Nene Valley Primary School Spring term newsletter 2013 Success for all • Welcome to our new termly newsletter! • “Animal Magic” visits the Early Years Foundation Stage • Years 1 and 2 phase • Years 3 and 4 phase • Choir at the O2! • Football League Community Cup • Friends of Nene Valley • Midday Supervisors • Attendance at Nene Valley • Our school website • Welcome to our new Governors • Summer Term dates Welcome to the first edition of our new termly newsletter! Starting with the Spring 2013 edition, we intend to provide a review of events and news from within school to keep you up to date with all the exciting things that are taking place. This won’t replace the update letters that provide essential reminders and important information but will provide an additional way of finding out what the school and children have to celebrate. From time to time we also intend to include more in depth information about subjects such as the school curriculum and new developments and initiatives. This is our first attempt so things may change but we have started by including items such as pointers to access e-safety information, news from each school phase, sports news and extra-curricular news. We hope you enjoy this first edition, but watch out for a future parent survey to find out what information you would like to receive. Stuart Mansell Headteacher
Transcript
Nene Valley Primary School
Spring term newsletter 2013
Success for all
• Welcome to our new termly newsletter!
• “Animal Magic” visits the Early Years Foundation Stage
• Years 1 and 2 phase
• Years 3 and 4 phase
• Choir at the O2!
• Football League Community Cup
• Friends of Nene Valley
• Midday Supervisors
• Attendance at Nene Valley
• Our school website
• Welcome to our new Governors
• Summer Term dates
Welcome to the first edition of our new termly newsletter!
Starting with the Spring 2013 edition, we intend to provide a review of events and news
from within school to keep you up to date with all the exciting things that are taking place. This won’t replace the update letters that provide essential reminders and important information but will provide an additional way of finding out what the school and children have to celebrate. From time to time we also intend to include more in depth information about subjects such as the school curriculum and new developments and initiatives. This is our first attempt so things may change but we have started by including items such as pointers to access e-safety information, news from each school phase, sports news and extra-curricular news.
We hope you enjoy this first edition, but watch out for a future parent survey to find out what information you would like to receive.
Stuart Mansell Headteacher
“Animal Magic” visits the Early Years Foundation Stage
The Robins and the Wrens have had a really busy Spring term. Through our Topics “Animal Magic” and “When I Grow Up” we have taken part in many exciting learning activities.
We turned our role play area into a Veterinary Surgery, shared photos, wrote about our pets and were very creative with our animal artwork.
A particular highlight for the children was the visits from our furry friends – Murphee the Golden Retriever, Millie and Louie the Chihuahuas, the school guinea pigs; Nibbles and Toffee and two horses Bessy-May and Buster.
We have been learning about ‘Grown ups’ and what different jobs interest us. We have some budding hairstylists in Reception, who have given makeovers to all members of staff in school – including Mr Mansell!
We have enjoyed using our outdoor area in the spring sunshine, planting flowers and vegetables, riding bikes and digging in our new sandpit.
Years 1 and 2 phase
This term the children have been very motivated by our exciting China topic. This topic has tied in really well with Chinese New Year and we have celebrated the beginning of the Year of the Snake. Children have had a Chinese dance celebration all together to celebrate the end of this topic. Puffins shared their Chinese exercise routine, Cuckoos shared their dragon dance and Nightingales shared their Chinese
morning exercises. The children have shown fabulous enthusiasm for learning about what a different culture is like in a country very different to ours.
Years 3 and 4 phase
This term in Phase 3/4, we have been learning all about Chocolate. Some of our highlights have been: investigating what happens when we dissolve one substance in another, discovering what types of changes happen to materials when heated or cooled. We were really lucky to have Mrs Calver come in to help us learn about micro-organisms in the environment.
Then, Year 3 & 4 went out for the day on the Nene Valley Railway. We listened for sounds the trains made and sketched different scenes we could see from the railway carriage. This is in preparation for our topic, “From a Railway Carriage”.
Choir at the O2!
Choir have been working extremely hard so far in preparation for the 02 Young Voices concert. Week by week the children practiced the songs, Mrs Taylor came to help out with the dance moves and slowly we got everything in order. The day arrived soon after and it flew by; the children, as always showed extremely good behaviour. They sang their hearts out for the concert and followed every instruction given by the conductor. I think I speak for the children when saying that they will be talking about it for a long time to come. I am very proud of the choir and what they have achieved this year. Well done!
Football League Community Cup
Our Year 6 school football team has recently been involved in the Football League Community Cup. I was very proud of the team’s achievements in this tournament. After qualifying through our group we beat Winyates School 7-4 in the quarter finals and were drawn to play William Law in the semi-final.
On Tuesday 19th February we played this fixture and in the twelve years I have been involved in school football, I can honestly say that I have never witnessed such a tense and exciting match. In an end to end match, William Law edged through 1-0. It was frustrating as we hit the post and crossbar and played unbelievably well.
William Law went on to win the final, so congratulations to them. However I would like to congratulate all the children involved in this tournament for representing the school so well.
The following children participated in this tournament – Searaj Abuzoda, Daniel Ash, Nikodem Bryla, Mia Chiarizia, Baris Karaoglan, Bradley Rolt, Taylor Steward, Louie Venni and Luca Zirpolo.
Funds are raised through various events such as school discos, mufti days, 50/50 club, pamper evenings and the annual summer fete. Information and news on events can be found on the noticeboard outside the main entrance and also on the school website (FONV events page in the Parent section).
Our next big event is the summer fete which will be held on Saturday 29th June – we hope to see you there!
Midday Supervisors
As we start spring time it is lovely to see the wonderful sun coming out at lunchtime. It is encouraging to see so many boys and girls enjoying football on the field together. Year 5 played on the large apparatus and tyres, and squeals of delight were heard across the playground. The Key Stage 1 trim trail was well used with lots of boys and girls attempting to walk along the stumps then on to the wobbly bridge, finishing successfully on the slanting beams. We are looking forward to the next few months so we can try bug hunting with our giant magnifying glasses, and hopefully Mrs Douglas will be doing her group games soon, including Cat and Mouse and Parachute.
Friends of Nene Valley
Friends of Nene Valley (FONV) is a charitable organisation set up by parents from Nene Valley Primary School. We support the school by fundraising for facilities and resources to enrich the school experience for our children.
We are currently aiming to raise as much money as possible to enhance the outside area for the benefit of all pupils. The cost of outdoor equipment is very high and so far we have raised £7,668. Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far!
Attendance at Nene Valley
Regular attendance at school is essential for children to achieve to their full potential. Your child’s progress at school is our first priority. We know that parents and children at Nene Valley try extremely hard to get to school regularly: our attendance figures are always higher than national average and we achieved an outstanding grade for attendance in our last Ofsted.
We reward good attendance in a number of ways. Any child who obtains 100% attendance during a school term will receive an attendance award at the end of that term. Classes receive awards for
weekly attendance of 100% and any child with 100% attendance at the end of the year receives a special certificate and a letter of thanks and acknowledgement is sent home to parents.
We try to work with you to ensure that all children are at school as much as possible as absence from school often results in children missing out on input for lessons meaning that it is difficult for them to catch up with missed learning. Take a look at the chart below which demonstrates just how much impact a few days off a year can have on learning.
365
days
in e
ach
year
175 NON SCHOOL DAYS A YEAR
190 SCHOOL DAYS IN EACH YEAR
190 days of learning
180 DAYS OF
EDUCATION171
DAYS OF EDUCATION
161 DAYS OF
EDUCATION152
DAYS OF EDUCATION
143 DAYS OF
EDUCATION
175 DAYS TO SPEND ON FAMILY TIME, VISITS, HOLIDAYS, SHOPPING, HOUSEHOLD
JOBS AND APPOINTMENTS
100% 95% 90% 85% 80% 75%
10 DAYS OF ABSENCE
GOODBest chance of success.
You get off to a flying start!
SATISFACTORYClose to the national average. Reasonable
chance of success.
WORRYINGLess chance of success.
Harder to make progress.Parent notified.
VERY WORRYINGHeadteacher discusses
concern with parent and Education Welfare Officer.
SERIOUS CONCERNPossible court action by LEA.
19 DAYS OF ABSENCE
38 DAYS OF ABSENCE
47 DAYS OF ABSENCE
29 DAYS OF ABSENCE – HALF A TERM MISSED
Our School Website – www.nenevalleyprimary.net
At Nene Valley Primary we endeavour to keep you informed. Our website is kept up to date with information such as letters sent home, term dates and school contact information. There is also a link to our twitter page @nenevalleyhead. For up to the minute latest news, why not follow us!
E-Safety, it is important for us as a school to teach children to use the internet safely collaborating home and school practises helps embed this. Our school website links to a range of websites offering advice and exciting activities to help these can be found under internet security in the parent’s area.
Welcome to our new Governors!
We are pleased to welcome Alison Wallace, Sandie Simms and Rebecca Marrs to our Governing Body, as Local Authority and Community Governors.
Alison Wallace has become our governor for child protection and has completed a governor visit in the autumn term in this respect. Dale Coulson is regularly visiting school looking at finance and health and safety. Amy Jenkins has met with the school curriculum lead to report to governors about how the Edison Curriculum has influenced Nene Valley’s own curriculum, and I have visited school as standards governor to see how pupil progress is tracked and children are supported in their learning to achieve their best.
Whilst governors have been busy, we are also proud to hear of the many achievements pupils and teachers are sharing with us. With Christmas productions for Reception and Key Stage 1, choir performances at the O2, fantastic school trips, sporting opportunities within school and the marvellous achievements children are experiencing out of school, we are delighted to see how our school community is growing.
Summer Term Dates:16th April Term starts
17th April Years 3 and 4 visits to Cadbury’s World
