Newsletter 24.3.2023
Dear Parents and Carers,
Last week was Science week and the week got off to a great start with a competitive assembly from Miss Stevens all about 'connections' in Science which was our theme for this year. The children taking part in the challenge did a tremendous job competing for their houses and earnt lots of gold coins; well done everyone. There were lots of opportunities throughout the week for different key stages to connect with nature, from den building to planting pants on the field to investigate the process of decay, there was lots of exciting learning taking place. Hopefully your child has told you all about it! We shared lots of photos on our social media channels so if you haven't already, please take a look.
This week our Year 6 children have been completing their mock SATs tests. As a team we are absolutely delighted with the progress they have made so far this year and throughout their Lark Rise journey. They approached the assessments in a calm and mature manner demonstrating excellent resilience; we could not be prouder of them! Excellent preparation for the real thing in May. As a cohort they have already exceeded the outcomes the children achieved in their final SATs tests at the end of last year. As a special well done to them they enjoyed a movie and popcorn yesterday afternoon. Thank you for supporting your children at home to complete any additional learning and also for ensuring they arrive promptly for an 8:30am start. This has really helped them to develop their fluency in key areas and supported their confidence.
Today it was fantastic to see Hummingbirds deliver a confident class assembly to showcase their learning. Thank you to those parents and carers who were able to attend; we hoped you enjoyed seeing them shine.
Next Tuesday we are looking forward to our Easter event after school where we have some fantastic activities planned for the children who are able to join us.
I can't believe we are now coming to the end of the spring term. We have had a fantastic term of learning across the school with children being immersed in their learning in so many different ways. It's been lovely to celebrate some individual successes with them too, from phonics to learning their times tables, our children are trying so hard with their learning and I'm incredibly proud of them. I'm looking forward to the fantastic learning opportunities that the staff have planned for the summer term and seeing the children's passion for their learning continue to shine through. With only one week left I wish you all a lovely Easter break with your family; fingers crossed we get some nice weather.
Mrs Romina Lang
Headteacher
Times Table Rockstars
In LKS2 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 :
Week 4: Most amount of practice : Sophie, Beau, Sonny, Dani, Oliver C, Paul Dylan
Week 5: Most amount of practice : Dani, Luke, Beau, Isabelle, Sonny, Gracjan,
Easter Activities Event
The after school Easter Activities event will take place on Tuesday 28th March from 3.30pm to 5.00pm. This is a fundraising event led by school staff for children from Reception to Year 6. Tickets need to be purchased on Parentmail (NB bookings close at midnight on Friday 24th March). Please note there will be no after school clubs on this evening.
Attendopoly
The winning classes for the last two weeks are :
Week of 6th March : Red Kites class with 96.3% attendance.
Week of 13th March : Red Kites class with 99.4% attendance.
Red Nose Day
Thank you for supporting Red Nose Day and the Safety Squad's Bake Sale last Friday. We were delighted to have raised the phenomenal total of £696.25 towards this worthwhile appeal so many thanks for your support.
Staff News
We are delighted to welcome two new Midday Supervisors to the Lark Rise team. Mrs Carrie Brimmell and Mrs Vicki Gathard will be supporting lunchtimes in Nursery and Reception.
Car Park
May we politely remind you that the school car park is for staff parking ONLY. This includes when dropping children off for breakfast club or collecting at the end of after school clubs. The entrance into the car park should also not be used as a turning circle.
Lego
Breakfast club would be delighted to receive any donations of Lego blocks (not larger blocks or Duplo) for building, including mini figures, to replace our current stock.
Easter Menu
The kitchen will be offering a special Easter menu on Wednesday 29th March. If your child would like to have the special menu, they can order on the day but payment will need to be made on Parentmail (for children in Years 3-6). Please note this is a change to the previously advertised menu.
Lost Property
We have a large of amount of lost property in school. Unfortunately unless clothing is named, we are unable to return items to their rightful owners. Please could you therefore ensure that all items are cleared named. The lost property will be placed outside the main entrance next week so that you can check for any missing items.
Bedfordshire Police Liaison
As a school, we are lucky to be able to access support from Bedfordshire Police's School Liaison team. In the past we have held parent sessions and children sessions with a focus on a range of safety issues; most recently relating to online safety.
Next week, we have arranged for two officers to visit the school to talk to UKS2 about knife crime and the dangers relating to this. We feel this is extremely important to cover in the final years of primary school as we prepare them for transition to secondary school.
Hopefully this is not an issue that our children will encounter but as with all aspects of our safeguarding curriculum, we are committed to ensuring that children are informed of the dangers and also know how to raise concerns and seek help. It is also our responsibility to prepare children for life beyond primary school, therefore we hope this workshop will be an excellent way to support children with this. The session is being held next Thursday. Please speak to your child after the session as well, to find out what they have learnt and to ensure they are clear on the dangers.
Eco-Reps Bake Sale
The Eco-Reps will be hosting a bake sale on Friday 31st March from 3:20pm onwards. There will be an opportunity for children, once they have been collected by their adults, to purchase baked goods from outside the common room on the school playground. In order to facilitate this, we will be asking for any donations of baked goods to be brought into school on Friday 31st March. There will be an opportunity to win prizes for the most creative bakes before they are sold at the end of the day. If you would like to contribute something to be sold in the bake sale, please send it in with an ingredients list so that we can cater for allergies.
EYFS Learning
After the Easter holiday, the children in Early Years will be learning about countries around the world.
If you are going on holiday in the UK or abroad or on any day trips, if you are able to, we would be very grateful if you could send a postcard to school for the children.
We will plot them on a map to support our learning.
Book Fair
Thank you for supporting the recent Scholastic book fair, it was great to see the excitement when children were choosing books to read at home.
Thanks to your generosity, we raised £1040.12 which will be used to stock our school libraries.
Sumdog Competition
Congratulations to Red Kites class who are the winners of the recent Sumdog competition. They will be rewarded with a class pizza party next week.
Easter Church Service
We have been informed that unfortunately the minister from the Methodist Church is unavailable to lead our Easter service next Friday (31st March). We have therefore taken the decision not to walk to and from the church and to celebrate Easter in the school hall instead. Unfortunately this will mean that we are unable to invite parents/carers to join us due to capacity in the school hall. Nursery children should therefore come to school as normal next Friday.
Thank you to those parents who had offered to accompany the children to and from the church, we hope to take advantage of your kind offer for our Christmas church service later this year.
Writing to be proud of (Year 3)
Elizabeth Bowles, Year 3
Rosalie Trevor, Year 3
Eloise Sawyer, Year 3
Isabella Slough, Year 3
Isabella Slough, Year 3
Isabella Slough, Year 3
Jack Beddall, Year 3
Jolie Beasant, Year 3
Jolie Beasant, Year 3
