Weekly Update Friday 19th July 2019fluencycontent2-schoolwebsite.netdna-ssl.com/File... · Weekly...
Transcript of Weekly Update Friday 19th July 2019fluencycontent2-schoolwebsite.netdna-ssl.com/File... · Weekly...
Weekly Update
Friday 19th July 2019
Today, families and friends it is our last day of term. We have much to look forward to in September, but first, a goodbye to our leavers. It never fails to amaze me how much our children grow in ways not measured in height alone. The experiences of clubs, shows, friendships and much much more enable our children to develop the skills they will need to navigate the next stages of their journeys beyond their academic achievements too. We are so very proud of them. In September we have much to look forward to. I am currently being inundated in my office with artwork related to our new house system. This will underpin the values taught so strongly here at Shefford Lower School, and will be the basis for our new behaviour policy too. The children will be stewarding the younger children and taking on responsible roles to support their development and that of other children. We have already awarded a few house points. Our tea parties will continue. If your child collected their target after our last tea party, they will be the first in the new term. Mrs Freeman, Mrs Ross and I can’t wait to hold these again. We say goodbye to Mrs Bambridge, who has been at the school for nine years. We wish her luck in her new adventures. Due to the importance of provision for SEND, this will be lead by our Deputy Head teacher with myself, and a new SENDCo in Mrs Robinson. We have redesigned some of our planning and how our children are screened for support in the early years, in order to provide streamlined interventions and expand communication. Joining the SEND team, is Mrs Woods, who will work closely with Mrs Herbert to provide support in Poplar class also. Mrs Parry remains our wonderful family liaison worker, and will continue to organise her breakfast club. The wellbeing of our pupils has taken a front seat this year, and we have also prioritised staff wellbeing internally. Heading this up newly in a more senior position, Mrs Houghton is taking a lead for programmes aimed at developing character and resilience – I’m sure you will agree that in modern times, this is a growing area for our children. In another new senior role, Mr Wakefield is taking the lead for curriculum. We have been excited by the new framework for inspecting schools, and know that the offer of breadth here at Shefford is one to be very proud of. Our children perform exceptionally well against national and local averages, and this year has been no different. Our Year 4 leavers have exceeded all of those benchmarks again, and improved on last year’s scores as well. We wish you all a happy and healthy summer. We look forward to refreshed and happy children returning to start the new school year with gusto in September. I shall see you on the gate as usual…. Warmest regards, Mrs Finch
Rosemary Last has been our school librarian for over 20
years! She has seen many changes in the school over that
time, from the many children and staff who have been part of
our school community, to the move of the whole school from
the old to the new building and various location changes for
the library over the years to where it now lives in our Learning
Hub. Sadly, she is now leaving us for a very well earned
retirement but we hope she will be back to visit us lots.
Rosemary has always worked incredibly hard to ensure that we
have a fantastic range of fiction and non-fiction books suitable
for children across the school and catering to many different
reading tastes and interests. We have nearly 7,000 books in
total in our library, all carefully catalogued by Rosemary, which
are being borrowed and enjoyed by hundreds of children each
week!
On Tuesday, she joined us for Mrs Houghton's Signing
Assembly so our whole school could thank her for all of her
contributions. She really enjoyed listening to our fabulous
musicians and singing too!
Year 4 Leavers
The time has come to say farewell to our Year 4s! They have had a lovely last week, with their leavers
lunch on the field, their fantastic performance of ‘Hoodwinked’ followed by afternoon tea. I’m sure
there will be lots of signing of Leavers Books today! We will miss them and would like to wish them all
the best on the next step of their journey.
Farewell...
Miss Bambridge
We will be saying goodbye to Miss Bambridge today who has spread
her magic for 9 years at Shefford Lower! Her new school will be very
lucky to have her. We know she will be thoroughly missed by the
children and adults and wish her the best of luck on her new journey!
School Packed Lunch
If your child has a school packed lunch as a regular order, this will cease at the end of term. A new
order form should be completed for the new school year to be returned by 9.30am on Friday 6th
September 2019. School packed lunches will not be available for the first week of term.
Milk Bottle Tops and Batteries
Please continue to keep up the good work over the holidays by collecting milk bottle tops and
batteries!
You can bring your batteries in to school for us to send off for recycling but unfortunately we are not
collecting milk bottle tops; please send them to the address below;
Freepost
LUSH GREENHUB (Has to be in capitals)
Bottletops
Thank you
We are very lucky to have such a supportive and dedicated PSA and we would
like to say a big thank you to them for all their hard work this year and in
previous ones. They are consistently coming out with new and exciting ideas to
help raise money for the school to support our children. They have funded
various projects such as the Year 3 Sing Out, Play Out concert, Year 4 Leavers
Books and the Immersive Classroom, which is being installed in September.
Thank you for all that you do!
Reading Bingo Challenge
Children in Years R-3 have been given a yellow bingo card to bring home for the Reading Bingo
Challenge. Each square on the card asks children to read a specific book e.g. ‘A book about a dragon’.
The idea is for children to complete all 9 squares on their bingo card and get them signed by an adult
once completed. Completed cards can then be brought back in to school in September and handed in
to Mrs Metcalfe for a certificate, bookmark and a house point! Happy reading!
Little Ninja’s
Please see a Little Ninja’s booking form attached to this ParentMail. This starts on Friday 13th
September.
Summer Reading Challenge
The Summer Reading Challenge takes place every year during the summer holidays. You can sign up
at your local library, then read six library books of your choice to complete the Challenge. There are
rewards to collect along the way, and it’s FREE to take part! In Central Bedfordshire, the challenge
begins on Saturday 20th July and there are activities to join in at the libraries. After completing the
basic 6 book challenge, children are encouraged to continue reading and there is a family theatre
ticket prize at each library for the child who reads the most books.
The Summer Reading Challenge website helps you keep track of your reading all year round: find
new books to read, take part in competitions, mini challenges, and play games. For further
information: www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/summer-reading-challenge.
Well done to Dexy in Ash Class who won the Greensands
Country Photography with his picture of ‘Greensands Man’!
Well Done
Music News
Congratulations to the following children for their successes in recent music exams:
Music Medals (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music)
Copper
Lucy E
Amelia F
Isla H
Gold
Olivia B
Chloe S
Grace S
Graded exams (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music):
Olivia B (Hazel) - Grade 1 Clarinet with Merit
George M (Hazel) - Grade 2 Clarinet
Oliver D (Hazel) - Grade 1 Piano with Merit
Ayssia S (Beech) - Grade 1 Violin with Merit
Music Cup
Hudson S (Ash)
Thank you to all the children who have performed on so many occasions throughout the past year—in
music assemblies and class assemblies, at music concerts and coffee mornings, on community visits and
at end of term productions. These recitals have all been greatly enjoyed.
Music results 2018-2019
Music Medal Results 2019 (E=Excellence, P=Pass)
Bronze
Dougie A – P E P
Enya B – E E E
Felicity B – E E P
Matthew F – E E P
Priya G – E E E
Layla H – P E E
Aaliyah H – E E E
Abigail H – E E E
Lily-Mae J – P P P
Sky L – E P P
Summer L – E E P
Kayla M – E E E
Lilly S – E E E
Ellie S – E E P
Evie-Mae W – E E P
Copper
Phoebe B—P E E
Eleanor B – E E E
Matthew B – E E E
Grace C – P E P
Lucy E – E E E
Amelia F – P E E
Allyssa F – P P P
Charlie G – P E P
Abigail H – E E E
Isla H – P P E
Amely H – P E E
Hollie J – P E E
Evelyn L – P E E
Reuben L – E E E
Harper M – P E E
Bo M – P P E
Lexi M – P E E
Daniel M — P P E
Dexter P – E E E
Jessica R – P P E
Sophie R – P E E
Katherine Z – E E P
Silver
Olivia B – E E E
Alice B – P P E
Mya D – E E E
Sophie D – P P P
Scarlett G – P E E
Zoe H – P E E
Freya L – E E E
Chloe S – E E E
Grace S– E E E
Gold
Olivia B – P P E
Chloe S – P E E
Grace S – E E P
Platinum
Simon P – E E P
Hudson S– E E E
Alyssia S – E E E
Graded exams
Grace S – Grade 1 Flute (with merit)
Chloe S – Grade 1 Flute
Louis C – Grade 1 Clarinet
Hudson S – Grade 2 Guitar (with distinction)
George M – Grade 1 Clarinet (with
distinction)
Abigail H – Grade 1 Pop and Rock Vocals (with
distinction)
Simon P – Grade 1 Piano (with distinction)
Oliva B – Grade 1 Clarinet (with merit)
George M – Grade 2 Clarinet
Oliver D – Grade 1 Piano (with merit)
Alyssia S – Grade 1 Violin (with merit)
Music Cup
Hudson S
Finer Diners
Congratulations to the children below who have sat at the ‘Finer Diner’ table this week for displaying good
manners and values at lunchtime:
Year 1
Beth G
Frankie P
William H-M
Year 2
Tobias H
Isla H
Joseph R
Mason C
Stephen B
Year 3
Jaya A
Mason H
Emma G
Annaliese L
Year 4
Chloe R
Eva C
Haydn C
As ever the PSA have been busy working on your behalf to raise funds to support the children’s learning and
provide activities in addition to the school’s curriculum. Your monies have paid for magazine subscriptions,
storage units for Early years, Sing up/Play out, Drumming, Leavers books and much much more. Of course,
our main focus this year has been raising money for the Immersive Classroom. We are hopeful that Phase 1
will be installed and ready to use for the children’s return in September. Phase 2 includes a movable unit that
can be transferred into each classroom giving children the benefit of Immersive learning without leaving the
class. This has been an immense and on-going project and one we hope all children will benefit from next
term. We thank you for your continued support and hope that we see you at our amazing circus in
September.
Personal thanks go to our departing PSA members who without their commitment, support and knowledge
we wouldn’t get half the things done that we do. We are losing 2 key members of our team this year. Shelley
Chandler and Julie Liddiard who between them have put in 22 years’ service!. They have more recently been
involved in sorting out our yearly Xmas cards and Hampers for the Christmas raffle. They will have served
countless cups of tea and coffee and an infinite number of hours behind the scenes planning and preparing
events. We thank them for all their hard work and dedication to our PSA and the school over the years.
Shefford Circus
We still have tickets available for both circus performances on Saturday 28th September - although tickets
are now limited for the 2.40pm show.
Whilst the school is closed you will still be able to purchase these from Spitfire Travel, The MOT garage (near
Morrisons), The Paper Shop, (Near Post Office) and Shefford Building Supplies. All tickets are now £8.00.
Summer Jam Jar Project We are asking that all families please support the PSA over the summer holidays and convert any used jars into ‘Jars of Joy’. Leaflets have been sent home this week. These can be filled with anything: crafts, sweets, small gifts etc. We will have a Jar Tombola at the Circus, amongst other stalls. Teddies We will still collect your pre-loved teddies the first week we are back in September. The drop off bin is in the schools Reception area. White Elephant Tombola We are also looking for unwanted gifts and donations for our White Elephant Tombola stall please. These can include bottles of wine, tickets, vouchers or any donation that would be a suitable prize. The stall will be aimed at both adults and children so games and toys will also be gratefully received. Again, please drop hese directly in to the school office the first week back.
PSA News
Ongoing Events — all projects below are funding our Immersive Room Easy Fundraising
We have a link with the Easyfundraising company that allows online shopping to feed commission back to
a chosen charity. The PSA have registered with this and have so far raised an additional £367.00 for the
school. Please use the following link to register https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/invite/E2CZEL. It costs
NOTHING and once it’s set up there are reminders as you spend on applicable websites. It really couldn’t
be easier to raise money for the school.
Go Henry
Does your child receive pocket money? Do you want to have more control over how they save and spend?
If so, Go Henry could be the solution for your family. Combining a pre-paid debit card and an app with
unique parental controls, it’s been built from the ground up for both parents and children. Sign up today
for your one month’s free trial offer, after which it’s just £2.99 per child a month. The card can be used
online, in-store, and at ATMs, so as we move ever closer to a cashless society, it allows children to
experience money in all it’s different forms. This summer term Go Henry is offering to give £20.00 to our
PSA for every parent who activates.
Go on—give it a try by clicking on the link https://www.gohenry.com/uk/pta-referrals/?
promotion=UKPTASLS&ght=UKPTASLS
Your School Lottery
Hopefully you will have seen the ParentMail and the leaflet regarding our recent registration with ’Your
Schools Lottery’ This will give you the chance to purchase weekly lottery tickets, currently giving you 3
opportunities to win prizes. We already have 22 tickets registered for the 1st draw in October.
Register this month and tickets will be entered into 3 draws:
1. Your local prize draw—30% of all monies received become the local prize fund. First date 5th October.
2. The jackpot prize draw—national jackpot is a weekly draw for £25,000.
3. The draw for any giveaways they are offering—this month is a luggage set.
ONE ticket works out to £4.34 per month on a direct debit basis. This will be an ongoing subscription and
is available to all parents, friends and family of pupils at our school. Not only will you be helping your
school, you will hopefully win a bit of cash back for yourselves.
In closing, the PSA thank you again for your support this year and wish you all a Happy Summer Break!
Community News
Please note, the following events/activities are run independently of
Shefford Lower.
Diary Dates (further dates will be added and these will be in bold italics)
Autumn Term 2019
2nd September Inset Day
3rd September Inset Day
4th September Staff and Children Return
Absence
Please see the graph below on the impact absence can have on later achievement.
Just a reminder the school office will need proof of all medical appointments for these absences to be
marked as ‘Medical’ otherwise these will be marked as ‘Unauthorised’.