We are delighted with the work that was carried out in our pond area during the holidays. As well as clearing the pond and generally tidying the area, the lovely new wooden platforms that have been installed will help the children access the area more easily for pond dipping and provide a space for them to work whilst exploring and investigating.

With some frogs already spotted in and around the pond this week, It will be interesting to see which other creatures start to use this wonderful habitat over the next few months!

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to the fabulous FPSA for funding this project - and thanks also to our super site team, Mr Dearnaley and Mr Vogel, for adding some very important finishing touches!

The Royal British Legion has kindly informed us that our school raised £139.67 for the Poppy Appeal in November last year. They have asked us to pass on their thanks to our children and families for your help with the Appeal which will enable them to carry on vital welfare and benevolent work.

Overall, the District Total was an incredible £46,327.15 

Thank you to all who supported this very worthy cause.

Thank you to all those who have already purchased books from our Amazon wish list or made a donation via Scopay. If you haven't had a chance to do so yet, you can access our Amazon wish list via the link below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/DT5RNWLOW12D?ref_=wl_share 

Alternatively, If you would prefer to make a contribution of £1 or more rather than purchasing a book from our wish list, you can do this via Scopay (as per school meal orders.) Please login to your account, then select: Optional Trips and Events - World Book Day March 24 to make a donation. 

Thank you!

With support from some very helpful FPJS Year 6 librarians, this week saw the launch of Lunchtime Library sessions for our Year 2 children.

Proudly wearing their bright yellow 'Lunchtime Library' lanyards, our children have thoroughly enjoyed spending time in the library with their friends. The Year 6 children were on hand to support the children with their book choices and issue books for them to read and enjoy at home.

Our thanks to Miss Morales at FPJS for helping to organise the Lunchtime Library sessions :)

Due to the continuing popularity of our after school library sessions, we would love to extend the number of days we are able to open.

However, in order to do this, we need to have some more parent volunteers to run these sessions. 

If you feel you could spare about 15-20 minutes after school on a Wednesday or Thursday, please contact the school office.

Parent volunteers will be required to have a DBS check prior to starting. Training will be provided.

We have launched our Early Years Mastering Number Parent Project. This exciting project shares some of the resources and learning that we will be doing in school and provides parents with some fun games that they can use to support their child at home. It was fantastic to welcome so many parents and give the the opportunity to learn how to play the games with the children, whilst having fun with maths! We have also provided every child with coloured counters to use at home during the project to support their learning. Please can we have the counters back after Easter to use with the next year group. Thanks you!

We look forward to seeing how your child progresses through your Seesaw logs.

Our Dragonfly children were excited to welcome Emma Sweeting, a local artist who delivered a creative animal workshop last week. They had the opportunity to mark masks, create animal pattern bracelets and draw animal characters with her support. The children and adults had a fabulous time and we hope to have another visit from Emma soon.

Our Early Years children were excited to welcome the farm on Tuesday.  Farmer Danielle and Farmer Angie were back with us this year. They brought lots of animals including goats, lambs, ducks, hens, guinea pigs, mice and Delilah the pony. Doris the escaping goat was a firm favourite and she had the children giggling with her antics! The children all spent time learning more about the animals and were able to hold and stroke them. Some of our Bumblebees, Caterpillars and Dragonflies helped to brush Delilah and feed the baby lambs. We all had a fantastic time and Farmer Daniella said that the children behaved impeccably, listened to instructions and were a joy to share the animals with. We were incredibly proud of them all!

In nurture, the children have been busy updating the room with spring decorations. This included making paper chains for the wall, putting together chicks, lambs and daffodils for the season board and finally making some stained glass effect pictures for the door.

As the year 2s are learning all about the Great Fire of London, we did some activities related to this topic including word searches and building small paper houses.

As part of our senses discussion, we had a go at guessing animals simply by hearing different noises they make with the unusual noise from a buffalo getting the biggest laugh! In addition, we had a go at seeing how it feels without our sense of sight, following a simple set of instructions with some playdough.

School council have been busy over the last few weeks making posters for Red Nose Day! We have designed posters for each of our classrooms to help spread the word that we are selling red noses over the next couple of weeks. We have already sold quite a few and have enjoyed selling red noses to our friends and grown ups! So if you haven't got your red nose yet come and find us next week! 

Disco Night

Our first 'Disco Night' for the grown-ups was held on Friday 9th February. Thank you to everyone who supported the event and a huge thank you to the two Junior teachers, Mr King and Mr Sawle (aka DJs King & Sawle) who played the music on the night. The event raised ~£1,000 for both schools which is fantastic. Roll on the next one!

FPSA money funds the development of the Infants school pond.

Hopefully parents and children at the Infants have noticed a big change in the pond area behind Beech class. Builders were busy over the February half term and have made some big improvements to this area. The FPSA funded all of this improvement work so thank you to everyone who has supported our fund-raising events, this is a nice example of where the money goes.

Dates for your diary

• Happy School Bags Collection - Friday 22nd March (drop off)

Bring your bags filled with unwanted clean clothes to help raise funds for both schools. You can leave bags at the Infants gates between 8.30am and 9am.

• Mr T's Quiz Night - Friday 22nd March (8pm - 10.45pm)

The FPSA quiz night is back! Join us at the Junior School hall for a fun evening as we raise money for both schools whilst testing our general knowledge and having a drink or two. The quiz includes 4 picture rounds, a music round, a connections round and another mystery round. Book tickets at www.pta-events.co.uk/fpsa. Enter as a full team of 6 or come along as an individual/pair and we will join you with another friendly team on the night. Tickets include lovely food from Palmieri's. A licensed bar will be available.

Thank you to everyone who signed up to have an Oakwood Estates board up outside their house - these should be going up very soon and have helped to raise ~£450 for both schools.

• FPSA AGM - Wednesday 27th March (8pm - 9pm)

Come and find out about our fundraising in 2023, hear from the school heads about what they have spent FPSA money on and what is on their wish list for 2024. Everyone is welcome.  We would love to have new members join the team so this is a perfect opportunity to meet us, find out more and hopefully join the FPSA!

The AGM will be taking place in the Infants school (most likely Hazel classroom), so please arrive any time from 7.45pm.

• Summer Fair - Saturday 22nd June (11.30am - 2.30pm)

Fun for all the family at our biggest fund-raising event of the year. Please save the date!