Newsletter: 12th May 2023
Posted on May 12, 2023 | By Mr Cole
SATS Week thanks
Firstly, a massive well-done to out Year 6’s who have done a brilliant job in getting through their SATS week. The children have shown determination to get through the tests and show off their ability, of which they should be proud. Results will be out in early July and we will be in contact with Year 6 parents at that time to let you know how your child got on.
Science Week is coming!
Next week is Science Week across the Partnership. Mr Marks, who leads Science, has been working with staff to ensure this is an exciting week of investigations and finding out and I am sure it will be every bit as successful as last year’s event.
Please remember that Science Week culminates in our Open Afternoon where parents and friends can come into school and look at the Investigation Boards the children have put together during the week iin order to answer burning questions that the’ve chosen to work on. There will be prizes in each school for the best presentations and investigations too!
Schools will be open from 2:30pm on Friday so please come along if you can. In Parkham and Buckland Brewer winners will be announced at 3pm; in Woolsery these will be announced in Assembly on Monday.
Parkham School front door
If you are calling into the Office at Parkham, please note that the main door has a broken hinge and cannot be opened. This means you will need to allow a little extra time for Linda to come around to the gate to let you in so please be patient. If you need to call into the office at drop off time when the gate is open, please don’t try to open the door. If you ring the bell, you can either talk to Linda through the office window, or she will direct you to make your way around the rear of the building and come in through the old School House door next to the kitchen.
The front door will be replaced, but this will take time as it is a non-standard size, so these arrangements are likely to be in place for many weeks. Thank you for your understanding.
Orleigh Class Outside Learning Area
We are really excited that on Monday and Tuesday next week, the new play surface will be fitted to the area outside Orleigh Classroom at Buckland Brewer. Not only will this enhance the look of the school considerably, but it will dramatically improve the quality of the learning environmentwe’re able to provide for the children. This has been a long time in the planning and we’re delighted the suppliers have been able to fit us in so the children experience the benefit during the summer months. We couldn’t do this work without the support of FOBBS who are contributing very generously towards the project – so every time you take part in a FOBBS activity, your donations go towards work of this type, leading to even better experiences for your children.
FOBBS have also asked me to pass on their thanks to you all for supporting the village’s Coronation Celebrations last weekend: your donations of cakes meant that an amazing £251 was raised from refreshments on the day.
New Member of Staff
Earlier this week, Mrs Farmer, Miss McCann and Mrs Urquhart held interviews for the teaching assistant post at Parkham which has become vacant due to Miss Slade beginning her maternity leave. We are delighted to have appointed Ms Mudhar and will welcome her to the school in the next few weeks. Ms Mudhar is currently based in a school in Kent and will be moving to north Devon very soon and will be a very welcoem addition to the staff team at Parkham.
Singing Festivals
Next week, along with Science Week, sees the return of the Bideford Area Schools Singing Festivals which, until Covid, were a staple of our school year. This time, the events will be bigger and better than before, with performances being held at the Big Sheep arena in Abbotsham. Key Stage 1 children will be travelling to the Big Sheep on Thursday morning and sharing some songs with the other children from local schools. In the afternoon, Year 5s will travel to the Big Sheep and rehearse their solo and collaborative numbers ready for the public performance in the early evening. This is always a really exciting and inspiring event and we very much hope you enjoy watching.
Tickets will be given out very early next week (everyone who has asked for additional tickets has been allocated their requested amount). However, we are still waiting for a small number of Year 5 consents to come back in – please could you send them in on Monday if you’ve not already done so? (as the Key Stage 1 event is within school time, we don’t require consent so there is nothing to return)
Year 5 London Residential
Preparations for the London Residential are now almost complete. Please remember that next Wednesday is the last day you can send in spending money for your child – after this time, all our paperwork is compelte and we will not accept further contributions. Your child doesn’t have to take any spending money if you’d prefer them not to have any, but if you are sending it in, this should be in two clearly named envelopes – one with a maximum of £10 for tourist merchandise and the other with a maximum of £20 for Legoland. Thank you.
Colour Run
Please remember you need to pre-book places on our joint PTA Colour Run which takes place next month. Booking will open to the wider public next week, so to avoid disappointment, please go online and book your family’s slot using the information in the poster below. (The booking platform has been updated to allow for Preschool entries too!) Thanks.
Well done to everyone who was presented with a Headteacher’s Award this week. Due to SATS we’ve not held assemblies today, but the childrne wil have received their awards neverthless. As you know, we present these each week to children who show progress in the development of key learning behaviours: self-reflection, making links and connections, working together, asking questions, developing resilience and engaging in learing activities. We represent these behaviours across the Partnership with our six Learning Animals:
Orleigh: Freya-Rose (spider)- for using super reasoning skills in Maths tp spot that the shape with 2 quarters coloured in was showing a half, and explaining her reasoning clearly; Sophia (cat)- for challenging herself and exploring adding more onto 2 digit numbers, using numicon to help her
Tythecott: Noah (owl) – A fantastic owl, looking back and using your excellent capital city knowledge and applying that this term in our Geography work; Charlie (bee) – Brilliant team work this week in P.E Charlie, a great bee.
Gorwood: Monti (cat) – showing great curiosity towards his science learning when doing investigations; Year 6 (tortoises) showing great resilience when completing their SATs tests. We are very proud of all of you!
Foxdown: Jack (cat) – for being curious. Jack was excited to find out we will be learning about plants in science . He has started his own project at home making his own compost and compost bin!; Darcey (cat) – for being curious. Darcey recreated her Jack and the Beanstalk story map at home and then created something similar for the story of Cinderella.
Melbury: Jaxon (spider) – Jaxon has made connections in Geography with capital cities and countries. Great work; Olivia (tortoise) – Olivia has shown resilience when writing her story and has included lots of description. Well done Olivia
Goldworthy: Elodie (cat) – for precisely summarising information about our historical figures we have been learning about in History- Sir Richard Grenville and Sir Charles Kingsley; Year 6s (tortoises) – for showing great maturity and resilience in completing their end of Key Stage 2 assessments.
Sunflowers: Elsie (tortoise) – for not giving up to become more independent; Keitija (tortoise) – for not giving up on the challenge to achieve amazing art work this week
Cranford:
Stroxworthy: Cadey (dolphin) – for diving into her English like a dolphin and writing a superb story based on our book Gregory Cool; Evie (dolphin) – for diving into her English like a dolphin and writing an amazing story based on our book Gregory Cool.
Alminstone: Rebecca (dolphin) – diving into her mystery stort writing this week, with some great vocabulary choices. Great work!; Loic (owl) – looking back at his previous learning on percentages and explaining clearly to the rest of Year 5. Super effort!
Ashmansworthy: Genevieve (spider) – for making and using links across the different areas of the maths curriculum; Phoebe (tortoise) – for quietly and positively dealing with challenges, especially in the run-up to SATs
Science Week!
| Monday |
New surface being fitted at Buckland Brewer Mrs Morrison out all day (music conference) – Mrs Boother supply |
| Tuesday |
New surface being fitted at Buckland Brewer Mrs Kersey out all day (English meetings) – Mrs Pennington supply Mr Cole out (pm) – ACCT Heads Meeting |
| Wednesday | Deadline for London Residential spending money |
| Thursday | Singing Festivals – see main Newsletter for details |
| Friday | Science Week Open Afternoons from 2:30pm |
Mr Cole’s planned schedule
|
|
|
|
| Monday | All Day | ||
| Tuesday | Morning | ||
| Wednesday | All Day | ||
| Thursday | Singing Fest | Singing Fest | Singing Fest |
| Friday | Morning | Afternoon | Afternoon |
With best wishes,
Matt Cole, Headteacher