w.b 19th October

Dear Parents/Carers

What an incredibly busy first half-term we have had. The children (and staff!) have certainly earned their one-week break. It always takes a few weeks at the start of a school year to get everything back up and running, for relationships to be developed between staff and children and for routines and procedures to be implemented again, but it is fair to say that we are back up to full speed.

It is Parents' Evening after half-term, and I just want to remind you that you can book a slot with any member of SLT and we would encourage you to do so if you are concerned about any aspect of school life. 

I will meet with anyone who wants to discuss school logistics, communications, your child's learning, OPAL, Stowe Valley MAT or if you want to escalate any concern that you feel hasn't been addressed.

Mr Johnston will happily meet with parents about any behavioural issues or concerns.

Mrs Pope will meet with parents about all things attendance, English as an Additional Language, Pupil Premium or Safeguarding

Mrs Reeves is available for any conversations about Special Educational Needs. 

Just email the office and we can try to book you in at a time close to your child's appointment time. 

 

Please take time to read the information on Halloween and Bonfire Safety in the ‘What’s On/Community Information’ tab on this page.  There is also information in ‘What’s On’ regarding free meals for children at a few local cafés and restaurants next week.

 

Things only get busier next half-term and this week's News just features a few key reminders for parents, so please take note of these. Mrs Smith will also send home some key dates for Autumn 2 after the half-term break. As always with Christmas, there is a lot to remember.

 

w.b. 12th October

Dear Parents/Carers,

Parents' Evenings

First, just a quick reminder to book your appointment for Parents Evening if not already done so - please follow the information via this link:

Parents Evening

Year 6 Residential trip

Below are some images from the Year 6 Arete Residential visit Year 6 that has taken place this week.

Our Residential Visit to Arete Outdoor Education Centre in North Wales is an incredible experience for our children and really shows off all of the skills and traits they have developed over the last 7 years at home and at school. The level of independence on show always makes the staff proud and is something for all children at school to aspire to. A significant part of preparing children for this week away is their day trip to Umberslade Adventure in Year 3 and their 2-night stay at Blackwell Adventure Centre in Year 4. 

The children get to experience activities that many of them will never do again in their lives. In particular, the experience down the slate mine which is something that can only be experienced with professional guides, but also activities such as 'mass ascent' and 'sea level traversing' which involves a significant level of professional equipment. It is worth every penny. 

Recount by Skye, Dalia, Riaan and Teddy

For the past few days, we have been doing lots of interesting and exciting activities that help us build confidence in ourselves. Year 6 have been conquering new challenges, for example: climbing high rocks, travelling up waterfalls and scurrying through dark slate mines.

This week, we have made new friends, attempted scary things. Collaboration and kindness was key in this trip.

Thank you for taking the time and reading our blog! : ]

 

Friday 9th October

Dear Parents/ Carers

Over the last few weeks, we have been electing various positions of responsibility across school. We try really hard as a school to involve pupil voice in our decision making and school events. Below is an introduction to Executive Committee and our Action Teams. 

Parents' Evening:

Please see the link to the right (or at the bottom of the page if viewing on a mobile device) for information about Parents' Evenings on the 3rd and 4th November.

Introducing Our Executive Committee:

Executive Committee take a lead on Smart School Council – Smart School Council Website – they work directly with Mr Williams as Head of School and coordinate anything in school that involves pupil voice. This means they work closely with all of our committees and Year 6 Action Team Leads (full list of Action Teams below - these adults and children work with their wider committees/ambassadors from across school).

There are lots of small things that Smart School Council contributes to in school, but an example of a ‘big’ thing is our brand new clamber on the KS1 play area. The idea and design came from children in school and our School Council system, linking OPAL Ambassadors with Executive Committee and the wider school through Class Meetings. 

Hello! I’m Laurence, the Chair of Executive Committee and I am looking forward to showing people around at Open Mornings and leading more Executive Committee meetings.

 

 

Hi! My name is Bani , I am Vice Chairperson and I am looking forward to improving the school and making people feel like this is a safe, open place where everyone can be friends.

 

 

Hello! I am Skye and I am Secretary and Website Updater. I am looking forward to engaging and collaborating with my team and helping others in years below me. I am also looking forward to upgrading our school environment and helping all pupils to have a good school year.

 

Hi! I’m Sienna and I am Clerk and Question Hunter. I am excited for seeing the results of class meetings! I am also looking forward to helping students be heard.

 

Hello, my name is Emel. I am Staff Liaison and I am looking forward to helping my school be a better place. I am also excited to communicate with the staff in school. I want to help children  have an amazing year!

 

 

 

Hello! My name is Darcy  and my role is Vice Secretary and Progress Board Manager. I'm looking forward to helping decide and find out results of the questions. I’m also looking forward to updating the Progress Board and making sure everyone is updated on whats happening/happened - you will see our Smart School Council board in the corridor outside the Lower School Hall. 

We are Executive Committee, here to improve the school!!

How does Smart School Council work?

Each week, Executive Committee set a question. This question might be something that our Staff Liaison has found from a member of staff or that our Question Finder has been told by pupils or one of the Action Teams.

Each class then have a Class Meeting where they discuss and vote on the question and possible answers. Classes are also able to suggest further questions when having this meeting in class.

After the Class Meetings, Executive Committee review the results (they will be published on the Smart School Councils Tab under 'Parents and Carers' - Smart School Council Page) and decide on any actions.

School Action Teams

Eco Committee led by Miss Chacko and Olivia, Ava and Amelie

  

 

 

Charity Committee led by Miss Hawkins and Ruedi D

 

 

 

OPAL Ambassadors led by Mr Williams and Rafay Q

 

 

 

 

Science Ambassadors led by Miss Allsopp and Dalia 

 

 

 

Sports Ambassadors led by Mr Rose and Mr Thompson and Louis B, Erin P, Izzy I and Xanthe I

 

 

 

 

Wellbeing and Safeguarding Ambassadors led by Mrs Pope and Idil

 

 

 

Languages Ambassadors led by Madame Allison and Isabel S-C, Poppy F and Alvin C

 

 

Thank you for reading this week's school news. Please check-in again for next week's School News when we will be hearing about how Year 6s residential visit to North Wales is going! A reminder to check our 'What's On' and School Health pages under the Continue Reading tab. If you are reading on a mobile device, this is right at the bottom of the page (see screenshot below):

Friday 2nd October

Welcome to our first School News post of the year. It is my intention to use this page to share exciting news from each year group at school. The post will sometimes be written by staff and children from different year groups and will sometimes be written by school leaders – it depends what is going on in school. For example, in the week commencing 12^th October, the blog will be updated by Year 6, whilst they are on their residential adventure to North Wales.

This weekly post will replace the fortnightly newsletters, however Mrs Smith will also ensure she posts any ‘Pupil News’ shared by parents onto this blog as we wouldn’t want to miss celebrating your children’s extracurricular successes. There will also be an additional page (under Continue Reading) where we post any ‘What’s On’ information. This will have previously been shared at the back of each newsletter and would be made up of adverts/promotional material relating to local activities, events and opportunities. Finally, Mrs Smith will email key dates on a half-termly basis and we are trying our best to ensure that the Calendar on this website is also up-to-date.

As has already been shared, we have made some wider changes to the website. You will see a Year Group Page for each year group. If you are wondering about anything related to your child’s learning, homework or curriculum, you should find what you need on this page in the first instance. We hope that posting homework on here makes everything a little bit more straightforward for you when you come to find out what your child needs to do each week.

Everyone is back into the swing of things after the first four weeks, and so much is going on already! We look forward to sharing with you what we are getting up to in school each week. Next week's blog will be written by our newly elected Executive Committee who will introduce themselves and share how we hope to involve as many pupil voices as possible over the course of the year. 

- Mr Williams, Head of School