Newsletter 15 - 20th December 2024

Message from Ms Riches

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we approach the end of another busy term, I would like to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for your support throughout the year. Your partnership in the education and well-being of our pupils is invaluable.

This year has been filled with achievements, growth, and many memorable moments, and we couldn’t have done it without the encouragement, dedication, and involvement of our parent community. Thank you for your continued commitment to our school, whether it’s through volunteering, attending events, or simply supporting your child’s learning journey.

I would like to thank everyone who completed the Parent Survey. We greatly appreciate your feedback and the thoughtful insights you shared with us.

We will be sharing the overall survey results with you through newsletters over the coming weeks. However, as this term draws to a close I wanted to share, and feel incredibly proud, that 100% of parents who completed the survey said they would recommend Freegrounds Infant School to another parent.

As the festive season approaches, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break and your time is filled with peace, happiness and special moments with family and friends. We look forward to welcoming your child back to school in the New Year for another exciting term and working together with you in 2025.

With warmest wishes,

Ms Riches
Headteacher

Learning This Week

EYFS

This week in EYFS the children have been learning about Jesus' birthday and how Christians celebrate it. They have also discussed and acted out the story of the Nativity.

Year 1

This week Year O have been writing their own winter inspired poetry. They went for a walk around the school grounds and used their senses to spot signs of winter. Then they learnt how their words helps create a picture in someone's head. The children used an AI generator to see how accurate their descriptions were!

Year 2

The children have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in a festive PE lesson where they used equipment to dress each other in different ways. Can you guess who they are?

They’ve also had great fun showcasing their fantastic writing skills, using picture prompts to create descriptive sentences packed with expanded noun phrases and a variety of conjunctions. We are so proud of their hard work and creativity! Wishing all our families a wonderful and joyful Christmas.

Christmas Jumper Day

Thank you for supporting Save The Children's Christmas Jumper Day Appeal - we raised £128.75

We are also so pleased to say that during the Christmas performances, £156.23 was raised for Young Minds. Thank you so much for your generosity!

FISHES News

FISHES would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you for all your support during the last term you have all been incredible.

Please see our newsletter, dates for spring term and how much you have helped to raise since September. Please make a note of the dates in your diary!!

Should you have any unwanted alcohol / Christmas gifts please do consider donating these to FISHES in January as they can be used towards future events.

We are holding our next Bags 2 School collection on 24th January. If you are having a clear out over Christmas please bear this date in mind for your donations.

Bags will need to be dropped into the wooden gazebo by 9am on this day.

Further information will be sent out about the events when we return in January.

Marathon / ParkRun take over

Should you wish to join us running the Southampton Marathon in April, you will have enough time to start training for this in January!! We have had a few injuries but training is going relatively well! If you don't feel up to the marathon you can always do the 10km or half marathon and choose FISHES as your charity. We are in the process of getting a Just giving page set up for this. This will also coincide with the Dowds Farm ParkRun take over for the children.

Please follow our Facebook page to keep up to date with all our events.

We hope you all have a peaceful Christmas.

After School Clubs

TPA Theatre Kidz - Mondays - Book Here.

Saints Academy Football club - Tuesdays & Thursdays - Book Here.

Computer Xplorers - Tuesdays - Book Here. Please note this club does not resume until the second week of term

Funky Playbricks Lego Club - Wednesdays - Book Here.

Zumba - Wednesdays - Book Here.

Christmas Fun Day & Holiday Camps - HAF spaces available

Christmas Activities in Boorley Green

Family Fun Day

Sunday 29th December between 10am-2pm

A day for all the family! Including sports, activities, martial arts demo, nutrition workshop and lots more! Completely free event, only charges are for additional food and drinks, HAF funded places include all food and must be booked in advance (limited places).

Booking- https://www.premier-education.com/parents/venue/courses/34983/?location=so32&search=camps&radius=10

Activity Camps

Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd January 9am-3pm

A huge range of indoor and outdoor activities to keep your children aged 5-12 active and entertained. All delivered by professional coaches and practitioners. HAF Funded spaces also available.

Booking- https://www.premier-education.com/parents/venue/courses/34983/?location=so32&search=camps&radius=10

Local Plan Review

Do you want thousands of additional houses built in your local area?

There is currently a consultation running to gather views about reviewing the Eastleigh Borough Local Plan to build 4,600 additional houses in West End, 4,600 in Fair Oak, 2,800 in Bishopstoke and 1,300 in Hedge End. Attending the consultation does not count as submitting an objection or comment in favour of this development.

In order to have your views considered, you need to submit your comments:

Via the online consultation page to complete the full survey or a short survey– this is the preferred method
By email to local.plan@eastleigh.gov.uk
Or post them to Planning Policy, Upper Market Street, Eastleigh, SO50 9YN

All responses must be received by 5pm on 29 January 2025.

The issues and options consultation enables everyone to have their say before a decision is made. The consultation will run from 4 December to 29 January. There will be a series of ‘drop-in sessions’ around the Borough where people can talk to the team but please remember you still need to complete the survey, email or write in to formally share your views.

The documents and how to respond was published on 4 December at:

www.eastleigh.gov.uk/localplanreview

Please take this one opportunity and make your views known.

NHS Pharmacy First Service

Did you know that the NHS Pharmacy First Service enables children and adults to get convenient access to healthcare advice and treatment where appropriate, for seven common conditions without the potential delay of having to wait for a GP appointment? Accessing the service may mean that we can help children feel better and get back to school as quickly as possible, as well as supporting parents/carers to also get better if they are unwell with one of the conditions covered under the service.

There is no need to make an appointment; parents or carers can pop into their local Boots pharmacy with their child and ask for help under the service.

Support for the following conditions can be accessed under the service, free of charge (unless NHS prescription charges apply):

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.

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