16th March 2018
Dear Parents and Carers
This morning’s assembly by Acorns was a super demonstration of their love for learning. It was good to see how confident they have become in speaking out in front of an audience, and their interpretation of life in Tudor times was very entertaining! Thank you to all the children taking part, and to all the family and friends who came to see the assembly today.
Parent Forum Update
At the last parent forum a number of points were raised about the work we are doing in school. Following on from this, I have circulated a questionnaire for you to complete and we have had a much better return than previously. Of the 42 responses received, the comments were overwhelmingly positive, with very few ‘disagrees’ boxes checked for any answer. In the important statements regarding your child’s welfare, safety and happiness, and pupil behaviour, all responses were positive.
I will be carrying out a full analysis of the responses over the next couple of weeks and will let you know how we hope to eradicate the ‘disagrees’ and move the ‘agrees’ to ‘strongly agrees’! If you had meant to return your questionnaire, it is not too late to submit it and your responses will be fed into the overall picture, but I’m afraid you are too late to win the £10 WHSmiths Voucher, which was won by ticket number 358 held by Mrs Conduit -Congratulations!
Also at the Parent Forum meeting we discussed the difficulty in helping children with their homework when the methods used in school are different from the ones we were taught ‘back in the day’…We are putting on some workshops for you to learn more about how we are teaching Maths and SPAG (English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling), with activities geared towards the different phases in the school. The first ones, for Maths, are planned for the first Tuesday after the Easter Holiday, 27th April, taking place at 3:30 and repeated at 6;00pm. In these sessions we will be looking at the use of concrete, pictorial and abstract methods for solving calculations, the breadth of the curriculum as the children move up through the school, and the emphasis on the children to be able to ‘reason’ with numbers. This will be followed a couple of weeks later by workshops for SPAG, on Wednesday 2nd May, 3:30 and 6:00pm, and will give you an opportunity to find out how the children are expected to use a fronted adverbial, identify the subjunctive and tell the difference between a phrase and a clause. Each workshop will last approximately an hour, and I hope you will all be able to join us.
Sporting Achievements
Our children have been representing their school in a sports festival again this week. On Wednesday our Year 5/6 Hockey team took part in the Gillingham Area Schools’ Hockey Festival, playing on the Astroturf at Gillingham School. After a first match getting used to the speed of the surface (and the opposition), not a single goal was scored against the Stower Provost team, and an outcome of won one, lost one, drew two gave us a very creditable =3rd place in our group. The children’s team playing improved tremendously during the tournament and they demonstrated some excellent passing and dribbling skills. Behaviour was, as always, excellent, and they were a credit to the school. Well done, children, and thanks as always to your parents who came to support. Next challenge – the Year 5/6 Football Festival at Mere School on the last day of term, 28th March.
Star Pupils
Conkers: Ellie-Rae for talking confidently about healthy foods at snacktime.
Acorns: Leo knew he needed plenty of rice, wholemeal pasta for energy.
Chestnuts: Poppy asking interesting questions to extend her knowledge about medicines.
Oaks: Monty – engaging in sensible conversations about the different food groups.
Well done to all the children.
With best wishes
James Stanford