Learning This Week
This week in Early Years the children have been exploring the fairy-tale, "The Three Little Pigs". They have created speech bubbles from the perspective of the characters, as well as made puppets, paintings and retold the story using actions.
This week in Year 1 the children have been enjoying learning about the different food groups. They enjoyed designing a balanced lunch box and talking about their favourite food to eat.
Year 2 have had a great time dissecting bean seeds as part of their science lessons this term. They loved exploring the different parts of the seed and examining them closely with magnifying glasses. In maths, they've been having fun learning about 3D shapes, identifying and discussing their faces, vertices, and edges. Well done, Year 2! Keep up the fantastic work!
World Book Day
Thank you so much for helping us to support World Book Day with fancy dress and bringing in books for the book swap! We have added lots of photos to our Facebook page!
Could you be eligible for Pupil Premium?
When children join our school, we ask parents for their information in order to do a check for Pupil Premium Funding eligibility - also known as Free School Meal eligibility.
If you would like to check again, or if your circumstances have now changed and you think your child may now be eligible, you can do the check yourself here. This funding enables children to continue to receive free school meals beyond the universal entitlement of Infant School, free school milk beyond their 5th birthday, as well as helps pay towards school trips, additional activities and resources in school.
You can read more about the purpose of Pupil Premium Funding, and the eligibility criteria for it, on the Gov website here.
FISHES News
Thank you to everyone that came to our first 90's/00's adult disco, we felt it was a massive success and hope you all enjoyed yourself too. This was never intended to be an event to make money on, we wanted to hold an event that brought people together to have some fun and not be expensive. But thank you to everyone that purchased tickets and glow sticks, you helped us to raise an amazing £288.95.
We are pleased to have started making our first purchases of the year with the money you have helped us raise and this has gone towards lots of sensory items for each year group and our new sensory room. Once all items are in we will share a photo of these.
Emails were sent out this week with more information regarding the Easter Fayre and Junior ParkRun. Thank you for taking the time to read these.
Thank you to the extra person that has signed up to marshal at the Junior ParkRun, we will reassess this on Monday 10th to see if we need to re-think this event.
Eastleigh Borough Council Query
Eastleigh Borough Council are investigating someone repeatedly loading up the public bins in the vicinity of the school with animal waste such as hay & straw. This is putting an unnecessary strain on their collections as well as filling up the bins quicker, causing an overflow of rubbish surrounding the bins.
In case this is in relation to someone in our school community who receives this newsletter, they would like us to remind you that domestic animal waste should be included in your household black bin waste, or up to 2 bags per household per day can be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre (such as the one on Shamblehurst Lane South).
If this is a problem in your area, or you think you may know who is responsible, you can submit a form on the website here.
Parent Questionnaire Feedback
Following on from the Parent Survey that was sent out last half term, we will post the results of each question and one response to feedback each week. Thank you again to those who took the time to leave their feedback.
You said
There were mixed thoughts regarding homework. Some families preferred having weekly homework as opposed to the Maths and English challenge booklets as it gives a better structure to the home learning and has a definite date on when to move on to the next subject.
We did
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feedback regarding the homework system. We appreciate your concerns and the time you’ve taken to provide us with your insights.
We understand that you preferred having weekly homework as it offered better structure and clear progression for home learning. The new challenge booklets were introduced to foster independent learning, but we recognise that this approach might feel a bit unstructured and that there may be delays in assessing the children on what they have learned.
It is heartening to hear that you found the homework in Year R to be engaging and effective, with tasks that encouraged various skills and activities. We will revisit the structure of Year 1 homework to ensure it is equally enriching and structured. We will also ensure that the children’s books are regularly reviewed and not left unattended.
Regarding the challenge workbooks, we understand that it might not be suitable for all children. Following on from this we have sent out a specific survey on homework so we can look more specifically at this area.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our packed lunch survey (this was sent only to those children who have a packed lunch most days / every day). We will be looking over the results and discussing them with Aspens, and hope to be able to provide some feedback / update regarding the suggestions shortly.
Nut Free School
We would like to remind parents that we are a nut free school. We have members of both the staff and student community who are anaphylactic to nuts of all varieties. This includes obvious things like hazelnut spread in sandwiches, but also many types of cereal bars and biscuits also contain nuts. Please check the ingredients list of all food items that you send into school.
Year Group Home Learning Newsletters
Attendance This Week
If you are struggling to get your child/ren to school on time each day, please do get in touch so we can try to help.
Blue Class - 95.22% attendance with 2 episodes of lateness
Red Class - 98.1% attendance with 2 episodes of lateness
Yellow Class -97.73% attendance with 0 episodes of lateness
Green Class - 97.69% attendance with 0 episodes of lateness
Orange Class - 95.86% attendance with 4 episodes of lateness
Purple Class - 94.07% attendance with 1 episode of lateness
Scarlet Class - 100% attendance with 3 episodes of lateness
Turquoise Class - 98.33% attendance with 0 episodes of lateness
Attendance Guide for Parents / Carers
What YOU must do:
Try to telephone the school before 8.30am each day of your child’s absence.
Tell the school in advance, of any medical appointments and bring in appointment cards/letters.
If you are not sure whether your child is well enough to attend school, send them in anyway as they often perk up on arrival.
If you and your child are experiencing difficulties with school attendance then talk to us as a first step so we can help!
What WE will do:
Check your child’s attendance every day.
Phone home to discuss your child’s attendance with you.
Invite you into school for attendance meetings if we are concerned.
If we cannot establish a reason for absence, then we may make a welfare home visit.
Dates for Your Diary
Friday 14th March - EYFS to Longdown Farm
Monday 31st March - Year 1 to Hillier Gardens
Family Collective Reflections
Friday 14th March - Turquoise Class
Thursday 20th March - Green Class
Friday 28th March - Purple Class
Thursday 3rd April - Orange Class
--All family collective reflections will be at 9am in the school hall--
FISHES Dates
Friday 21st March - Non Uniform Day for Rainbow Raffle
Sunday 23rd March - Infants takeover of Junior Park Run
Saturday 29th March - Easter Fayre
Tuesday 1st April - Easter Bake Off
Sunday 6th April - Southampton Marathon
Friday 9th May - Quiz Night
Monday 19th May - World Baking Day
Thursday 19th June - Non-Uniform Day
Saturday 28th June - Summer Fayre
Friday 11th July - Disco
INSET Days 2024/2025
Friday 20th June 2025
Head Teacher Awards
Blue Class - Evelina for Thinking, Millie for Independence
Red Class - Rosie for Resilience & Thinking, Abigail for Resilience
Yellow Class - Daniel and Maria, both for Independence
Green Class - Noah for Creativity, Annabelle for Teamwork
Orange Class - Amelie and Isla, both for Creativity
Purple Class - Evie for Thinking, Teddy for Creativity
Due to the Year 2 trip today, the children will receive their certificates in next week's Celebration Assembly.