As you know, there is a renewed focus from the government to improve attendance in schools nationally.  

This week has been brilliant in school with overall attendance at 98%!  Thank you all for your efforts in getting your children into school each day.  Great attendance is so important in building friendships, security and helps so much with learning too.  Let's hope that next week is even better!

On Tuesday morning, Year 3 went on their first school trip to Pizza Express. Whilst there, they learned how to roll out dough and decorate a margarita pizza; being taught that the sauce used is called passata and the cheese is mozzarella. They all did a very good job and made very tasty looking pizzas. 

Thank you to the parents who were able to attend the PTA's Annual General Meeting this week.  It was excellent to see such a positive turnout.  

Sadly, Hannah, Lisa and Kimberley, who have held Chair and Treasurer roles for the past few years have had to step down for various reasons; we would like to say a huge thank you for all of their hard work and support.  It has made an enormous difference to the running of the PTA and, in turn, the children of the school through the activities and donations offered.

We are very thankful that a group of parents have agreed to take up roles, including Sarah, who will now Chair the PTA with the help of Mandy and Jessica as co-Vice Chairs.  Jamie has agreed to take on the role of Treasurer.  In addition, a number of new parents joined the group.  We are very excited to see how the new team shape the next phase of the PTA's work!

At the start of the new school year, it is a good opportunity to share with you information about the curriculum we deliver at Nash Mills.  This week, we will look at art and DT.

Both art and DT (design technology) require the children to develop physical skill and precision, as well as the ability to work imaginatively over time.  For this reason, at Nash Mills we take a slightly different approach to most other schools in that we teach the majority of our art and DT curriculums during whole-week blocks at the start and end of each term.  

During the term in art, pupils take part in weekly fluency sessions to develop specific skills needed for the end of term project.  For example, if pupils will be painting a landscape at the end of the term, each week in the build up they will learn skills such as line drawing, blending paint colours or using different brush strokes.  All of these skills build towards an end of term project in which the whole school has the same focus albeit with the stimulus of a different artist.  For example, at the end of the spring term, all pupils have a sculpture project.  Year 1 will use clay to look at the work of Anthony Gormley, whereas Year 6 will use modeling wire and modroc to recreate the work of Alberto Giacometti.  The work is then displayed around the school so we can see how the pupils' skills develop as they move through the school.  

At the start of each term, there is a very similar strategy used for DT, where each class has a project based on a certain area.  For example, at the start of the spring term all classes carry out a food technology-based project.  During their project, pupils will look at exisiting products and think about what they like and what they don't.  They will then design, test and make their own product in a similar style.  

As with our entire curriculum, more information about what we teach at Nash Mills can be found on the curriculum pages of our website.  Please do have a look if you would like to learn a little more! 

Today we said 'goodbye' for the time being to Miss Webb and Miss Jones.  Both are leaving us to begin their maternity leave and we hope to hear some exciting news in the coming weeks!  We wish them the very best of luck with the new additions to their families and hope to see them again soon!  All being well, both Miss Webb and Miss Jones will rejoin us again for the next school year.

We are also looking forward to welcoming Mrs Wilson back on Monday.  I'm sure that the Reception class will be really pleased to see her!

Due to these changes, a few adjustments have been made to our school timetable.  For those of you who have been with us for a few years, you may remember Mr Wyatt, who worked with us as a Sports Coach with PSA Academy.  He will be working with us again on Tuesdays and Thursdays as a specialist coach to deliver some PE lessons and, in time, some new sports clubs.  This means that we have had to move some PE days.  From next week, your children will need to wear their PE kits on:

  Monday: Years 2, 4, 5 and 6

Tuesday: Years 3, 5 and 6

Wednesday: Reception, Years 1 and 4

Thursday: Nursery, Years 1 and 3 (Forest School will still take place for Reception, Year 1 and 3)

Friday: Year 2

Thank you for your support with these changes.

Each term, we allocate a day where we encourage all of our Reception, Year 1 and 2 children to try a hot dinner in school.  For the Autumn Term, the date is this Thursday 3rd October. The children will choose their meal on Thursday morning as usual (during registration with their teachers) - we hope they will give the hot meals a try, however it will be fine for children to bring in a packed lunch as well if they wish.

Below are the menu options for Thursday 3rd October:

Red - Fish Fingers

Green - Cheese and Tomato Pizza

Blue - Cheesy Pasta

Yellow - Egg Roll