Here is this week's news:
Thanks for all of your support with another week of festivities ! We had a fantastic Christmas Fair last Saturday! I am told that the amazing sum of £1305 was raised! Thank you to everybody who helped to raise this amount, be that by helping out on the day, baking cakes, donating, spending money, or event admin and organising. These events would simply not take place without all of your hard work. Well done to our PTFA for putting together such a great event.
Raffle: The raffle was drawn this morning using a random number generator - watch the video on class dojo! Winners have been contacted and all prizes allocated. Many thanks for entering and congratulations to the winners!
Nativity: "Lights, Camel, Action 2, the Sequin", was a huge success! We are so proud of all the children who made this show such a wonderful success. So much hard work had gone in over the last few weeks to put all of that wonderful singing, acting, narration, dancing and costumes together - absolutely superb!
As we head into our last week of the term, we look forward to our KS2 Carol concert, our Christmas lunch and of course the Pantomime. PLEASE NOTE that all teacher-lead clubs have now finished. We hope your children have enjoyed taking part.
Have a great weekend, Miss Gladstone
Congratulations this week go to...
Fletcher W
George B
Livvy D
Eva-Jayne S
Lydia W
Erica N
16th December - Year 4, 5 & 6 Christmas Carol Service at Church End Church 5:30 to start at 6pm
17th December - 2:30pm - Music concert Y4,5&6 children who learn with Aidan Pope
18th December - School Christmas Lunch - please wear your Christmas jumpers/Christmas outfits!
19th December - Cinderella Panto at The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury
20th December - Break up for Christmas Holidays
23rd January - Reception and Y6 height & weight (and vision for reception only) checks
24th January - Bag2School day
25 June and 26 June - Tewkesbury School Big Step Transition days 2025
On Monday 16th, Owls and Hedgehogs are holding their annual Carol Concert at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Church End, at 6pm. Families are invited to come along and enjoy the festive service. Children should arrive by 5:30pm and wear their festive jumpers with school uniform. Please park with consideration for the residents of Church End and other drivers.
Please can I remind parents not to allow children to play tag games on the playground in the mornings so that we can avoid any accidents before school. The playground is a busy place in the mornings and if we can keep it as calm as possible that will help the children to have a smooth transition into school. Thanks.
We currently have a vacancy for a mid-day supervisor to work during lunchtimes - if you would like to join our team, please do let Miss Gladstone know.
We are also looking for someone to work some shifts at our Before and After School Club - please let Miss Gladstone know if you are interested.
Children have been given a cardboard Christingle collection tube this week. If you are going to the family Christingle service at St Mary Magdalene Church, Church End, please take your filled tube along with you. The service is at 5pm on Christmas Eve. If you are going to any other Christingle service they will be happy to receive your tubes there. Failing this please drop them in to the office and I will pass them on. Many thanks. www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do
If your child is registered for and receives the pupil premium or free school meals (this is not the same as universal free school meals, received by all infant aged children), you are now able to book HAF activities through the link below, from the 18th November.
https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/education-and-learning/holiday-activities-and-food-programme/
You will need to make sure you are HAF ready by registering to the Children’s Activity Booking system (CABS) and making sure all of your account information is up to date.
If you are not registered for pupil premium/free school meals and want to see if you are eligible, please click this link www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/education-and-learning/free-school-meals/apply-for-free-school-meals/
Young Gloucestershire
T: 01452 501008 ext. 501
M: 07757730844
Aurore Chatron-Michaud comes to school to teach private French classes in small groups. These lessons happen during the lunch hour. If you would like to sign your child up please see the information below and scan the QR code.
Please can you all reserve this date in your diary: Wednesday 19th March 2025, 6pm - 7:30pm in the school hall
I have booked PC Williams from Cyber Intelligence, Gloucestershire Police to run an information evening for parents about safe internet use for children which I would like to urge a parent from every family to attend please. The presentation was recently shared with headteachers in Gloucestershire at a conference and it was extremely useful although at times quite hard-hitting! The Cyber Intelligence team will be able to share statistics, information and advice about how you can make your child's internet use as safe as possible. I have decided to hold a creche service in one of the classrooms so that we can support anyone who may not be able to get childcare. I will give you more information nearer the time! (Miss Gladstone)
Please note that ALL school dinner accounts should be in credit at all times. If your child is in year 3 or above you will need to ensure that they have a credit balance loaded onto their account to cover their needs.
The cost of a school dinner is now £2.71.
If you believe your child may be entitled to free school meals, please look at this link www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/education-and-learning/free-school-meals/apply-for-free-school-meals/
Menus for this term are now available from the school website - click to download or ask at the office for a printed copy. www.twyningschool.co.uk/page/school-lunches/106163
Many thanks.
This free app comes highly recommended and can help with worries and anxiety. It is specifically for 7-12 year olds experiencing mild to moderate anxiety. Scan the QR code for more info.
There are a lot of coughs and cold about at this time of year, as is often the case, but unless your child is really unwell (see below) we encourage you to still send them in to school. We are able to administer Calpol and antibiotics in school - forms are available from Mrs Bowen in the Office so please call in with any medication and complete one if necessary.
Please click the link below to see NHS guidelines regarding illnesses.
www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
Please remember to report sickness/illness daily to us via School Spider or email to Mrs Bowen on admin@twyning.gloucs.sch.uk. It is important that illness is reported to school first thing in the morning, otherwise your child's absence could be recorded as an 'unauthorised absence'. If your child is frequently absent due to illness we may ask for a doctors note as per our attendance policy.
Pupils must arrive in school by 8.45am on each school day. The register for the first session will be taken at 9.00am and will be kept open until 9.15am. The register for the second session will be taken at 1.05pm and will be kept open until 1.15pm.
Please click this link to view our School Attendance Policy, Absence Request forms, and other attendance documentation.
www.twyningschool.co.uk/page/attendance/101727
We are noticing that there are a few children who are coming to school with alternative drinks such as squash or juice in their water bottles. Please can I remind you all that our policy is for children to drink water only as part of our healthy schools status.
Can we also remind you that we encourage the following foods as suitable snack choices at break time:
Fruit, vegetables, cheese, cereal bar, fruit bar.
We do remind children not to eat crisps and chocolate at break times where possible.
Thank you so much.
Please click on these links to view our guides to contacting school. We have also linked relevant policies for reference.
Before and After School Care
Fees for our before and after school care facility are £3.50 for a morning session and £7 for an afternoon session.
Balances should be cleared by the end of each month at the latest. Many thanks. If you use government vouchers please email Mrs Tingle at bursar@twyning.gloucs.sch.uk to advise when you have made a payment, each time you do this.
How do I register my child?
To register for Before or After School Club, please complete and send in the booking form which can be downloaded from our website or ask Mrs Bowen for a printed copy. These forms should be returned to Mrs Bowen at admin@twyning.gloucs.sch.uk .
Please see below some useful links to a few excellent wellbeing and mental health resources and an amazing digital therapy app for children:
www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/mujkq12k/gcc_3002-cyp-mental-health-handout_aw-crop-large.pdf
hubofhope.co.uk/concerns?concerns=86&latitude=52.0286023&longitude=-2.1466844
It is important to continue to 'make a noise about bullying' and we hope that this link to the BBC's anti-bullying resources will be useful.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/curations/anti-bullying-week
We would also like to bring to your attention a helpful guide on finding the ratings of online games and social media applications. This is a universal guide for any entertainment content:
Some useful links:
If you believe your family to be eligible for Free School Meals, please click on this link:
Health and sickness information "Is my child too ill for school?"
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
Register for School Milk:
A collection of links to find and get help in all sorts of situations from Anxiety, Health related, young persons help, depression and much more:
hubofhope.co.uk/concerns?concerns=86&latitude=52.0286023&longitude=-2.1466844
Contact
Please feel free to make contact with me via email head@twyning.gloucs.sch.uk should you need to speak to me. During evenings and weekends, I may not be able to respond to you straight away but I will make contact with you during normal working hours as soon as I can. Many thanks for all of your support.
Kindest regards
Miss L Gladstone
Headteacher