Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
-
24th March 2023
Fri 24 Mar 2023Good afternoon,
I would like to begin by thanking many children and parents who have shared their sadness over the loss of Reverend Leonard through writing, drawings and emails. We have come together as a school to reflect and next week we hope that each class will have the opportunity to walk up to church. Our thoughts are with Reverend Leonard's family at this deeply sad time.
We will not be going ahead with our Easter service as planned and instead Mr and Mrs Fox will lead an assembly for the children in school. On Friday, parents are welcome to join us for an end of term assembly at 9am. We then finish for the end of term at 2pm.
I am sad to inform you that Mrs Sambhi who works in Chaffinch as an LSA, will be leaving us at the end of term. We have enjoyed working with her and will miss her in school. I know you will join me in thanking her for all she has done for us.
Chaffinch had a wonderful Egyptian Learning Event on Thursday, the staff certainly looked the part as did many of the children. It was great to see them bringing their learning together and celebrating it with parents. Thank you so much to all who could attend, the children loved it and the staff are grateful for your support.
Year 6 went to Wokingham Baptist Church this afternoon for an Easter Experience. We are delighted to do this trip again as it is always enjoyed and is so valuable. Thank you to all those who supported the organisation of the trip and to Mrs Pasha and Mr Fox for being with the children. I look forward to hearing all about it.
Rosefinch and Year 5 had a wonderful afternoon of Sport and it was fantastic to see the leadership skills of our Year 5s. They were caring, encouraging and motivating. Thank you, Mr O’Reilly, for organising it.
It was hard this evening in the wet and wind for our boys to play in their quarter final match. They lost 2-0 but played really well. They were soaked, as was everyone watching. It is a very respectable score and they did well to get this far, well done to the boys.
I wish you a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you next week.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
-
17th March 2023
Fri 17 Mar 2023Good afternoon,
I hope you are well, it is lovely to finally enjoy some sunshine!
We have had a busy fortnight and it always amazes me how quickly every week goes by. I have spent three days in Rosefinch this week which has been a pleasure. It is wonderful to see their behaviours for learning developing and I especially enjoyed writing with them.
Our staff meeting this week was dedicated to moderating some Year 6 writing to ensure that all teachers agree on the assessments given. This always leaves us feeling proud of what the children are achieving and how they have progressed. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the books at the Learning review meetings. We encourage the children to take great pride in their work and the staff work incredibly hard to provide appropriate feedback to progress their learning.
We were delighted this week to award our Year 4 Librarians with their badges in our Achievement assembly. They are already doing a great job and I know that Mrs Shepherd is enjoying working with them.
It was great to see the children exchanging one item of uniform for something that would feel like a treat. We have raised just over £50 for Comic relief and I thank you for your support.
Two concerns have been brought to my attention this week for which I now ask for your support. Firstly, Prime bottles have been the source of disagreements and distraction. I understand the children may want them and have them and I have not made a quick decision to ban them but having seen them negatively impact the children this week, the time has come. If your child does not have an alternative bottle, we can offer a cup in the classroom.
Secondly, staff have become aware that some parents are dropping off on the zig zags. This is unsafe and is something I will monitor over the next few weeks. Please do not stop on the zig zags during the designated times.
A big thank you to Mrs Metcalfe and all the staff for organising our Mother's day bouquets. The children left school today looking very proud and I wish all the mothering figures we have in our lives a special Sunday.
Our WASMA children will be performing on Sunday evening and I can't wait. They have worked so hard and Mrs Gan and Mrs Coulson have both said how lucky they are to be working with them. Taking part in WASMA is a huge commitment for the children, Mrs Gan and Mrs Coulson and I wish them luck and enjoyment and I look forward to seeing them shine!
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
-
3rd March 2023
Fri 03 Mar 2023Good afternoon,
I hope you have all had a good week. It has been lovely to be on the playground this week with some of the new equipment out, the sunshine certainly helps too! We now have 11 Playground leaders who will take responsibility for the equipment and hopefully organise some games from Monday.
Mrs Paterson had the tricky but very important job of choosing the name for our new guinea pig. There were so many names that the children suggested that we loved. These included Rupert, Cookies and Jonny Custard! He has been given the name Crumpet which I think is lovely and the children are pleased. Well done Isla Hayes for your suggestion.
I wanted to congratulate the WASMA children for their behaviour, attitude and application at the rehearsal on Wednesday evening. Mrs Gan and Mrs Coulson work so hard to prepare the children and they were joined by Mrs Hayes and Mrs Martinez on Wednesday. They were all incredibly proud of our children and Mrs Gan said it was a pleasure to be with them. A few weeks to go before the Hexagon concert which is very exciting!
On Thursday this week we celebrated World Book Day. The learning was fantastic to see and I know many of the children enjoyed creating book raps during their Music lessons. I enjoyed the day in Rosefinch and it was great to see many children learning with focus and precision.
The book boxes and characters made at home were incredible to look at. We joined together as a school to look at them and celebrate what has been achieved. Thank you for your support at home and for your creativity. Whilst we were together we congratulated our new Year 4 Librarians on their new role. They will begin to fulfill their library responsibilities next week under the wonderful support and leadership of Mrs Shepherd who now leads our library.
We have finished the week with donuts! Thank you FOFSA for a wonderful sale and thank you parents for supporting, every little certainly helps as we continue to plan for new projects.
Before I close and wish you a wonderful weekend, I wanted to just remind parents about parking in the morning. It has been noticed that some parents are parking or pulling up on the zigzag lines to drop children off in the morning. This is unsafe and I thank you in advance for keeping these areas clear during the designated times.
Next week, we will be holding our Learning review meetings on Tuesday and Thursday and I look forward to seeing you then. Books will be in classrooms for you to have a look. Children in Key Stage 2 are welcome to join the meeting if you think it will support them in their understanding of their progress and next steps. We will only share attendance information with those families where attendance is at or below 90% (persistently absent) as we sent information home just a few weeks ago.
I just wanted to thank you for the support we receive. Parental support makes such a difference to the children's attitude and progress but also to the staff. I have received emails of support and thanks from many parents, the staff have enjoyed some treats over the past few weeks in the staffroom and the guinea pigs have been treated too! The staff all work incredibly hard, with high aspiration and care for every child and working closely with parents makes this not only easier but even more rewarding. Thank you for all you do to support us.
I wish you a lovely weekend
Jacquie Vanstone