Newsletter
24.03.23
Principal's Message
This week, the children in Chestnut, Aspen, Elm and Monkey Puzzle classes were lucky enough to have a virtual author visit. Gill Lewis joined us through the power of technology to tell us all about how she wrote her latest book, 'Moonflight'. I think she might have inspired some future authors!
The children in Early Years have been inspiring us with their passion to save the rainforest. They wore green earlier in the week to raise money for their rainforest cafe this afternoon. It was lovely to see so many parents supporting the children and for the children to be so knowledgeable about the world around them. They truly embody the ethos of our PYP approach.
You might have noticed some additional adults at school recently. We currently have some student teachers from Canterbury Christ Church University with us on placement. They are here until the end of term and then return next term for a longer placement.
Next week is just as busy with fire safety talks, an Easter egg hunt and visits to the church!
Have a lovely weekend.
Mr N Dosad
Monday 27th March 2023 - 3/4Cedar British Museum Trip
Tuesday 28th March 2023 - Fire Safety Talks
Tuesday 28th March 2023 - KS2 Football v Boughton Monchelsea, Away
Wednesday 29th March 2023 - 4Chestnut Romans Day
Wednesday 29th March 2023 9.00 - 11.00am EYFS/KS1 Easter Service @ Church
Wednesday 29th March 2023 1.30 - 3.00pm KS2 Easter Service @ Church
Wednesday 29th March 2023 3.00pm - 4Chestnut Parent Showcase
Thursday 30th March 2023 2.00-2.30pm - Year 1 Phonics Screening Parent Meeting
Thursday 30th March 2023 2.30-3.00pm - Easter Bonnet Parade EYFS/KS1
Thursday 30th March 2023 - KS2 Easter Egg Scenes Competition Deadline
Thursday 30th March 2023 2.45pm - 3/4Cedar Parent Showcase
Thursday 30th March 2023 - KS2 Girls Football v Southborough, School Field
Friday 31st March 2023 - Easter Egg Hunt
Friday 31st March 2023 2.45pm - 5 Aspen Parent Showcase
Friday 31st March 2023 - Last Day of Term 4
Easter Competitions
EYFS/KS1 Easter Bonnets
This year on Thursday 30th March we will be having an Easter hat/bonnet competition for the children and a parade. Please could you support your child in designing and making an Easter hat or bonnet. Children from each year group will be chosen as winners and will receive an Easter prize! Your hat could be made from card, paper, or use a baseball cap/sunhat/woolly hat as a base. Then allow your child to decide what they would like on their hat, it could be flowers, signs of new life such as lambs, chicks and chocolate eggs. It can be anything linked to Easter. Please send the hat in with your child on the 30th March, we look forward to seeing all the wonderful hats and bonnets!
KS2 Easter Egg Scenes
After last year's egg-cellent entries, we are running our Easter egg scene competition for KS2 again. Please could you support your child in creating a design using hard boiled/blown eggs. The theme this year is ‘Best of British’ to tie in with celebrating the King's Coronation.
Ideas can incorporate landmarks, food, famous people, transport and basically anything linked to Britain. Please bring your entries into school on Thursday 30th March where they will be judged, and prizes will be awarded to the winners from each year group.
Office Messages
Smoking Outside The School Gates
A number of children and parents have expressed their unhappiness with people smoking and/or vaping directly outside the school gates. We appreciate that this is a public right of way and as such cannot insist that people do not smoke outside the gates; however, may we request that if you need to smoke or vape, please show some consideration for our children when they are entering/leaving school, by standing away from the gates whilst smoking.
Passive smoking is particularly harmful to infants and children and we thank you in advance for your support with this matter.
We would like to invite Year 1 parents to a Phonics Screening Check Parent Information Meeting on Thursday 30th March 2023 from 2.00-2.30pm.
The national phonics screening check was introduced in 2012 to all Year 1 pupils in the country. It is a short, statutory assessment to ensure that children are making sufficient progress in the phonics skills to read words and are on track to become fluent readers who can enjoy reading for pleasure and for learning.
Parents will be provided with information packs and resources to use with their children over the Easter break.
Upcoming Events
Times Tables Rock Stars
A big congratulations goes to this weeks winners of the class Rockstars competition who are 4 Chestnut. They win Ringo the Rockstar Teddy for the week!
The individual class winners are:
3 Beech: George M
3/4 Cedar: Percy C
4 Chestnut: Tonyted B
5 Aspen: Jacob B
6 Elm: Darcy S
6 MonkeyPuzzle: Jenson P
A big congratulations goes to this week's winners of the class Numbots competition who are 2 Sequoia. They win Rusty the Robot for the week!
The individual class winners are:
1 Spruce: Alexander H
1 Willow: Ethan T
2 Maple: TJ M
2 Sequoia: Astinos C
National Online Safety
A free online safety guide on stronger passwords.
According to a Google survey, more than half of us (52%, to be exact) routinely re-use the same passwords, with around one in ten employing a single password across all of their online accounts. What that means, of course, is that any hacker successfully cracking our password would find themselves with access to not simply one of our online accounts, but several (at least).
That, along with the fact that many people’s favoured passwords aren’t exactly impenetrable, makes it easier to see why some sources put the number of online accounts being broken into at around 100 per second. Yes, you read that right: 100 per second. To help give you some extra peace of mind about your digital data, our #WakeUpWednesday guide has some tips on setting more secure passwords.
In the guide you'll find a number of top tips on setting stronger passwords such as how to get creative, what to avoid, and the value of multi-factor authentication.
