Maynards Green CP School
HEADTEACHER'S UPDATE
Dear Mums, Dads and Carers,
I am sure that, like the children and staff, you are all looking forward to the Easter Break and a well deserved rest. Hopefully, following the very positive reports that were shared with you this term, you will also have something planned to reward your children for all their hard work, perhaps a day out, an ice cream at the beach or even a playdate. Of course the work doesn't stop when the summer arrives, quite the reverse. Over the next two terms the children will be working to showcase their learning so far against a number of external assessments: In Year 6 the KS2 SATS, Year 4 the Multiplication Check, Phonics Screening Check for Year 1 and Early Years Assessment in Reception as well as through our own internal measures. I am sure you are keen that your children have the very best chance to demonstrate what they have learnt and will offer them all the support and encouragement they need to shine.
Once again the term has ended with a flurry of exciting events and activities: Science Week, World Book Day, Red Nose Day, The 'Friends' Mothers' Day sale and of course, the HASP poetry competition, where we were represented by the winner of our internal competition, Harrison in Year 5, who recited the hilarious poem 'Olympic Granny'. Whilst Harrison didn't win the overall prize, he was commended by the judges for his lively actions and comic timing. Well done Harrison.
The Summer Term will bring many more exciting experiences and events for the children including the HASP Olympics for Years 5 & 6, day trips linked for many classes which are linked to their topics and of course Sports day and the Swimming Gala. Lots to look forward to and hopefully, some better weather!
All that remains is for me to wish you all a safe and enjoyable Easter break.
Kind regards
Karen Cromwell
Headteacher
Gentle Reminders
Absences
Please remember to report your child/ children's absence by 8:30 am
You can either email on the dedicated address Attendance@maynardsgreen.org or leave a voicemail on 01435 812622
Playground safety
Please remember, it is East Sussex policy that dogs are not brought onto school premises, including onto the school playground.
Smoking and vaping are also forbidden on the school premises - including on the playground or on the driveway/ pathway into school.
School Dinners
There is a new menu for school lunches starting after the Easter break - check our website for details.
Please remember to book and pay for your child's school meal each day. Even if you do not pay for your child's dinner, i.e. if you have a KS2 child and are entitled to free school meals or your child is in KS1, it is important that you book, otherwise the kitchen will not provide sufficient meals.
Attendance
Link to our attendance policy - click here
Year R - 96.6%
Year 1 - 94.7%
Year 2 - 96.6%
Year 3 - 96.2%
Year 4 - 96.4%
Year 5 - 97 %
Year 6 - 96.9%
Reception
We have been learning about Spring and the changes that happen to our environment at this time of year. As part of our learning we had a visit to Sanctuary Farm. We got to feed the lambs, find eggs in the chicken coop, feed apples to a big pig and hold some chicks.
The children were very brave with some children going straight into the pens to feed the lambs and others being a bit more hesitant. All the children demonstrated resilience at the farm - even Miss Street stroked a lamb for the first the time!
Key Stage 1
Matt Carr Author Visit
On World Book Day, the Year 1 and 2 children were lucky enough to have a visit from Matt Carr. He read some of his stories, dressed up as the characters and then illustrated some of the characters too. Matt Carr has worked in design for over fifteen years and has worked on a wide range of projects for clients such as Channel 4, Nickelodeon, BSA, ITV, MTV, Channel 5, Sainsburys, Penguin Books and Imperial War Museum. He is the creator of several books for children including Spyder, Rocketmole and Superbat, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2018.
Year 3
It's been a busy few weeks in Year 3! Firstly, we enjoyed World Book Day, where we created our own page to add to the text "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?". As you can see, we then created a picture in the style of the book, taking inspiration from Lauren Child's artistic genre.
We then went on an Anglo-Saxon Welly Walk to Sapperton Woods. Rachel, from High Weald Heroes, took us on a route that followed the trail of Anglo-Saxon drovers who travelled miles to bring their pigs to feast on fallen beechmast and acorns. It was very muddy and made us think about what it might have been like to walk the route without the benefit of wellies. We also learnt how to communicate using Anglo-Saxon runes. The message below says "acorn"; much beloved of the drover and pigs!
Year 4
What a busy end of term for Year 4!
The children all enjoyed the World Book Day activities. We created our own pages for 'Whose Afraid of the Big Bad Book', imagining that Herb has fallen into yet another traditional tale. We tried to recreate Lauren Child's style of illustration by watching videos of her work and creating patterned collages.
I was SO impressed with all the children's performances for our poetry competition. Our Year 4 finalists were Freya and Toby. Well done!
Finally, we had a special visit from Rachel from High Weald Heroes. She showed us various artefacts from Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, allowing us to analyse the ways in which tools stayed the same and in which ways they changed. She was very impressed with the children's use of topic vocabulary and how much they've remembered from their history lessons.
After half term, we will be able to put our learning in action during our Stone Age welly walk (Wednesday, 17th April AM). If you would like to be a parent helper, please let Mrs Holton or the School office know.
Year 5
Year 5 has had a very busy and varied few weeks this term. With World Book Day, Science Week, the Poetry Competition, and of course the Big Dance. It certainly kept the children fully occupied and engaged.
In science, the children were tasked with the question: does the thickness of a biscuit affect's it dunking time? The children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the investigation and understood how to perform a fair test and record their findings.
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The Big Dance
What a wonderful experience for the children of Year 5. From the two rehearsals to watching all the other schools perform, the children had a great time. The evening performance was full of nervous excitement, but once on stage, the children settled into their starting positions and then gave an energetic and polished performance. Well done to you all!
Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to all the parents who came along to support the children and to Miss Street, whose help in putting the dance together and the printing of the t-shirts, has been invaluable.
Sporting News
Children from Year 6, gave an inspiring performance at the Wealden Area Netball Final at Beacon Academy. They got through to the final and drew 1:1. but in the end, lost on goal difference and came runner's up. Well done to our fabulous Netball team!
In other sporting news, Children from Years 5 and 6 took part in the Heathfield Area Hockey tournament on March 12th at HCC. Both teams played skillful and energetic games. Well done to all those who took part.
Year 6
In Year 6 we did lots of activities to celebrate World Book Day. In the morning, we wrote stories and shared them with Year 3 and then in the afternoon, we read to Reception class. We had a lovely day!
During British Science Week, our question was: does the sugar content affect how quickly a biscuit disintegrates? During this experiment (as well as having plenty of fun), we applied our knowledge and understanding of a fair test and wrote predictions and conclusions using our key vocabulary.
English News
World Book Day
This year's theme was Adventure, and you certainly didn't let us down! We had a huge variety of characters from all kinds of adventure books, from Harry Potter to Alice in Wonderland and Grimwood to Jason from Heroes of Olympus! We all completed some tasks based on the texts "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book?" and "Beware of the Storybook Wolves", both by Lauren Child.
KS2 Poetry Recital Competition
Well done to all the children in KS2 who memorised the poem for the Poetry Recital Competition. Performing in public epitomises many of our school values, namely Courage and Resilience, and you should all feel very proud of yourselves. Whilst only 1 winner went through to the grand final at Punnetts Town, the judges were so impressed with the finalists that the decision was very difficult! The results were as follows:
First: Harrison Year 5
Second: Freya Year 4
Third: Freddie Year 3
Short Story Competition - WINNERS!
Congratulations to the following children who were the winners of the Short Story Competition:
KS1: Lyra
Years 3/4: Freya
Years 5/6: Lilly
I hope this will inspire you to enter next year!
Thank you to everyone who supported the Book Fair. It was incredibly popular and hopefully we will raise some much needed funds for new books for the library.
SCIENCE NEWS
What a week we had celebrating British Science Week!
We were lucky enough to welcome two STEM ambassadors to the school. Neal Baker, Geologist and Kim Twinn, Botanist came and shared their knowledge with the children.
Neal spoke to all the children about fossil and 'Deep Time' and they were able to handle a range of fossils including some woolly mammoth hair and a baby woolly mammoth tooth. They were even able to see a tooth from a Spinosaurus!
Kim worked with the Nature Champions on the Woodlands Trust Nature Calendar and measured trees on the school grounds and learnt about some of the key first signs of Spring. They were amazing and their attitude to learning wasn't dampend by the rain in the slightest! They spoke about their learning to the rest of the school in assembly.
As a whole school we conducted a very important experiment to determine the best biscuit to dunk and lots of conversations were had about fair tests and how different variables might effect the intergrity of the biscuit!
Various other time themed science sessions happened across the school including live webinars run by STEM Ambassadors across the country. One of which included desiging farm machinery for the future riun by the National Farmers Union.
Thank you to all those who took part in the Big Plastic Count I will submit the results online.
Mrs A
Science Lead
Headteacher Awards
Dormice
Lottie - for trying to use new maths vocabulary to explain her ideas
Oscar M - for using new scientific vocabulary to explain his ideas
Squirrels
Enzio- for his improvement in reading
Hedgehogs
Penny - Using beautiful descriptive language in her writing
Pandora - Being more confident in maths and sometimes even trying the swimming activities
Alfie - For working hard to improve his writing and asking for help when he didn’t understand where a full stop went
Rabbits
Jaxon - for excellent verbal reasoning in our Biscuit Dunking Experiment!
Theia - for excellent writing in character as an Anglo-Saxon drover.
Foxes
John - for becoming a more independent writer, using the Bottom Line and other resources available to improve his spelling and punctuation.
Coby- for independently using resources provided!
Badgers
Year 5- for their excellent performance at the BIG Dance festival
Deer
Clara - excellent work and progress during assessment week.
Daisy - great work in maths.
Charlotte - for planning and writing an excellent diary entry in role.
Citizenship Awards
Dormice
Willow - for demonstrating resilience in PE sessions
Tess - for being a kind and friendly member of the class.
Squirrels
Hedgehogs
Lola - for showing kindness to all children across the school
James - for always being responsible for himself and others
Rabbits
Olivia - for being so helpful around the classroom
Jenson - for showing respect and good manners
Foxes
Josie - for being respectful of all children and adults in school
Noah - for his lovely manners. Your kindness and respect shines through your behaviour
Badgers
Ivy Jordan
Deer
Lilly - ALWAYS displays our school values throughout everything she does. Lilly often brightens the adults' days with her kindness!
Bobbi - showing courage and resilience during our gymnastics lesson.
Payment is now available on ParentPay for those who have filled in and returned a permission slip. Please pay by Wednesday 27th March to secure your child's place.
clubs are nearly full for all school-run clubs, please sign up ASAP!
We have...
3 spaces left for the board games club
1 space left for the gardening club
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
INSET DAYS: 28th Mar '24 24th May '24
Term 4
Wednesday 27th March
Lunch swap- Fish fingers or Quorn dippers with ice cream
12:45- 13:15 - Parents Homework Exhibition/book look opportunity
13:30 finish for Easter Holidays
Term 5
Monday 15th April- Swimming lessons start
Monday 15th- Friday 19th April - Y5 Bikeability
Wednesday 17th April - Y4 High Weald Heroes Stone Age Welly Walk
Thursday 2nd May Y2 assembly to parents
Wednesday 15th May- Y3 Trip to Wakehurst Place
Thursday 16th May Y3 assembly to parents
Thursday 23rd May- End of term- normal finish time
Term 6
Friday 7th June- Class Photos
Wednesday 12th June- Y5 Rye Watersports Trip
Thursday 13th June - Y3 Visitor Kim Phillips- Food production
18th June- Y5&6 HASP Olympics
Friday 14th June- Father's Day Sale
20 – 21 June - Y4 Residential
20th June - Reception assembly to parents
Thursday 27th June - Sports Day
Tuesday 2nd July- Y6 Transition Day- HCC
Tuesday 23rd July- finish at 13:30 for summer holidays
MUSIC SCHOOL (Think 'School Of Rock')
Monday 8th - Thursday 11th April 10am - 4pm Age: 7 - 15, Bonners Primary School, Maresfield, Uckfield
Get ready for an unforgettable four days of music exploration and learning, meticulously crafted by our team of expert tutors. With 4 to 6 professional music tutors on-site, children will embark on an exhilarating journey, discovering the world of electric instruments in a band setting.
Our program encompasses a wide range of instruments, including electric guitars, basses, keyboards, vocals, and the heart-pounding rhythm of drums. But that's not all; we warmly welcome the inclusion of other instruments like ukuleles, cellos, violins, and mandolins, fostering a diverse and harmonious musical experience for all. Join us for a week filled with laughter, creativity, and the thrill of making music with friends!
Here's what to expect:
Musical Exploration: You'll get to try your hand at a wide variety of instruments, including electric guitar, bass, drums, singing, piano/keyboard, and ukulele. Don't worry if you're a beginner – no prior experience is necessary.
Jamming Together: Learn how to play together as a band, harmonizing your sounds and creating something magical as a group.
Showtime: At the end of the week, it's time to shine! We'll host a spectacular performance for parents and friends, where you'll showcase the music you've been working on. And the best part? It'll all be recorded and sent home as a keepsake of your amazing musical journey.
What to Bring: Be sure to bring a packed lunch, snacks, and water. As part of this course there is also an option for lunch (hot or cold) to be provided by a local caterer.
How much does it cost? The cost of the course is £180 for the 4 days (Monday - Thursday) with 10% sibling discounts available. Deposit of £50 payable with booking.
Please make your booking here
The Family Grapevine is a fantastic FREE family directory, packed full of useful information for families with children of all ages from bump to teens!
Our latest magazine is filled with ideas of things to do this spring with activities, days out, events this Easter- Click the link below:
https://thefamilygrapevine.co.uk/eastbourne-wealden-lewes/see-a-copy/
Holiday food and fun is back for the Easter holidays!
East Sussex Holiday Activities and Food Programme · Eequ
Otherwise known as the HAF programme, this initiative is funded by the Department for Education and is now in its fourth year. It is all set to provide more enriching activities this Easter, free of charge for children who receive benefits-related free school meals. The programme ensures that children can have fun, eat healthily, and socialise with their peers during Easter, summer and winter school holidays.
There are activities for young people in Reception to Year 11 inclusive. A meal is provided at each session for everyone who attends. Parents should click on the ‘List of holiday clubs’ button on our Holiday food and fun webpage to see what's on offer and book a session
For families that do not currently receive benefit-related free school meals but think they may be eligible, please visit our Free school meals webpage to find out how to apply.
Best regards
The HAF team
Children’s Services
Zylo Drama
https://www.zyloperformance.co.uk/holiday-film-club
Zylo are once again offering their popular Film School courses in Heathfield and Uckfield this Easter for children aged 6 to 14. These extremely well-reviewed courses (4.8 on Trustpilot!) are led by fun, engaging tutors and utilise professional equipment (drones, gimbals, pro cameras, green screen) to bring children’s ideas to the silver screen.
Over four days children create and star in their own hilarious 20-30 minute films which are professionally edited to a high standard and then presented in a real cinema at a fantastic weekend premiere for family and friends. The experience supercharges creativity and confidence in children and provides them with a product that they can keep forever and be truly proud of!
Click here for more information, bookings and to watch the trailers.
Parents Homework Exhibition/ Book Look Opportunity
Wednesday 27th March
12.45 - 13.15
📖
Following the success of the first Homework Exhibition/ Book Look, we are pleased to announce the return of this on Wednesday 27th March 2024. Each class will have their homework displayed in their classroom, or on their Chromebooks, and it will also give the opportunity to to look at their school work since September.
In addition to allowing the children to exhibit their work, it would also be a great opportunity for them to practise their oracy skills so please be ready to ask them questions!
The 'Homework Exhibition/ Book Look' Opportunity will run from 12.45 - 1.15 and you are welcome to arrive at any time during this time.
We look forward to welcoming you to this exciting event.
🩳 Swimming Lessons 🩱
Mondays
09.00-10.00 Year 4
10.00-11.00 Year 2
11.00-12.00Year 3
13.00-14.00 Year 5
14.00-15.00 Year 6
Tuesdays
09.00-10.30am Year 1
10.30-12.00 Reception
Starting on Monday 15th April
General Health & Safety precautions
children will need to wear a swimming hat and (for girls) a one-piece costume (no bikinis). Goggles are optional (all items, including pants, socks and towels, should be named, please)
children will not be allowed in the pool if they have verrucas unless they are wearing a special verruca sock. (These may be purchased from any pharmacy)
children are not permitted to enter the pool if they have plasters covering an open cut or graze
sleepers/studs should not be worn in the pool
Year 5 Bikeabilty
15th-19th April
What do I need to have for my child to take part?
· A safe working bike with two working brakes (All bikes will be checked for safety at the start of the course)
· A correctly fitted helmet
· Suitable clothing for weather on the day ( i.e: Lightweight waterproofs if wet and gloves if cold)
· Sun cream to protect from sunburn
Sensible footwear
Maynards Green CP School - Newsletter
'Growing the community one child at a time'