Great Tew School

Week 2010th Feb, 2017

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Newsletter

Tuesday was Safer Internet Day and the children spent time thinking about "images" on the internet. The younger children know that if they see a picture that they don't like on the internet they should always talk to someone about what they have seen; they also learnt they should never click on something that someone else sends them in a message. Older children learnt more about what might happen to the pictures that they share with people - they do understand that a cyber-friend isn't a real friend, but this is a message that needs constant re-inforcing. Please do look at the link below for some activities to do with your children at home.

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk

Friendships can be tricky and when things are difficult the children know how important it is to talk to someone. I have been so impressed this week by the children's maturity when talking through situations that they were finding difficult. The children speak respectfully to one another and show me how well they can listen to someone else's viewpoint, showing empathy and understanding and being honest when they have made mistakes. This, I am sure you will agree, indicates real maturity; these skills are just as hard for adults as they are for children.

Mrs Sam, Miss Mannion, Miss Hardy and I had a very enjoyable lesson with the children in Year 3 & 4 on Friday afternoon, where they considered the qualit ies they valued in one another and thought about the qualit ies they would be looking for in an imaginary new member of their class. To give you an idea of their thinking, Willa told us she would be after someone who is a friend to grown ups as well as children. (Even better, she recognised there were already several children in her class who have that special quality!)

The Qualit ies We Value

News from Recept ion

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As we are now halfway through the school year (!) we have had a busy week checking how far the children have progressed in their learning. It is interesting to see the children's reactions when you show them a piece of writing they did in the first few weeks of the Autumn term and compare it to what they produce now. It gives them the confidence to believe in themselves as writers and is also a timely reminder of just how far they have come.

In reading too, the children have worked hard to gain the skills of 'sounding out' letters and 'blending' them together to create words. Added to that is the increasing list of 'Tricky Words' which defy the normal conventions. So far, we have 'I, to, no, go, the, into, he, she, we, me & be', but the list will grow and grow....... We have also started on the 'Best Friends' letters /ch/ & /sh/ and the 2 ways of pronouncing / th/ (as in 'thin' and 'that'). You'll find all these words and sounds in your Letters and Sounds Booklet so do help your child to become familiar with them as the Tricky Words need to be instantly recognised and in the case of the Best Friends letters, the first 2 get muddled easily whilst the latter often needs a 'trial and error' approach to get the correct pronunciation.

Other than that, we've learned about St Valentine and why it is that we celebrate his day on February the 14th so let's hope the children will spread a litt le love in your home next week!

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2 Many thanks to everyone who turned out on Tuesday to see our performance of ?The Three Lit tle Pigs? dance. The children were really thrilled to have such a large and enthusiastic audience; we hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did. It makes such a difference to the children if they have a goal to work towards and the promise of performing to you spurred them on to create what I hope you agree were some lovely dances.

Other activities this week have included us continuing to focus on money in maths. The children have been working out how they can make the same total but using different combinations of coins. We discussed how it?s possible to have a strategy to ensure you find all possible combinations. We also went on an imaginary shopping spree buying items and adding the total amount spent. This surprised some children who informed me that they didn?t need to do it because the shopkeeper's till did it for them! So I posed the scenario of entering a shop with £1 pocket money and needing to check that I hadn?t chosen too many items because it would be embarrassing if I got to the till and was told I?d spent too much and had to put some back. It would be such a good learning experience if over the holiday you could give your child a small amount of money to spend in a shop and help them to add up how much they had spent and what coins they would need to give the shopkeeper.

Open ClassroomsOn Wednesday 22nd February parents are

invited to drop in to the classrooms to have a

look at what the children have been doing in

school. The classrooms will be open between

2.30 and 3.30pm, so please do come along if

you can and spend some time quietly looking

at your children's learning with them - they

always love showing you proudly what they

have been up to.

On Wednesday the Year 3 and 4 children completed their unit of gymnastics lessons for this term. We had an Inter-House Competition where, in house teams, the children created and performed sequences using the warm-up and gymnastic skills that they had been learning over the term.

The children's warm ups were performed to "Superheros" by the Script. Do ask your children to show you how they have developed co-ordination, strength and stamina over the six weeks. The winners of the warm up sequence were Radcliffe House. The gymnastic sequences all showed good qualit ies including clear starting and finishing positions, good transitions between skills, stretch and balance and great overall aesthetic qualit ies. The overall team winners were Falkland House.

Home Learning Hero: Willa - for completing fantastic Home Learning this week.

Sport ing Hero: Elena - for getting a 10 from Len! (aka Mrs Sellars)

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News from 3 & 4

Ted Hughes would be extremely proud of Year 5 and 6 this week. We have been diving into the world of metaphors, similes and personification with a huge range of Islamic poetry, ?Work and Play? and ?Seven Sorrows?. Mrs. Reid and I were impressed with the depth of the children?s understanding when interpreting the poems and relating them to their own experiences. Having read them in detail, they began to respond to the poems by writing letters to the author. We even decided which words we would choose and why if we were given £1 to spend, and words were 10p each- this really got the children thinking about which vocabulary was the most powerful! With some ideas under our belts, we then set off to deconstruct ?Work and Play? and ?Seven Sorrows?, and reconstruct it changing either the setting, the bird or the season. Needless to say, some beautiful poetry with vivid imagery was produced.

The Great British Bake Off would have a hard time choosing a mathematician to help calculate different amounts of flour and sugar needed in different recipes this year, as Year 5 and 6 are on a roll! We have used multiplication and division to solve quantity problems and find missing values this week. Considering it?s a hard concept to grasp, the children really have excelled themselves.

This week, our Home Learning Hero is Lara Woodward for fantastic sentences with a range of clauses, and also excellent application of SPAG skills with her Literacy work. She also produced some super Maths home learning showing all of her workings and presented very neatly. Well done, Lara!

News from 5 & 6

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This week?s Good Manners' Champion is Maeve in Year 2. Maeve is a fantastic role model to other children; she listens brilliantly, both to adults and other children, and she is responsible and reliable in the classroom, never having to be asked more than once to do something. Maeve's good manners are evident all about school and the children told us: When somebody is sad she always cheers them up; Maeve always puts her hand up in assembly and then waits quietly for her turn to speak (Miss Read); she sorts other people's problems out; Maeve is the most joyful person in the school; she gets on with her work and doesn't disturb anyone else's learning; Maeve isn't stroppy! she doesn't get involved in arguments - if someone is arguing she just walks away! Well done Maeve - you do have really beautiful manners and should feel very proud of yourself.

Good Manners'Champion

Sophie ? for gett ing stuck in to everything she does in the classroom and being part icularly helpful at t idy-up t ime

Henry ? for being hard-working and determined and producing high quality work in writ ing and maths

Florence ? for really applying herself to do every task to the best of her ability this week.

Hugo ? for focusing hard on his writ ing, making very good progress, and being a posit ive role model to other children

Reception

Years 1 & 2

Years 3 & 4

Years 5 &6

Well done to the following children, who have been showing a Growth Mindset towards their learning, both in and out of the classrooms.

Stars of the Week

+ House Point Awards

Silver award:

AnnieHouse Points this week!

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World Thinking Day!Tuesday 22nd February is

World Thinking Day. All children

who are members of Rainbows,

Brownies or Cubs are invited to

come to school in their Scouting

uniform and tell their friends a litt le

about what it is like to be a

member of this worldwide

organisation.

Coming Up! - Dates for your Diary

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School re-opens

Have Your Say - Neighbourhood Police visit - at 8.30am

Open Classrooms - 2.30-3.30pm

World Thinking Day -Cubs, Brownies & Rainbows may wear scouting uniform

Y1 Dance Festival ? further details to follow

Y2/ 3 Schoolympics ? further details to follow

End of Term Service at St Michael?s Church at 9am

Break for Easter at 2 pm

School re-opens for summer term

FEB Mon 20Tues 21Wed 22Wed 22

MAR Wed 15

APR Wed 5Fri 7Fri 7

Tue 25

School Council

For our last meeting of the holidays we were joined by Mrs Zibarras and Mrs Grant from the School Governors. We had an interesting time, with the School Council telling the Governors what we get up to and the Governors filling us in on what they do and seeing how the two groups compare. It was suggested by Miss Read that when the School Council are all grown up they may well like to continue their responsibilt ies to society and be a school governor themselves! After some tasty treats, we all agreed we would like to repeat the event in the Summer to report back on what we have all achieved over the year.

On Tuesday 21st Feb at 8.30am the local police will visit school as part of the Have Your Say initiative. Have Your Say meetings allow Neighbourhood Policing Teams to quickly identify priorit ies that need attention in the local area. The meetings take place at a variety of locations at different times but will give the best opportunity for members of the public to meet their local officers.

By receiving information during face-to-face encounters, the Neighbourhood Team can help resolve issues, often in conjunction with other agencies.

Please note, attendance by local officers cannot be guaranteed dependant on operational commitments ? although they will do their best to be there.