Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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25th November 2022
Fri 25 Nov 2022Good evening
It has been great to finish the week with the Christmas songs playing, FOFSA busy preparing for the fair and the children enjoying a Mufti day. Thank you so much for your support.
Mrs Wirth organised a fantastic Digital Wellbeing evening on Wednesday. I thank the parents and staff for attending, the children for making a great presentation. I know the information was well received and it certainly provided valuable time to reflect on our own use of technology and how we keep our children safe now and in the future. Mrs Wirth has kindly put the slides and information on website, so please have a look.
https://www.finchampsteadschool.org/parent-information-supporting-your-child/
Recently, Freddy in Goldfinch has shared some wonderful news with us. Along with his family, he is running 100km in one month to raise money. I am sharing their story and a link to their Justgiving page incase you wish to donate. The School Council discussed how we could best support Freddy and we are delighted that on Wednesday we will be running alongside Freddy as he completes this incredible challenge. We are very proud of Freddy and the commitment and determination he has shown and we are also proud to be with him as he finishes. Chaffinch and Goldfinch will already be in their PE kits. Please can the infants bring in a pair of trainers on Wednesday in their bookbag ready for a run around the field in the afternoon if they can.
We have had the privilege of being connected to a wonderful woman, Racheal, and her husband Calvin, who have dedicated their life to save girls in Kalerwe, Uganda, from abuse. They have given them hope and a future of education, love, support and freedom.
After visiting the country, last August, we quickly realised we would never be able to help everyone, so we came up with the name Just One. Whether it be one child, family, school or village. Helping Just One is better than none!
We have decided that as a family we would join a group of others to run 100km each during the month of November, to raise money for an event Racheal holds each year called “My smiling Christmas” this will be a fun event full of dancing, games and food!
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/daisy-hill-2?utm_term=rBgwQBxy8
On Wednesday morning, we will be meeting at Church for our Advent service and parents are welcome to join us. We will be finishing the week with another Mufti day ahead of our Christmas fair on Saturday 3rd December 3pm.
In addition to all the learning, there is so much going on to be excited by and proud of. My thanks go to all the staff who are working tirelessly to support each other and our families to achieve the best for each child. I have seen so much learning this week and it has been wonderful to see the progress the children are making, from our Reception children starting to write their first words through to Year 6 working so hard on their hot writes. It was lovely chatting to some of the Year 3 children who found the transition a big jump from Bullfinch to Chaffinch. Already they are confidently sharing how much they love Chaffinch and feel so grown up! We are certainly going into December with so much progress made.
Next week, we will be sending home Christmas play tickets in envelopes and I will email to let you know which day to expect them. Each family will get 2 tickets to each performance and information regarding the performances will be explained in a letter attached to the tickets.
I wish you a lovely weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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18th November 2022
Fri 18 Nov 2022Good afternoon,
I hope you are well. We have finished the week with a day filled with spottiness for Children in Need. Thank you for your support.
I have spent a lot of this week showing prospective parents for September 23 around the school. It is such a pleasure to lead these tours and also see the learning throughout the school.
We have not only held an achievement assembly this week to celebrate our children but we also enjoyed and benefited from an assembly led by 4 Goldfinch pupils. They led with enjoyment, confidence and commitment and we look forward to more groups leading in the coming weeks.
The Christmas songs have now started and there is such a wonderful buzz around school with Christmas play excitement! It is such a special way to bring our whole school together and with the past 2 years being different, I think the children feel even more excited than normal to have the opportunities presented to them.
The Christmas fair is a matter of weeks away and I wanted to ask if any parents work for companies or have family/friend links that would support our school either through matched funding or with an auction item to sell. The fair is always fantastic and we really appreciate all your support.
Our Football girls had a match this afternoon at Loddon Primary School and had an amazing 4-0 win with Rose scoring a hat-trick. Well done girls, you play with a fantastic attitude. We are so proud of how many girls in our school love football and we would like to purchase a new kit for them. This may be something a company would sponsor and again, if you know of anyone we could approach, please let Mr O'Reilly or me know.
Before I wish you a lovely weekend, I would like to remind you of the Digital Wellbeing evening that we are hosting on Wednesday 23rd November at 7pm. Digital wellbeing is something that impacts us all and having a representative from Wokingham to support parents with this is a wonderful opportunity. If you use facebook, please add your name to the poll so we know how many parents to cater for as their will be tea/coffee and cake.
I hope the sun continues to shine over the weekend and I look forward to seeing you next week.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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11th November
Fri 11 Nov 2022Dear Parents and Guardians,
We began this week with an assembly focusing on hope within our families, school, clubs and the community. This was a wonderful and positive way to begin a week which has been full of engaging learning and enrichment.
Rosefinch and Bullfinch enjoyed a trip to Milestone Museum in Basingstoke. The trip was suited perfectly to their learning in History but I know the coach journey was quite a highlight! This was the first trip for our infants since Covid so it felt very special to take them all. Thank you to the staff for organising the visit, I think everyone slept well that night.
Eco club (Educating Children Outdoors) began again this week with a different group of children. Their walk up to the area outside of church led them to discover a deer bone which created great excitement and fascination. I know they are excited about the weeks to come.
Today, 8 Goldfinch boys took part in a football tournament at Cantley Park. They played incredibly well and got through to the quarter finals but then lost on penalties. It was brilliant to see them play with talent, commitment and teamwork. Alfie was nominated as player of the tournament which was well deserved for his brave, focused goal keeping, even with an injury part way through.
On Monday 21st November we will be holding a sports achievement assembly. This is an opportunity for the children to share their sporting achievements from outside of school. A form will be emailed out on Monday 14th for completion by Friday 18th. We will then celebrate the achievements in our assembly.
There has been a Christmasy feel to the end of the week which is always exciting. The FOFSA team are working hard towards the organisation of the Christmas Fair (Saturday 3rd December) as well as organising the Christmas card designs due back on Monday. Thank you so much for supporting them.
I am delighted that ahead of the Remembrance parade opposite school, the scaffolding will have been taken down. It has been a long process to complete due to the bats in the roof but it is it great work to have done. The poppies on the fencing looks great and whilst my thanks go to the children for the poppies, I think Mrs Dodds needs to take full credit for her resilience! She had a whole afternoon making them with Chaffinch and Goldfinch! Thank you also to Sam Lamb for putting them up for us.
This morning we held a Remembrance assembly in hall and then walked to the Memorial Cross to lay a wreath. The behaviour and respect shown by the whole school made us all proud, to have over 100 children walk in silence when they haven't been asked to was incredible. It was the first time as a school that we could walk to the cross and lay a wreath and we did this led by Mr Roberts. Mr Roberts then proceeded to play The Last Post, a magical moment of remembrance. My thanks go to Mr Roberts for playing and being part of our assembly, it is certainly something I will always remember.
I wish you a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing you next week.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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4th November 2022
Fri 04 Nov 2022Dear Parents and Guardians,
It is hard to believe that we are suddenly in November. I hope the children all enjoyed a good half term.
We finished the last half term with such a momentous occasion with the Household Cavalry Drum horse visit. My thanks go to Mr Diggle for going to such lengths to organise it and to Mrs Metcalfe for taking the lead on the visit.
It was incredibly special for pupils and staff. So much learning took place and hopefully memories for a life time.
This week we have been delighted to welcomed Mrs Sambhi to our school as the LSA to work in Chaffinch on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. She worked for one day before joining Chaffinch on their trip to Wellington College which was a lovely way to get to know the children quickly. Chaffinch enjoyed a wonderful day of Autumn learning. The children were celebrated for their behaviour and I know they have come back full of excitement and new learning. The children spoke about the day with such passion and knowledge and I thank all involved in the trip for providing such an enriching day even though it was a little cold and blustery.
This week I have enjoyed showing more families around our school for the September intake of Reception children. It is always a pleasure and we have more visits over the coming months. Whilst I showed people around each class were taking part in a P4C session (Philosophy for Children). The same stimulus was used with each class and it was wonderful to see the progression and level of discussion as I walked through the school. The children have told me they enjoyed it and it certainly something we are committed to building back into our curriculum. As a staff we feel strongly that it raises standards especially in reading comprehension, speaking and listening.
This afternoon, some Goldfinch girls represented our school at a football match. It was a great match and the girls won 2-0. Mr O'Reilly has organised lots of matches and tournaments which is wonderful and I would ask parents to check the calendar each week to check if Football club is on and if it is, who it is on for, boys or girls.
A huge thank you to FOFSA for organising the Bags2School, donuts, second hand uniform sale and the AGM. We are so fortunate to have such a committed team, it is a pleasure to work with them and they make a tremendous difference to our school. Thank you for supporting them.
We are fortunate to have so much support for our school and this week the children gave an extra thank you to Mr Cundy, our Chair of Governors. Mr Cundy, along with others who have helped, has put up a great fight against the leaves and acorns over the past month and we are so grateful.
Next week will hopefully see the end to our roofing work. Through the support of the Diocese we have now had all the flat roofs redone. The area over Goldfinch has been delayed for months now due to bats being found in the roof. The staff have been patient and the children have continued through some extra noise so it will be great to see the work reach completion next week and the scaffolding taken down.
Following my email earlier in the week, please could you send in plastic bottles for our poppies and also if you are able to help, please let us know. Finally, if you could complete our survey, we would be very grateful. https://forms.office.com/r/VDAE08Lk1f
I wish you all a lovely weekend and a safe one with fireworks.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
