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Newsletter - 23rd January 2026
Brilliant Beginnings for 2026!
Brilliant Beginnings for 2026!
Wow! We've certainly had a great start to 2026 and the Spring Term!
Our children have settled back into school after the holidays and have been busy learning - with some Brilliant Beginnings to our projects for the Spring Term, as you will see when you read on.
As you know, we are passionate about books and reading at FPIS - and we are very excited to be part of The National Year of Reading 2026. Research shows that early reading experiences — including shared reading at home — are among the best predictors of future success in school and beyond. However, worryingly, there is also evidence suggesting that reading for pleasure has dropped sharply in recent years. Strong reading habits not only support language and communication skills and learning across the curriculum, but can also help to build confidence, creativity and support well-being too. You can find out more about The National Year of Reading below...
With a number of events in the diary for the Spring Term, we are looking forward to being happy, feeling safe and getting busy with learning over the next few weeks. Please keep an eye on our school diary and communications sent via TheSchoolApp for information on events as well as lots of ways to get involved in school life here at FPIS this term.
Have a lovely weekend
With very best wishes
Jane Indge
Head of School
Quick Links
Quick Links
Diary dates - coming up soon!
Diary dates - coming up soon!
Here is a brief look at what's going to be happening in school during the next few weeks...
Wednesday 4th February - Year 1 Busy Learning Afternoon: 2:00 - 3:00 pm
Thursday 5th February - Year 2 Busy Learning Afternoon: 2:00 - 3:00 pm
Friday 6th February - NSPCC Number Day
Friday 6th February - Early Years Busy Learning Afternoon: 2:00 - 3:00 pm
Monday 9th February - Great Athletes visit
Thursday 12th February - Dance Festival (Oak Class)
Friday 13th February - Term ends
Monday 16th - Friday 20th February - Half term holiday
Monday 23rd February - Term starts
School Attendance
School Attendance
SAM - our School Attendance Mascot, is our FPIS teddy bear who helps our children think about why it is so important to attend school every day.
Our children are busy learning right from the start of the day, so being in class on time each morning matters just as much too. Registration begins at 8:45am and we expect all children to be in class by 9:00am.
Each week, during our Celebration Assembly, the attendance figures are shared. The class with the best attendance overall gets to look after SAM until the following week. SAM will be spend next week in Silver Birch Class who had an impressive attendance figure of 99.7%! Well done!
Our latest school attendance figures for each class are shown in the table. Our school attendance target is: 97%
You can read our full Attendance Policy here.
Our latest attendance figures
Silver Birch 99.7%
Bumblebee 98.7%
Beech 97.7%
Holly 97.7%
Hazel 97.4%
Willow 97.3%
Dragonfly 95.3%
Caterpillar 94.7%
Oak 93.3%
Caterpillar 98.7%
FPIS SEND Signpost
FPIS SEND Signpost
National Year of Reading 2026
National Year of Reading 2026
We are excited to be getting involved with the National Year of Reading 2026, a campaign led by the Department for Education and delivered by the National Literacy Trust, which will be focusing upon getting more people — especially children and young people — reading for pleasure again.
The theme is 'Go All In' — based around the idea:
“If you’re into it, read into it.” This means connecting reading to your child’s real interests (sports, animals, comics, games, music, family stories and more) so it feels enjoyable, not like a chore.
As a school, we will be participating in a number of events across the year - watch out for more details soon!
In the meantime, here are simple ways for you to join in at home with your child:
Read together regularly — even just 10 minutes a day makes a difference.
Connect reading to fun interests — e.g., if your child loves football, find books or articles about favourite players; if they love dinosaurs, explore stories or fact books about them.
Explore poems, comics, magazines, audiobooks and blogs — as well as traditional books.
Early Years Forest School!
Early Years Forest School!
We were thrilled to kick off our new Forest School sessions last week in Early Years and what an amazing start it’s been! The adults have been busy preparing our Forest School to make sure the children have the very best outdoor experiences and it’s safe to say the children have loved every minute so far, even more so when it rained!
"I like the rain because the mud is squishy and squelchy to make volcano's"
Our Forest School takes a learner-centred, holistic approach, giving all children the opportunity to build confidence, self-esteem, empathy, creativity, and communication skills while also developing a love and respect for the natural world. Best of all, Forest School is a place where every Bumblebee, Caterpillar and Dragonfly can feel successful.
Over the past two weeks the children have been learning our Forest School responsibilities:
Look after yourself, look after each other, look after nature.
We have been sharing the story 'It’s Not a Stick' and using it as inspiration for imaginative play. Armed with a simple stick, the children’s creativity came to life, turning them into "hose pipes, fishing rods, little people, weights" and so much more!
We’ve also been exploring the different areas of Forest School and learning what each space is used for so that the children can engage themselves in their own learning. The Bumblebee's, Caterpillars and Dragonflies have been working on their independence and resilience skills by getting dressed in their all-in-one suits, doing up zips, putting on their wellies, and taking care of their belongings.
To develop these skills we have been using the moto: try yourself, ask a friend, ask a Teacher. We have been so impressed with how confidently the children are already following these new routines and challenging themselves when things are a little bit tricky! It has been wonderful to see all of the children getting stuck into hands-on learning and outdoor adventures whatever the weather! We are all excited for next weeks Forest School!
We need your help!
If you have any spare tins or boxes (in different sizes) left over from Christmas or in the cupboards, we would love to upcycle them for our Early Years mud kitchen! Eg. coffee tins, biscuit tins, tea tins etc...
(Please make sure it hasn't previously contained nuts - thank you!)
Early Years - Our Brilliant Beginning!
Early Years - Our Brilliant Beginning!
Our Early Years children and staff all arrived at school on Monday dressed up as their favourite animal to launch our Brilliant Beginning 'All about Animals'! We were so impressed with all the effort that went into the children's animal costumes! They all looked fabulous and it really was a Brilliant Beginning to our project!
The children were all so excited to learn about different animals. They created their own observational drawings, explored the non-fiction books and we also created a animal dance as a class which we shared with the grown-up's on Seesaw! The children moved their bodies like an animal, thinking about the movements, body posture and the noises that the animal would make!
We are looking forward to lots more animal fun during our project!
Early Years
Early Years
We were excited to welcome back our Early Year's children to some super snowy and foggy weather which fitted in perfectly with our focus on 'Winter!' The children explored lots of changes that they could notice during our winter walk around the school. They spotted; spider webs, ice and lots of bare trees, along with lots more winter observations! Our Early Years children were eager to carry out an ice diary. They used a chart to predict and record if the water was 'solid, ice' or 'liquid, water' through a tally chart. It was lovely to see some children have been conducting their own ice experiment at home too - thanks for sharing their experiments on Seesaw!
This week the children have started their new project 'All About Animals'! They have explored the story 'Dear Zoo' through props, actions. The children re-told the story together as a class in sequence using actions and words. Following this, the Bumblebee, Caterpillar and Dragonfly children have created their own story map of 'Dear Zoo' over three days, concentrating on the beginning, middle and end. We were very impressed with their attention to detail as they were carefully drawing the animals.
In Early Years this week we have been discovering more about different animal characteristics. The children have impressed us with their brilliant descriptive language when creating their own What am I? games on paper. They have enjoyed sharing their clues about their animal and guessing each others too!
Our Marvellous Maths Mondays has set our children up for a fun week of exploring maths in a variety of creative ways! Over the past few weeks our children have been exploring ABAB patterns through copying patterns with objects or sounds. We have had a focus on using mathematical language to describe pattern and shape in our environment. The children have been keen to create some animal patterns too! The children have also been learning about number tracks and knowing which number is the "stopping number". The designed and created their own number track and used a dice to take turns to play the game!
Year 1 Golf Workshop
Year 1 Golf Workshop
Year 1 have enjoyed learning some new skills during our Golf Workshop! So far we have played some really fun games to help with our hand-eye coordination as well as balance! We loved the target game, adding up our points and challenging ourselves to beat our score. We also tried to focus our attention and score our ball into the hoop. We even played some competitive games in teams! We learnt lots of great skills and can't wait to take part in some more golf workshops soon!
Year 1
Year 1
We launched our new project, Emergency!, during our Brilliant Beginning week, where we had so much fun dressing up as various different emergency workers. We took on roles such as police officers, firefighters, nurses, paramedics, doctors and vets. So far, we have learnt about the crucial role of paramedics and thought about questions we would like to them about their jobs.
In computing, we have been learning how to debug algorithms, starting with a hands-on activity of making jam sandwiches! We quickly realised the significance of following instructions in the right order. We then applied this new skill to debug an algorithm and program a Bee-Bot to move from one point on a map to another.
In DT, we have been investigating how wheels move on axles and designing our own emergency vehicles. We are very excited to start making our vehicles next week!
In maths, we've been working with numbers up to 20, building on our previous knowledge of numbers up to 10. We have been counting forwards and backwards and discovering various ways to represent these numbers using classroom tools, pictures, numerals, and words.
In Outdoor Learning we have been enjoying exploring our outdoor space and seeing how it changes with the weather! We loved looking at our very frozen pond and even explored playing with ice and water. We have also had fun investigating what new plants and wildlife are living in our school grounds!
As part of our RE this term our key question is 'Was it always easy for Jesus to show friendship?' Beth visited us to tell us the story of Zacchaeus from The Bible. Many thanks to Beth for helping us to think about our key question and for visiting us. We look forward to her next visit!
Year 2
Year 2
Wow! What a Brilliant Beginning the Year 2 children have had with their Spring project: Fire, Fire!
We had an exciting start as we went outside onto the playground and discovered that there were lots of unusual markings and signs that a dragon had visited our playground! We became dragon detectives examining all of the clues left behind and imagined what sort of dragon it might have been. We have been busy designing our own dragons, thinking carefully about their features and sharing some of the ideas that people have had about dragons in the past and the stories told about them.
We have thought about the many purposes of fire and what fire needs to burn. We have also explored warm and cool colours by creating our own colour wheels and relating this sticky knowledge to thinking about the ingredients for a stew, fit for a dragon!
We also had an exciting Outdoor Learning session and what better way to launch our 'Fire, Fire!' project than toasting crumpets over a fire?! We had a great time toasting the crumpets and having a tea party with butter and jam. It was a perfect snack on a chilly day!
As part of our computing curriculum we have also been retrieving knowledge we learnt in Year 1 about algorithms and using this to complete a range of challenges with our Blue-Bots.
We have also been enjoying our Friday Cricket sessions run by Berkshire Cricket Foundation. Our cricket coach Penelope has been introducing us to a range of fun games to help us with our throwing and catching skills. We are looking forward to practising those skills over the next few weeks.
Finally, we have been busy transforming into authors planning and writing our own stories about a dragon coming into our school.
Eco Team
Eco Team
Big Schools' Birdwatch 2026
The Eco Team have been busy getting ready to take part in the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch over the next few weeks, and we are very excited! We will be spending time outside with clipboards, checklists and bundles of enthusiasm, carefully looking and listening for birds around our school grounds.
The children will learn how to spot different birds and discuss why birds are important and how we can help look after them. We will also be making our own bird feeders to encourage a variety of feathered friends to visit our school. We look forward to sharing our results with you and telling you all about the birds we see!
We need your help!
If you have any spare tins or boxes (in different sizes) left over from Christmas or in the cupboards, we would love to upcycle them for our Early Years mud kitchen! E.g.. coffee tins, biscuit tins, tea tins etc...
(Please make sure it hasn't previously contained nuts)
School Council
School Council
School Council Fundraising Fun!
Our School Council have been busy planning some fun and exciting fundraising events for the coming weeks! We are looking forward to celebrating Red Nose Day, taking part in the Big Spring Knit to help raise money for the wonderful charity Alexander Devine, and joining in with Trunks Across the Thames in support of Thames Hospice. This has been a great opportunity for the children to learn how we can help others in our community. More details to come...
Nurture Group
Nurture Group
In nurture the children have had a great start to 2026. We started our new year with a lovely winter scavenger hunt looking for different items on our tick chart including pine cones, berries, holly and leaves. Next, we made some bird food, melting lard in a bowl, mixing in chopped up bread, spooning the mixture in small tubs and placing the tubs in the fridge to set ready to hang outside.
The children in KS1 have been learning lots about real life superheroes, so we had a activity to sort different people in different professions into 'Superheroes' or 'Not Superheroes', the results were that all professions have people that are superheroes.
A nurture favourite is making sandwiches, and this week we had the chance to make either jam or marmite sandwiches, best of all we got to eat them!
Forest School
Forest School
Our Forest School sessions have got off to a chilly and soggy start in 2026!
We have been keeping warm with camp fires and some hot, tasty drinks and snacks. We have used knives to chop peppers which we added to steaming cups of noodles (adding in some extra sweetcorn too -yummy!) We also used the vegetable peelers to prepare a super healthy carrot stick snack as well.
Thinking about of Forest School responsibility of looking after nature, we have been helping to look after our woodland area by picking up lots of litter we found all around.
Awesome Achievements!
Awesome Achievements!
Imogen is proudly showing her Rainbow Bronze Award from Rainbows and her Star of the Week for gymnastics!
Isla is proudly showing her medals from Football Club!
Esme got her Gymnast of the Week award for trying her best!
Kinlow is proudly showing his Tae Kwon Do grading certificate. "I have got my yellow stripe!".
Aisha came second in her Arabic reading test! "I'm now in Year 3 for reading!".
Congratulations to Ella who is proudly sharing two certificates, one for street dance and the other for gymnastics! Well done Ella!
Well done to Naomie who is proudly presenting her gymnastics certificate! Excellent effort Naomie!
Congratulations to Malachi who is wearing his football medal. "It is so much fun!" Keep up the great work Malachi!
Congratulations to Hannah who is proudly sharing her Orienteering certificate. "I came third in the event. I was on the white course!"
Roman is proudly sharing his medal he was awarded in football. "I got it for trying really hard and doing really good defending." What a football superstar!
Well done to Hannah who is sharing her Swimathon certificate. "I was at Braywick Leisure Centre and had to do lots of swimming." Super effort!
Well done to Emmy who is proudly sharing her Level 2 swimming award. "I have finished Level 1 and had to do lots of swimming and lots of practise of swimming." Great job superstar!
Hannah is proudly sharing her gymnastics award. "I had to do great gymnastics skills and be kind and caring to everyone". Great job!
Congratulations to Nicol who is proudly displaying her gymnastics certificate. "I have been good in everything!" Well done!
Well done to Jessica who has been settling into her new gymnastics group and working really hard. Congratulations!
Well done to Evie who recieved two certificates from her gymnastics club. The first was for good work on squat ons onto the blocks and the other was for great effort on the beam! Keep it up Evie, we are so proud of you!
Well done to Ella who is proudly sharing her Ballet certificate! What a great achievement Ella, we are very proud of you!
Congratulations to Zac who is proudly wearing his football medal! "It is lots of fun!" Well done Zac!
House Points
House Points
Head of School Awards
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 23rd January 2026.pdfSuperPoWeR Awards
SuperPoWeR Awards
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.
Super-PoWeR Awards 23rd January.pptxBook Bingo!
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 Miss Dexter, Miss Edmondson, Miss Aggarwal and Mrs Indge 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 updates
FPSA updates
A Happy New Year to all of our parents, carers and staff from both schools! Thank you to everyone who signed up to have an Oakwood Estates board promoting our upcoming Murder Mystery Event, this has helped us raise just under £200.
Infants Early Years Forest School funding
Forest School sessions have started this month for the Early Years children. Using FPSA funds, the Infants have bought 90 snazzy waterproof outfits to keep them warm and dry. Mrs Wytchard who is head of Early Years says "We are so delighted with the purchases from the FPSA for Furze Platt Infant School. It has been wonderful to see the all in one suits being used in action and making such a positive impact on the children's experiences. The children have absolutely loved their first few weeks of Forest School and have already become so independent with getting themselves dressed and ready. They have really enjoyed the hands-on experiences, shovelling mud, creating recipes in the mud kitchen, working collectively, looking after nature and sharing their creative ideas. We are so excited for the many more Forest School sessions to come, thank you FPSA for helping us to make this happen!"
Personalised name label stickers
We have an updated discount code for buying school uniform labels and labels for water bottles etc. from the 'Easy2Name' company. Simply order from the following site: https://www.easy2name.com/stickeasy, quote code 'FR-FPIS-72' and not only will you will get free delivery, the FPSA will receive 20% of the order value. These labels will help the schools return mislaid uniform and will help cut down on the lost property including water bottles and lunchboxes as well as uniform.
Windsor & Maidenhead Community Lottery
This is a weekly lottery that raises money for good causes in the Royal Borough including the FPSA. Tickets for the lottery cost just £1 and from that 60p goes to good causes including 50p to the FPSA. Each ticket has a 1 in 50 chance to win a prize each week with a top prize of £25,000! So please sign up and buy a weekly ticket or two using the link: https://www.windsorandmaidenheadcommunitylottery.co.uk/support/furze-platt-schools-association
Dates for your Diary:
Murder Mystery Event - Friday 27th February 2026
Tickets are on sale for our very first ever 'Murder Mystery' event which takes place at the end of February. The Juniors hall will be turned into an old library in a 'Death at a Dinner Club' performance from Moonstone Murder Mysteries company. Work in teams or go solo as live actors bring the drama to life - can you solve the crime?
Tickets available at https://fpsa.charityhive.co.uk/tickets/1/murder-mystery-evening.
Happy School Bags Collection - Thursday 5th March
A time to get rid of unwanted clothes and other items to help raise money for our schools. Please bring your filled bags to the Infants gates at drop-off.
FPSA AGM - Tuesday 24th March (8-9pm)
Our annual meeting takes place at the Infants School. Come and hear what events we ran in 2025, the money that was raised, what was spent by both schools and what is on their wish list for this year and beyond.
Cheese & Wine evening - Friday 24th April
Another brand new event for 2026! Look out for more information soon.
Mr T's (10th anniversary) Quiz Night - Friday 15th May (8pm-11pm)
The quiz night is celebrating 10 years, having started with the first one back in May 2016. This time there will be fancy dress with prizes for best team fancy dress and best individual. Don't miss it!
Summer Fair - Saturday 27th June (11.30am-3pm)
Please save the date for our biggest fundraiser of the year!
Useful Information for Parents and Families
Useful Information for Parents and Families
digital-devices-wellbeing.pdfJanuary Flyer2-compressed.pdfGirls Cricket A5 2025.pdf
Caterlink Pupil Survey
Caterlink Pupil Survey
Caterlink are carrying out their annual pupil survey to assist in improving the catering service in our school.
Please use the following link to complete the survey, should you wish to do so: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R3RTFTV
Closing date: 27th March 2026
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