A cold week and lots of children (and staff) seem to have been suffering with colds and nasty bugs. Hopefully, the weekend will give everyone time to recover enough to return to school. Our attendance figures have been hit (see the green tables below) and that means children missing learning which none of us want, but the most important thing is to get well and feel better. After all, there are lots of exciting things coming up over the next month that nobody will want to miss!
There have been lots of exciting things already over the last couple of weeks such as Penguins' visit to Oswestry Sculpture Park, Film Night, Odd Socks Day, Children in Need, Music Concert, tree planting by Owls, Anti-Bullying Week, library bus visits and Remembrance Day. For a small school, we pack a lot in!
Alongside all of this we have had our termly visit from Tony Hand, Fierté Vice CEO, who carried out what we call Collaborative Picture Building. This involves focusing on areas identified and agreed by staff and Mr Hand, as well as by Ofsted and other visitors. We do lesson observations, talk to staff and talk to children. This time the focus was on Early Years and behaviour management across the school. Mr Hand's report recognised the hard work done by staff and the progress made in both areas which have been developed following our academy improvement plans over the past year. Two days later he returned to meet with our chair of governors and headteacher to look at school achievements and standards which have been very strong and improving over the past few years. A very positive week overall!
Penguins smile for the camera, unaware of the marauding elephant behind!
We are pleased to announce that Alumara Chetwynd has become a parent governor and joins our Local Governing Committee at Manor. Mrs Chetwynd was the only parent to apply so no election was required on this occasion. Even so, Mrs Chetwynd's credentials were strong and she has some great professional experience to compliment the other governors as well as having always been a strong supporter of the school.
We do still have one parent governor vacancy if anyone is still interested in joining. Please do enquire and come in for a chat if you feel you might be able to make a contribution.
Book Fair
📚 The Scholastic Book Fair is Coming to Manor Primary Academy! 🎉
We’re excited to announce that the Scholastic Book Fair will be open during the week commencing Monday 1st December! The fair will be held after school in the school hall, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to pick up some brilliant books for your children - just in time for Christmas!
Not only is this a great way to encourage a love of reading at home, but every purchase also helps us raise funds to buy new books for our class libraries. It’s a win-win for everyone!
🎁 Looking for early Christmas presents? The book fair can also be opened earlier in the day on request for parents who’d like to browse and buy in a quieter setting.
Thank you for supporting our school and helping us grow our love of reading!
PTFA Film Night and Non-Uniform Day
Film Night was a great success as ever with well behaved children having a good time. Thank you to parents who worked so hard to organise it and to the staff who gave their own time to support it. Income (before taking out the costs) was around £250! Thank you for your generosity.
Next Friday 28th November, children are invited to come to school in non-uniform in return for bringing one (or more!) of the vital ABC's of life – Alcohol, Books or Chocolate! See poster below.
The usual rules around hair, jewellery and make-up apply. Also, footwear needs to be safe for running around at playtime!
Children in Need
Thank you for your generosity in donating to Children in Need last Friday. It was great to see many children wearing their Pudsey ears and T-shirts. We made a total of £55.50. Thank you!
Christmas Competition Time
Following a visit from Jean and Judy who are our local church wardens, we have agreed to support a competition they are running. They would like children from Manor, with the support of their families, to create a Christmas decoration for the end of one of the pews in the church. The decoration should be able to be tied round the end of the pew and hang down.
The decorations can be dropped off in school with the child's name and age (these will be removed after judging). They will be collected on Thursday December 11th and displayed in church and judged.
A kind village resident has donated prize money of £25 for 1st, £15 for 2nd and £10 for 3rd. These decorations will remain in church over Christmas, including for our Carol Service.
Time to get those creative juices flowing!
Owls Tree Planting
Despite the cold weather, our hardy Owls set off to the woods with spades and saplings in hand yesterday. They met Mr Hemus who owns the woods and managed to plant at least one tree each. Many were planted around the edge to create a hedgerow with hawthorn and blackthorn, dog rose and crab apple trees with some trees planted along the pathways within the woods. Hopefully some will survive to mature and enrich the woodland habitat which was damaged by fire about 20 years ago leaving only the mature trees in place. Thank you to Mr Torrance who supplied us with canes and protective spirals to stop them being eaten by muntjac deer,
We have lots of trees left over. We thought it would be nice if any of you have space for a tree at home, that you could collect a tree from school to take home and plant with your children.
Any trees left by next Friday 28th will be donated to Mr Torrance's conservation group: The Tameside volunteer group works at the Local Nature Reserve on Fazeley Road on the second Sunday of every month from 10 am to 1 pm. If you and your children want to get involved in more activities that will benefit nature, you will be very welcome to join them there. For more information see the Facebook page called "Tameside Wildlife Conservation Group" or speak to Alexia's dad.
Parent Forum
It was great to get Parent Forum back up and running last week. Thank you to those who attended and spent an hour talking about aspects of school that affect parents. Mr Culff was able to answer many questions and there were lots of constructive suggestions and ideas. Once we have the minutes we will send them on to parents.
This term, our children have been busy exploring the world of fruits and vegetables in our Design Technology: Cooking and Nutrition unit. The focus was on understanding the differences between fruits and vegetables using our senses: taste, texture, smell, and even appearance.
Last week, our pupils were treated to an incredible 45-minute music concert delivered by Staffordshire Sounds Entrust Music Service. The session was a true celebration of sound, showcasing a wide variety of instruments from the woodwind, strings, and percussion families.
