Headteacher’s Blog
Keep up to date with all the news happening in school at the moment.
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The weekly blog - keeping you up-to-date with school life; Stars of the Week; Housepoint winners and much more..
Fri 22 Jul 2022And just like that, the year is over!
I am overwhelmed by your generosity and kindness shown to me and the staff today with the many wonderful gifts and well wishes. Just to say, I am not 50, I'm 21 (until August) but thank you very much for the surprise.
Thank you so much for your support this year, it has made making difficult decisions much easier, knowing you support the school.
As we say thank you to our Head boy & girl (Luke & Zuzanna) and our Deputy Head boy & girl (Thabo & Elle); we welcome our new ones for next year:
Head boy: Oscar N
Head girl: Esther Boolaky-Moore
Deputy Head boy: Ruban N
Deputy Head girl: Sophia B
They have been given their badges ready for September.
This year we are appointing House Captain and Vice-Captain to organise events and house competitions. The children in Y5 had to complete an application form and be interviewed by Mr H and myself, plus children from their house in Y3/4. The following have been successful:
St. Patrick - total housepoints: 15 742
Captain: Harvey D
V-Captain: Laila H
St. David - total housepoints: 15 242
Captain: Ray G
V-Captain: Freya H
St. Andrew - total housepoints: 14 393
Captain: Luisa EM
V-Captain: Jack T
St. George - total housepoints: 14 820
Captain: Ava TA
V-Captain: Desmond C
The winning house this year is St. Patrick's 🥳🇮🇪 well-done everyone in St. Patrick's for a wonderful year.
Doodle Maths
The top doodling class this week is Y5 - well done again - you know how to stay top!
Well done to Zachary D in Y5, for a 50-day streak. You have made sure that you have doodled every day - what a fantastic achievement.
Make sure you sign your child up for the Summer Challenge
Join the Summer Challenge to earn a FREE pin badge and certificate!
Between the 1st of July and 31st of August, encourage your child to earn 750 stars(or 600 stars if they were born on or after 01/09/14) and a 14-day streak in DoodleMaths and/or DoodleEnglish.
All you have to do parents is log on to the parent's account and sign them up - this is free of charge.
Attendance
The year's winner with 95.79% is Reception! Well done to everyone in the Reception class for being in school as much as possible.
Whole school attendance is: 94.28%
I hope you all have a lovely summer break and enjoy spending some quality time with your family.
Please encourage your child to read, Doodle Maths and Doodle Spell over the summer to help them keep current learning in their minds.
I will keep my emails on until Wednesday 27th July 2022 and then I will check them periodically throughout the summer.
If I do not see you at pick up today, have a great summer and we will see you on Friday 2nd September 2022.
Mr A
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The weekly blog - keeping you up-to-date with school life; Stars of the Week; Housepoint winners and much more..
Fri 15 Jul 2022What a fabulous week we have had in school and late into the evenings - EYFS class assemblies, Music show, Y6 leavers show, and the Y6 leavers BBQ and water fight. Thank you to all the staff that have given up their family time and gone above and beyond for the children at school.
I must say the music show, although only half in each class came, was an amazing event. Miss Cheesley started the evening with a great performance, singing a Whitney number. This was followed by every year group performing at their very best (achieving this part of the curriculum) and then they all sang together to end the show - well done.
Young Photography Competition
During the holiday, if you are looking for something creative for your child to do, they could focus on taking a range of photos and then selecting their best. The Rotary Young Photographer Competition has set this year's theme as 'The Beauty of Architecture.'
Behaviour Certificates
Our gold, silver, and bronze certificates come out next Friday as we break for the summer term. The criteria has been set for the year. Behaviour does include attendance as this indicates behaviour for learning. Attendance will be different than on your reports as we have to report the actual attendance including COViD-related absence but COViD time off is added back into the attendance % for the certificates.
Gold: 96+% attendance & <5% behaviour points
Silver: 93+% attendance & <20% behaviour points
Bronze: <93% attendance & >20% behaviour points
Behaviour is calculated Behaviour Points ➗ Houspoints x 100 = %
Our New School APP
I know that you have appreciated the school APP that is linked to our website and this keeps you up-to-date with everything that is going on in school. Although we love this too, it involves moving between different websites to get everything out to you.
Our MIS system, where we take registers, record housepoints, behaviour points, and have your contact details has released an app and a communication package that will save the school money, plus time as it is all in one place. The new APP details will be coming out next week from Mrs Hughes so that we are ready for September. You will be able to keep an eye on your child's attendance, update your records rather than coming into school, and still receive APP messages around housepoints, warnings and anything that is going on in school.
Saying Goodbye
As we enter the final week of the school year, we will be saying goodbye to our Y6 pupils. Unfortunately, we will also be saying goodbye to the wonderful Mrs Hughes as she leaves the school after spending the last 9 years working very hard making sure that you all know what is happening in the school.
We will be very sad to say Goodbye and I would just like to thank her for all the hard work she has done over the past 9 years and all the support she has given pupils, staff and in particular me, as the Head of the school. We wish you all the very best in the future.Stars of the Week
Nursery Zayn I & Hunter T 🤩 Reception Chloe A & Stanley H 🤩 Year 1 Lilly Mae L & Reuben J 🤩 Year 2 Romeo H & Phoebe D 🤩 Year 3 Amelia H & John H 🤩 Year 4 Ted V & Logan C 🤩 Year 5 Finley S & Finley L 🤩 Year 6 Ethan L & Thomas TA 🤩 Housepoint Winners
EYFS Chloe A 🥳 Key Stage One Oliver S 🥳 Lower Key Stage Two Imogen D 🥳 Upper Key Stage Two Reuben BT 🥳 The winning House this week: A tie with St. George 🇬🇬 & St. David 🏴 level with 775 points - well done both houses.
3rd place: St. Patrick
4th place: St. Andrew
Doodle Maths
They sang, 'It's coming home...' well done to Y5 as you have won the trophy again this week.
Attendance
The winning year group with 98.91% is: Y6
Excellent attendance - well done to everyone in the class.
The whole school attendance is: 94.4%
Next week...
The weather is extremely hot on Monday & Tuesday. The guidance is that children should wear loose clothing (PE kit/school top with shorts); plenty of sun cream; plenty of water and minimum time in direct sunlight.
Obviously, our mile run has been suspended during this period of heat and we are making sure children have hats with them when outside.
Trips are planning to go ahead at this moment in time as the temperature is not expected above 32℃. If this changes, I will take all guidance from PHE and the DfE and have a measured approach. Currently, my feeling is that being outside in the fresh air, with plenty of shade and both places on Monday having indoor space, is better than the classroom.
We are just speaking with Legoland to see if there is any shade or places for the children to go, as I wouldn't want them in a queue for 45 minutes or more.
Children left in school, may bring a towel and swimming things as we may get the water out to cool everyone off (again in 10-minute breaks).
Friday 22nd is our last day and if your child is in Y6, you are more than welcome to join the Leaver's assembly which starts at 09:00. I will do all the leaver's things before moving on to our more traditional assembly - so once I have finished with Y6, I will invite you to leave and enjoy the rest of your day.
I hope that you have a lovely weekend and enjoy the lovely sunshine that is being predicted.
Mr A
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The weekly blog - keeping you up-to-date with school life; Stars of the Week; Housepoint winners and much more..
Mon 11 Jul 2022Firstly, may I apologise that the blog is rather late but after the summer fair and sleepover, I didn't have any energy left to sit and write. I slept most of Saturday.
Swindon Libraries and info are running a summer competition, why not get your child/ren involved and make sure they keep up the good work on reading: https://swindonlibraries.wordpress.com/childrens-services/summer-reading-challenge/
Music Performance
We are looking forward to the music performance from all our pupils tonight. Children need to be back in school for 17:30, ready for the performance to start at 18:00. The performance will start with our very own Miss Cheesley singing and our wonderful Y6 pupil, Ellie C, playing the piano.
Reports
Our school reports will come out on Thursday via email, so if you have changed your email address please make sure that you let Mrs Hughes know before Thursday so that she sends it to the correct address.
Stars of the Week
Nursery Marlon S & Colby D 🤩 Reception Frankie B & Skyla L 🤩 Year 1 Charlie A & Jack T 🤩 Year 2 Jack P & Lucas L 🤩 Year 3 Kanyenna N & Indigo P 🤩 Year 4 Esmae D & Kai S 🤩 Year 5 Robert R & Charlie F 🤩 Year 6 Luke R & Charlie J 🤩 Housepoint Winners
EYFS Molly B 🥳 Key Stage One Tayla P 🥳 Lower Key Stage Two Sophie D 🥳 Upper Key Stage Two Luke R 🥳 The winning house is: St. George
2nd place: St. Patrick
3rd place: St. David
4th place: St. Andrew
Congratulations to all children in St. George's house for earning the most housepoints.
Attendance
Congratulations to Y5 for the best attendance this week with 98.97% brilliant!
Doodle Maths
Congratulations to Y3 for doodling the most and being the best class this week for staying in the green zone! - super stuff!
Please enjoy the sunshine and I will see you all at the music concert this afternoon.
Mr A
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The weekly blog - keeping you up-to-date with school life; Stars of the Week; Housepoint winners and much more..
Fri 01 Jul 2022I am pleased to hear that children are happy with their next teacher and I must say that Wednesday was a huge success. Both staff and children have been really positive and I have heard comments like, 'my child is so happy and is looking forward to being in the next year...'
This is why we do transition like this so that children do not worry over the summer holiday about next year and how their teacher will be. They know, have worked with, and had some fun.
The children have voted for the flag they would like to represent their house from September with the house captains. Well done Luke R, St. George; Ray G, St. David; Finely L, St. Andrew; Sophie D, St. Patrick. Each will receive 100 housepoints for a fabulous design.
Stars of the Week
Nursery Teddy S & David G 🤩 Reception Bella-Rose B & Hugh R 🤩 Year 1 George H & Reuben J 🤩 Year 2 Alfie R & Dolly S 🤩 Year 3 George H & Harley S 🤩 Year 4 Sophie D & Callum H 🤩 Year 5 Ray G & Laila H 🤩 Year 6 Reuben BT 🤩 Housepoint Winners
EYFS Arthur WT, Poppy M, Aubree D, & Chloe A 🥳 Key Stage 1 Rumaisa S 🥳 Lower Key Stage 2 George H, Thomas C, & Regina R 🥳 Upper Key Stage 2 Poppy L 🥳 The winning house this week is: St George 🇬🇬 - well-done everyone.
2nd: St. Patrick
3rd: St. David
4th: St. Andrew
Attendance
The winning class this week is: Y5 with 99.37% - a brilliant job 😊
Whole school attendance currently is: 94.44% which although isn't great, is above the national and the Swindon average, after two lots of COViD hitting our school. Well done everyone for trying to be in school every day.
Doodle Maths
As you know we celebrate the top doodling class each week and they receive a trophy to have in their class over the following week. This week's top doodling class is: Y2 & Y5 with 100% of the children staying in the green zone all week.
Way to go you guys, absolutely rocking itNext Week
Monday sees our EYFS and Key Stage 1 pupils take part in Sports Day. Why not come along and support your child/ren. EYFS 09:00 - 11:30 & KS1 is 13:30 - 15:15.
Wednesday is the second part of our transition days. Children come in to school and go straight to their new classrooms, Y6 go straight to the hall.
Thursday is our Key Stage 2 Sports afternoon, so come along and support your child/ren. 13:30 - 15:25 and we announce the winning house for Sports Day.
Friday is our Summer Fair, come along for a fun packed afternoon with BBQ, Bar, Games, Bouncy Castles, and live music - this moves in to our camp out! If you haven't signed your child up yet, please let us know. This is a great opportunity to sleep under the stars in a controlled, safe and secure way.
And more...
As we move into the final few weeks we have the following events all booked in for parents.
Monday 11th: Music performance from all our children in Y1 - Y6
Tuesday 12th: Reception and Nursery class assemblies
Year 6 Leaver's Play
Thursday 14th: Reports to parents
Y6 BBQ & Disco
Monday 18th: EYFS & KS1 Trips
Tuesday 19th: Y3/4 Trip
Wednesday 20th: Y5/6 Trip
Friday 22nd: Y6 Leaver's Assembly (parents welcome) and the last day of the school year.
Hope that helps with getting things into your diary and helping you attend as many of the events that you can make.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Mr A
