Furze Platt Infant School
Newsletter - 16th July 2021
Hooray for the holidays!
What an incredible year we have had in our school!
Despite the on-going challenges we have faced and the disruption to learning in school, it has been a wonderful to see how well our children have progressed. They have grown in so many ways and we are all very proud of what they have achieved this year. This is in no small measure due to the incredible support we have had from our parents and families throughout the past year. We are really very fortunate to be part of such a fantastic community! Thank you all!
As you will also know, our school also has a very hard working and dedicated staff team who, once again this year, have all gone above and beyond to make sure every child in our school has the best possible start to their learning journey filled with so many exciting and engaging experiences. I cannot thank them enough for all their hard work and support.
We have celebrated the end of our academic year with some wonderful events in school...
Our Year 1 Marketplace event was a real showcase for the children's learning this term. It was a priviledge to be able to see and hear all about the things they had been doing - and their passion to share their learning was overhwhelming!
Our Year 2 Summer Production, 'The Bee Musical' certainly created a real buzz around the whole school (sorry!) It was evident that the children thoroughly enjoyed putting on this performance from the energy and enthusiam that filled the school hall. Their confidence was a joy to see and it was so impressive that everyone had learnt their lines, dance moves and song lyrics so well! We will wish our Hazel, Holly and Willow Class children farewell at the end of term next week - and send them on their way with our very best wishes for the next steps in their journey. We are incredibly proud of you all! :)
Our Early Years Graduation next week will bring our celebrations to a close for this year and I'm sure it will be a lovely way for the children to mark the end of their first school year with us here at FPIS.
So, with just a few days left to go until the end of term, I am sure that we are all very much looking forward to the summer break and a more settled year ahead. Thank you once again for your continued support. I would like to wish you all a very happy, safe and restful summer holiday! :)
Jane Indge
Head of School
Staffing updates and arrangements for 2021-22
As per our recent communication, we have taken the opportunity to look at our staffing structure for the coming year, given the disruption to our children's learning in school over the past 2 years. This will not only allow us to focus on our key priorities, but provide some continuity in the next year group as our children move through the school. We are really confident that with such a passionate and skilled team in place, 2021-22 is going to be a really positive year for our school! Please see below for our classes and staffing structure for 2021-22.
Classes and staffing arrangements 2021-22.pdf
Welcome (back) to the team!
We are delighted to have some new (and not so new!) staff team members joining us at FPIS in September...
We will be welcoming the return of Miss Rhian Roberts to our staff team once again as she will be moving back to Maidenhead in the summer. After a year away, Miss Roberts will be bringing her passion and enthusiasm to our school once again as she joins the Year 1 team in September as Oak Class teacher. We are all looking forward to having her back with us!
New staff for 2021/22!
One of our new team members is Miss Izzie Turner, our Bumblebee Class teacher, who joins us in September.
Miss Turner has lots of Early Years knowledge and experience, and I am sure that she will be a great addition to the staff team!
We are sure you will join us in welcoming her to our school next year and we wish her every success for her new role.
We are also very excited to let you know that we have two new Teaching Assistants, Mr Paul Thompson (aka Mr T) and Mrs Sarah Addyman, joining us in the new academic year. Mr Thompson is already a familiar face to many of us as, not only is he the Vice-Chair of the FPSA, but also a regular volunteer supporting reading in our school. Mrs Addyman has lots of experience supporting all types of childcare provision within RBWM and I'm sure will bring a wealth of knowledge to the role. In addition, we are really pleased to let you know that we will be welcoming three new lunchtime controllers to the team in September. Mrs Zoe Williams, Mrs Fozia Din and Mrs Divya Gundamaraju will all be part of the lunch team when we return to school.
A few farewells...
Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to few of our staff members at the end of term. Mrs Naga Chintala, Teaching Assistant/Lunchtime Controller and Mrs Winnie Luk, our Lunchtime Supervisor will be moving on. Mrs Chintala is leaving us to focus on her family commitments, whilst Mrs Luk is taking on an exciting new role supporting extended lunch provision at another school. We will also say farewell to Mrs April Lane, Teaching Assistant/Lunchtime Controller, who is leaving our school to enable her to fully concentrate on her new fitness career.
We would like to thank them all for their support and hard work and wish them all the very best for the future.
Message from Derek Moss, Chair of Governors
At the end of every school year, governors take time to reflect on what the schools have achieved and what we could have done to make things even better, both collectively and through our individual efforts. To say that this year has been a year that’s not been like any other is a cliché but it really hasn’t been!
Last September we returned to full time schooling in our bubbles and with new risk assessments and ways of working to be tested. We hope that you have been happy with those arrangements which have continued throughout the year when we were not “in lockdown”. As the Chair of Governors I’m proud of the way the leadership team reacted to change on an almost daily basis; they are an amazing team. Despite the challenges and for parents and carers, the challenge of children learning at home, it has been a really successful year for the Federation.
During our school visits (those now seemingly far off days) it was really inspiring to see a real hunger and enthusiasm among your children to learn. It is infectious and in no small part down to the great team of teachers. We have an exceptional staff team at both schools. They all go the extra mile to make the learning experience for the children the very best it can be. FPPF is a family and the work of the admin staff is equally important in making the school what it is. It amazes me that as a school we have achieved so much this last term to provide our children with the best transition possible.
Our continued thanks must also go to FPSA who provide that extra bit of funding to help provide the children with the best environment possible for the school. Fundraising this year has fraught with difficulty but the team has still delivered.
We hope that everyone enjoys their summer break however long or short it is. When we return in September hopefully we will be back to something that used to be considered normal.
Can I also on behalf of you all thank Mr. Wallace and the whole staff for the amazing way that they have adapted and risen above every challenge this year. It has been very special to watch them from afar and virtually.
We look forward to the new academic year with great hopes to continue the work of our schools.
Derek Moss, Chair of Governors
July and August birthday celebrations!
Whilst quite a few of our children who have July and August birthdays will be able to enjoy their big day in the summer holidays of course, that won't stop some early celebrations in school! Parties for our July and August birthdays will be held onWednesday 21st July.
It has been lovely to make sure that our children have all had the chance to enjoy a birthday party in school this year.
A new arrival!
Mrs Trillow and family wanted to share with you the happy news that she gave birth to a baby girl in mid June, who they have named Ada Rose. Both mum and baby are doing well!
Many congratulations from us all! :)
The new Furze Platt Resource Provision coming soon…
Building work has started on a brand new resource provision for children and young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on our site. It is hoped that the resource provision will be ready to open from October 2021.
The resource provision will support children with complex social communication difficulties and will be part of the mainstream schools. The new facility will support children with EHCPs for complex needs including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
The resource provision will be located on both the Infant and Junior school sites. We are delighted to announce that Miss Katie Thompson (currently Year 2, Willow Class teacher) has been appointed as the new Resource Base manager, across both sites.
The provision will enable us to continue to provide an inclusive environment for all our pupils and to further strengthen our sense of community across our schools. We will keep you updated with the building progress in September.
Early Years News
In Early Years we have been having fun exploring and learning indoors and outside. We have enjoyed working together with our friends from other classes!
On Wednesday the children met their new teachers and spent time with their new classmates. They have been talking about their favourite experiences and how much they have learnt in Early Years this year. As part of our transition the children have created selfie sheets to let their new teacher know all about them.
We have been practising for our Early Years Graduation and look forward to celebrating a great year together. We will be sharing it with you through Seesaw on Tuesday 20th July.
Year 1 News
Last week Year 1 held their 'Changes Market Place' to showcase all of the amazing learning that they had been doing during the project. It was wonderful to see all of the children proudly explaining what their market stall was about. Stalls included the changes in hospitals since before Florence Nightingale to the present, the effects of exercise on our bodies, the weather, seasons, habitats, growing plants and The Olympics. It was a fantastic morning and the children had lots of fun designing and creating their stalls. In maths we have been learning to tell the time to the hour and half hour and recognising coins and notes.
Year 2 News
Well there has certainly been a buzz around Year 2 this week and they have done an unbee-lievable job!! They have had so much fun learning all about bees and performing their very own Bee Musical. We have learnt about how important bees are and that they have quite a responsibility! All of the Year 2 staff are extremely proud of their commitment, enthusiasm and confidence!
As the Library Summer Challenge will be beginning soon we have also enjoyed some Zoom sessions which have been led by the Library. Our first Zoom was led by Amy Ball a representative from WWF as the focus of this years challenge is being Eco Superheroes! Amy taught us lots about how to look after our environment and even spoke about bees! We also enjoyed another Zoom by an author: M.G Leonard who wrote the story A Tale of a Toothbrush: a story of plastic pollution in our oceans.
Donate a book to our school!
As per our recent communication, we have created an Amazon wish list which has new titles to enhance our projects next year, as well as some books from our current stocks which need replacing due to the inevitable wear and tear of the busy classroom environments.
We have successfully used wish lists in the past as a means of resourcing books for our school. Thanks to the generosity of our families this has meant that we have been able to continue to provide our children with an extensive range of high quality texts to engage and inspire them as young readers as well as further improve the range of books available to support their learning through projects across the school.
If you would like to purchase an individual book, including a personalised book plate (see below) you can access our Amazon wish list via the link below:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/DT5RNWLOW12D?ref_=wl_share
The majority of books on the list are priced between £4 and £7. Once purchased through Amazon, the book will come off the list. If you purchase a book elsewhere then please let the School Office know so that the list can be updated online.
All the donated books will be given a book plate, personalised with your child’s name, like the image below - a lovely reminder of pupils' past (particularly for our current Year 2 children, who will be leaving our school soon), for our children to come! When you add the book to your basket (before you proceed to checkout) please select the "this is a gift" option which will allow you to enter your child's name for the book plate. If this option is not available for the book you choose please email the school office with a note of your child's name and the book they have ordered.
Thank you! :)
House Points
Phoenix win the house cup!
Our congratulations to everyone in Phoenix house team for being awarded the most house points overall this term - an incredible 511 in total! Well done everyone!
Head of School Awards
Head of School Awards.newsletter template.docxDoodle update
Doodle update.docxInformation for families
Junior Camps (2021).pdfStage is yours, Furze Platt A3 poster.pdfFINAL Wise Owls leaflet.pdfQuick Links
