Metheringham Primary School

Welcome to issue 45 of our whole school Newsletter. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter for regular updates on achievements, class news and whole school updates. Follow us @metheringhamp 


Coming up in this issue:



inspire, believe, achieve

Our vision, values, aims and Golden Threads have been created in collaboration with our children, staff and the wider school community. As a school, we regularly reflect on what they mean and how we can apply our vision, value and aims to our daily life in order to be the best that we can be.

 At Metheringham Primary School, we value our whole school community and we believe it is a place where children, adults, families and professionals all learn together.  With this in mind, we aim to implement our Golden Threads... ‘Inspire, Believe, Achieve’.  

We hope you see evidence of our Golden Threads in our learning updates on the school newsletter and in the enthusiasm that your children have for school.

Mrs Duggin 

topic overviews

Topic overviews for each of the Key Stages have been sent home to parents via Seesaw. They are also accessible on the school website. Please use these overviews to discuss topics with your child and develop their vocabulary around new learning.

Topic Overviews 

Learning updates

Foundation Stage The new children to our Reception classes have settled incredibly well.  They are all enjoying exploring the Early Years areas especially the garden!  We have already started learning Harvest songs and are looking forward to our first whole school assembly.  


Key Stage One We have had a super start to the term in our new classes! Key Stage One children have shown ready, respectful and safe attitudes and impressed their new teachers with excellent behaviour and super manners. We have been busy securing our understanding of numbers up to and beyond 20 and place value using lots of practical apparatus. In English, we have loved learning the poem, Treasure Trove by Irene Rawnsley. We are excited to continue our art where we are exploring printing and history where we will discover more about The Great Fire of London. 

Lower Key Stage Two LKS2 have had a fantastic start to the year. Last week we started getting to know each other. We shared the story "Have you filled a bucket today?" We talked about the importance of being a bucket filler by being kind and helpful. We have begun our Anglo-Saxons and Vikings History unit, starting with understanding who the Anglo-Saxons were. In Art the children have created their very own Viking pattern to print onto a pendant. These have been based on some of the knots, runes and patterns we have explored. This week we have begun our maths learning with place value focusing on hundreds and thousands. Miss Tucker and Mrs Fulbrook are really impressed and proud of LKS2 already! 


Upper Key Stage Two The start to the new academic year has been so positive!  Your children are settling in well and quickly learning the routines, systems and high expectations of Upper Key Stage 2.  We have all been working hard to get to know each other as we establish positive relationships.  As well as this, we have begun our curriculum learning.  We hope you have enjoyed reading our Topic Overview, which was posted on Seesaw this week.  Some of us also enjoyed a trip to our library on Monday for some cosy reading time. In English, linked with our topic about Ancient Greece, we have been enjoying "The adventures of Odysseus" as he battles to return to his beloved homeland of Ithaca.  After discussing his character and creating a "Role on the Wall," the children have written character descriptions. Place value in maths has been challenging with numbers for Year 6 now reaching the tens of millions and we have been stretching our maths reasoning muscles by solving puzzles. In Science, we dropped 'meterorites' (range of tomatoes) into a lunar landscape (flour and cocoa powder) to see the effects of gravity!


attendance 

237 pupils have maintained 100% attendance so far this academic year. 

Last years whole school attendance figure was 95.15%

Current whole school attendance is 96.91%

Our attendance figures for week 2 of term 1 are as follows:

Well done to Ms Vrettos, Miss McKenzie and Mrs Wilson's Class. An extra playtime is awarded to you for outstanding attendance.

lateness

Mrs Freeman, our Attendance Champion, and Mrs Bates will be sending letters home to families next week where lateness is a concern. This is a supportive letter in order to see what we can do as a school to reduce the impact of lateness on pupils, families, staff and classroom disruption.

The school will do everything it can to avoid fines for persistent lateness where families are working with us to tackle this.

behaviour 

Our school rules are Ready, Respectful and Safe. We believe that our school can be happy, safe, welcoming, inclusive and purposeful if we aim to follow these three rules.

Where behaviour is not acceptable, the 5 R's will be used to respond to behaviour using a restorative approach.

The DFE have produced a guide for parents on school behaviour and exclusions:

Click Here 

collection arrangements

The school day finishes at 3:20 for EYFS and KS1, 3:30 for KS2. We ask parents to be prompt with collection times and teachers always aim to be prompt in releasing pupils. 

Children should be stood with a parent once collected. Use of the playground and play equipment is not permitted at the end of the school day.

Parents do not have permission to collect pupils from the school office before their finishing time unless there are exceptional circumstances, and these have been agreed prior to the date.

Early pick ups cause disruption to the school day, extra workload for staff, do not meet the schools standards of offering full educational entitlement and are not acceptable.

Any arrangements that have previously been made will no longer to stand. Please make any requests for early pick up in writing and exceptional circumstances will be considered.

This week's X Posts

Meet the Governor 

Hello,

I am Richard Desa, a parent Governor at Metheringham Primary School. I joined the Governors toward the end of the last school year so this year is my first full year in the role.

My career is in Engineering. I am a Senior Traffic Signal Engineer working for a large national supplier. I have a daughter in year one and I have been interested in getting involved with such a wonderful school since she started in reception.

I am also STEM ambassador which aims to promote inspiration for the four subjects that make up STEM, (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics). Some of your children may have already worked with me during the last school year’s Science week where we designed and built electronic circuits to illuminate landmarks the children had made. We also ‘engineered’ bridges ready for strength testing with toy vehicles. The realisation of achievement that the children had was wonderful and inspired me just as much!

In my spare time I like to spend time with my family making memories. When I can, I also like to SCUBA dive both in the UK and abroad. Exploring shipwrecks on the seabed is my favourite type of diving.

Expectations 

Clubs

Extra Curricular Clubs for Term 1 are now available to view on Parent Pay. The clubs on offer are:

upcoming events

Friday 15th- Homework and Reading books sent home


Advanced Notice 


house captains 

Our Year 6 house captains and vice captains have been selected. They will be representing the Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancasters as they battle it out each week to earn the most house points. House points are earned through peg ups, completion of homework and through reading at home.

Parent Pay

We are a cashless school and therefore all parents must be signed up to Parent Pay in order to pay for school trips, make donations on fundraising days and to access extra-curricular clubs. If you are struggling with access please pop in and see us.