Summer term 2023 newsletters

This week our Spiritual, Social, Moral & Cultural focus has been: Moving into the summer

This week's assemblies have covered a wide range of themes! Once again, we are asking all children to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge, and to send a photo to school of some extreme reading in the summer holiday and one of the assemblies was all about this challenge. More information below.

In Wednesday's assembly, the children performed songs and poetry to say goodbye to Mrs Murphy Simkiss, who is leaving Wincham to continue her career elsewhere.

Friday's assembly was a special leavers' assembly for the Year 6 children to celebrate their time at school.

Year 6

All of the staff at school feel great pride when our Year 6 children leave at the end of the year. They are a wonderful group of talented individuals, who have made huge academic and personal progress throughout the time they have been with us at Wincham CP School. The Year 6 children have been excellent role models for behaviour around school to the younger pupils, and their positivity, cheerfulness and good humour have had an impact that cannot be measured.

When the children start their new schools in September, there will be the usual mix of nerves and excitement, but every single child is more than ready to take the next step in their journey, and we wish them all the very best for the future.

Saying goodbye

At the end of term, we have a number of staff who are leaving us for a range of reasons. Mrs Murphy Simkiss said goodbye to the children on Wednesday. Miss Weedall, Mrs Dyson and Mrs McCorkindale have all worked with us as teaching assistants supporting individual children, and are all leaving this week to support children in other schools. Whilst the staff who are leaving may not have worked directly with all of the children in the school, they have all had a huge impact on individuals and classes. Their care and positive attitude as part of Team Wincham has really made a difference. We wish them all the very best for the future.

Summer Reading Challenge

Cheshire West and Chester Libraries are delighted to announce that the Summer Reading Challenge theme this year will be “Ready Set Read”. The theme is a sporting one, and is sponsored by Nike and the wonderful book series Rebel Girls.

The Challenge starts in July and continues until early September. All children can take part as long as they are library members: joining is free (as long as a parent or guardian gives permission) and no identification is needed.

The Summer Reading Challenge is produced by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with libraries. The challenge, aimed at children aged 4 - 11 years, is to read six or more library books over the summer.

Children can join the challenge online nationally via the Summer Reading Challenge website and locally (so they do not have to fill in forms at the library) via https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Free book

Are you inspired by this year’s games and sports theme? If you’re taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge, you could get your hands on a free, limited-edition book, Rebel Girls Kick It: World Champions Take the Pitch, and You Can Too! Read on to find out more!

The Reading Agency have teamed up with Nike and Rebel Girls to give away half a million copies of their new book to children taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge.

This year’s Challenge is all about sport and play, and this book is the perfect read to get started with. It’s full of inspiring stories, real-life heroes and fun activities!

Go to your local library this summer to sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge and ask about your free Rebel Girls book.

If you are taking part online, don’t forget to log all the books you read on your Summer Reading Challenge profile and leave a review!

Copies of Rebel Girls Kick It: World Champions Take the Pitch, and You Can Too will be available from early July at participating libraries across England, Scotland and Wales. Libraries have limited copies of the books and each library service will choose how to distribute their allocation of books, so please ask your local library about their plans to avoid disappointment. The book is most suited to children aged 7-12 years.

The stories will also be available at nike.com/gb/play from Monday 3rd July. Here, you will also find lots of exciting Rebel Girls Kick It original content for families to enjoy.

From Thursday 13th July, your family can also listen to select stories on the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls podcast.

We will be celebrating completion of this in school, and all the children who take part will also be our class readers of the week in the first week back in September.

Extreme Reading Challenge

We are asking all children to take part in our annual Extreme Reading challenge. All you need to do is take a photo of your child reading a book in an unusual place - the top of a slide, in the shed, on a plane, on the beach, under the bed - the possibilities are endless! All photos will be displayed in the classroom and online as part of a class collage here.

All the staff will be taking part as well!

We look forward to hearing about the children’s favourite books!

School Games Quality Mark Gold Award

I am delighted to share that once again we have been awarded the School Games Gold Quality Mark.

The School Games Mark is a government led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. Participating in this process allows schools to evaluate their PE provision and assists them in developing an action plan for future progress.

The Gold standard is a real recognition of the high quality of the provision at Wincham, and the hard work of all of the staff. At Wincham we really recognise and celebrate physical activity for all for the physical health as well as the mental wellbeing benefits it brings.

RockSteady Music lessons

To book music tuition for your child, please see the information here.

Looking for free family fun this weekend?

Join us at the Lion Salt Works, 10.30 – 5pm on Saturday 22 July for a day of circus performances, circus skills, eco storytelling, crafts, outdoor play, and more!

All activities are free – full details here: Sustainability Festival | Events (westcheshiremuseums.co.uk)

Elliott and Tyler are ex Wincham pupils who are fundraising for a trip to Costa Rica in 2025 as part of the Helping Local Communities scheme.

Wincham Playgroup

Wincham Playgroup has run in the Community centre for many years. It has been a wonderful way for children to socialise before starting school as well as for parents to get to know each other. Currently, nobody is willing to run the playgroup and it is likely to close. If anyone is available to run it, it wouldn't matter which day it was run on. There is a cupboard full of toys in the community centre which simply needs to be opened, a kettle and toaster. Families who attend usually pay to cover the hire of the room and help set up. It could be run as a group on a rotating basis.

If you are interested in supporting, please contact Anne who runs it now 07738129194 or the community centre or ninaosullivan@hotmail.com

Summer Holiday activities

Free Summer Activities at Northwich Memorial Court

Flyer link

Summer holiday online music lessons and workshops available

(Drums, Guitar, Piano, Vocals and Songwriting) To enquire (no-commitment), please complete the short online form by clicking the link below:

https://sammusicservice.com/summer

Lessons:

Individual 30-mins
Mon to Fri 9am to 5pm throughout summer hols
£52.50 for 4 lessons
Drums, Guitar, Piano and Vocals

Workshops:

£79 per child (max 6 children)
3 x 3hr sessions, Mon to Wed 9am to 12pm each day
Drums, Guitar, Piano, Vocals and Songwriting

Certificates - LIVE VERSION

Looking for a Nursery place?

Our Butterflies Nursery is a happy and exciting place for your child to start their educational journey.

We can support you with a smooth transition from being at home to learning through play in a safe environment with high quality resources to facilitate play, staffed by qualified teachers who care about the children and will support them to achieve their very best.

We offer a flexible package using the government's 15 (or 30 if eligible) hours of free childcare for 3 & 4 year olds, with additional hours if required.

Please read our prospectus, or contact a member of the team by ringing 01606 288060 or emailing nursery@winchamcp.cheshire.sch.uk or to express interest in a place, please complete the online form.

Calendar

All school dates can be found here. This calendar is also available on the school website, and is as up to date as possible. This calendar will be included at the end of each weekly newsletter.

Multiflex & Acorns

To contact Acorns, please email Kim Sparkes.

To book Multiflex sessions, please visit https://multiflex.hivelink.co.uk/

Previous letters

This folder is embedded in the newsletter each week. It contains all of the information sent out from school, so you can access anything you may have missed.

Previous newsletter content...

Summer Fair

Thank you to everyone who helped to make the WFF Fun Day such a special event. The good weather that we booked for the day really helped us all to make the most of it! It was a real pleasure to see so many people on the field, having a good time and supporting the school.

The overall profit from the Film Night, Freeze Pop Friday events, Sports Day drinks and the Fun Day is a fantastic £2905.93, before match funding is applied.

We would like to say an extra special thank you to all of the wonderful WFF volunteers who made the day possible. There has been a lot of work from our new committee in recent months to provide activities for the children and we all really appreciate the help in organisation, and in setting up, running the event and helping the school to be a real part of the community.

Special thanks go to Giggles Inflatable Hire for donating the bouncy castle, to Isaac's Accountancy for donating the inflatable dartboard and goal, and Wincham Community Centre for reducing the cost of the hall hire, which we had in reserve in case of rain on the day.

Clare from Bugz & Bunnies also donated her time for free for the children to enjoy some craft activities. Bugz & Bunnies are running stay and play sessions for toddlers and more information is available on their website or Facebook page.

Robin & the Wincham Hoodies

Our incredibly talented troupe of actors in Year 6 presented the play Robin & The Wincham Hoodies to children in school and parents this week. All the children have been working incredibly hard to learn lines, sing and dance, and to develop their presence on stage. The confidence it takes to get up on stage and perform in this way is huge - the children have not only shown real acting talent, but they have really demonstrated determination and resilience.

An extra thank you goes to all of the parents who have supported the children with costumes and bringing them back to school after hours. Obviously, things like this cannot happen without the very hard work and effort of the staff, and everyone in school is very grateful to all of the team who have worked with year 6 on the play.

We love a good book!

The book fair is back in school for a few days at the end of term. Please feel free to browse the books in the library with your children at the end of the school day.

Because of the commission school earns from the book fair, we have been able to purchase a range of new books for the children in every class.

Access to school out of hours

Recently there have been cases where parents have tried to access the school well outside the school day to retrieve lost property, or have sent their children into school to do this. Only staff are allowed on site after the end of the school day, and children who are attending an after school club, because they are supervised.

All lost property can be retrieved from the classroom the next day. If your child comes out of school and has forgotten something, because staff are around immediately after school, your child can go back in to look for their missing items.

Children and parents are not covered by the school's Public Liability insurance if on the site out of school hours, and if someone were to slip on a newly cleaned floor or have some other accident, there would be nobody available to look after them. All school staff have been asked to refuse access to anyone unless as part of a prearranged meeting.

Youth Connect 5 course

Congratulations to the parents who completed the Youth Connect 5 course!

Over the last 5 weeks they have learnt skills and approaches to enable them to build strong resilience, positive emotional health and wellbeing in themselves and their children.

New friendships have been made and problems shared, with lots of laughter along the way.

If you are interested in taking part in this program in the next school year, please contact Miss Boag-Munroe.

End of year reports

This week you will have recieved your child's report for the year. Each report contains a lot of information gathered throughout the year, and as I'm sure you can appreciate, takes a lot of time to complete.

We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete the feedback form. The feedback is discussed by the Senior Leadership Team and the Governing Board, and helps us to improve our practice.

Changing the length of the school day

In the autumn term, we sent out a consultation document on potentially changing the length of the school day. This was initially from February onwards. The DfE withdrew the White Paper that set out this change, but the continued requirement to have a standard length of school day has recently been shared with schools.

From September onwards, school times for Reception to Year 6 will be 8.55am - 3.25 pm, with a length of day of 6 hours and 30 minutes. The timings for Butterflies Nursery remain unchanged.

Doors will open at 8.50am, with all children to be in class by 8.55am. All children (apart from Nursery) will enter and leave from the main playground so parents can collect siblings at the same time.

We are aware there will more children leaving together, and we remain committed to our safeguarding procedures so that children do not leave without their adult, or unless they have permission to walk home alone. We may have logistical problems as we implement this new system, and we welcome feedback about how we can improve, but please be assured that the safety of our pupils is our highest priority.

School uniform

We have a lot of second hand uniform in school. All unclaimed items will be on tables in the playground in the final week of term for you to help yourself to. Anything left over will be donated to charity.

Pierced ears

A reminder that children should not wear earrings to school. If they do, they will be asked to cover them with tape. If you are planning to have your child's ears pierced during the summer break, please do so as soon as possible after the end of term so they have the maximum time to heal before September.

Multiflex Holiday Clubs

Please visit https://multiflex.hivelink.co.uk/ for more information about accessing childcare through the holidays with the Multiflex team.

Crafty Kids Club

These sessions are available for 3-5 year olds through the summer holiday.

Foodbank support

Our Safeguarding Team (Mr Boot, Mr Bounds and Miss Boag-Munroe) can refer to the Foodbank. This is an anonymous service.

Visiting a food bank might seem daunting, but you’ll get a warm welcome in a safe environment, a listening ear from trained volunteers, and a food parcel.

Food bank volunteers are there to help. They will take the time to listen and make sure you feel comfortable during your visit to the food bank. They are specially trained to identify and offer practical guidance to help tackle the reasons for your referral to the food bank and will work with you to make sure you have access to the support you need.

https://westcheshire.foodbank.org.uk/

Trialling something new...

This is a new format for our newsletter. Instead of sending out a document each week, we will be adding to this web page. All of the previous content will be kept here as well, so you can quickly and easily find things you may have missed. It also gives us the chance to share tweets by embedding them in the webpage, and to streamline some of the process of collating all of the information for the newsletter. The webpage is optimised for large screens, tables and phones automatically, making it more user friendly than a traditional document.

Thanks to all who have completed the form already - if you can spare some time to share your thoughts, we would welcome the feedback.

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