Hello Puffin and Swans, Letter 15 – 10rd July

We hope you have all had a happy week.

Miss Tierney says, “Hi everyone – this is our last newsletter! The answers to last week’s

animal quiz are – hello and happy. Well done if you had a go! I tried a new recipe this week

and made some blondies. They were very nice. I went on one of my favourite walks

through Hagbourne and took these pictures.

I wanted to say a huge well done to you for all the fantastic work you have done at school

and at home this year. It has been a very different few months because you have stayed at

home and then some of you have been at school for only 2 days a week. I am extremely

proud of you and everything you have achieved. You are a very special group of children

and I think your families would agree with that.

I have missed seeing you at school very much. I can’t wait to see you all in September. If

you won’t be in Puffins or Swans I will make sure I come and say hello to you in Nightingales.

I have told Mrs Alleway that she is very lucky to have some Puffins and Swans in her class as

you are all so amazing! I know she is excited to meet you. I hope you have a wonderful

summer holiday”.

Mrs Dyer says, “Hello everybody. I hope you are well and getting ready for the summer

holidays. I have been having great fun playing with Billy the kitten and at the weekend I saw

my Mummy and Daddy who I hadn’t seen since February. I was very excited! I hope the

weather gets sunny again soon so we can all get outside more”.

Mrs Chapple says, “I hope you are all well and have had a good week. I have been in school again for a couple of days with the Pufferfish bubble where we have continued to do more work on our topic ‘Under the Sea’. We have been finding out a lot about different sea creatures and doing lots of artwork as well as lots of outside play. When I have not been in school, I have been busy at home baking cakes for family and friends. I had a catch up with Miss Tierney on Saturday in her garden. As this very different school year finishes, lots of special memories have been made. The beginning of the school year started off in school with meeting lots of new children and watching them grow and learn lots of new things. We then went into lockdown, which left some of us at home for a very long time, then some of us started back at school. I have been luckily enough to be able to be in school on some days, at first working with the key worker children and then, as more of you were allowed back to school, with Pufferfish bubble. While working with Pufferfish bubble it has been

great to see some of the children from Puffin class again and get to know some of the children from Swan class a little more. I have also looked forward to seeing the newsletter each week that Miss Tierney has been sending out with all the news of what everyone has been up to whether you have been in school or at home. I am looking forward to meeting you all again in September as Year 1’s and hearing about all what you have been up to since we went into lockdown. As we start the summer holidays I am looking forward to spending some time with my family and catching up with my son who lives near Birmingham. Hopefully we can have a few special days out as we have had to cancel the family holiday we had planned. Have a great summer holiday and continue to make all those special memories which this year has been all about. Remember to make a little bit of time to continue to do your reading”. Mrs Williams says, “Hello Puffins and Swans. I hope you have had a good week. Mr Williams and myself had a nice country walk on Sunday. We have started a new puzzle but it is another tricky one so it is going to take a few weeks to complete. I am really excited as my new roller skates arrived in the post. When I was young I loved roller skating and I thought I would try them again as a way of keeping fit. Take care”.

Mrs Kearsley says, “I hope you are all well. I have been walking lots this week seeing the

changes in the flowers along the way. I have painted my son’s room and have sorted and

tidied it up. I have been playing some games. My favourite is ‘Connect 4’. The flower I

showed you last week is called a passion flower and I have lots of them out at the moment.

Have a good week”.

Don’t forget you can always send us an email on: reception@northbourne.oxon.sch.uk

Love from Miss Tierney, Mrs Dyer, Mrs Chapple, Mrs Williams and Mrs Kearsley xx

Oliver has sent in these great photos of him crabbing on holiday. We hope you had a great

holiday and a great birthday Oliver.

This week and during the summer holidays some children will be celebrating their 5th

birthday!

A very happy birthday to:

Saphira, Martha, Georgina, Maxim,

Harrison and Elliott.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Although this will be the last newsletter and home learning grid of the term, we will

continue to check the email account throughout the summer holidays. It would be lovely to

see what you are up to so if you would like to continue sending photos that would be great.

I appreciate that some of you will be excited to have reached the end of a long period of

home schooling and you won’t be planning on continuing this during the holidays!!! If that

is the case can I please just encourage you to keep up with regular reading and from time to

time revisit some of the writing and maths activities from the home learning grid. Little and

often is the key to keeping up with newly developing skills. Some of you may have enjoyed

the routine of home schooling and wish to carry on over the summer in your own way. If

this is the case, below is a list of places you can go to for support. I am also happy to send

you ideas via email if you let me know what you are looking for.

Resources

- Phonics Play: great for games. Phase 3 and 4 is where the children should ideally be

working, but if this is too tricky work on Phase 2 and build up confidence.

- Twinkl: a huge amount of resources for all areas of learning as well as practicing

handwriting and cutting skills. Type in EYFS and then the subject you are looking for,

e.g. EYFS adding, EYFS sharing.

- Topmarks: some good games, especially for maths. You can choose age (early years

or key stage 1 for more challenge) and subject to narrow down the suggestions

- You tube: many children’s books can be found on here being read aloud. There are

also some great video clips, although you need to watch them first to check the

suitability.

- BBC bitesize.

- CBeebies.

- Monster phonics.

- Teach your monster to read.

- Cosmic kids yoga and PE with Joe Wicks (can both be found on You Tube).

- Edinburgh and Chester Zoo: information about animals, webcams and live feeds of

animals.

- Facebook: 5 minute mum and Phonics family both have a great range of ideas.

- https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/activities have recipes and activities to try.

- BookTrust have lots of literacy ideas.

Most importantly please take this time to relax and refresh (as much as you possibly can!!).

Our mental health and wellbeing are the most important things to focus on. These past few

months have seen families put under such huge pressures it is vital that we all try to enjoy

some time together. If you are finding things difficult please let us know and we will see if

there is anything we can do to help and support you. Please don’t suffer in silence. If you

need a food bank voucher please let me know and I can arrange to have one delivered to

you.

I would like to thank you for keeping in touch over the past few months – I have found it a

real privilege to have seen a window into your home schools. You have done a fantastic job

of trying to keep things as happy as possible at home, when you will have had many

anxieties yourself. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed!

Although school in September may look a little different, our values will remain the same.

Helping the children to have a settled and calm start to Year 1 will be our priority. I hope I

can reassure you that staff will continue to look at ways to keep things at school as normal

as possible while keeping the children’s happiness and safety at the forefront of our plans.

I wish you all a very happy summer and I look forward to seeing you in September.

Take care and keep in touch.

With kind regards,

Miss Tierney