“Together we love to learn and learn to love”

St. Mary’s CE Infant School

Newsletter

No. 2 – 13th September 2019

Dear Families,

Our first full week back at school has been very positive. It is so lovely to be warmly greeted each morning by smiling faces and see the children coming into school with a skip and a hop.

This week our team has been finalising our three school development priorities for the coming year. These are:

Priority 1: To further strengthen the provision and achievement in writing Our aim is to build on last year’s successes and ensure that from different starting points, the proportion of pupils making and exceeding expectations in writing are close to or above national figures.

Priority 2: Embed and develop the school's Christian distinctiveness To ensure that the Christian value of love and the vision statement of the school underpins all we do.

Priority 3: To support the personal development and flourishing of all To develop a strong sense of community where every person is able to be their ‘best selves’.

Throughout the year you will receive frequent updates in our newsletter on each of the priorities from our governing body who will be monitoring, with me, our progress towards these goals.

And finally, our Breakfast Club still has some vacancies so if you are interested in a place, pop into the office for a chat with Mrs Costley. Our Breakfast Club offers the children a delicious selection of breakfast options including beans on toast, cereal, fruit and yogurts. All the evidence is that a really good breakfast helps children to focus and learn throughout the morning and we are delighted to be able to offer this service to our families.

With best wishes, Sarah Grier Headteacher

Celebration of Learning

www.st-marys-witney.oxon.sch.uk office.3207@st-marys-witney.oxon.sch.uk 01993 702387

Reception This week the children have been counting items using one to one correspondence (saying one number name for one item) and then matching the quantity to written numerals.

Year One Year One have settled quickly into their new routine and were amazing mathematicians this week sequencing numbers to twenty and above. Thank you everyone for working so hard in your first whole week in Year 1. It has been amazing!

Year Two In maths we used Cuisenaire rods to show number bonds for the numbers 5 to 9.

The Collective Worship theme for this half term is Generosity.

‘God loves a cheerful giver.’ 2 Corinthians 9.7

“Together we love to learn and learn to love”

Next Week’s Learning in Reception

English - We will be beginning our phonics sessions next week and starting to learn how to write letters in the cursive style.

Maths - We will be learning all about repeating patterns. The children will copy, continue, describe and create patterns using colours, shapes, objects and actions.

Topic - We will start to consider ‘What is a friend?’ and consider the new friends we have made at school.

Next Week’s Learning in Year One

English - We will use the wonderful illustrations from the book ‘You Choose’ by

Nick Sharrat as a stimulus for writing a sentence. We will focus on using capital

letters, finger spacing and full stops in our writing.

Maths - In maths we will be concentrating on addition and explore making all the

different number bonds to 10.

Topic - We will learn about a dinosaur’s habitat and research what plants were

around during prehistoric times. Can any be found still growing in our environment today?

Next Week’s Learning in Year Two

English - We will continue to read ‘The Sweetest Song’, an African-American story from the book, 'The Story Tree -Tales to read aloud' by Hugh Lupton. We will create story maps and continue to discuss the character's in the story.

Maths - We will be revising our number bonds for 10 and 20 and begin to learn pairs of multiples of 10 that make 100.

Topic - We will be comparing the shops of today with the shops of the past. If any parents or grandparents are willing to come in and talk to the class about how Witney has changed, or about your time as a pupil at St Mary's, please do let me know.

OUR TOPICS THIS TERM ARE... Reception - Do you

want to be friends? Year One -

Dino

Planet

Year Two - Street

Detectives

“Together we love to learn and learn to love”

Messages & Notices

Learning Muscles At St Mary's we aim to support our children in becoming keen learners not just academically but socially as well. Our Learning Muscles are based upon Carol Dweck's principles of 'Growth Mindset'. If you would like to find out more about Carol Dweck's principles then please visit her website www.mindsetonline.com or CBeebies www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/help-your-child-try-new-things

As a school we have selected six 'Learning Muscles'. We have called the characters 'Learning Muscles' as we believe that in the same way that exercise and stimulation can grow and develop the muscles in your body, the same is true of your ultimate muscle - your brain! Our Muscles are: Indy the Tiger - Independence Hector the Hound - Curiosity Oggy the Owl - Concentration Percy the Tortoise - Perseverance Betty the Builder - Problem Solving Sidney the Sponge - Loving Learning Buzzle the Bee - Creative Coffee Morning Please come along and join us on Tuesday 1st October at 9.00am for our morning Assembly followed by coffee and biscuits. Members of staff and governors will be available to chat to. HealthFest Please see the flyer about HealthFest, a free, family-friendly event hosted at the Warneford Hospital in Oxford tomorrow Saturday, September 14th. Parent Volunteers We always welcome help in the classrooms from parents and grandparents. If you would like to come in and help

with reading or accompany the children on visits and trips on an ad hoc basis, please mention this to your child’s

class teacher in the first instance. Thank you very much.

*Pupil Premium Eligibility— Do you receive any of the following ?*

Income Support/Employment Support Allowance Income Based Job Seekers Allowance

Support under the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999 Universal Credit Child Tax Credit State Pension Credit

If you do, the school could be eligible to claim certain grants for your child. This is a significant amount of money

that can be used to support your child. Even if you are only eligible for a short amount of time, the Pupil Premium

funding stays with your child for six years. Please come in and talk to the School Office to see how we could help

your child. All matters will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Harvest Festival Our Harvest Festival Service will be held in St. Mary’s Church on Thursday 3rd October at 9.30am. Everyone is welcome to come along. The children are invited to bring in a donation of produce in on the morning of the 3rd October. This should be a small item that they are able to carry to the church. Thank you.

“Together we love to learn and learn to love”

DATE EVENT YEARS TIME

MONDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER CLUBS START THIS WEEK-EXCEPT YOGA

TUESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER CHILDREN VISIT ST. MARY’S CHURCH ALL YEARS IN SCHOOL TIME

TUESDAY 24TH SEPTEMEBR HANDWRITING WORKSHOP FOR

PARENTS

ALL 9.00am in HALL

THURSDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER FULL GOVERNING BODY MEETING 7.00pm

TUESDAY 1ST OCTOBER COFFEE MORNING - PLEASE JOIN US FOR

OUR MORNING ASSEMBLY FOLLOWED BY

COFFEE AND BISCUITS

ALL WELCOME 9.00-10.00am

THURSDAY 3RD OCTOBER HARVEST SERVICE IN CHURCH ALL WELCOME 9.30am

FRIDAY 4TH OCTOBER INSET DAY—SCHOOL CLOSED TO PUPILS

MONDAY 7TH OCTOBER NASAL FLU VACCINATIONS ALL YEARS IN SCHOOL TIME

TUESDAY 8TH OCTOBER PARENT MEETINGS ALL YEARS 4.00-6.30pm

THURSDAY 10TH OCTOBER PARENT MEETINGS ALL YEARS 3.20-5.50pm

THURSDAY 10TH OCTOBER RAGS2RICHES BAGS COLLECTION ALL 9.00am

FRIDAY 11TH OCTOBER COLOURBOX PHOTOGRAPHY ALL YEARS IN SCHOOL TIMR

THURSDAY 17TH OCTOBER STAY AND PLAY OPEN MORNING -

PROSPECTIVE NEW PARENTS

9.30-11.00am

WEDNESDAY 23RD OCTOBER YEAR 1 TRIP TO WOODSTOCK MUSEUM YEAR 1 IN SCHOOL TIME

FRIDAY 25TH OCTOBER END OF HALF TERM ALL YEARS 2.55pm

MONDAY 4TH NOVEMBER AUTUMN TERM RESTARTS ALL YEARS 8.40am

MONDAY 11TH NOVEMBER REMEMBRANCE SERVICE ALL YEARS IN SCHOOL TIME

WEDNESDAY 20TH NOVEMBER STAY AND PLAY OPEN MORNING -

PROSPECTIVE NEW PARENTS

9.30-11.00am

THURSDAY 28TH NOVEMBER COFFEE MORNING - PLEASE JOIN US FOR

OUR MORNING SINGING AND HYMN

PRACTICE FOLLOWED BY COFFEE AND

BISCUITS. SENCO AVAILABLE TO CHAT TO.

ALL WELCOME 9.00-10.00am

THURSDAY 12TH DECEMBER NATIVITY PERFORMANCES ALL WELCOME TBC

WEDNESDAY 18TH DECEMBER CHRISTINGLE SERVICE IN ST. MARY’S

CHURCH

ALL YEARS 9.30am

WEDNESDAY 18TH DECEMBER PANTOMIME IN SCHOOL - ALADDIN ALL YEARS IN SCHOOL TIME

THURSDAY 19TH DECEMBER LAST DAY OF TERM - EARLY FINISH ALL YEARS 1.15pm

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