July 15th Issue 15
Diary Dates July Last day of term : Thursday 21st September First day of term : Monday 5th Great Fen Bird Watch Project: wb 12th
Headteacher’s news Summer term newsletter, July 15th Dear parents, carers and of course children,
Building work update As this year draws to a close we will also be saying good bye to our resident builders! At last you cry! Yes, it has been taxing, but wow what a school we now have! The work was always going to be a year long project and despite some trips along the way, it will complete over the summer holiday as originally scheduled. I know as parents you have not seen the full extent of the work and so I thought it was worth re lecting on what has been done: •
New front entrance and of ice
•
New rear extension (teaching space)
•
New outdoor learning area for reception which includes two new canopies, all weather rubber crumb looring, new garden and new fruit trees
•
New outdoor learning area for Yr3-6
•
Repaired outbuildings ’Henrietta’s Hut’
•
Class 4/library/annex—new loors, damproo ing, roo ing, windows
•
Roof—cleared, cleaned, insulated, owl boxes built
•
•
Old school house : underpinned, re-modeled, loors removed and replaced, redecorated, damp proofed, new windows, central heating (in the process of completion) New garden area, re furbished pond area with new fencing and pathways—a teaching space (in the process of completion)
In the Autumn term, we are planning to host an open afternoon so all of this can be viewed; we are also planning to invite villagers and ex-pupils too! Watch this space!
This year has been a fun filled year with so many memories made for the teachers, children and hopefully parents and carers too. I have been reflec ng on the achievements of the school and the children as this academic year finishes and I can honestly say that there is just so much to be proud of. Your children con nue to impress us each day with their kindness, capacity for learning and love of school. They have taken so well to the Learning Detec ves programme and are becoming very ar culate about the learning process and their own personal goals for their learning behaviour; this is so crucial for learning beyond primary school. I am of course super proud of the adults who work so hard, not only during the day, but weekends and holidays too, to plan the learning for the children; our staff are dedicated to providing a first class educa on and work relessly in this endeavour. As this term closes, the teaching staff and governing body have analysed the school data, picking out strengths and areas for development in order that we strive for excellence; there will be a le'er coming out this week giving you more informa on about this and how you can support your child at home. We do no ce more and more, the correla on between support at home and progress in school and so would reiterate the benefits to all parents of reading to and with your child., encouraging quality (but not doing!) homelearning , all of which will support your child’s progress and the school’s drive for high standards in all areas. I wish you all a happy, healthy and relaxed summer break. Mrs Allen
E Safety In the last few weeks we have conducted our annual E Safety survey with the children. This survey provides us with valuable information about how safe your children feel online, either in school or out and gives us an indication of how successful the E Safety curriculum is in our school. The survey also gives us useful information about emerging technology trends within our school as well as children’s behaviours and attitudes to technology. We are pleased to tell you that the picture is, overall, a very positive one. The children feel safe when using technology in school and knew what to do if something appears on the screen that they do not like. Our ‘Hector the Protector’ dolphin character appears to be well known by the children. Hector is a small character that is on screen all of the time when children are using the laptops or ipads; children can click on him if they see something they do not like and the screen will black out. The significant majority of children spent an age appropriate amount of time on technology on websites appropriate for their age. However, we did notice that the range of devices which the children use on a regular basis to either play games, watch TV or view sites, such as youtube, has increased since last year—especially for our younger children, which worries us as teachers. We also noticed a rise in online gaming for the older children and the playing of 15 and 18 rated games; continued viewing of such games can impede on children’s social empathy and anger levels and we would urge that the age restrictions are adhered to. Whilst as teachers, we embrace the power of technology, we would urge that more time is spent reading, counting, problem solving, creating, playing and pursuing outdoor activities rather than isolated time on devices.
Forest school update A huge thanks to Mr Papworth and Mr Gipson, both Governors of our school, for their work on clearing and preparing the Forest School site for the children. We now have a log circle, clear paths, log walls and planting beds ready to go! In September, the school is being visited by a Forest School training provider, with a view to getting some of the staff fully trained up as Forest School Leaders. The plan will then be for each class to have planned curriculum time in the space to maximize its use. We will keep you updated as this work progresses.
We are pleased to have been asked to take place in the Great Fen Bird Watch project which aims to encourage children and families to spot, count and record bird types for a Great Fen survey. They will be visiting the school on Tuesday 13th September to launch the project in an assembly and then working with the children on a problem solving related activity on the Thursday which supports our work with the children on ‘Learning Detectives.’ We will then aim to set up counting stations and bird feeders in school and in our Forest School also.
The staff and governors would like to extend a huge thankyou to FOHS for their continued fundraising efforts without which, many of our enrichments activities would not be able to take place. In the words of our unof!icial school motto - ‘We are small, but mighty!’
A1 Sports On Friday July 8th, the small schools within the A1 cluster—Elton, Gt Gidding, Folksworth, Farcet and Holme—competed for the A1 Sports Cup at Stanground Academy. All of the schools were fantastic with some excellent athletes across the board. We fought hard but sadly, were pipped at the post by Elton school this year . I am super proud of the way in which our children competed and displayed excellent sportsmanship. We are already in training to bring the cup back to Holme next year!
Headteacher’s news Summer term newsletter, July 15th Dear parents, carers and of course children,
Building work update As this year draws to a close we will also be saying good bye to our resident builders! At last you cry! Yes, it has been taxing, but wow what a school we now have! The work was always going to be a year long project and despite some trips along the way, it will complete over the summer holiday as originally scheduled. I know as parents you have not seen the full extent of the work and so I thought it was worth re lecting on what has been done: •
New front entrance and of ice
•
New rear extension (teaching space)
•
New outdoor learning area for reception which includes two new canopies, all weather rubber crumb looring, new garden and new fruit trees
•
New outdoor learning area for Yr3-6
•
Repaired outbuildings ’Henrietta’s Hut’
•
Class 4/library/annex—new loors, damproo ing, roo ing, windows
•
Roof—cleared, cleaned, insulated, owl boxes built
•
•
Old school house : underpinned, re-modeled, loors removed and replaced, redecorated, damp proofed, new windows, central heating (in the process of completion) New garden area, re furbished pond area with new fencing and pathways—a teaching space (in the process of completion)
In the Autumn term, we are planning to host an open afternoon so all of this can be viewed; we are also planning to invite villagers and ex-pupils too! Watch this space!
This year has been a fun filled year with so many memories made for the teachers, children and hopefully parents and carers too. I have been reflec ng on the achievements of the school and the children as this academic year finishes and I can honestly say that there is just so much to be proud of. Your children con nue to impress us each day with their kindness, capacity for learning and love of school. They have taken so well to the Learning Detec ves programme and are becoming very ar culate about the learning process and their own personal goals for their learning behaviour; this is so crucial for learning beyond primary school. I am of course super proud of the adults who work so hard, not only during the day, but weekends and holidays too, to plan the learning for the children; our staff are dedicated to providing a first class educa on and work relessly in this endeavour. As this term closes, the teaching staff and governing body have analysed the school data, picking out strengths and areas for development in order that we strive for excellence; there will be a le'er coming out this week giving you more informa on about this and how you can support your child at home. We do no ce more and more, the correla on between support at home and progress in school and so would reiterate the benefits to all parents of reading to and with your child., encouraging quality (but not doing!) homelearning , all of which will support your child’s progress and the school’s drive for high standards in all areas. I wish you all a happy, healthy and relaxed summer break. Mrs Allen
E Safety In the last few weeks we have conducted our annual E Safety survey with the children. This survey provides us with valuable information about how safe your children feel online, either in school or out and gives us an indication of how successful the E Safety curriculum is in our school. The survey also gives us useful information about emerging technology trends within our school as well as children’s behaviours and attitudes to technology. We are pleased to tell you that the picture is, overall, a very positive one. The children feel safe when using technology in school and knew what to do if something appears on the screen that they do not like. Our ‘Hector the Protector’ dolphin character appears to be well known by the children. Hector is a small character that is on screen all of the time when children are using the laptops or ipads; children can click on him if they see something they do not like and the screen will black out. The significant majority of children spent an age appropriate amount of time on technology on websites appropriate for their age. However, we did notice that the range of devices which the children use on a regular basis to either play games, watch TV or view sites, such as youtube, has increased since last year—especially for our younger children, which worries us as teachers. We also noticed a rise in online gaming for the older children and the playing of 15 and 18 rated games; continued viewing of such games can impede on children’s social empathy and anger levels and we would urge that the age restrictions are adhered to. Whilst as teachers, we embrace the power of technology, we would urge that more time is spent reading, counting, problem solving, creating, playing and pursuing outdoor activities rather than isolated time on devices.
Forest school update A huge thanks to Mr Papworth and Mr Gipson, both Governors of our school, for their work on clearing and preparing the Forest School site for the children. We now have a log circle, clear paths, log walls and planting beds ready to go! In September, the school is being visited by a Forest School training provider, with a view to getting some of the staff fully trained up as Forest School Leaders. The plan will then be for each class to have planned curriculum time in the space to maximize its use. We will keep you updated as this work progresses.
We are pleased to have been asked to take place in the Great Fen Bird Watch project which aims to encourage children and families to spot, count and record bird types for a Great Fen survey. They will be visiting the school on Tuesday 13th September to launch the project in an assembly and then working with the children on a problem solving related activity on the Thursday which supports our work with the children on ‘Learning Detectives.’ We will then aim to set up counting stations and bird feeders in school and in our Forest School also.
The staff and governors would like to extend a huge thankyou to FOHS for their continued fundraising efforts without which, many of our enrichments activities would not be able to take place. In the words of our unof!icial school motto - ‘We are small, but mighty!’
A1 Sports On Friday July 8th, the small schools within the A1 cluster—Elton, Gt Gidding, Folksworth, Farcet and Holme—competed for the A1 Sports Cup at Stanground Academy. All of the schools were fantastic with some excellent athletes across the board. We fought hard but sadly, were pipped at the post by Elton school this year . I am super proud of the way in which our children competed and displayed excellent sportsmanship. We are already in training to bring the cup back to Holme next year!
