Mrs Armstrong

Penguins have been missing Mrs Armstrong but it won't be too long before she is back. Her operation went well and she is now bored and asking for work to be sent for her to do! (In hindsight, I should have got her to write this Newsletter!)

Parent Governor

As communicated earlier this week, we have elected Kathryn Malcolm unposed, to be our new parent governor. Kathryn has a daughter in Year 1 and does quite a lot of voluntary work in school, so she knows us well. She works several hours a week as a lunchtime supervisor too. Congratulations to Kathryn and thank you for your commitment to the school.

Reception Places 2025

The closing date for applications for Reception places for September this year is due to close in a few weeks' time. There are still some places available, so if you know anyone with a child of that age, then do send them our way. We have had several families look round then apply on the recommendation of families already here. We don't seem to have many children of that age who have siblings already in school who would normally swell our numbers, so there is more space than normal for new families to join us; the more, the merrier!

Water safety

If teachers remembered to hand them out, your child should have received a small activity booklet about water safety today. It is worth going through with children of any age to reinforce the safety messages. We have lots of water around the area with rivers, canals and water parks. Plenty of opportunities as they get older and more freedom to come across situations where this knowledge could be vital to save a life one day. We are trying to book a follow-up assembly later in the year too.

Maths Mastery

The understanding of the importance of children mastering concepts of number before moving on too soon has really grown over recent years. Mr Culff has worked extensively with the NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in Teaching of Maths) and we use their mastery materials across the school now.

The recent workshop Mr Culff led was targeted at Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 parents to introduce maths mastery games and the simple concepts behind them. These games are being sent home each week now for children to play with their parents and carers. Please do look out for them and give them a go, using the language and model sentences suggested. Being fluent in these ideas and mastering them early has been proven to have a huge impact on understanding in later learning of maths through high school and beyond.

Walking Bus

We recently received an email from the local authority asking if we were interested in setting up a walking bus in the village. For those who don't know, this is where some parent volunteers have some training, a route is agreed and children can join the 'bus' at their house or drop off points around the village. This can be before and/or after school.

We have expressed an interest in this as a school, but it would need volunteers who are interested in doing this for us. Mr Robson is meeting the coordinator on Teams next week, so do let us know if you would be keen to either help run this or use it to save yourself a bit of time walking your child to or from school. This could also be added to the Parent Forum agenda.

Egg Boxes Please!

Mr Forman has requested any egg boxes that you may have spare please. I wonder what he has planned... some sound proofing?.. a Dalek?.. or something scaly perhaps? Please drop them down to him so his dastardly plans can come to fruition!