Diary Dates

Term Dates

Dear Parents and Carers,

Over the last two weeks it has been wonderful to spend some time in lessons across the school seeing the children so immersed in their learning and making great progress. It is always a pleasure to listen to the children talk about their learning and see the amazing learning opportunities that are crafted for the children by such passionate and skilled practitioners. Across the school the children are immersed in their English texts and learning new vocabulary each and every day which can be seen through their oracy and their written work. It is a joy to see them building on effective ways of communicating from using sentence stems to share their learning orally through to some of the fantastic writing that they are producing. I am so proud of them and I know their teachers are too!

Last week Peacocks class kicked off the first class assembly of 2024! What a great one it was too! The children spoke with confidence about their learning and were so pleased to have their parents and carers attend; thank you if you were able to take the time to come and see your child.

This half term our whole school values are 'tolerance' and 'unity'. We explored the book 'The Proudest Blue' by Ibtihaj Muhammad which allowed us to show empathy towards the main characters and think about these important values in action. When the occasion arises, it would be fantastic if you could explore these values at home to support the children's understanding and development of these fundamental values. The children will continue to explore these further within lesson time.

We are looking forward to seeing lots of you in school next week for our parents and carers review meetings. If you haven't already then please remember to book an appointment slot to discuss English and Maths with your child's class teacher. Targets will be sent home beforehand for you to view so please look out for these in your child's book bag or planner.

I hope you all have a lovely week; see you on Monday

Mrs Romina Lang

Headteacher

School Closures

In the event of a school closure, Central Bedfordshire Council maintains a website into which schools feed their current open/closed status.

In order to receive an update on the school's open status, you need to register on Central Bedfordshire Council's SOS system:

Click on the following link: http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/webApps/SOS/
Click on 'register for updates' and fill in the text boxes
Click on 'submit'.

You will then receive an email which contains instructions on how to 'activate' your account which will include a 'one off' activation code:

Click on the link: http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/webApps/SOS/
Go to 'Log in to edit your details' and type in your email address and the activation code

The next time you want to edit your details, type in your email address and password.

Learning Review Meetings

Learning Review meetings will be held on Wednesday 24th & Thursday 25th January from 3.45pm to 7.00pm. This will be an opportunity for you to discuss the progress that your child is making in English and Maths. Online bookings are now open on Schoolcloud - reminders of how to book have already been sent out. Meetings will be face to face in the school hall and will last 5 minutes per subject.

Attendopoly

Each week in our whole school assembly we celebrate children's attendance by playing a game of Attendopoly (based on Monopoly). The class with the highest attendance figure is rewarded with a class prize.

The winning class for the last week was:

Week of 8th January : Penguins Class with 99.3% attendance.

Our whole school target attendance for this academic year across all classes is 97%.

Shine Bright, Wear Bright

As part of our support for the CHUMS charity who are offering support for some children in school, we will be taking part in their 'Shine Bright Wear Bright’ event to raise money for CHUMS. We will be having a mufti day on Wednesday 7th February 2024 which is during Children’s Mental Health Week.

There will be a £1 donation towards the charity which can be paid via our Justgiving page

www.justgiving.com/page/lark-rise-1705580912865

Bake Sale for Chums

As part of Children's Mental Health, some of the children will be organising a bake sale on Friday 9th February. This will take place outside the main entrance to school at the end of the school day.

All money raised will go to CHUMS. Donations of cakes for the sale would be gratefully received on the morning of 9th February.

Watch out for the childrens' posters with further details.

House Flag

You may have noticed our new flag flying above the school building. The colour of the flag represents the house winners for the half term, hence it is currently red. At the end of each half term, the house captains of the winning house will hoist the flag for their house colour.

Message from Mrs Bidgood (Nursery TA)

On 7th April 2024 myself, my 2 brothers and my husband will be running the London Landmarks Half Marathon, raising vital money for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.

This charity is extremely close to our hearts having lost our Dad/ Father in Law to this disease in 2013. We have supported this charity since then.

My brother set up the Just Giving page, so it is under the name of Paul Simmonds. The link is below, if you would like to sponsor us - thank you.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/paul-simmonds7?utm_source=copyLink&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=paul-simmonds7&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_term=8a18af2d139b4e8b8ada0b9aa148cfdd

Staff News

We are thrilled to announce that Miss Gannon (Robins class teacher) is expecting a baby (due in May). Miss Gannon will be with us until the Easter holidays - we will be in touch nearer the time with arrangements for her maternity cover.

Welcome Back

We are delighted to welcome Miss Swan back to school following a period of sickness absence. Miss Swan will be returning to her role as part-time teacher in the Nursery.

Inclusive SEND Birthday Parties

Please see the flier below for Inclusive, SEND Birthday parties being offered by Weatherfield School in partnership with Disability in Action.

Times Table Rockstars

Across the school we have a weekly hall of fame, where we celebrate different aspects of times table recall. This includes effort, speed and accuracy.

Well done to the following children who have logged on regularly at home and achieved a place in our hall of fame so far this half term in the following categories :

KS1

8/1/24: Most coins : George, Emily C, Theodore, Kiaan

15/1/24: Most coins : Myra, Benjamin P, Quinn, Theodore

LKS2

8/1/24: Most coins : Kornel, Gracjan, Kostek, Sonny, Alex, Shreya

15/1/24: Improved accuracy : Arianna, Emma, Daniel, Patryk, Liam, Cailen

UKS2

8/1/24: Most correct answers : Ayomide, Paul, Emily, Alexander

15/1/24: Most correct answers : Sophie, Rose, Antony, Beau

TTR Competition Time

We are pleased to announce the start of the Chiltern Learning Trust's Key Stage Two 'New Year Battle' on Times Tables Rock Stars. This competition takes place from today (18th January until 1st February).

We are also running an in-school competition for Key Stage One on Numbots and TTR. This takes place during the same dates.

Please encourage your children to log on and participate. We did very well last time and we are confident we can come top of the board again!

For our Polish families

The Nurturing Programme is a 10 week online course for Polish Parents and carers in Bedfordshire, beginning in January.

Some of the topics covered include understanding why children behave as they do, recognising the feelings behind behaviour and exploring different approaches to discipline. For more information, or to book, contact details are found on the flier.

Tissues

We are desperately in need of boxes of tissues as we are well and truly in "runny nose" season. If you are able to donate a box, we would be extremely grateful. Thank you in advance for your support.

Girls Underwear

If you have any clean girls underwear that your child has outgrown that we could use as spares in school, we would be really grateful to receive it.

Reporting pupil absence

Please ensure that when reporting a child's absence you use our direct absence line on the school number (with reasons for absence) rather than emailing the school to inform us. Thank you for your continued support.