Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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30th June 2023
Fri 30 Jun 2023Good afternoon,
We began the week with a mufti day which was good fun for the children and showed your wonderful support to the church. The bottle donations will make a huge difference and the church and school team thank you all. The icing on the cake came in the form of an ice pop! Thank you to Fofsa for selling them after school, the children loved them.
On Tuesday we took the opportunity to celebrate our library, our Librarians and the work led by Mrs Shepherd. Thank you to those who came to the Open library session, it was a chance for children and parents to look at books together which is so important. The librarians worked hard and demonstrated just how dedicated and hard working they are. We will hold more of these sessions next year.
In the evening, Mrs Guillaume, Mrs Paterson and I welcomed our new Reception 23 families to school for a meeting. It is great to take time and reflect on all we do to support the children in transition and through their school journey. This was followed up with the first new starter visit on Thursday. I always enjoy getting to know the children and families, a couple of children didn't want to leave which is a great start!
Whilst we welcome the new children, many of our Year 6 children have been visiting their Secondary schools. I am often told of pupils from our school taking leadership roles at Secondary school and I was delighted to see Ava Merolla, a past pupil, as Head girl at Bohunt this year. I felt proud listening to her talk so well and I hope this inspires our children even further.
Throughout the day on Wednesday, governors were in school. They enjoyed seeing the learning during the first half of the morning, joined us for assembly, lunchtime and then had meetings within school. It is always such a positive day and I hope as parents some of you were able to chat to the governors at the end of the day.
We have finished the week with an amazing Philippa Hanna concert which we all loved. Philippa talks to the children about experiences and feelings they may have and her songs have the perfect messages for our children to hear. There were a few children who must have been worn out from the constant singing, dancing and clapping but it was wonderful to see them so full of joy in the moment. Mr and Mrs Fox have gifted this visit to the school which is incredibly generous and thoughtful. It is certainly something the children and staff will remember, thank you Mr and Mrs Fox.
Mr O'Reilly's club this evening had a great number of families joining. It is nice to older siblings back too. It looked like good fun and they just missed the rain. There will be no club next week due to Sports day.
Tomorrow, I hope many of you have the opportunity to support the church fete which is in the memorial park from 1pm.
Next week, we will be emailing the end of year reports to parents and sending a paper copy of attendance information along with the feedback form. The report emails will be staggered over the week but all reports will be emailed by the end of Thursday.
I wish you a lovely weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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23rd June 2023
Fri 23 Jun 2023Good afternoon,
Another brilliantly busy week! It has been so hot in school but the children and staff have managed well with lots of people busy trying to keep our plants watered.
On Tuesday, Chaffinch enjoyed a visit to Moor Green lake. I was only there for a short amount of time but it was delightful to see the children immersed in nature and learning. Thank you to everyone who supported the trip, especially Jonathon Gan who spent his birthday helping!
At this point in the year the staff are busy submitting data to Wokingham and writing reports but whilst all this goes on in the background, the school calendar is busier than ever. I have created a diary sheet with all the dates on until the end of term which I will share on Monday by email, hopefully it will help us all!
On Monday we are having a non uniform day in support of the Church fete which is Saturday 1st July 1pm - 4pm. Please send your child in mufti in exchange for a bottle for the tombola. Mrs Fox will be in the front carpark to collect the donations.
Bullfinch, Chaffinch and Goldfinch (Goldfinch have an extra session) will have PE on Monday so please make sure they are in trainers and suitable clothes for that.
We thought a sunny mufti day would be a perfect opportunity for fofsa to hold an ice pop sale after school so we are looking forward to that as well.
It was so hot this afternoon at the Goldfinch multisports parents and children club. It was great fun and won by Max and his dad. Thank you Mr O'Reilly.
From next week, we would ask for children to come in their sports coloured t-shirt with their red shorts for PE (not applicable this Monday due to non uniform). This will make it a lot easier as we prepare for Sports day. We can then organise the children knowing their colour at a glance. If you have any questions, please just ask.
I wish you all a good weekend. Next week our solar panels will be put up, please take care near the front of school if there is more work traffic than usual due to this work.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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16th June 2023
Fri 16 Jun 2023Good afternoon,
I hope you have had an enjoyable week. We have had such an incredibly busy week but a wonderful one.
Early in the week we held our Colour run. This was the first time we have organised such an event and it came together due to everyone's hard work. School Council work with Mrs Dodds and Isla suggested the event. This one idea and a lot of hard work and willing children and parents and staff has meant that we have had the most memorable of afternoons and we have also raised over £1000 for a charity. We are delighted and thank you so much for your generosity. We still have some families who have not paid on Parentmail, if you are having trouble then please drop the contribution into school, every little helps to ensure we cover the costs of the afternoon; an afternoon described as 'the best ever' by lots of the children!
Throughout the week learning has continued as normal and this has also involved our Year 1s taking their Phonics check with Mrs Guillaume. Some Year 2s who did not pass last year, have retaken this week. Mrs Dodds has also supported the Year 4s who have taken their Multiplication check. Both sets of results will be sent out with the school reports in July.
We have finished this sunny week with Goldfinch having a brilliant day in Windsor. They visited Dr Choc and are all so pleased with their chocolate, which miraculously didn’t melt on the way home! Thank you, Mrs Pasha, for organising the day. Many of the children were nervous to carry out surveys about Fair trade but I am delighted that they were recognised for being so polite and articulate. A super trip that Chaffinch are already hoping will run again in the future!
https://www.finchampsteadschool.org/goldfinch-1/
We have just enjoyed a very hot netball session with parents V children. The parents won but the children certainly made it hard! Thank you, Mr O’Reilly, for organising that as well as the very popular rounders session in Windsor today.
Next week Chaffinch will be going to Moore Green Lakes on Tuesday and on Friday Goldfinch have a multisports club against parents, I will share the link on Monday.
On Thursday, we have scaffolding going up around Goldfinch and some of the carpark will be out of use. We are excited to be having solar panels installed over the following 10 days. This will obviously be good for the school budget, the environment and it will be interesting for the children to see the data linked to it.
The staff are currently writing end of year reports which will go out at the beginning of July and I thank them for their hard work.
I would like to remind parents and children that the PE uniform is either black leggings or tracksuit bottoms or the red shorts, please do not send your child in with black shorts. I have also noticed a few children with nail vanish on, please make sure this is removed before Monday.
From the caring behaviour at the Athletics tournament last week through to the Colour run and the rest of this week, the children deserve our praise. During the Colour run, I did not speak to one child about their behaviour other than positively. It is wonderful to see the children taking ownership of their choices and also that they are trying to make the right choices for their benefit and for the benefit of those around them.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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9th June 2023
Fri 09 Jun 2023Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope you all enjoyed your half term. It has been wonderful to come back to such beautiful sunshine.
I spent some time with Chaffinch on Wednesday afternoon on the field as Mrs Dodds led a contemplative walk. The children were so thoughtful in their reflection and I was pleased to be with them.
Today I had the privilege of taking 10 Goldfinch children to an athletics tournament. They competed with such determination and commitment, it was wonderful to see. The highlight for me was how caring, supportive and encouraging they were of each other. All of them living out our school vision perfectly.
Next week we have our Colour run planned for Tuesday - please see the email I sent out on Wednesday for full information. We thank you for your support and look forward to a memorable afternoon whilst we raise money for a great charity.
Goldfinch also have their Windsor trip to Dr Choc on Friday to look forward to. This is linked to their work around fair trade. Thank you, Mrs Pasha, I think it is a trip we would all like to go on!
After school it is the Goldfinch netball V parents and the sign-up link is here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aLSUxvKX3NkXh_s5yoJ7C0Giv3EQTpAniA_nWZ7eXfE/edit#gid=0
I wish you a wonderful weekend, take care in the sunshine and please remember sun protection for the children next week as the heat continues.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
