Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope this newsletter finds all refreshed, having enjoyed a fun filled half term break, devoid of the normal school runs and associated school related activities. It is back to normal routines for us all.
NOTICES
Playground
Please may I respectfully remind parents to keep a close eye on their children when they are playing in the playground at the beginning and end of the day, to ensure their behaviour is what we would all expect. The children are parent’s responsibility and under their supervision until they enter and exit the school doors at the start and end of the day. I thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Watches
We have had a couple of children wearing smart watches in school. Although great for helping children with organising their time, these watches often have photographic capabilities. Due to this, and to keep all children safe, I would ask that smart watches are kept at home and that pupils only wear simple and basic time pieces.
THIS WEEK
Assembly
Our assembly this week focused on the sad story of Guy Fawkes and his group. As a school we discussed the potential problems which can occur with an absolute monarch and thought about the differences and potential advantages of with having a constitutional monarch. We discussed the importance of democracy in Britain and chatted about the elections in the USA. (Mrs Clasby)
Well-Being Afternoon
Wednesday afternoon was spent focusing on pupil well-being, with a variety of activities occurring across the classrooms.
Mufti Day – for a jar of sweets
Children thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity of coming into school in their own clothes, in return for a jar of sweets which will be used on a stall at the up and coming Christmas Fayre. Many thanks to all parents and carers who took the time to find a range of fillings for the jars.
Sparkle and Shine Disco
What a great attendance we had at the ‘Sparkle and Shine’ disco, the first disco of the school year!
Staff as well as children entered into the spirit, wearing a variety of sparkling outfits or having their faces painted. Children were treated to a chocolate and sprinkle covered apple as a snack – which looked delicious!
My thanks to the parents of the Friends of Stower Provost who helped to marshal this event.
Lego Club
This week has seen us kick off our Space topic in Lego Club. This week’s challenge was to build an astronaut, it was very exciting with lots of talk about the different astronaut uniforms and colours. Jasper was our winner with his astronaut, with a red button for gravity, a green button for anti-gravity and a blue button to moon walk – Michael Jackson style. Our Thursday winner was Lily-Mae who created an astronaut’s face on a white background. (Miss Buxton
FRIENDS OF STOWER PROVOST PLANS
Pumpkin Decorating Competition
There were a number of amazing entries into The Friends of Stower Provost School pumpkin decorating competition, which included traditional carving and some decorated entries. The judges and I were really impressed by the standard and variety of entries. These included carved turtles, wolves, cats, Batman, a witch’s hat and even a house! Several entries have been given novel names as well including ‘The Smiler’ and ‘The Gobbler’!
Congratulations to those who were victorious with their entries. Winners will be announced in the Praise and Celebrate assembly today.
OTHER INFORMATION
Easy Fundraising
With Christmas around the corner it is an ideal time to download the Easy Fundraising app on your phone, and raise funds for the school without having to do anything, other than going through the app to make online purchases.
You can raise even more money by asking others to join the merry throng – use the QR code!
How it works: easyfundraising partners have over 7,000 brands who will donate part of what you spend to a cause of your choice. It won’t cost you any extra. The cost is covered by the brand.
So why not get organised and make those Christmas purchases online through the Easy Fundraising app!
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/panel/
NEXT WEEK and BEYOND
Start Small, Dream Big
Next week sees our second Start Small, Dream Big experience afternoons for pupils in Oak and Chestnut class. We currently have a number of speakers from a broad range of professions, and I look forward to sharing the children’s experiences linked to this next week.
Children in Need – 15th November
It’s that time of year again for wearing something spotty to school on 15th November. This could be spotty tights, shorts, top, neckerchief or similar to compliment normal school uniform.
A donation of £1 is suggested, which will be collected and sent to support the Children in Need cause.
CLASS OVERVIEWS
Oak Class
It is really good to be back with the children again. They have proved what a nice class they are by being very helpful and kind to me and to each other. We have looked at long division as well as multiples and factors in Maths; English has involved studying excerpts from Dickens and Hardy and exploring the use and effectiveness of poetic devices such as metaphor and simile. In PSHE we have re-considered and rewritten our class charter. Next week, we are looking forward to getting back to our full curriculum. (Mrs Clasby)
Chestnut Class
In Chestnut class, in Maths, we continue to work on additions and subtractions with or without having to make exchanges. In English, we are focusing on making sentences that include rhetorical questions, fronted adverbials, adjectives, adverbs and similes.
We started a new topic in Science. We are focusing on “Sound”. As an introduction, we explored facts about sounds, e.g. how it can be measured, how sound travels, how we hear sounds, as well as specific vocabulary for this topic. In French, our new topic is “Musical Instruments”. In History we are still learning about the Anglo- Saxons and the different rulers that followed Athelstan. We created a timeline for these events. (Mrs Sanda)
Beech Class
This week in Beech Class, the children have been looking at different spelling and grammar activities as well as writing an introduction for their non-chronological reports about habitats. . In Maths, the children have been continuing to enjoy exploring manipulatives to support their understanding of numbers from 20 – 100.
During the afternoons, Beech Class have been looking at the start of our new topics and have been enjoying finding out what we will be looking at. The children thoroughly enjoyed taking photos in Computing and looking at different habitats for our science. (Mrs Whelan)
Hazel Class
The children have had a busy and exciting week back at school. The children have been introduced to the numbers 4 and 5 this week, this has involved going on a four-sided shape hunt around the school and making collections of four items down in Forest School. We have also started our new topic of Once Upon A Time and have been enjoying lots of fairy tales and traditional tales. The children have created their own fairy tale using our small world castle and retold the story of Cinderella using puppets in our puppet theatre. The children have paused in their phonics journey to spend time recapping the sounds they have learnt and have started to match letters to sounds when writing. (Miss Buxton)
Diary Dates
| 13th Nov | 13.00 – 15.05 | Start Small, Dream Big afternoon (Chestnut and Oak classes) |
| 15 Nov | All day | Children in need – children may wear something spotty to school. |
| 10th Dec | 14.00 | Nativity
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| 11th Dec | 16.00 | Nativity
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| 13th Dec | All day | Christmas Jumper Day
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| 13th Dec | 14.05 | Final Praise & Celebrate assembly for the term.
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| 19th Dec | 14.55 | Carols and last day of term
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As ever if you have any questions or queries, do please ask and Mrs Pike, class teachers or I will be happy to help.
Best wishes,