10th September 2025

Dear Parents

The safety of our children on the road is a team effort, and we need your help. We consistently remind children about road safety but your support at home is crucial. By reinforcing a few key habits, you can help keep our children safe.

Helmets Are Essential

We can't stress this enough; all children on bikes or scooters should wear a helmet. A common issue we see is helmets sitting too high on the head, leaving the forehead exposed. A helmet should sit low enough that if your child looks up with their eyes, they can just see the front of the helmet. A properly fitted helmet provides the best protection.

Walk, Don't Ride, Across Crossings

Please teach your children to dismount their bikes or scooters and walk when they get to a crossing. A green light does not always mean it's safe to cross. Drivers can be distracted or run a red light. Dismounting gives your child the time to look both ways and ensure the path is clear before crossing, especially if they have a scooter that can accelerate quickly.

Be the Role Model

Children learn best by example. We urge you to be positive role models by wearing your own helmets and making a point of walking across crossings when you're with your child. By doing this, you're normalising these important safety habits.

If you have younger children, now is the perfect time to start teaching these lessons. The earlier they learn, the more these safety measures will become second nature.

Thank you in advance for your support in keeping our community safe.

PTA- Many thanks to all of the PTA team last year who supported the school in running a termly event last year. We intend to follow the same model this year and are now looking for volunteers.

All the positions for the PTA are to be elected; if you are interested in supporting the school and you are interested in any of these roles ( Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer or Secretary) then please contact a member of the School Leadership Team via email before the 15th of September. If we have several parents interested then we will need to hold an election. We will keep you updated on these details.

Tim Robinson

Headteacher

Parent Teacher Consultations - Week beginning 14th September

A gentle reminder that the booking link will close at 1200hrs Thursday 11th to ensure teachers have time to plan their schedules. Please see the Seesaw message sent earlier this week. Thank you to those parents who have already booked.

The purpose of the meetings is to share how your child is settling into this year and an overview of their learning behaviours but also an opportunity for anything you may wish to share. Meetings will have a 10 minute window and we welcome your attendance.

Y1-Y6 Booking Link

A Great Start to 'Choose Days'

The first Choose Day session was a huge success, with children enthusiastically engaging in a variety of fun activities. There were remarkable displays of adaptability as they tackled new challenges, while their communication and collaboration skills shone through as they worked together. It was fantastic to see the children taking ownership of their learning.

Early Years

This week, the Early Years children had a great adventure outdoors for our Entry Point!

The children are starting new Units of Learning - Powerful Plants and Let’s Play Outside, so we explored our wonderful outdoor areas. For many children, it was their first experience in The Secret Garden, which they loved. They also had fun in our Eco Garden collecting fallen flowers, leaves and other discoveries with their friends. A wonderful way to start this exciting learning experience in a beautiful environment!

Milepost 1

This week, Milepost 1 had a fantastic Entry Point for our new unit, 'If You're Happy and You Know It!' The children were fully immersed in a series of activities, rotating in groups to experience each one.

The children explored different ways of moving and dancing to different music. They also participated in a sensory circuit, a series of activities designed to help them feel calm, exploring different senses and enjoying the feeling of various textures. The children also got creative making their own emotion faces, sparking conversations about how different things make us feel, and they enjoyed a moment of calm during a gentle partner massage. Together, we explored how each activity made us feel and talked about how it is completely normal to feel different ways.

Over the coming weeks, we will continue to explore our feelings, using art, movement and different wellbeing strategies to learn how to express and regulate our emotions.

Milepost 2

Year 4 students are diving into the IPC unit Active Planet, exploring the dramatic forces of nature that shape our world. They imagined building a sustainable community right in the heart of a volcanic zone.

Students debated where to place homes, schools and hospitals safely away from lava flows and ash clouds. They allocated solar panels for energy, rainwater collectors for clean water and emergency shelters near evacuation routes. Food gardens were placed on fertile volcanic soil, while communication towers stood on higher ground for alerts. This hands-on Entry Point sparked creativity, teamwork and real-world problem solving.

Milepost 3

This week in Milepost 3, the children enjoyed the Entry Points for their new IPC units: Go With The Flow (Year 5) and The Great, The Bold and The Brave (Year 6).

In Year 5, the children were joined by their parents to create some wonderful pieces of artwork. Each young artist painted a canvas to recreate an image of a river which was significant to them.

It was wonderful to watch each family collaborate and listen to the memories that were shared.

Our Year 6 students stepped into the shoes of classical architects. Working in small groups, they were each given images of famous buildings from Ancient Greece and Rome—from mighty temples to grand theatres and arenas.

Armed with a range of 'junk modelling' materials, the children collaborated to design and build their own 3D models. Each group had to plan their construction carefully, divide roles and think like real architects to bring their ancient building back to life.

Year 6 Music

Well done to all those in Year 6 for a very encouraging start to the African Drumming unit. Over the next few weeks, each class will eventually be composing rhythms and structuring their own piece.

We are starting African Drumming for Year 5 and 6 as a Sunday lunch time ECA. We do have lots of children interested from both year groups but if anyone else is interested, please let me know as soon as possible.

For further details on music ECAs, please click the link below.

Music ECA timetable

Congratulations to our Learners of the Week!

As always, it's wonderful to see lots of learning objectives and Personal Learning Goals being achieved!

PDO School Newsletter