Newsletter: 8th March 2024
Posted on March 8, 2024 | By Mr Cole | Leave a response
Ofsted
Buckland Brewer had their anticipated visit from Ofsted this week, following up on the short inspection which was carried out in January 2023. Thank you to all parents who took time to complete the parental survey for the inspection team, and to the children who met with the inspectors (some on several occasions!) and shared their work in lesson time. The report will be published at some point in mid-May (delay due to the Easter Holidays) and the outcome will be shared with you all at that point.
Sunflowers Preschool Session Booking
Booking for Summer Term sessions are now open online via this FORM.
https://forms.gle/dq8VMJ42t4uiSrJ39
Please make sure you tell us which sessions you need by Wednesday 20th March at the latest so we can arrange appropriate staffing levels to cover all booked sessions. Thanks.
Sports Round-Up
Football
Cross Country
Safeguarding
We have been contacted by Safeguarding agencies to highlight the latest online issue which is emerging in schools – a game called Tekken 8. This has a PEGI rating of 16, meaning it is not suitable for children under 16 years of age. Tekken 8 is the latest incarnation of a one-on-one fighting game, similar to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. The reason it has come up on the safeguarding radar because it contains (obviously) violence and also foul language. None of the more extreme content is behind a paywall, meaning children accessing this game can see everything, straight away – there is no way of preventing or restricting this. We are concerned that this could lead to copy-cat fighting in real life as there is such a strong emphasis on punching and kicking, and of course, repeating of foul language. Full information is available in the graphic below (click to download, zoom in, print)
We are also seeing an increase in worrying online activity amongst our oldest children in a couple of schools. Please could I ask parents to remain vigilant as to what your child’s online activity is, expecially around social media. Do please ask us if you need any support in tackling your child’s inappropriate use of, or interaction with, social media posts. Thank you.
Red Nose Day
Just a reminder that next Friday is Red Nose Day- children across the Partnership are able to come into school dressed in Red To Toe in exchange for a £1 donation to Comic Relief.
FOWS
Thank you from the FOWS committee for the donations of cakes and raffle prizes for refreshments at the Woolsery pantomime this weekend.
If your child is in Alminstone Class, please ensure they do NOT have red hair as they wo’t be allowed in the swimming pool for their lesson!
Mr Davies is running a Marathon!
We are very proud that Mr Davies, our Sports and PE Lead, is running a marathon for charity later in the year.
A plea and a challenge
World Book Day
A huge thank you to everyone who brought in questions and props for World Book Day yesterday. There was a lot of book-talk in all three schools throughout the day and great thought had clearly gone in to coming up with sometimes very cryptic book clues – well done, everybody!
Well done to everyone who has received a Headteacher’s Awards in assembly today! As usual, our awards are given in recognition of achievements relating to our six learning animals which represent for children the qualities needed to be a good learner. They are:
Orleigh: Sammie (Dolphin) For following his own ideas to independently create a great picture of his favourite book characters on World Book Day; Leo M (Tortoise) For improving his handwriting and taking care to show the ascenders and descenders in his writing.
Tythecott: Timmy (Spider) – making links and connections with his measuring skills during his maths; Eleanor (Tortoise) – being resilient with her handwriting to improve her writing.
Gorwood: Freya (Dolphin) – for diving into her learning when we have been writing a story, making sure she includes all elements taught and thinking about ways to improve her work; Jayden (Owl) – for looking forward and back in maths and thinking about what he knows to help him explain his thoughts in detail
Foxdown: Jasper (Cat) – Jasper wrote a fantastic explanation text on what plants need to grow; Harry (Dolphin) – Harry retold his version of the enormous turnip this week with great enthusiasm and humour.
Melbury: Myles (Tortoise) – An excellent resilient tortoise with his writing this week, especially since starting to use pen, it’s looking very lovely! Keep it up Myles!; Oli (Spider) – A great spider making links with all his learning and explaining his thinking with great detail.
Goldworthy: Jimmy (tortoise) for settling straight back into your learning; working with good perseverance in writing and continuing to challenge himself to become more confident in mathematics; Josie (tortoise) for showing great enthusiasm, determination and resilience to achieve well in her learning especially with improving her writing.
Sunflowers: Charley and Charlie (tortoises) – for their fantastic work in foundations for phonics especially their initial sounds this week
Cranford:
Burscott: Elowen (Tortoise) – for showing great creativity and resilience in making her habitat with Lego during our Stemgineering session this week; Freddie Ca (Spider) – for remembering the five rules to improve his writing when writing a report about the African Savannah.
Stroxworthy: Maggi (Bee) – for working well with others during our group work in science when studying the effects of erosion and weathering on rocks; Mollie-Jo (Dolphin) – for producing a beautifully presented play script in English based upon characters chosen from our class novel.
Alminstone: Jacob (Tortoise) – Superb effort with work on percentages this week – keep it up, Jacob!; Becky (Spider) – consistently using oracy skills in all areas of the curriculum – always listening and responding thoughtfully. Well done, Becky.
Ashmansworthy: Dolly (Spider) – for making thoughtful contributions to our discussions across the curriculum and always linking her comments to previous learning; Arthur (Dolphin) – for using excellent problem-solving strategies in maths, especially in our percentages topic
- 15th March – Red Nose Day: Red To Toe
- 18th March – London Residential Meeting – Buckland Brewer
- 19th March – London Residential Meeting – Parkham
- 18th – 20th March – Pixies Holt Residential (Year 4)
- 21st March – Lots of Socks Day for Downs Syndrome
- 21st March – Interviews for SENDCO and Class Teacher post
- 22nd March – Movie Night (Woolsery)
- 25th March – London Residential Meeting – Woolsery
- 26th – 27th March – National Marine Aquarium Residential (Year 3)
- 28th March: Last Day of Term
- 15th April: First Day of Summer Term
Parent-Teacher Meetings are taking place this week in all schools!
| Monday | |
| Tuesday | |
| Wednesday | |
| Thursday |
Y5/6 Swimming – Gorwood Class Mr Cole out all day |
| Friday |
Y6 Bude Residential 2nd Stage Payment Deadline Y5/6 Swimming – Alminstone Class |
Mr Cole’s planned schedule
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| Monday | morning | afternoon | |
| Tuesday | all day | ||
| Wednesday | all day | ||
| Thursday | |||
| Friday | morning | afternoon | afternoon |
With best wishes,
Matt Cole, Headteacher