Latest News

30th September 22

Fri 30 Sep 2022 Jacquie Vanstone

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have had a great week which began with a wonderful Art day organised by Mrs Metcalfe. The art was based on the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The children made portraits from vegetables then sketched their work.

The chopping of vegetables was fun learning and they were used to make delicious soup. It was great to see the children trying it, i am not sure they would all describe it as delicious but it was quite a vegetable combination!

We had so much help on the day and it was lovely to work as a whole school and to have some parents in with us.

Mrs Metcalfe organised the day brilliantly and it was a great success.

Mrs Dodds and I had the pleasure of accompanying some children to give harvest boxes with some left over vegetables to our neighbours and they were very grateful, we had a thank you card today from one neighbour.

Our Year 6 have had an amazing week away at PGL. A wonderful opportunity to be away from from home showing independence, resilience and great teamwork. I felt very proud of them all. Thank you to Mrs Wirth, Mrs Pasha, Mrs Baker, Mrs Martinez and Mr O'Reilly for their time, care and hard work. I hope the children sleep well tonight.

Next week we have netball club on Monday morning starting and on Wednesday we have our Harvest service. The list for donations is on the calendar.

I now finish with the upsetting news that our younger guinea pig, Caramel has suddenly died during the night on Thursday. The staff are sad and I understand that the children will be. I would be grateful if you would let your child know over the weekend. We will take up a box of memory photos,drawings and prayers to church on Wednesday so children can bring these in if they wish on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Caramel has given so much happiness and love to us and we will celebrate this with the children and we will obviously take great care of Bingo.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone

23rd September 2022

Fri 23 Sep 2022 Jacquie Vanstone

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Many of us have struggled to know which day of the week it was this week, thrown by the Bank holiday Monday but we have arrived at Friday and the sun is shining. The Bank holiday was a sad day but I hope a memorable one for you and your family. We have reflected upon it in school and the children have shown great respect, understanding and compassion. Today we were privileged to be joined by Mr Roberts, Isaac's dad who serves for The British Army as a musician. The assembly was wonderful and the children were full of admiration. I have uploaded the videos which can be found here:

https://finchampstead-c-of-e-primary-school.primarysite.media/

Huge thanks go to Mr Roberts for such a fantastic presentation, it was very special.

This week Mrs Wirth and I worked with our School Improvement Officer discussing our School Development Plan; this is a plan which is in place now and will lead us through to April 2024. It is wonderful to see what we are already achieving and I am grateful to the staff and governors who all contribute. I look forward to sharing further details of the School Development Plan via the website soon.

All is prepared for our Year 6 to have their residential trip to Liddington on Monday. The children have been counting down the days and I know they will have a great time. I would like to thank Mrs Lawrence for organising so much of the paperwork. Wokingham have been very complementary of how thorough everything has been.

Mrs Wirth and Mrs Baker will be joined by Mr O'Reilly this year and I will be there from Wednesday night with Mrs Pasha and Mrs Martinez. All clubs will be going ahead as normal next week although Netball club will not starting yet week due to the number of Year 6 who will not be there.

I hope you all received my email regarding our Art day on Monday. Mrs Metcalfe has a wonderful day planned and we are hopeful to have lots of vegetables, utensils and support, thank you.

This learning will lead perfectly to our Harvest service at church on 5th October. A list of the items that are being asked for is on the calendar under the event.

We are hoping to be joined by lots of families tomorrow for our Grounds day. We have a long list of jobs! Joining together is a lovely opportunity to meet new families and get together as a school community, we also have cake! If you can come, please bring gardening tools and bulbs and compost if possible. The more the merrier and I thank you for your time and support. Saturday 24th September 9.30 - 12pm or anytime in between.

I wish you a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you next week.

Jacquie Vanstone

16th September 2022

Fri 16 Sep 2022 Jacquie Vanstone

Good afternoon,

I hope you are well. Our first full week of the term has been a great one. It has been a pleasure to spend more time in classrooms and on the playground with the children.

Following on from the assembly last Friday, we have come together as a whole school and as classes to celebrate and remember the life of our Queen. Each class has walked up to St James' church and I know the staff and children have found these moments very special. I wish you well over the weekend and Bank holiday, we will support the children in anyway needed following the funeral on Monday.

The information evening on Wednesday was a valuable time for staff to meet parents and I hope you have all received my email today with the relevant information.

Next week we will begin organising the leadership roles and I am looking forward to our achievement assembly on Wednesday. Mrs Wirth and I had the pleasure of interviewing our Year 6 Prefect applicants. It was delightful to hear them talk so passionately about kindness, love, respect and inspiration.

I wish you a lovely and special weekend and look forward to having the children back in school on Tuesday.

Jacquie Vanstone

9th September 2022

Fri 09 Sep 2022

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I know I have emailed this week but it still feels right to welcome you again into the new school year. We have had a wonderful first week back and whilst it can be exhausting getting back into a routine again, it has been a pleasure. We have welcomed our new Reception children along with other children in Key Stage 2. It has been amazing to see how happy and settled they have been in just 4 days.

Our Goldfinch children have gone home with lots of letters and we are delighted to be organising pupil leadership roles within the school. It is great to start a year in such a positive manner with Covid definitely in the background rather than at the forefront.

On Wednesday, our new Diocesan Advisor, Marion Standing came to meet with me and have a tour of our school. She said that we should feel proud of what we are achieving in our school and we certainly are. I am looking forward to working with Marion to continue our school development.

Mrs Wirth is holding a meeting for Year 6 parents on Wednesday at 4.30pm to discuss PGL. Following this, all parents are invited to our Information evening from 5pm to 6pm. The talks by the teachers will be in classrooms at 5pm and 5.30pm and I hope you will pop into the hall for a cup of tea and also see the information shared in there.

NSsport has run successfully for their first week of leading our wrap around care and I am delighted with the feedback we have received. The children are really enjoying the sessions and next week it will be great to have sports clubs running alongside.

The incredibly sad news last night of our Queen passing away was a shock to us all. We will support the children over the coming weeks with any questions they may have and also their reflections. The assembly today was lovely and I would like to thank those parents who were able to be with us at such short notice. I will also add a support resource onto our parent support page on the website in case it is useful.

I wish you a restful weekend and I look forward to seeing you next week.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone