Newsletter
10.12.21
Principal's Message
It was a pleasure to see you at the parents evening. It was nice to be able to talk with you as you waited and I am particularly proud of our year 6 chaperones who took guided the parents and carers to their required destinations. It is also a good opportunity to thank my devoted staff who stayed until 7 pm after a long day of teaching.
Today I have sent a letter explaining the difficult decision to cancel parents attending the nativity shows next week. We did everything in our power to ensure this event went ahead however, after considering the concerns of all staff and the risks to children and the Marden community, we could not find a resolution that would ensure the safety of all in attendance. Please accept my sincerest apologies, not only for cancelling but, cancelling at such a late hour. This was due to genuinely wanting the performances to go ahead but unfortunately, after canvassing the opinions of colleagues, the risks were simply too high.
I do hope. however, that if you do personally feel safe to do so, that you attend our PTA Christmas Fair which will go ahead as planned on Saturday 11th December from 12.00-15.00. Please use the main school gate for access and exit. We can’t wait to see you there.
Mr N Dosad
National Online Safety
“Inappropriate” means different things to different people. What’s acceptable for one age group, for example, may be unsuitable for a slightly younger audience. Online, young people can chance upon inappropriate content in various ways – from pop-up ads to TikTok videos. The increasingly young age at which children become active in the digital world heightens the risk of them innocently running into something that they find upsetting or frightening. Trusted adults need to be able to help children be aware of what to do if they’re exposed to age-inappropriate content.
In the guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as social media, gaming and adverts.
Curriculum Corner:
Daily reading is incredibly important for our children. Research shows:
The more children read, the more they enjoy reading; as a result, children attain better in school.
There is a direct link between reading for pleasure and the growing knowledge and accurate application of language and grammar in writing, as well as the development of general knowledge.
Providing children with a variety of choice in their reading maintains engagement and enhances a love for reading.
Children are more likely to read at home if their parents engage with reading and where reading and books are valued.
Reading is a life-long skill and one we must encourage, harness and develop in our children. With your support, encouragement and motivation at home, we can successfully equip our children at Marden with the necessary skills to succeed - not just at primary school - in life.
What you can do at home:
Read daily. This could be books, comics, internet research or articles, road signs, shop windows or supermarket items.
Share reading. With your child, model reading, including taking on character voice and expression. Take it in turns to read or guide with the supporting of segmenting and blending in early readers.
Provide a variety of reading experiences, including a variety of reading genres.
Prioritise reading at home. Make it a key part of home life and learning; engage with reading and promote it as a positive experience.
Times Tables Rock Stars
A big congratulations, again, goes to this weeks winners of the class Rockstars competition 6CK.
They retain Ringo the Rockstar Teddy- who will win him next week?
The individual class winners are:
3B: Oliver B
3/4D: Stanley M
4WB: Rowan T
5DK: Arthur M
5/6A: Lewis M
6CK: Josh T
In the LAT Primary school competition, we find ourselves now in 2nd place out of 12 schools. 1st place is still within reaching distance, but we only have 4 days left, so a big push by all and, fingers crossed, we can claim top place!
PTA Messages
Meet Your New House Captains
A huge congratulations to our new house captains. Our young leaders were voted for by their peers last week to lead their houses and we look forward to watching them flourish in their new roles.
Desert House
Ollie & Sophia
Rainforest House
Kacper & Jessica
Polar House
Albert & Elsie
Ocean House
Zach & Scarlett
Office Messages
Christmas Card Post Box
The Christmas Card Post Box is on display in Reception until Friday 17th December 2021. Children are invited to write cards for their friends and staff.
Please ensure the recipient's name and class are written on the front of the envelope and our Year 6 elves will do daily collections and deliveries to the classrooms.
Christmas Jumper Day
All children are invited to wear a Christmas Jumper to school on Wednesday 15th December.
This should be worn over their normal uniform of a poloshirt, trousers/skirt and school shoes.
No donation is required.
Leigh Academies Trust Christmas Card Competition 2021
Congratulations to Luka in Class RM who was chosen as 1st Runner Up by our CEO, Simon Beamish, in the Trust's annual Christmas Card Competition.
Well done Luka - you'll receive your printed cards and Amazon voucher before the end of term!
Free School Meals Holiday Voucher Scheme
For the Christmas holiday period, families of children that are eligible for benefits-related free school meals will receive a voucher to the value of £30 for Sainsburys, Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Aldi or Iceland to help pay for groceries over the break.
We will send all families currently in receipt of benefits-related free school meals one unique voucher per child on the last day of term.
The vouchers can be spent in-store or some supermarkets accept them online if you get your groceries delivered - please check before choosing which store to get your vouchers for.
Poppy Appeal 2021
Thank you once again for your support with the Poppy Appeal. Marden Primary Academy raised the incredible amount of £398.71 and donated the largest amount of any other collector this year.
A message from Debra Curtis, Honorary Poppy Appeal Organiser Marden:
"To all the children, staff and parents, you have helped support veterans, service men, women and their families. Your hard work to raise this amount of money is acknowledged and genuinely appreciated"
Principal's Awards
RM: Ben has been an excellent role model for his friends this week. He has thought carefully about his learning, especially when forming letters.
RMC: Ethan is a consistently careful and thoughtful learner. He puts 100% effort into all his learning and challenges himself daily. Keep up the amazing learning behaviour Ethan!
1MT: Daniel Shore has shown exceptional progress in his reading. He has been practising to sound words out in his head before reading them out loud.
1/2S: Sammy is trying his very best to listen to feedback and improve his learning. He has been focused and engaged this week. Great work Sammy!
2D: Elijah for sheer perseverance in his work this week, really pushing himself to do the best he can in all he is doing.
3B: Nellie for her consistent hard work during lessons in both discussions and written work.
3/4D: Lisa- Marie continues to be a thoughtful and helpful member of our class. She is caring towards her peers.
4WB: Lucas has enjoyed sharing his knowledge in maths this week. He has shown a real enthusiasm for learning. Well done Lucas!
5DK: Siobhan continues to push herself, working hard on her maths and writing. Well done Siobhan.
5/6A: Elliot has shown that regardless of being at school or at home, he continues to take initiative of his own learning. He spends time on TT rockstars at home and revise other topics that he knows he needs to practise.
6CK: Bill has shown a great desire to learn this week, imploring the adults to allow him to keep working on maths problems and asking for calculations to work on during his break time.
RM Class ~ Year R
Star Pupils
Ted
Ted made a wonderful decoration for our Celebration tree for his home learning. While hanging hi paper chain on the tree he reflected on what he enjoys most about this time of year. " I like playing with me brother."
Ivy Rose
Ivy Rose is continuing to make wonderful progress when communicating with her friends. This week, she has been leading learning and talking to her friends to make a road system around the classroom - Go Ivy!
RM Class Reminders
As we approach our final week of Module 2, the adults in Team RM would like to THANK YOU for the support you have provided with home learning. We thoroughly enjoy watching facts recorded or photos of our young learners developing knowledge and skills at home.
We look forward to seeing many of you at our Nativity shows next week. Please contact the office for your ticket.
Please remember to bring reading books in on Monday and Thursday so they can be changed.
RMC Class ~ Year R
Star Pupils
Scarlett
Scarlett has been an incredible thinker this week. She has thrown herself back into her learning, asked for help if things have been tricky and has smiled the whole time. Scarlett has shown great initiative and sought out effective ways to find out the answers to any questions she had. We are very proud of you Scarlett!
Chloe
This week, Chloe been a risk-taker. She has been working really hard to build up her confidence with writing and this week to a risk and choose to try to write her name independently. Chloe was incredibly proud of herself and her friends and teachers were very proud of her as well. Keep it up Chloe!
RMC Class Reminders
The adults in RMC want to say a massive well done to all of the children in the class. Their effort and determination to learn, over the past module, has been amazing and has blown us away! We would also like to thank the parents for their support and hard work at home with reading, home learning challenges and supporting the learning of tricky words!
We look forward to seeing many of you at our Nativity shows next week. Please contact the office for your ticket.
Please remember to bring reading books in on Monday and Thursday so they can be changed.
1MT Class ~ Year 1
Star Pupils
Astinos
For being a great communicator during our science experiment this week.
Delilah
For being open - minded during her maths this week.
1MT Class Reminders
Less than a week to go until our Nativity performance, so please provide your children with any last minute support they need in perfecting lines etc. They are all very excited and thank you in advance for your support with lines, lyrics and costumes.
1/2S Class ~ Year 1/2
Star Pupils
Ivy
We are so proud of Ivy for being a risk-taker with her maths learning this week. She has given things a go, tried new things and hasn't given up. Well done Ivy!
Daniel
Daniel has been a great communicator this week. He is trying his best to learn some new spanish phrases and is enjoying our spanish game 'Me llamo oso'. Great work Daniel!
1/2S Class Reminders:
Less than a week to go until our Nativity performance, so please provide your children with any last minute support they need in perfecting lines etc. They are all very excited and thank you in advance for your support with lines, lyrics and costumes.
2D Class ~ Year 2
Star Pupils
Jesse C
You have been a really positive thinker this week Jesse. It has been great to see you approach your work with care to ensure that what you produce is the best it can be, a true reflection of your hard work- really well done!
Mia L
Well done this week Mia. It has been lovely to see you become such a risk-taker and look at stretching yourself in your work. I loved your ideas for what we could do in a world without talking and how you felt you would struggle!
2D Class Reminders:
Less than a week to go until our Nativity performance, so please provide your children with any last minute support they need in perfecting lines etc. They are all very excited and thank you in advance for your support with lines, lyrics and costumes.
3B Class ~ Year 3
Star Pupils
Lilly B
Lilly has been really reflective this week, writing up her newspaper article she has worked hard on. She has improved it and ensured to include all the features.
Aofie-Lilly
Aoife has been a great thinker this week, writing independently and showing a great understanding of our inquiry.
3B Class Reminders
Please keep reading with the children at home to ensure they reach their reading target this term to win their reward afternoon.
3/4D Class ~ Year 3/4
Star Pupils
Joe
Joe has been an amazing communicator this term. He has thoroughly enjoyed learning about different countries around the world and has clearly communicated his findings with his class teacher and peers. Well done Joe. Keep up the great work.
Isla
Isla has displayed deep thinking with her work this week. She has slowly build a well thought through and descriptive story about an adventure through Africa. Including her understanding of different cultures. Well done Isla. Keep up the hard work.
3/4D Class Reminders
Daily reading and TTR practise.
4WB Class ~ Year 4
Star Pupils
Philip
Philip is always such an active participant during all of our class discussions. He is knowledgeable, informative and reflective during our discussions. Well done Philip!
Alicia
Alicia always displays such an enthusiasm for learning. She joins in with discussions and listens to others' comments with an open-mind. Well done Alicia!
4WB Class Reminders
Keep practising TTRockstars. We are doing so well as a class and are rivalling Year 6! Keep up the hard work.
Next Friday 17th December, we will finish the term with an own clothes day. Our central idea 'cultural identity can be expressed through creativity' and our first line of inquiry into 'what makes us who we are' has lead us to create an own clothes day for the children to express who they are through their own style and choice of clothing. Be ready to tell us about yourselves, your style and why you've chosen to dress the way you have.
5DK Class ~ Year 5
Star Pupils
Jasper
Jasper has shown his knowledge this week, producing Linnaeus inspired art work detailing the stages of asexual reproduction in potatoes. Well done Jasper.
Alex
Alex continues to impress with his writing, taking an open-minded approach to tasks, and trying hard to include all the grammatical structures taught at Year 5. Well done, Alex.
5DK Class Reminders
It is not long until the closing of the Trust's TTR competition. Keep playing at home to improve our position on the leader-board.
5/6A Class ~ Year 5/6
Star Pupils
Arwen
Arwen this term has shown that she can work much harder than she did last term. She spends more time focusing on her work and ensuring that she understands each topic. Well done for being knowledgeable.
Rosie
Rosie has demonstrated tremendous effort in her SNIP intervention. She is also putting her knowledge to use and is ensuring that she uses her knowledge throughout all her subjects. Keep up the good work!
5/6A Class Reminders
It is not long until the closing of the Trust's TTR competition. Keep playing at home to maintain our position at the top of the leaderboard!
6CK Class ~ Year 6
Star Pupils
Sophia
Sophia shows she is a knowledgeable learner, drawing on her previous learning to inform her ideas and justifications in her learning this week. Sophia always works hard and is a fantastic communicator when articulating her knowledge and learning with the rest of the class.
Scarlett
Scarlett has shown she is a great thinker in her learning this week, thinking deeply about her learning and the subject we have been debating in class. In addition, as an effector communicator, Scarlett articulated her points in a respectful yet confident manner during our debate.
6CK Class Reminders
It is not long until the closing of the Trust's TTR competition. Keep playing at home to maintain our position at the top of the leaderboard!