Newsletter 12.11.2021
Dear Parents and Carers,
We have returned to the 2nd half of the autumn term to lots of fabulous enrichment learning opportunities. As you will see from the items below we also have lots of exciting events coming up so please take some time to ensure you are up to date with the events coming up in school. This week we listened to a lovely story about Remembrance Day and friendship from Miss Hazell called Stubby by Michael Foreman. Mrs Shilvock also organised some beautiful poppy wreaths made by each class and displayed them on the field. We all took some time to see them and reflect on the meaning of Remembrance Day by listening to a poem or a reading.
Maths week started with a bang this week when all the children were asked to come in dressed as Rock Stars linked to one of our favourite apps in school, Times Table Rock Stars. The children all looked amazing and it was great to see the adults making the effort too. I have been equally impressed listening to the songs that the children have been performing and the videos they have created to help them remember their times tables. We will share these with you in due course so that the children can use them as a way of remembering these number facts. The children in Lower Key Stage Two were also thrilled to be earning 'Lark Rise money' in exchange for jobs they completed in school; Miss Warren was delighted to have some help with clearing the leaves this week and the children enjoyed earning and counting their money which they exchanged for some rewards; well done everyone. Thank you to Mrs Waterman, Mrs White and Mrs Lulciuc for leading on this event and making it memorable for the children.
Our resident science expert and environmentalist, Miss Stevens, has also captured the interest of our children with her fascinating assembly this week all about COP26 and climate change. We are delighted to now have a committee of 'Eco Warriors' who will work with Miss Stevens throughout the year on projects to support our environment. See below for further information from Miss Stevens about an upcoming event. On another note, we are developing the roles and responsibilities that children have across the school, 'Eco Warriors' is one of our new roles. Some of the children to fulfil these roles will be voted in by other children as it's important that our children understand the rule of democracy, others will be chosen by the adults across the school to ensure that there is a balance of both. We will update you on any new roles in school and their responsibilities as they unfold.
Finally, thank you to all the parents and carers who attended our phonics training last night and a huge thank you to Mrs Hartley and Miss Hazell who delivered the session. We hope their expertise and subject knowledge around phonics has supported you at home with teaching your child the vital skills of learning to read. if you would like to watch this session on record then we will be in touch with how you can do this in due course.
I hope you have a lovely weekend with your families and I look forward to seeing all of the children in their odd socks on Monday.
Mrs Romina Lang
Headteacher
Disney/Marvel Day
On Thursday 25th November, Caterlink (our school meals provider) is organising a Disney/Marvel themed day when they will be offering the special menu below. The children are also invited to come into school in fancy dress if they wish.
Chicken nuggets
Veggie nuggets
served with chips and beans
Chocolate Iced Cake
Children in Need
Children in Need day is Friday 19th November 2021.
The children are invited to come into school wearing non-uniform on this day in exchange for a £1 donation. Pudsey clothing and spots are very welcome!
The kitchen will be offering a special menu on this day too:
Fish fingers
Cheese Frittata
served with chips, baked beans and peas
Teddy Cookie
Christmas Bauble Competition
You will have received a flier from the FALLS team regarding the Chirstmas bauble decorating competition. If your child would like to take part, please complete and return the order form which was emailed out today by Friday 19th November.
Larky's home!
We are delighted to have our little elephant Larky back with us in school; he is now taking pride of place in the main entrance hall so all the children can see him every day.
A huge thank you to you all for your support with this exciting project. It has been lovely to hear so many of the children saying how they had been to visit the elephants over the summer and seeing the photos that you shared with us.
We raised an INCREDIBLE £1782 for Keech Hospice Care; thank you all so much.
Mrs Shilvock and Miss Samsa
Anti-Bullying Week
Across school we will be supporting national Anti Bullying week from 15th - 19th November 2021, providing many opportunities for children to participate in activities linked to this year's theme 'One Kind Word'. All children will receive an Anti Bullying wristband at the start of the week to promote the theme of the event. We would also like to take part in 'Odd Socks Day' on Monday 15th November. There will be no charge for this event, although you are welcome to add any donation you would like to via The Anti Bullying Alliance Justgiving page using the link below
Odd Socks Day is designed to be fun! It is an opportunity to encourage people to express themselves and celebrate their individuality and what makes us all unique! Children are invited to wear their odd socks with their normal school uniform for the day.
Climate Change Day
As you will be aware, climate change is a huge issue facing our world at the moment. At Lark Rise, the children and staff are passionate about conserving the planet for future generations to come. This year we have signed up to gaining an ‘Eco-School’ green flag accreditation award. More information on this can be found here https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/
Throughout the year we will be running a series of events that will contribute to our award. On Monday 22nd November, Lark Rise will be hosting a ‘Climate Change Day’ where children will take part in a range of activities to raise their own awareness of the environment, increase the biodiversity of the school grounds and learn about how they can live healthier, eco-friendly lifestyles.
As part of this, we are asking for your support in a number of ways to make the day a huge success for the children. These are listed below:
1. An eco-friendly lunch: The school dinner options on this day will be meat free and we are asking that, if your child chooses to bring a packed lunch to school, they stick as close to possible to either a meat-free or plant-based lunch.
2. Bake sales: In each key stage, there will be an opportunity for children to bring in baked goods (to be brought into school and sold on 22nd November) to be sold to the children within your child’s key stage. We would ask that these are either plant-based or have a ‘climate change’ theme.
3. Sponsorship: During the day, we will be holding a sponsored run or walk to see if we can, as a school, travel the same distance as a number of bees travel during one day. Each class will have an allocated time slot to contribute to our school goal of travelling 30 miles (the equivalent to 5 bees).
4. Donations of materials For some of the classroom-based activities, we will be asking for donations of:
Empty, washed out tin cans
Empty, washed out plastic bottles (any size)
Plastic spoons
Please send these in to school with your child any time from now until 22nd November.
We appreciate that this is a long list of asks; we are not asking that every family does all of these things. This is a list of possible ways to support Lark Rise in our journey to becoming an Eco-School and to support our Climate Change day.
The money raised from the bake sales and sponsored run will be re-invested in further Eco-School projects throughout the year. Our aim is to develop a small pond or marine area within school. Further details will be shared with your throughout the year on this. If you do wish to contribute sponsorship money or for your child to purchase something from their key stage bake sale, children can either bring in money to school on 22nd November or you can donate through a Just Giving page which we will set up and send you details of next week.
If you do have any questions about any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.
Many thanks in anticipation of your support,
Miss Katherine Stevens
School Meals Ordering
Just a reminder that school dinners for children in Years 3,4,5 & 6 need to be pre-ordered and paid for via Parentmail. The order form is now live and you need to select a vegetarian option or non-vegetarian option for your required days.This needs to be done 24 hours before your child requires a meal. In response to our recent parental survey, Caterlink have reintroduced the jacket potato option on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (please select the non-vegetarian option when ordering a jacket potato.
Cross Country Competition
On Monday 8th November, 12 children from Upper Key Stage Two participated in a Cross Country event at Ardley Hill Academy. All the children did extremely well and showed excellent determination and sportsmanship; the track had a number of steep hills and was extremely challenging which the children took in their stride. Well done to all the children who took part; we are extremely proud of their effort and successes. Each child participated in one of three relay races and we won all of them! We also had a number of achievements in the singles races. These were as follows:
Y5 girls single: Y5 boys single Y6 girls single: Y6 boys single:
Eloise : 2nd Brody: 4th Jessica : 1st Reggie : 1st
Seren : 3rd Henry : - 5th Ellie : 2nd Dexter : 3rd
Aimee : 5th Samuel : 6th Emma : 3rd Ethan : 5th
Book Look
Due to current restrictions on allowing visitors into school, we are still planning to hold our book look as previously advised. However this will have to be done on a class by class basis, so that we do not have a large number of visitors mixing together, this will be from week commencing 22nd November. We will contact you next week with the dates for each class once these have been finalised.
TTRockstars Competition
Before half term, children participated in Times Tables Rock Stars and Numbots competitions. Well done to everyone for logging on and participating. We are pleased to announce the winners from each year group:
Key Stage One Numbots competition
1. Jack Beddall
2. Indiana Fox
3. Hudson Hawkins
Year 3 Trust competition
1. Chloe Paruit
2. Anson Aw
3. Beau Bland
Year 4 Trust competition
1. Samuel Gherghin
2. Antony Miczalowski
3. Jacob Beasant
Year 5 Trust competition
1. Eloise Vickery
2. Rebecca Olariu
3. Reuben Kennedy
Year 6 Trust competition
1. Emily Coverdale
2. Oscar Taylor
3. Karim Koroma
A special well done to the children in Mrs Shilvock's Maths group who were the overall winners for Year 3...they have today received a prize from Chiltern Learning Trust for their fantastic Maths! Well done children.
This week we have participated in 'England Rocks'; a Times Tables Rock Star competition especially for Maths Week. We will shortly be updating the children about the winners of this competition and announcing
Our school happiness collage!
