Newsletter: 1st October 2021
Posted on October 1, 2021 | By Mr Cole
Well done, Pixies!
Year 3 and 4 have had an amazing time at Pixies Holt this week, despite the very “Dartmoor” weather. The visit was a huge step for most of the children as they’ve barely experiences day visits with school let alone a two night residential. We are so pleased that everyone is full of fabulous stories from the trip and clearly had a wonderful time with just the occasional (and expected) wobble. Huge thank you to Mr Davies, Mrs Furse and Hannah for staffing the visit and taking the photos to record the children’s experience. There are a few below, but the rest can be seen on The Pixies Holt link on the menu of this page.
Year 5 London Residential
In case it’s still in the bottom of your child’s book bag, the initial letter about next year’s Year 5 London Residential was sent out on Wednesday. As with all our residentials, please speak to Sue in the Office if you would like your child to take part but finances are preventing you signing up. We’re delighted that we have been able to once again book into the same hotel we used last year and also shift the trip from its traditional March slot to the Summer when lighter evenings will make the trip much easier for our full programme of activities!
Noticeboard Thanks
I hope you’ve spotted our beautiful noticeboard for the Friends of Woolsery School which has been crafted by Connie and Phoebe’s Grandad. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift to our school – we can’t wait to begin advertising events in it as things return to “normal” over the coming weeks.
We’re also really excited to announce that the Bike Shelter is currently full of our new Polytunnel which will soon be going up at the top of the school field to support whole class gardening and environmental activities as part of the current FOWS project to develop outdoor learning.
We’re hoping that FOWS Chair, Neil will be able to get a gang of people together fairly to put the Polytunnel up so it can settle before winter really begins to bite. Once it’s up, the children can begin planning growing activities for the new season. Adjacent to the Polytunnel will be a new allotment for outdoor growing.
These activities and resources couldn’t happen without you, so please support FOWS fundraising whenever you can – thank you.
Data Collection Forms
Every year, we send out a copy of the records we hold for your children. These have gone out in book bags throughout this week and we need the checked copies back again straight away. It is vital that you check all of the details carefully and complete the permissions so that our records are up to date. If we hold incorrect information about you, it could prevent us contacting you in an emergency.
Please could you sign and return the form to the school on Monday so that Sue and Tina can begin the task of ensuring our systems are up to date and that we can contact you if needed in an emergency. If anything is incorrect, just indicate what the correct information should be by writing on the form. Thank you.
Harvest Celebration
We are really looking forward to our whole school Harvest Celebration over at All Hallows Parish Church (Woolsery) next Thursday. We hope to start as near to 10am as possible. If you are coming along, please remember that the children will need the main block of pews and family and friends are very welcome to sit on the pews in the north aisle, which is the block on the far side from the main entrance door. We have been practising three songs for everyone to join in (if you ask, I am sure your child will teach you…) and each class will be presenting something to the congregation.
Any donations of packet/tinned food for Harbour, Bideford will be gratefully received. As mentioned in previous Newsletters, please try to send in things with as long a Best Before date as possible. We can’t accept any fresh food, I’m afraid. The children will carry their individual contributions over to the church and place them near the altar for the duration of our Celebration and Community Voice children will then bag everything up afterwards for its onward journey to Harbour.
Village Schools Partnership Update
Our work to bring together the three schools of Woolsery, Parkham and Buckland Brewer under the Management Partnership is continuing. This week, class-based staff from all three schools met here at Woolsery to talk in more depth about the benefits of a closer working arrangement might bring. All of the staff had really positive contributions to make to the discussion and many expressed a sense of relief that there would be more colleagues who teach similar aged children to run ideas by and check educational outcomes. Over the next few weeks, teaching staff from all three schools will be visiting each others’ classrooms to get a better feel of the similarities and differences across the Partnership. There have also been some early benefits such as sharing our Year 6 Adventure International Residential across the Partnership and thereby making a large saving for all on transport costs. We will continue to keep you updated as things progress as we move further through the Autumn Term, but it’s certainly a very positive start.
A huge thank you to everyone to turned up to support the Macmillan Coffee Afternoon last week at 40 Manor Park. An amzing £590 was raised for this truly excellent charity!
Goodbye, Audrey and Rachel
At the end of last term, two of our Mealtime Assistants completed their time working with us. Because of Covid in the last week of the term, they were unable to properly say Good-bye to the chidlren and we were unable to say goodbye to them. So we were delighted that Audrey and Rachel were able to return to school during this week to receive their leaving presents and cards from the children and we wish them the very best for the future.
Well done to the children who were really noticed for their excellent Learning Behaviours this week. Our awards this time include two “new” classes – Stroxstone (the children from Alminstone and Stroxworthy who didn’t attend residential) and Alminsworthy (the children from Alminstone and Stroxworthy who did…) Normal classes resume next week!
Sunflowers: Rueben – Gaining the confidence to separate from parents more easily; Phoebe – Great concentration and sitting during letters and sounds
Cranford Class: Freddie – (Dolphin) Fantastic Duplo building and talking with friends; Rogan – (Bee) Working together with your friends and great turn-taking
Burscott Class: Louie – (Spider) great reading progress this term; Molly – (Tortoise) making great progress in her reading this term
Stroxstone Class: Bluebelle – (Bee) working together like a bee in her ‘village’ team and in a large mixed class; Bella – (Bee)for working well together in her ‘village’ team and in a large mixed class.
Alminsworthy Class: Archie – (Tortoise) for being resilient like a tortoise and not giving up despite the challenges in the rain; Isla-Mae – (Bee) for working together with her group to solve problems and help her team in every challenge
Ashmansworthy Class: Morgan – (Bee) Working together and showing consideration to others; Isla– (Dolphin) Diving into her Tag Rugby session (not literally!) and learning new skills
| Monday |
Mrs Kersey and Mr Davies out (morning) – Village Schools’ Partnership Joint Governors’ meeting (VSP sub committee) 5:30pm |
| Tuesday | |
| Wednesday | |
| Thursday | Harvest Celebration 10am Woolsery Parish Church |
| Friday | Anne Gilks’ music lessons (swapped from Thursday) |
With best wishes,
Matt Cole, Headteacher