Furze Platt Infant School

Newsletter - 17th March 2023

We are super-scientists!

At FPIS, our aim is to provide opportunities for every child to explore, design, discover and investigate as they begin to learn about and make sense of the world. Through the specific area of Knowledge and Understanding of the World within our Early Years curriculum and then through Science in Key Stage 1, we want our children to know how to stay healthy and care for themselves and others. We also want our children to develop an understanding of an ecologically diverse world and the animals that live in it. We call these statements 'Our Curriculum Threads'.

This week, British Science Week 2023 has given us the perfect opportunity to showcase and celebrate some of the amazing scientific experiences that happen in our school. Read on below to see how our children really are super-scientists!

Thank you to all who have book a Parents' Evening appointment for Monday or Wednesday next week. We look forward to seeing you. Don't forget, we also have Marketplace events for Year 1 and 2 before the end of term. The children will be so pleased and proud to share their work, so we hope you can make it.

Have a lovely weekend!

Jane Indge

Head of School

Staffing update

We were very sad to say goodbye to Mrs Gundamaraju (known to all as Mrs D) last week. Mrs D has been a much valued part of our lunchtime team, most recently supporting our children in Early Years. Mrs D has secured a full-time position working in IT. We wish her all the best for the future and her exciting new career! :)

Quick Links

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Curriculum

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Term Dates

Well-being

Calendar

Diary dates - coming up soon!

Here is a brief look at what's going to be happening in school over the next few weeks...

Monday 20th March - Parents' Evening: 3:40 - 7:00 pm

Tuesday 21st March - World Poetry Day

Tuesday 21st March - Thursday 23rd March - Early Years Health Screening Checks

Wednesday 22nd March - Parents' Evening: 3:40 - 7:00 pm

Friday 24th March - FPSA Quiz Night

Wednesday 29th March - FPSA AGM

Wednesday 29th March - Year 1 Marketplace

Thursday 30th March - Year 2 Marketplace

Friday 31st March - End of Term

Monday 3rd April - Friday 14th April - Easter Holidays

Monday 17th April - Term begins

Tuesday 25th April - Information Advisory Service (IAS) Coffee Morning

Friday 28th April - FPSA Year 2 School Quiz

School Attendance

With an attendance figure of 98.6%, Oak Class had the best attendance overall this week, so will be taking care of SAM - our School Attendance Mascot. Well done everyone!

Our latest school attendance figures for each class are shown in the table. Our school attendance target is: 97%

Oak 98.6%

Silver Birch 98.0%

Holly 96.3%

Beech 96.2%

Hazel 95.5%

Willow 93.6%

Bumble Bee 91.3%

Caterpillar 90.3%

Dragonfly 88.6%

FPIS SEND Signpost

Red Nose Day - Comic Relief 2023

It has been a very silly and funny day at FPIS today - all in aid of Comic Relief, of course.

There has been some funny walking around our fitness track; taking selfies whilst pulling our funniest faces; lining up facing backwards, a funny dance-a-long and as you can see, some very silly outfits too!

Thank you!

We have already raised a whopping £453 for Red Nose Day 2023 so far via our JustGiving page. Thank you so much! If you would like to make a donation please use the QR code - or click on the link below:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/furze-platt-infant-school-red-nose-day-2023

British Science Week 2023

We were delighted to have Mr Thompson join our assembly on Monday this week, to help us launch British Science Week at FPIS. This year, the theme is 'Connections'. Mr Thompson, who was a scientist himself before joining the FPIS team, truly inspired the children by sharing his experiences and talking about 'Science in Action!'

As part of Science Week, our Early Years children have had the opportunity to explore and make connections first-hand about the life cycle of a chicken. See below for more details...

Meanwhile, in KS1 our children will be busy sowing, planting, growing, harvesting and eating fruit and vegetables over the next few weeks and months - a real hands-on experience of the connections between the 'field to fork' journey! Read on to find out more and for information about some resources so that you can get involved at home too!.

Early Years Science in Action!

We have some new arrivals...

On Monday our eggs, incubator and equipment arrived from The Happy Chick Company just in time for Science Week. In Early Years we will be hatching eggs, caring for chicks and learning all about the life-cycles. We are excited to experience science in action whilst having the opportunity to enrich our learning with first hand experiences.

See and Eat Vegetables!

The See & Eat Vegetable e-book library contains 24 titles with everything from Artichokes to Tomatoes! The books are designed to show a different vegetable’s journey from farm-to-fork. You can read the books on a smartphone or tablet and, if you wish, personalise them with your child. For more inforamtion visit: https://www.seeandeat.org/

KS1 Science in Action!

This week we have begun to plant vegetables in our growing beds. The children carefully planted some young purple sprouting plants - and then watered them in by collecting rain water from our water butt. Over the next few weeks, we will be adding more seedlings and plants - and learning about the different ways to raise plants for food. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed for a good crop later in the year!

WBD Wish List - thank you!

We have had over £250 worth of books donated via our World Book Day Wish List. Thank you to everyone who has very generously made a donation so far. Thank you!

If you would like to purchase an individual book to donate to school, including a personalised book plate with your child’s name you can access our Amazon wish list via the link below:

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

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.

Early Years

Our Bumblebee, Caterpillar and Dragonfly children have been continuing our project 'All About Animals'. Last week the children learnt about and described different types of bread from all around the world. They even made their own delicious bread, following a recipe and using our weighing equipment to measure the ingredients. The children were inspired by our bread basket and some made their dough into bagels, croissants, and hot cross bun shapes. Thank you parents for all of the complements about their baking skills. We were impressed too!

Following on from our story, The Little Red Hen, we explored how the Hen might have felt when the other other animals didn't help her. This sparked brilliant discussions and gave the children the opportunity to share their own experiences. We were able to use our school promises and zones of regulation to support the discussion. The children then took on the role of one of the characters and wrote their own sorry letter to the hen.

This week we explored the question, 'What foods are healthy and not healthy?' They designed their own healthy lunch box and discovered where some of the foods that they like are produced. Farmer Danielle and Farmer Angie were impressed with the children's knowledge last week during our farm visit and we were able to build on this with further investigation about agricultural farming. The children have enjoyed playing with the cereal farm in our tinker tray, created class fact sheets about a chosen farm animal and were thrilled to watch our chicks hatch!

Early Years Farm Visit

Our Early Years children were excited to welcome the farm last Friday. Farmer Danielle and Angie were back with us in our woodland area. They brought lots of animals including goats, lambs, ducks, hens, Guinea pigs, mice and Delia the 10 month old pony. The children all spent time learning more about the animals, were able to hold and stroke them. Some of our Bumblebees, Caterpillars and Dragonflies helped to brush Delia and feed the baby lambs. It was a cold day but the children came dressed for a farm in the snow and we all had a fantastic time!

Year 1

What a fabulous couple of weeks we have had in Year 1! The children continue to show curiosity in their learning and had a fabulous time at a workshop all about Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.

In Outdoor Learning, we were scientists and observed the weather (with particular interest in our little bit of snow!). We also got a close up look at some frogspawn. We will continue to check up on the frogspawn in the pond and cannot wait to hopefully see some tadpoles soon! We have learnt the names of the different parts of plants and even had a go at growing our own herb garden- just like Mary Seacole’s!

We have also been busy being geographers and mathematicians by thinking about positional and directional language including: North, South, East and West. We had a great time being explorers and using compasses independently!

Year 1 Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole Workshops

The Year 1 children had a fantastic time learning all about Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole in our workshop last week.

We got to dress up in lots of different costumes including; Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, different members of the English Government, soldiers in the Crimean War, nurses and different men who helped at the hospitals.

Through role play we learnt about what hospitals used to be like including sharing dirty bandages and not having clean beds. We then learnt how Florence changed this through the use of the washing dolly and wash board to clean bandages and bedding; as well as how to use and empty a chamber pot!

We learnt about the British government asking Florence for help and how the British government refused offer of help from Mary Seacole.

We learnt how Mary Seacole persevered through this and made a huge impact on our health system and natural medicines today.

We also learnt that Mary had no money left so soldiers threw her a ball to raise money and Mary changed into a new outfit. She also wrote a book about her adventures.

It was a great way of learning more about these two significant individuals in our past and they impact they have had today.

Year 2

Our Sticky Knowledge for DT this term has been manipulating needles and thread through fabric. We have been busy practising these important skills and putting them altogether in order to make a scent bag. We have learnt why scent bags were so important in 1666 - to mask the horrible smell! As you can see from the photos it has required concentration and a lot of perseverence, particularly in threading the needle and tying the knot!

In history we have been looking at the chronology of The Great Fire of London. We have also looked at the chronology of events in our own lifetimes as well as the historical events we have investigated throughout KS1. We have had a lot of thoughtful discussions whilst we have placed them on a timeline.

In geography we have investigated how the city of London has changed both in 1666 and how it continues to change today in 2023. We have enjoyed building our own models of various landmarks in London and also creating our maps.

In PE we have been using the skills we have learnt in our dance lessons to retell the story of The Great Fire of London.

In maths we have been having 'Fun with Fractions!' learning about how they represent parts of a whole, whether you are looking at shapes or quantities. We have learnt that we must have equal parts.

End of Key Stage 1 - Information Session for Parents

Thank you to those parents who were able to attend our information session last week. We hope you found it useful and informative. If you were not able to make it, or have any further questions please talk to your child's Class Teacher who will be very happy to help. You can use the link below to see the presentation slides:

https://furze-platt-infant-school.secure-primarysite.net/parent-workshops-and-information-sessions/

Nurture Group

We've been having lots of fun in nurture over the last few week's including testing our sense of touch. This involved a simple game where children took turns to put their hand down a jumper into a bucket full of different objects. Using touch alone, they had to say what the different objects were which ranged from a piece of lego, a spoon and a marble.

Our new spring display board is up and running along with some bright coloured paper-chains in the nurture room.

As spring approaches we have been thinking about what we might like to grow in the raised beds. We started by planting peas, which we hope will be big enough to plant out before the Easter holidays.

Finally the children enjoyed using watercolours and masking tape to create a nice piece of artwork featuring their first name initials.

Eco Team

We were excited to receive the International Eco-Schools Award Certificate. We worked really hard on three areas saving energy in our environment, reducing waste and recycling. We wrote our school's Eco Code and Eco Schools promise. As a result of our club's hard work and enthusiasm we have received the Green Flag and are really proud of all of our achievements!

We are joining the RHS Big Seed Sow which was launched this week So on Tuesday we have sown cucumber, carrot and tomato seeds. We planted our seeds in planters incase the weather continues to get cold we can bring them inside and take care of them!

If you would like to get involved you can find out more information on the RHS Big Seed Sow.

www.rhs.org.uk

School Council

This week we have been making posters to promote Red Nose Day! We have each made a poster for our classrooms to promote dressing up in either something red or silly! Hopefully our posters will encourage people to get involved and donate to a great cause!

Wonderful Wildlife!

For this newsletter, Mr Vogel has kindly compiled a seasonal selection of Spring photos for us.

Wonderful Wildlife#11 Spring!

Did you know? The official first day of Spring this year is Monday 20th March

Awesome achievements!

Freya is very proud of her Bronze Rainbow badge that she has been awarded! Well done Freya, keep it up!

James has achieved his 5 metres swimming badge! Well done James, we are very proud of you!

Deekshana has been listening carefully to instructions and trying her hardest at her swimming lessons and her efforts have been awarded with a certificate. Super job Deekshana!

Iasonas received not one but two medals at his football club for super listening . Well done Iasonas!

Emilia attends a football club over the weekends and received a medal for great work at the sessions. Keep it up Emilia!

Ben was awarded a medal for being super brave and trying really hard in football. Keep it up Ben!

Polly received a special bracelet in football for focussing really well and stopping goals when she was the goalie. Well done Polly!

House Points

Head of School Awards

Every Friday, during our whole school Celebration Assembly, Head of School awards are given out to a child or children in each class. The certificates are presented by Mrs Indge to those children who have consistently demonstrated excellent behaviours for learning.

Head of School Awards 17th March 2023.pdf

Super-PoWeRs!

Miss Dexter pops on her Superhero cape each week during Celebration Assembly to present our SuperPoWeR awards. The awards are given to children who have been demonstrating excellent behaviour through our school values of Passion, Well being and Respect.

Book Bingo!

Every week, during our Head of School Assembly, a bingo ball is selected from our special red bag. The bingo balls are numbered 1 - 30. Each child in Year 1 and 2 with the corresponding register number to the ball chosen will have the opportunity to bring their Maths book and Project scrapbook to share with Mrs Indge, Miss Dexter and Miss Edmondson later that week. During the Book Bingo session, the children spend time looking through the books together with the adults, whilst discussing and explaining what they have been busy learning about.

FPSA update

Dates for your diary...

Mr T's Quiz Night - Friday 24th March (8pm-10.30pm)

Just one week until the FPSA Quiz Night! Come and join in the fun at the Juniors school hall as we raise money for both schools whilst testing our general knowledge and having a drink or two. Enter as a full team of 6 or come as a pair or individual and we will help you get into a team on the evening. Doors open at 7pm with the quiz starting at 8pm. The quiz includes 4 picture rounds, a connections round, a music round and much more. Book tickets at www.pta-events.co.uk/fpsa

FPSA AGM - Wednesday 29th March (8pm-9pm)

Come along to the FPSA AGM at the Infants school on Wednesday 29th March (8-9pm) to find out how money raised by the FPSA has been spent by both schools as well as hear from both heads of school on what their plans are for future spending.

If you are interested in joining the FPSA, now is a great time as we are looking for new team members in particular a secretary - but don't worry, there is no pressure to join if you come to the meeting to simply find out more. If you can't make it and are interested in getting involved, please do reach out, we'd love to talk to you (fpsa.ebox@gmail.com)

Year 2 School Quiz - Friday 28th April (3.15-5pm)

After a successful event last year, we will be running another quiz for the year 2 children in the hall. Mr Thompson is quiz master and will be testing the children (in teams of up to 6) on their general knowledge and the quiz includes some fun picture rounds. Tickets will be available from the pta events website soon (see link above).

Useful Information for Parents and Families

NOS safe-and-healthy-habits-online.pdf

what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-ipads.pdf

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