Newsletters

Newsletters 2021-22 Friday 06th May No.17

Deanshanger Primary School (@DeanshangerS) | Twitter

I hope you all had a lovely extended weekend with the bank holiday. Your children all came back to school eager and ready to learn. With the sunnier weather, there is a lovely feeling in school - it is so heart-warming to see the children enjoying playing on our school field and making the most of the weather.

After a two-year absence, our Year 6 children will be sitting the end of Key Stage 2 SATS. We wish them luck! For all our children this marks the beginning of our assessment timetable - Year 2 SATS, Year 1 Phonics Screening, Year 4 Multiplication Check and assessments in all other year groups.

Please be reminded that there is a parent/carer meeting on Tuesday evening on Zoom at 6 pm. Whilst this is open to all year groups, it is most relevant for parents in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2.

Cost of living and how the school can support

In recent weeks it's been difficult to avoid the news regarding the prices increases with our energy bills, food and petrol costs. It's also clear that this crisis is here to stay for the next 12 months and may cause some families in the school some difficulties.

Although we understand how hard it is to ask for help, we are keen to give you an easy pathway for support whenever you may need it. We have worked hard over the past few years to forge strong partnerships with St Marks Meals and have opened the community fridge. Please continue to use the fridge freely as there are always good stocks of various foods and you are supporting a reduction in food waste.

To be hungry as a child means your tummy hurts, which means you can’t focus on your lessons at school, or your body isn’t healthy enough to fight off illness, or you shiver a lot because you are cold, or you feel embarrassed when your friends snack or talk about dinner. Whatever the reason your family is struggling, when you are 6, there is not much you can do about it. That’s why the help has to be ready, and in place for the precise moment that someone finds out that you need help.

St Marks Meals Boxes are stored in the school office and easy to access. If you do feel they may be needed to get you through the tricky week, please come into the office at any time, both Mr Peel and Mrs Hodge will be there to assist. We will handle any pick-up with sensitivity and try and support as best we can. We could offer to deliver some boxes if you feel a collection from school isn't for you.

Platinum Jubilee

Our plans to recognise the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in school on Friday 27^th May are coming together with a whole day of fun and focus on the Queen and her 70 incredible years on the throne. After a rotation of activities in the morning within your child's phase team, we will all be outside together for a street party style lunch. To make this an extra special lunch, we would like to encourage all children in the school, whether they normally have Fresh Start lunches or not, to sign up. The menu is typical street party food including sandwiches, wraps, cheese straws, mini quiche, crudités, fruit and victoria sponge. Staff will be outside on the playground for lunch too and of course, the weather will be glorious!

Platinum Jubilee Stock Illustrations – 130 Platinum Jubilee Stock Illustrations, Vectors & Clipart - Dreamstime

You are warmly invited to come along after lunch from 1.15pm until the end of the school day at 3.15pm to enjoy the concert and activities planned. These include – whole phase and school songs, talent show items, tree planting (as part of the Queen’s Canopy project), students from EWS joining us and creating a spectacular ‘formation’ for some drone footage. The PTA have very kindly funded commemorative badges for every child and these will be shared on the day too.

Everyone is invited to wear red, white and blue, or patriotic type clothing, summer dresses, England tops or even purple – the colour associated with royalty.

Misbehaving corgis'' to fly over London''s skies to celebrate Queen''s Platinum Jubilee as Brits score 4 day Bank Holiday Morrisons'' Corgi Cake Is The Cutest Way To Celebrate The Queen''s Platinum Jubilee

We hope that you will be able to join us.

For those of you that are not already signed up, please follow the simple instructions below in order to set this up.

If you need any support with this at all, please get in touch with Fresh Start directly as they will be best placed to help you as it is their system and not one that the School can help with.

Election time

The annual in-school election on local election day, has a long tradition at the school. By exercising the British value of democracy, we all went to the polling booth (also known as the Christmas post box) to decide whether we wanted the theme for the class names next year to be bugs, inventors, castles and palaces or story characters. This year, students in Year 6 helped us decide by sharing compelling information to convince us to vote for their theme. Huge thanks to Kimberley, Aiden, Joseph, Charlotte, Oliva, Kian and Albert – I was really impressed with their confidence and powers of persuasion. They were further supported by the witty words of Mrs Atkinson. It was a nail biting process, but after a lunch time count by Y6 volunteers, we shared the exciting news that next year’s theme will be … story book characters.

Children''s Book Character Blitz Quiz

I’m looking forward to the possibilities of Harry Potter class, Gruffalo class, Greg Heffley class etc. When the children meet their new teachers later in the school year, they will have the opportunity to share story character ideas and vote again.

Hockey

I can’t thank Jack, Olivia, Chloe, Jo, Joshua, Kaiden, Harrison and Leyton enough for pulling two winning hockey teams together amazingly on April 27^th. Despite having very little notice and prior practice together, they played incredibly well showcasing one of the school values of resilience incredibly. After winning every match they played, they ended up coming 1^st and 2^nd overall in the cluster tournament!

Chair of Governor Updates

St Begh's Catholic Junior School - Governors

Our Chair of Governors, Mr. David Aaronson is currently unwell. As a school and community, we send him our very best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Mr. Peter Nickoll, Vice-Chair of Governors, is deputising for David in his absence. Should you need to make contact with Peter, please make contact via

PNGovernor@deanshanger.northants.sch.uk

The governors have been making contact with their year group teams and visiting school to talk with teachers, visit classrooms and look at the children's work.

Next week the governors will be visiting school to see how the Key Stage 2 SATS are being implemented following the strict guidance outlined in the Department for Education guidance.

There are regular updates between governors and school.

06 May 2022

Year 6 SATs

The Year 6 children will be sitting their Statutory Assessment Tests (SATs) next week on Monday 9th, Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th May. It is essential that the children attend school every day and that they are in school on time. The Y6 classes will be invited into...

05 May 2022

School Attendance - 05-05-22

School attendance has improved incredibly over the past few months - we are grateful for all your efforts to support this. You may have noticed that Mrs. Hodge is now looking after attendance alongside Mr. Peel in the school office. As you can imagine, this job has been more diff...

Year 6 SATs Week

All Day

From 09 May until 12 May

May

Little Wandle Parent/Carer meeting and Y1 Phonic Screening Meeting on Zoom

6:00pm – 7:00pm

May

Year 1 Swan class assembly

All Day

May

Year 1 Toucan class assembly

Queen's Platinum Jubilee - whole school event

All Day

May

The community fridge continues to be supported by a large group of fabulous volunteers and the local community. If you'd like to join us, please make contact.

Please continue to be food heroes by helping us reduce food waste.

The fridge is open at the following times:

Mondays - 8.30 am - 9.30am

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays - 3.30 pm - 4.30 pm

Fridays - 5.30 pm - 6.30 pm

If you have any questions about school life at any time, whether small or large, please make contact with us. Mrs. Hodge and Mr. Peel in the office are contactable daily, and you can also email the class teacher or myself at any time. We are always keen to listen to you and help in any way that we can. You might have also seen that the information screen is back in the school office keeping you up to date with upcoming events and relevant information.

Join us @DeanshangerS

How Many Volunteer Hours For Medical School You Need in 2022 | BeMo®

We are extremely fortunate to have a growing team of amazing volunteers back in school each week.

Thank you so much for giving your time your freely – it makes such a big difference.

Wishing you and your family a lovely weekend.

Rachel Rice

head@deanshanger.northants-ecl.gov.uk