Dear Parents and Carers,
How welcome is the warmer weather? The children have certainly enjoyed the opportunity of playing on a dry school field at break times this week! With the sun, comes a wealth of activity, as ever at school. Read on to find out what has been going on.
NOTICES
A polite reminder
I would just like to remind parents that if there is a consultation needed, then the class teacher should be the first point of contact. Teachers are very happy to receive emails sent via the school office and deal with any problems or queries from that point. I am happy to get involved or offer support when needed of course.
Online safety – in case you missed it!
You may have read or heard on the news, information regarding concerns linked to children’s safety with online games and platforms, with parents advised that children need to be monitored during their recreational use and not have open access to sites. I.e. parental controls need to be in place. Even with these controls, there is still a danger to children, with a variety of sites (including Minecraft, Roblox) being used effectively by groups to access wide audiences linked to extremism.
Please be mindful! Parent guides are attached to this newsletter.
THIS WEEK
Assemblies
Our Monday assembly focused on Brain Awareness Week, with children looking at optical illusions, considering what their brains do, how to keep their brains healthy and how important it is for brains to be exercised, as they are a muscle! (Mrs B)
This week, during our Tuesday assembly we revisited our well-being characters – in particular Harriet Hammerhead who helps us with Hope and Optimism and Steve the Stingray who supports Self Care. The stories and the characters were designed, written by and voted for by the children.
4) Steven the sting ray: Self-Care
“Taking care of yourself is part of taking care of everybody”
Steven the sting ray lived on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. He really wanted to help everyone else and be their friend, so he spent all his time looking after the other sting rays in his group. He helped them collect crabs and shrimp to eat. He would clean their wounds and he would help them dig in the sand with his strong snout when they were tired. One day Steven was so busy helping everyone else that he forgot to eat anything himself. He found himself sinking to the bottom of the reef! Another ray noticed and quickly swam over and helped Steven get some shrimp to give him some energy so he could swim away. The other ray told Steven to take a rest in the corals for a bit until he felt better. After Steven felt better, he realised if he looked after himself as well as everyone else, he would be happier and much healthier. From then on Steven was much stronger, friendlier, and happier sting ray.
5) Harriet the hammerhead: Hope and Optimism
“You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down” Charlie Chaplin
Harriet the young hammerhead lived amongst the mangroves in a tropical fjord in Costa Rica with her many friends. One day they ventured out past the mangroves where the water got deeper. Suddenly, the water got much darker. Harriet and her friends stopped swimming and waited in the very last of the mangroves. One of Harriet’s friends was worried that it may be dangerous without the roots around them. Harriet thought it would be an amazing adventure and she may see something new! She said goodbye to her friends and decided to go and explore. She travelled for a year. Along the way she saw many things including a beautiful jellyfish bobbing along, humans in a boat, and a giant blue whale doing a big waterspout. Harriet went back to Cost Rica at the end of the year to see her other friends. . When Harriet told them about her adventure, they thought maybe next year they would explore too because then they might see a jellyfish. They did – and an amazing shipwreck! (Mrs Clasby)
19th March – Year 5 & 6 Football Tournament
Mrs Smeaton and Mrs Wattridge kindly took a group of 10 children to Mere School to take part in the Gillingham Family Sports Y5&6 football tournament on Wednesday. The children represented the school beautifully, playing four matches against other schools. The children showed remarkable resilience and perseverance and most importantly enjoyed themselves! My thanks to parents who transported and offered support.
21st March – Gym Competition
There was a gym competition held at Gillingham Space Invaders for pupils in KS2. Children had to learn a short movement sequence, which they performed individually, and then demonstrate two vaults. All participants were marked on their performances, with those children attending gymnastic club training on a regular basis, scored separately. All children worked extremely hard to execute the set routines and vaults to the best of their ability, and it was lovely to see so many children participate in this Gillingham Sports Family event.
Lego Club
This week’s Lego challenge was to build a magical mythical creature. Monday’s winner was Noah with Gingy the Gingerbread Man (from Shrek) on a paddle being placed in to an oven. Thursday Lego Club winners were Lily-Mae and Amelia. Lily-Mae with her ogre and it’s lunch and Amelia with her fairy.
(Miss Buxton)
Clubs
Gardening Club
Gardening Club will resume at the start of the summer term. Please let Mrs Pike know if your child is interested in attending. The cost of the club will be £10 per child per 4 week block.
NEXT WEEK and BEYOND
18th – 25th March – Scholastic book fair
FRIENDS OF STOWER PROVOST
| 3rd April | 15.30 – 17.00 | Friends Friendship Disco – bounce and spring!
15.30 – 16.15 Hazel and Beech Class disco 16.15 – 17.00 Chestnuts and Oak Class disco |
| Easter hols | Decorate an egg. £1 an entry. | |
| 17th May | 9.30 – 11.30 | Jumble Sale |
| 4th July | 15.15 – 17.00 | Summer BBQ |
Easy Fundraiser
There is no time like the present 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.
Remember friends, family and businesses can all use our Easy Fundraiser page too. Larger items like insurance and travel can also be purchased through the Easy Fundraiser page.
You can raise even more money by asking others to join the community fundraising effort- 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 help the school raise money and make your online purchases through the Easy Fundraising app?!
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/panel/
COMMUNITY AND OTHER NEWS
An Introduction to Autism
Please see the attached document linked to a free parent / carer session. The session aims to help parents and carers to:
- Understand what autism is and the impact it can have on children/young people
- Learn some practical strategies to support an autistic child/young person
Gillingham Foodbank
The 6 weeks between 5th March and 17th April marks the season of Lent when Gillingham Foodbank will provide emergency food parcels for local individuals and families facing hardship.
The soaring cost of living is driving record numbers of people on the lowest incomes to the foodbank and the amount of help needed is outstripping the donations they are receiving.
The foodbank is calling on the local community to donate food, if they can, to ensure that they can continue to support everyone who needs help.
Please see the attached poster with a shopping list of the foodbank’s urgent needs and another for anyone who would like to give a donation of money.
Please help if you can, by dropping off any food donations:
Monday and Thursday 10-12am
6 Station Road
Gillingham
SP8 4PY
(With thanks from Helen Weaver, Project Manager at Gillingham Foodbank)
CLASS OVERVIEWS
Oak Class
Oh my goodness! What a week it has been! We have been enjoying the challenges of various tests – maths, reading and SPAG. Year 6 have also started the 2022 SATs papers – I get the feeling they were quite surprised how challenging they were. In English, we have started our Independent Write based on the Varmints story. Again, it is worth appreciating just how hard it is for Year 5 and especially Year 6 to write at the standard required by the DFE. In science, we have been writing up our experiments from last week, and also looking defraction and the refractive index. We saw a jug handle disappear, too. On the greyest day imaginable, we tried to look for rainbow colours using prisms which was unsuccessful, but it worked well on Tuesday. It was very exciting. Next week, we are looking forward to FDPs – fractions, decimals and percentages. (Mrs Clasby)
Chestnut Class
In Geography, we explored the process of the water cycle and how water moves through our environment. In Computing, the children demonstrated creativity by animating their own letters using Scratch, showcasing their coding skills in action.
In Maths, we’ve been sharpening our ability to add and subtract fractions. Meanwhile, in Science, we continued our journey into the world of invertebrates, learning how their classifications can be further divided.
In RE, the children engaged in thoughtful discussions about different perspectives on Jesus’ resurrection, deepening their understanding and critical thinking. In Music, everyone has been working incredibly hard to prepare for our half-term performance of “Lean on Me.” Their dedication and progress have been truly inspiring! (Mrs Sanda)
Beech Class
This week in Beech Class, the children have been looking at ‘The Owl who was afraid of the dark’ in order for the children to be able to start exploring their own versions next week. In Maths, the children have been exploring measure such as comparing and using rulers to measure cm.
During the afternoons, Beech Class have been looking at Sikh Weddings in RE, as well as exploring seeds and seeing what seeds need in order to grow.
(Mrs Whelan)
Hazel Class
This week the children have been busy using fruit to learn about sharing and odds and evens. Using tangerines the children worked out whether their tangerine had an odd or even number of segments. The children created still life drawings of fruit; these will be put together to create a Guiseppe Archimbaldo inspired face. We have created maps around the school using the story Rosie’s Walk and we have learnt about baby animals and their names. (Miss Buxton)
Diary Dates
| 18th 25th March | All week | Scholastic book fair |
| 2nd April | Morning | Tennis Roadshow experience for each class |
| 3rd April | 15.30 – 17.00 | Friends Friendship Disco – bounce and spring!
15.30 – 16.15 Hazel and Beech Class disco 16.15 – 17.00 Chestnuts and Oak Class disco |
| 1st April | 10 – 11:30am | Autism Central Coffee Morning at RiversMeet, Gillingham |
| 4th April | 15.20 | Second half of term ends – no after school club |
Best wishes,
A Boardman-Hirst