start to the day, especially with such a great choice for an extra breakfast!

This leads me to the end of term and a huge thank you to all our parents for the support you show. Our school is a special place and seeing the academic progress and success alongside the enriched learning should make us all feel proud.

I know it is an emotional day for Year 6 and our leavers but they are ready, confident and happy and I wish them every success.

We are also saying goodbye to Beehive today. Beehive have worked in the school for many years and have shown great commitment and loyalty to us. I wish to thank them all for all they have done for our school.

Miss Frank is leaving us today to train as as a Secondary Art teacher which is wonderful and we have enjoyed having her working with us. In September, Adele Baker will be working in Goldfinch at the beginning of the week and we look forward to welcoming her as a member of staff.

The staff and I have been blown away by the kindness shown towards us through gifts and cards and your comments. I cannot emphasize enough how much it means to us all, thank you.

I look forward to seeing you in September for another exciting year. I will email out details regarding NSsport wrap around care over the next few days and their holiday club is running at school each day during the summer (except bank holidays). I wish everyone a truly relaxing summer.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone

15th July 2022

Fri 15 Jul 2022 Jacquie Vanstone

Dear Parents and Guardians,

It has felt like a week of celebration! I would like to thank all parents and family members who joined us for our Open evening. The staff and I value having parents in school so much. The French cafe was a great success and my thanks go to Mrs Wirth, Sam Lamb, Adele Baker and Merelina Martinez along with all the Goldfinch waiters and waitresses; they all did a fantastic job.

I hope you are pleased with the reports that were sent out last week and I thank you for the reply slips that have come back in; your comments and thank yous mean a great deal.

Wednesday evening felt like a key moment for me post lockdowns and restrictions. I have been so proud of the staff and children producing the Leavers' show virtually for the past two years but on Wednesday I realised how different it is to see it 'live'. The Year 6 children were all so happy, relaxed and proud. They shared their talents and memories and I was blown away by it. The Year 6 parents and Goldfinch staff, along with Mrs Gan, worked hard to prepare it and it was a real treat. There is also something special when our leavers all head to the ballcourt at 8pm and just don't want to leave! In case over the next 3 days we can re-live some of the show, please can Year 6 have their props and costumes in school on Tuesday.

This week we have had some staff attending ReadWriteInc. training for phonics and reading. This is something we have waited for since the start of lockdown so it is a big step forwards for the school in regards to phonics. In Mrs Dodds' absence, Sam Khan led a wonderful ECO club session with a group of boys. They had a great afternoon which was valuable for each of them.

Today, we had our second transition morning which I hope will have helped the children in preparation for September. I had the opportunity to spend the morning with Year 6 and I loved it! A short part of the morning was spent writing thank you letters. The majority of children wrote to Mr O'Reilly which I will pass on. I was told many years ago that if children do not engage well with sport by the end of Primary school then it is far less likely that they will do so through adulthood. It is wonderful to see how our children feel about sport and an exciting indication of how sport will positively impact them in the future.

On that note, we finished the week with a Year 6 Rounders match with parents and what great fun it was. Competitive but just to right level and with a win to the children!

I know there is much discussion around the heat forecast for next week. I have reviewed and risk assessed our provision and I am confident that we can safely remain open. There will be changes to playtimes, lunchtimes etc.

On Monday, we will meet at church which will be cool and the walk back through the woods will be just as cool. The rest of the day will be managed appropriately and with great care and consideration. I will be sharing a risk assessment over the weekend with our Chair and Vice Chair of Governors to ensure all considerations have been made. Unfortunately we do need to postpone the Chaffinch event. Parents were due to come into school on Monday at 2.30pm and we would like to move this to Wednesday at 9am. If the children need to bring in any props or table cloths etc. they can do this on Tuesday for set up Tuesday afternoon. We really hope you can join us on Wednesday as this is such an important part of the learning journey the Chaffinch children have had.

With the temperatures at record levels we thought there was nothing more appropriate than 'soak the teacher'. We are keen to purchase new art resources for September and all donations would be gratefully received. Please send your child in with a donation of your choice for the privilege of soaking us!

The same precautions and considerations will be made on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday at 1.15pm all parents are welcome to come for our End of Year assembly ahead of our 2pm finish. Due to the finish time, we would encourage the children to bring a packed lunch on Wednesday so we can ensure the hall is ready for a 1.15pm assembly, a cooked option is still available though.

I wish you all a lovely weekend and ahead of next week remind you to send your child with water, lotion and a hat. We are so fortunate to have so much shade within our grounds and we will make careful use of it.

In summary:

Monday - 9am church service, money sent in for soak the teacher, plus water guns if you wish!

Tuesday - Leavers' show props in school.

Wednesday - 9am Chaffinch event, 1.15pm End of year assembly.

Clubs will run but will be risk assessed and carried out accordingly, NSsport holiday club will run from Thursday.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone

8th July 2022

Fri 08 Jul 2022 Jacquie Vanstone

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Every week I find it amazing how much we squeeze in and this week has certainly felt busy.

This week we have sent out the school reports by email and I thank all the staff for their hard work in writing them and Mrs Lawrence for sending them out. It was a pleasure to read them and I certainly felt proud of every child. We have received the Year 6 SATS results this week and they will be sent out to parents next week, we are delighted with the results.

We have been working hard to develop our curriculum offer and as part of this we had asked our School Improvement Officer, Anne Stopforth to carry out a subject review. We chose History and Mrs Stopforth met with Mrs Guillaume (our History Leader) on Tuesday morning. The meeting was very positive and helpful for us to continue to progress. Mrs Guillaume was recognised for her enthusiasm and knowledge of our History provision and the children she spoke to were described as polite, courteous, articulate and happy to engage in discussion.

Since then, we have welcomed our Reception children into school for a very special Teddy bear's picnic. I am delighted that they all had a great time and we look forward to seeing them again on Wednesday.

I have had the privilege of attending some sessions at The Education Festival at Wellington College this week. It is wonderful to take time to reflect, listen to new ideas and new theories. A personal highlight was spending 45 minutes listening to Michael Morpurgo, such an inspirational author. I look forward to sharing my learning and thoughts with the staff and children.

We have attended two Luckley House football tournaments this week. The first was with our Year 1 and 2's. It was such a great experience for them and they were truly exhausted afterwards. Our Year 3 and 4's attended today and played with incredible determination; it was great to watch. Elliot was proud of his hattrick but they all played brilliantly.

We ended the week with a Goldfinch and parent football tournament, it was lovely to have lots of families with us even though it was very hot.

Next week is another busy week which I will summarise below. There is set to be a heatwave and I wanted to reassure parents that we will do all we can to keep the children cool next week with plenty of water and shade. We will review our PE lessons if the heat is as expected. Please remember to provide hats and lotion for the children.

Next week, we look forward to...

Monday - Rosefinch and Bullfinch Pirate day

Tuesday - Open Evening 4pm - 5.30pm, visit our French Cafe and see your child's learning in the classrooms. Please come in via the playground within the set times.

Wednesday - New starter visit in the morning and The Year 6 Leavers' show 7pm.

Friday - Transition morning within school for the children. Year 6 parent and pupil rounders club 3.30pm.

I look forward to seeing you next week. Whilst you are around school next week, I hope you see our wonderful new signs, courtesy of FOFSA and with thanks for Daryl Baker for putting them up, they look great.

Finally, congratulations to Keith Thomas who will continue in his role as parent governor having been re-elected with no other applicants. Keith makes such a wonderful contribution and I am delighted to continue working with him. Thank you, Keith.

Have a lovely weekend

Jacquie Vanstone

1st July 2022

Fri 01 Jul 2022 Jacquie Vanstone

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have started the month with a fabulous celebration of sport. It was a great afternoon and I hope you all enjoyed it. The organisation from Mr O'Reilly was brilliant; it was so impressive that even our 4 and 5 year old children knew exactly what they were doing, even with a relay race!

We have never had so many spectators and so many parents in the parent races. The children had a great time, were kind and encouraging and also worked their hardest. Sport is such a strength within our school and having our school community to celebrate it together was very special, especially after the last two years.

I must also congratulate the Red team for their win, with the Yellows just 6 points behind.

Our governors were in school on Tuesday and enjoyed the first hour of the day in classrooms. Their feedback was fantastic in relation to behaviour, attitudes to learning, the use of technology and the skills of our staff. The staff should feel proud of the comments and I will share some key quotes at our Open Evening on the 12th July.

Swimming on Tuesday provided a great experience of survival wearing their clothes. Hopefully a skill they will not require but one that is so valuable to have.

With less than three weeks left, we still have lots to fit in. Reports will be emailed out to you next week. We have our School Improvement Officer in school on Tuesday morning supporting us with subject leadership. On Thursday we are having a tea party for our current Reception children along with our new starters and Reception parents are welcome to join us for it. An invitation from the children will be with you next week but it will take place on the playground between 2pm and 3.15pm.

I wish you all a lovely weekend and thank you once again for your support this afternoon.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone