Welcome to our weekly newsletter!

Welcome back, everyone! 

We're thrilled to have our school buzzing with excitement again as we embark on the Summer term. This last term of the academic year promises to be filled with sunshine, learning adventures, and unforgettable experiences both inside and outside the classroom. 

We can't wait to see the incredible progress you make and all the fun we'll have together before the summer holidays. 

Buckle up – it's going to be a fantastic term!

Well done

Thank you

Attendance Matters

As we strive to have a successful and enriching environment for Cheam Common Infants' pupils, we continually address the importance of regular attendance. The pie chart below shows that our attendance rates have fallen below our acceptable level of school attendance.

While we appreciate, there was an increase in illness prior to the Easter holidays, we would like to remind you of the importance of attending school and ask that during the summer term, as the weather and 'seasonal illness' improves, so does attendance. 

It is YOUR responsibility as parents/carers to ensure your child receives an education.

Why Attendance Matters:

• Learning Builds on Learning: Every lesson builds on the one before it. Missing school creates gaps in understanding that can be difficult to catch up on.

• Staying on Track: Consistent attendance helps students stay on top of assignments and deadlines, leading to better grades and a sense of accomplishment.

• Social Skills Development: School provides a crucial environment for children to develop social skills, build friendships, and learn teamwork through interaction with peers.

• Habits for the Future: Regular attendance helps children develop a strong work ethic, responsibility, and time management skills – qualities valued in future education and employment.

Tips for Encouraging Attendance:

• Establish a routine: Set a consistent bedtime and wake-up schedule, even on weekends, to ensure your child feels rested and ready to learn.

• Talk about the importance of school: Discuss the benefits of learning and how much your child contributes to the classroom.

• Communicate with the school: Inform teachers of any upcoming absences as soon as possible.

• Make school fun: Show an interest in your child's schoolwork and celebrate their achievements!

Moving Forward:

We are confident that by working together, we can encourage regular attendance.  We will be closely monitoring attendance data and keeping you updated on our progress.  In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Spring has definitely arrived in Nursery this week!  The children have been busy recounting their holiday news as well as reading and sharing lots of books about spring.  They have also been exploring different ways to paint spring flowers including using fork arks as well as salt and water with watercolours.  They have also been developing their fine motor skills by using cotton buds to decorate their name and using tweezers to place the correct number of pom poms on the butterfly.

Amazing work!

 This week Reception started their unit of work 'From ant to elephant'.  Following reading 'Aaaargh Spider', the children went on a mini beast hunt and compared the different mini beasts they found. The children wrote about their favourite animals using 'because' to explain their choice.

We began our Forest School sessions in the outside area where they had a wonderful time digging in the mud and planted beans and potatoes.

 In maths this week we practised representing numbers correctly on ten frames and wrote number sentences. Our number of the week was 11.

What a fantastic start to the new term. Well done Reception!

Year 1 have had a wonderful week starting all their new learning for the Summer Term. They have moved to new English groups and have begun their new story 'Wild' by Emily Hughs. The children wrote some lovely character descriptions of Wild and tried very hard to use the words and or because to join two ideas. They looked at why the little girl was feeling a variety of emotions from happy and content, to anger and frustration. They all described the setting of the story, yes they have been busy!

As mathematicians, the children have been learning about equal and unequal groups. They enjoyed being human counters as they got into group of 2, 3, 5, 10's and discussed whether we had equal group or unequal groups. They then explored using cubes making different groups e.g. 2 groups of 5, 4 groups of 2. 

Can you give your children different grouping problems to solve e.g how many are there altogether if I have 2 rows of 5?  How many are there altogether is there are 5 rows of 5. 

As scientists, the children have launched into learning about plants and have explored a range of Botanical Gardens. They enjoyed researching what plants need to grow as well as different types of plants like the venus fly trap. 

As geographers, the children explored the similarities between the town and countryside. They sorted images and thought about whether they live, in a town or in the countryside. 

Can you ask them to remember why they live in a town?

Acting as an Artist, the children are enjoying their new art focus 'Flora and Fauna'. We have some buddy artists in Year One and it was amazing to see how focused they were creating art in the style of the artists Henri Rousseau, Jan Van Kessel and Hannah Borger. They used a variety of media and were very proud of their work. 

In P.E. the children enjoyed learning ball skills, trying to catch with control and throw with accuracy. They do enjoy being physical and always have so much fun. 

Year Two have had a busy first week back!  

As geographers, they recapped their knowledge of the United Kingdom as well as developed their skills of using atlases and Google Earth.  They then went on to look at the landmarks of London.  

Can they tell you the four countries and their capital cities which make up the United Kingdom?

As artists, we have been inspired by Kandinsky and used music to inspire them to draw.  We were practising producing abstract drawings focusing on the use of lines. We did this by scrunching up paper and then drawing it. 

We used a metronome to draw different beats and thought about our feelings as colours and sounds.

Acting like scientists, we have been learning about the key features of trees and what they do. We took some bark rubbings to spot the similarities and differences on a variety of tree trunks.

Can your child tell you what the key features of a tree are?

In PE they developed their skills of sending and receiving balls of different sizes.  While in PSHE they were looking at different families and looked at what ingredients would make a family cake. 

If you would like to inform us of any achievements your child has completed outside of school, please  complete this FORM

Please check the dates section regularly as dates may change and new dates will be added.

Friends Update

Thank you so much to Friends for organising the Easter trail.  

We hope you had lots of fun completing it.  

The totals for the events last term are:

Easter Trail £817.45

Mufti £433.92

Tea towels £218.45

Thank you so much for all your support

Please find below information about this term's events.  

There are many different views about physical chastisement, but it is widely accepted there are much more effective ways to teach children right from wrong. 

As a local authority, Sutton has seen a number of children coming to the attention of police and social care due to the use of physical chastisement and as such has worked with other local authorities on an initiative to reduce this number. 

In line with this initiative, we agree that anything that causes harm to a child is unacceptable.

As a school, we have a duty to report incidents of suspected or confirmed physical chastisement to social care and the police and this can be with ot without visible bruising, grazes, scratches, minor swelling, cuts as well as stress injuries from prolonged standing, position holding as these are banned by law in the United Kingdom.

Smacking or chastising that does not leave a mark is now illegal in Wales and Scotland, and there is currently pressure being placed on the Government to make it illegal in England and Northern Ireland too. It is therefore important to understand that even if a child has been smacked but no injuries are visible, social care or the police may still choose to take further action.

If you would like support on how to manage your child’s behaviour at home, please do not hesitate to contact us, we are here to help. 

Safeguarding Team

DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION TALK

On Tuesday 30th April, Alison Szalay, who is the Senior Specialist Advisory Teacher for Wiltshire County Council is delivering a talk about "Dyslexia Friendly Teaching".  She will be discussing what dyslexia-friendly schools look like, why developing a dyslexia -friendly school is important, what a dyslexia -friendly school looks like in practice and the impact it can make.

The last 15 minutes of the talk will be a chance to ask questions. 

If you would like to attend this Virtual webinar, please register by emailing: cda.meetings@gmail.com

Surrey County Council encourages residents to foster

Fostering is an incredibly rewarding experience that can transform the lives of both the children being fostered and the foster carers themselves. Children who enter the care system have often experienced trauma and instability in their lives, and a caring, stable foster family can make a significant difference in their wellbeing and development.

Nationally, there are currently over 70,000 children living with foster families in the UK. However, there is still a significant shortage of foster carers, with around 9,265 new foster families needed in the next year alone. In Surrey, there are over 1,000 children in care and Surrey County Council have just under 400 foster families.

Foster carers come from all walks of life and backgrounds, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to fostering. Whether you are single or married, young or old, own your own home or rent, you can still become a foster carer. The most important thing is a willingness to provide a safe and loving home for a child in need.

This is the message that Surrey County Council is promoting in national recruitment film ‘Any of Us’. The short film has been jointly funded by over 80 councils across England and aims to raise awareness about fostering, particularly among those people who may not have previously considered themselves suited to fostering. The film looks at the potential of three people from different backgrounds to become foster carers, and the potential of children they care for to grow and thrive. ‘Any of Us’ will be available to watch from 26 September.

If you have ever thought about fostering, now is the time to take that first step and find out more. The more people who consider fostering, the greater the chance of finding loving, stable homes for children in Surrey who desperately need them.

You can contact Surrey County Council Fostering Service on 0800 096 9626, via email at fostering.recruitment@surreycc.gov.uk or by visiting the website; www.surreycc.gov.uk/fostering

You can watch ‘Any of Us’ via Any of Us - YouTube and connect with the Fostering Service on social media via @surreyfostering

Dads' Football

Some Cheam Common School Dads get together on a weekly basis to play football and have a good chat. 

Join us in our WhatsApp group! ( https://chat.whatsapp.com/FwN7SksNXnBIxanYRJ9TEc) 

See you on the pitch!

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