Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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17th January 2025
Fri 17 Jan 2025Good afternoon,
Our week started with great excitement for Chaffinch as they enjoyed a Newbury Showground Breakfast workshop. Seeing the photos on the website, I can see the fun they had. The learning, I hope will help them now and, in the future, to make healthy choices and consider the wider issues around animal welfare and sustainability. As I was in the hall, I heard one of our Year 3 boys say that it was the best day ever and that was at 10.30am! Thank you, Mrs Dodds, for organising it, the photos on the class page are wonderful.
On Thursday, the whole school experienced a day of First Aid. It was great to see the learning and to see how much the children enjoyed it and also to see their understanding of its value and importance.
I hope the children have shared lots of their learning with you but I wanted to highlight two key points which staff felt would be good to point out.
1. For the children to know their postcode so they can call for help clearly.
2. Consider downloading the what three words app for precise locations in all sorts of areas.
I would like to thank Mrs Wirth for organising such a valuable day.
Today, Mr O'Reilly was proud of the Year 3 and 4 children who represented the school in a County Cup knockout match. They didn't win but they worked hard and kept smiling. Next week we have a Year 5 and 6 playoff on Monday with a 2pm Home kick off. Good luck!
I have a few messages from Mrs Gan:
If your child is continuing with Fife club, please return the permission slip and payment. If they do not wish to continue, please return the Fife to Mrs Gan or to the office.
Wasma t-shirt orders need returning please by the deadline so these can be sent off and processed.
Early in the week, you hopefully received a FOFSA newsletter. I am amazed by the amount raised in just one term. A huge thank you to the committee and to you all for your support.
Finally (and on the topic of money!) I wanted to let you know that we have problems with our boiler. We have sourced heaters and half of the school is on a different system and is working normally. I am pleased we have been able to continue our week as normal and thank the staff for their resilience and smiles! School certainly feels colder once the children have gone home!
I wish you a lovely weekend
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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10th December 2025
Fri 10 Jan 2025Good evening,
I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year! It has been great to be back in school with the children. We have shared thoughts around our goals for the year and I am delighted to see how grateful, motivated and positive the children are.
The staff worked incredibly hard during our two Inset days. Our focus was on our curriculum offer and we look forward to sharing this with you soon. I thank them all for their hard work and dedication as we strive to constantly develop.
Mrs Dodds and I spent an afternoon with our School Improvement Partner and our Education Welfare Officer on Thursday reviewing our procedures, interventions and support in relation to attendance. This was a positive meeting and is encouraging as we work hard to drive our attendance levels up. We thank you for your support with attendance and we are pleased to join together with families to appreciate the joy, value and importance of attendance.
We would like to begin some parent partnership work to gain input from parents regarding some of our strategies and communication. This may be around attendance but also other aspects of school life. If you would be interested in sharing a little of your time and your opinions, please be in touch and we will be keen to have your support.
At the beginning of a new term, I wanted to remind all parents that we are a strictly no nuts school. Children can bring a fruit or vegetable snack but this is provided for the Infants.
I wish to pass on more thanks to Nirvana Spa who have carried out a lot of work over the holidays and over the past few days. I attach a couple of photos from our Barley Barn opening from the last day of term. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful support.
On Wednesday next week it will be the closing date for Reception 2025 applications so please remind friends and family if they are in the position of needing to apply. I still have tours booked for Monday and I look forward to them. If you know of families who may wish to look around, we do have a group tour available to add people to.
I wish you a lovely weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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13th December 2024
Fri 13 Dec 2024Good afternoon,
We have had a week full of Christmas! It has been wonderful to see the children performing and bringing so much joy to others. The Christmas play was a great success and I thank and congratulate all the children and staff for it. We are so proud of the children and I loved to see the smiling faces in the audience.
Along with this, the choir have sung at Friendly Finches and the choir and some of Chaffinch sang at Warren Lodge.
I am not sure how Mrs Gan does it all but she is still smiling and is moving onto the preparation for the next events already! Wasma letters went out to those interested today and need returning next week, Mrs Gan, you amaze me!
We have also enjoyed our Christmas lunch this week as well as KS1 supporting Finches Preschool as audience to their very lovely Christmas performance.
In the final week of term, we have our Carol Service on Tuesday afternoon and our End of term assembly and Barn Opening on Friday at 9am. I will email out a survey to know how many parents will be joining us. As there will be no PE on Tuesday or Friday, please can all children come to school in school uniform on both these days.
I finish with the sad news that Mrs Lawrence will be retiring at Easter. I have worked with Mrs Lawrence for a long time and she is going to be truly missed. We have an advert out for the role and I will keep you updated as we hopefully appoint. I am pleased we still have the term ahead with her.
I wish you a lovely weekend and thank you for your kindness and support as we reach the end of an exciting term.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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Friday 6th December 2024
Thu 05 Dec 2024Good afternoon,
I hope you are well. I wanted to begin by sharing my enormous thanks to FOFSA. We have such a dedicated and hard working committee and it is a pleasure to work with them. The Christmas fair was a huge success and I felt proud of the children as they took the effort to say how much they had loved it. So much work and time goes into the fair as well as the auctions and wreaths nights. We are incredibly grateful for the enjoyment as well as the valuable fundraising. Thank you for supporting them and either through volunteering or attending.
Our church Advent service is always a highlight for me. The children who read, did so clearly and confidently. Mrs Gan joined us to play the piano and the choir were excited and proud to sing.
The Chaffinch children were full of excitement yesterday as they prepared for their learning event. We were delighted to see it so well attended. Again, the confidence of the children shone through. Thank you to all the staff and children for sharing your love for learning. The singing was great and the Roman honey biscuit was quite tasty too.
Mr O'Reilly organised a match for the girls this week which they enjoyed and worked hard in but sadly lost 1-0. The boys in the tournament today played with equal determination and came third in their group.
On Sunday, I will be attending Loddon Valley Carol Service. It is such a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to sing alongside lots of other primary school pupils. Thank you to Mrs Gan. The paperwork and organisation, along with the time given on Sunday is appreciated and valued by us all and for me it is always the start of Christmas!
The Christmas play rehearsals are in full flow which is great to see, I love hearing the singing! Tickets will be sent home on Monday for the afternoon and evening performance with each family getting two tickets. We will ask on Monday for numbers for the Wednesday morning relaxed performance (this one is suitable for preschool children and younger) and there is no ticket needed for this performance. Children under school age, including toddlers and babies should only attend the relaxed morning performance.
I am sad to finish on a concerning note but I am very worried for some pupil attendance. If a child's attendance is as low as 90%, they are missing on average a day a week. This has significant impact on their learning, friendships, wellbeing and outcomes. We are working incredibly hard to support families with attendance and need parental commitment and support. Penalty notices are being issued once a child has 10 sessions of absence which is 5 unauthorised days and our Education Welfare Officer is working closely with us.
I am keen to celebrate attendance where we can attendance and 73 children have above 95% attendance. Of the 73, 39 children have 100% attendance.
We are looking forward to next week. We have choir events, our Christmas play, Christmas jumpers on Thursday as well as our Christmas lunch. Next Friday will be the last Friday football club session this term. The last Netball club will be on the 19th December.
I wish you a lovely weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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29th November 2024
Fri 29 Nov 2024Good afternoon,
School is suddenly feeling very Christmasy! This will be a short news update as we prepare for our Christmas fair tomorrow.
We have had a fabulous week and it has been great to welcome so many families into school to share our learning. Rosefinch, Bullfinch and Goldfinch have all had learning events as a celebration of their learning this term and Chaffinch look forward to theirs next week. These events provide a valuable opportunity for the children to reflect on their learning, to articulate themselves with confidence and perform.
Following the Church interviews last week, I wanted to share the message below from St James' Church and to add how delighted we are as a school. We were proud to form a small part of the interview process.
“We are delighted to announce that the Bishop of Oxford has appointed Rev. Gemma Donnell to the post of Rector of PFC. This is subject to the usual checks. The exact timeline of the appointment is not yet confirmed, but it is hoped that Rev Gemma’s installation will be the end of Feb/beginning of March. We will let you know when we have further information.”
I would like to thank FOFSA for a successful Wreath night, I have seen photos of some of the wreaths which are beautiful. I look forward to seeing lots of you tomorrow at the Fair - 3pm- 6pm and again thank FOFSA for their incredible hard work.
I feel very fortunate to work with the dedicated and talented staff we have. The hard work from FOFSA provides the financial support we need and I thank you all for supporting them.
Today I was grateful for the support from Mr Baker, Mr Tomala and Mr Wills with the football match in Mr O'Reilly's absence. The boys played a very hard match and whilst they lost, they should feel incredibly proud. They played with such determination and strength. Well done to the boys, thank you to the parents and we wish Mr O'Reilly to feel better soon.
Next week, we have a second Wreath night, our Advent service, lots of parent tours, the Chaffinch learning event and Loddon Carol Concert for the Choir to name just a few things!
Thank you all so much for your support and I look forward to seeing lots of you tomorrow.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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22nd November 2024
Fri 22 Nov 2024Good afternoon
Another week has flown by! The children are working hard and have had a great week with some wonderful enrichment alongside their class learning.
On Tuesday, we were pleased to support the church as they look to appoint a Rector. The children enjoyed an assembly and made meaningful and thoughtful contributions. Once we have news from the church, I will of course share it with you and the children.
On Thursday we had a visit from the Louis Taylor Roadshow. The children enjoyed the fun of the roadshow but took away clear messages surrounding road safety.
Today, we were delighted to welcome Blue, Mr Carrigan's police puppy. She was so well behaved and the children enjoyed hearing about Blue now, the training she will go through and the service she will provide as a police search dog. Thank you so much Molly and Mr Carrigan. It could be a hard visit to follow but we would love for more parents to come and talk about their jobs and career choices, it is important learning for all our children.
This week Nirvana have completed our Barley Barn and we are amazed at how wonderful it is. It is going to transform our Early years provision and will also provide valuable space which will then impact the rest of the school. We cannot thank Mr Barley enough but I do look forward to another opening very soon!
Thank you for the donations for mufti today, next Friday will be bottles and we are very grateful for your support. Sign up sheets are displayed asking for help at the fair, we really need people to sign up, even for just a short time. The Fofsa committee are working incredibly hard and I am excited to share the link to the now live auction, good luck and enjoy!
I would like to wish you all a lovely weekend. I hope the Christmas dates sheet is helpful. Thank you for completing the survey which is linked in the email.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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15th November 2024
Fri 15 Nov 2024Good afternoon,
I would like to begin my news update by thanking Mr Roberts for beginning our week in such a special way. For Remembrance Day we joined together in the hall before being led to the Memorial Cross by Mr Roberts. Mr Roberts played The Last Post, we laid two poppies and held a silence. Our value this half term is hope and this provided a special moment to reflect and feel both grateful and hopeful.
We have ended the week supporting Children in Need with a steps challenge of climbing the Eiffel Tower - 1665 steps. Thank you to the parents for helping us reach our target! After taking time to reflect on the importance and reliance upon the money raised by Children in Need, we enjoyed a little French snack!
We are close to having climbed the Eiffel Tower 3 times today. We just need 548 step ups to add to our total. I said to the children they could complete extra at the weekend to bring up our total. 548 is the number we are trying to reach!
Fofsa are working incredibly hard toward the Christmas fair. Next Friday is a mufti day so the children can come in non-uniform and bring a chocolate or smellies item for the fair. Thank you for your support.
Today we raised £120.40 from the Bags2School which we are very grateful for.
Well done to our football girls today. We have had a tournament and a match and we are so proud of them. They progressed well in the tournament and drew their match 1-1. Thank you Mr O'Reilly for an early start and a busy day of football, the girls have loved it.
I have led tours for 11 different families this week which is always a pleasure. The newly named Barley Barn is nearing completion with final touches being done on Monday which is exciting. The transformation is amazing and we can't wait to begin using the space.
Nirvana Spa are also working with Finchampstead Sports club for redevelopment and I have been asked to share this link:
https://nirvanaspa.formstack.com/forms/finchampstead_engagement_survey_24
I hope you find the information interesting and would be grateful if you would respond to the survey.
We have so many exciting things planned over the next month and I will share a diary sheet with you next week to support you as the diary gets busier! I thank our amazing staff for continuing to teach our rich curriculum whilst juggling so much enrichment.
I wish you a lovely weekend
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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8th November 2024
Fri 08 Nov 2024Good afternoon,
I hope you are well after a lovely half term. We have had a great first week back. We began the week with a focus on our value of Hope. The children have been encouraged to think deeply about their hopes and what they can do to support the realisation of them.
The School Council children have done a super job of selling the poppies. Thank you for your support. I think the school looks fantastic with the window painted poppies as well as the bottle poppies at the front. We will be having a time of silence on Monday supported by Mr Roberts.
The building work is continuing as we are desperately trying to get the surface dry enough to lay the floor. Rosefinch are being very patient and we know it will be fantastic once it is done. The nest is such a fantastic learning space and it is wonderful to the new laptops in full use.
I would like to wish our football girls luck as they play against Polehampton, they were excited when they left and keen to play well.
On Friday 15th November, we wish to support Children in Need. The children will be undertaking a step up challenge and we will see how high we can climb altogether. Because of this, we ask for the whole school to come in PE kit on Friday along with any spotty accessories/Children in Need accessories. Donations can be made on Friday through the use of a QR code which will be displayed or in cash.
I would like to thank the staff and children for a lovely week in school, it has been wonderful to see the resilience with learning, the children taking on responsibilities and an enthusiasm throughout.
I wish you a lovely weekend.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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25th October 2025
Fri 25 Oct 2024Good evening,
We have finished what has been such a long half term, in such a brilliant way!
Whilst we celebrate the learning and behaviour this half term, we also celebrate the enrichment. We have had three football matches and a netball tournament this week and I thank Mr O'Reilly for organising everything for this. We are so proud of how the children are playing and improving.
Chaffinch had a wonderful day at Wellington College for a Harvest Celebration on Tuesday. It was great to hear them talk about it with such interest and enjoyment. Today, Cala Homes joined Key Stage 2 for a session on safety near building sites. We took this opportunity to thank them for the redecoration work in Bullfinch and School House and they were delighted to see the classrooms in full use. The work on our Rosefinch outdoor classroom is progressing and I know you will see a complete difference after half term.
We are finishing the half term in the best way - with a disco! The children have had a fantastic time and I thank FOFSA for organising it so well but also thank you to parents for your support.
I wish you all a lovely half term and I hope the staff have a well-deserved rest. NSsport will be running throughout the holiday and you can book places online.
Next half term will be full of progress, exciting learning and of course Christmas, we certainly need a break before that!
Thank you for your ongoing support.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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21st October 2024
Fri 18 Oct 2024Good afternoon,
We are finishing the week with a football win for our Year 5/6 boys. It was such a pleasure to watch them winning in the sunshine! Some of our Chaffinch children also played today against a very large school. They didn't win but played so well Zachary thought we should see it as a win. For that reason, I agree!
I have enjoyed seeing lots of parents at the Learning Review meetings; I hope you found them useful. We had some information available on the evenings regarding attendance and I will email these out on Monday for your information. There are a lot of national changes and we are keen for you to be aware of them and to support us as we strive for high attendance.
I wish to thank Kate and Sam for joining us this morning for an assembly. It has been a while since they have been with us and it was such a wonderful way to begin the day. The Prefects did a fantastic job helping and they were excited and proud to do so. We can't wait for the next!
The work on our Rosefinch play shed has progressed enormously this week and I have added some photos. The work will continue through to half term. Once again, we are so grateful to Nirvana Spa.
I would like to wish you a lovely weekend. Next week, we have several competitions, Chaffinch at Wellington College and we finish with the half term with a FOFSA disco.
Thank you for your support.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
