Simply the Best!

FRANCHEFRANCHE

COMMUNITYPRIMARY

COMMUNITYPRIMARY

Easter 2016 THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF FRANCHE COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL

The Franche Flyer

CELEBRATING OUR CHILDREN’S SUCCESSES

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Dates for your Diary

APRIL

�Tuesday�12th:�Back�to�school!

Tuesday�21st:�Youth�Makes�Music�Concert,�Kidderminster�Town�Hall

Wenesday�27th�-�29th:�Year�4�residential�trip�to�Boreatton�Park

MAY

Monday�9th�-�13th:�SATs�Week

Monday�16th�-�20th:�Year�6�residential�trip�to�Brecon�Beacons

JUNE

Saturday�4th:�PTA�fundraiser�at�Kidderminster�Town�Hall�featuring�local�band�Blind�Lemon�(tickets�on�sale)

Friday�10th:�Queen’s�90th�birthday�celebrations�in�school

JULY

Friday�1st:�Franche�Fest

Meet our newest pupil! See Page 4

Dear Parents and Friends,

We were delighted by the number of Parents willing to give up their time to support

our school by volunteering to become Parent governors. Thank you too for your votes.

Congratulations to our new parent governors; Jenny Monger, Matt Whitehouse and re-

elected Kirstie Stuart.

I was greeted this morning by Mrs Davies, Year 6 Teacher, who spent yesterday with our

year 5 & 6 children at the National Exhibition Centre, Big Bang Fair.

You will be very proud to know that she was incredibly impressed and full of praise for

our pupils, their behaviour and attitudes

to learning. She said it was so noticeable

how well-mannered and appreciative of

the educational visit they were. They are

as always a great credit to our school

and to you as Parents.

We are celebrating our Children’s many

successes this term and we join to wish

you all a very Happy Easter.

With very best wishes

Val Weddell-Hall OBE

Head Teacher

Matt�WhitehouseKirstie�StuartJenny�Monger

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STARS OF TV SHOW FLY INTO FRANCHE

THE stars of popular Cbeebies TV show The Rhyme Rocket dazzled youngsters at Franche when they dropped by for a day of poetry and mayhem.

The madcap pair, known as Professor Poet and First Officer Ditty from the Planet Rhyme, blasted into town to share their rhyming antics with children from Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 as part of their

focus on phonics, rhyming words and literacy.

Head of early years Miss Lazenby said: “It was a fabulous event; the children were engrossed from start to finish and loved finding rhyming words and joining in with all the actions. We always seek to inject fun and humour into our children’s learning, and this was a great way to do that.”

Pictured with the Rhyme Rocket duo Professor Poet, left, and First Officer Ditty, right, are Franche nursery pupils Isabella (front) and Billy-James and reception pupils Grace and Finlay.

Our Tots keeping busy!

Science day trip to Baxter

SPORTING TRIUMPHS Sport and physical activities are thriving at Franche.

Teams have competed in football (boys and girls, under 10s

and under 11s); Kho Kho Festival, netball league, dance

festival, indoor athletics championship, basketball, tag rugby

and cross country, with excellent results. Two Year 6 pupils

will be representing the district in the county competition

this month.

Competition at a school level is also growing, with inter-

house events, year band leagues and class contests, many

ably supported by our team of young leaders from Year 6.

Opportunities also abound for all pupils who enjoy physical

exercise at a less intense level, through our PE and extra-

curricular programme which includes fantastic sports like

bell-boating, archery, skiing and ballet

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MILES FOR MARCH CHALLENGE

Pupils and teachers at Franche are together running a staggering

15,000 miles this March for Sport Relief.

Every one of the 800-plus pupils and staff has been encouraged to

take up the challenge to run a daily mile throughout March.

The project is the brainchild of head of sport Emma Running, who

has been delighted at the fantastic response from pupils. “Some

of our children were reluctant participants on the first day and

struggled but just a week later the same children were eagerly

putting on their trainers, desperate to beat their best time!” Staff

aren’t shirking the challenge either, joining in with pupils. Each

participant has to complete ten laps of the playground to achieve

their daily goal. Many of the children are stepping up to two, or

even three, miles during the daily sessions.The challenge also

featured a Sports Safari day, when pupils from older year groups

led exercises and sporty events with younger pupils.

The latest addition to the Year 6 family is a furry bundle of energy

called Franchie. Franchie is a Syrian hamster who joined the year group earlier this month. She was chosen by Year 6 pupils Caitlin Stanton, Eleanor Fairbrother, Kiera Roberts and Tilly O’Callaghan.

The quartet were given permission to introduce a Year 6 pet to reward their brilliant efforts to organise and run a Hallowe’en disco last year. Franchie is now settling in to her new home in a quiet room in the Year 6 communal area.

Said Tilly: “We did a lot of research. We took advice from a vet and have learned what to feed it and when, and what to do to keep her healthy.”

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FRANCHIE THE HAMSTER JOINS OUR SCHOOL

Pupils in Year 5 & 6 have been the first to join in with the new Junior Duke of Edinburgh-style activity scheme, launched last year. The intrepid students have pledged to achieve goals in four key areas - physical fitness (Get Active, Stay Active), learn a new skill or interest (My Interest), complete eight hours of community activities or protecting the environment (Me and My World), and complete an outdoor activity or adventure (Adventure).

Their objective is to gain their Bronze Award in the Junior Award Scheme for Schools (JASS).

Led by Mr Fountain, the pupils have taken on a range of activities and challenges. Together they have carried out environmental work in the local area, including litter picking around Franche. They have also visited an adventure park to take part in daring activities including climbing, abseiling and zooming down zip-lines.

All of the group are close to achieving their Bronze awards, with successful pupils expected to be rewarded before the end of the school year.

Well done to all of the pupils taking part.

Going for Bronze!

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MUSIC ROUND UP

The safety of school sport has been in the spotlight this month, with calls for tackling to be outlawed in school rugby. At Franche we only play a non-contact form of rugby called tag rugby.

Participants have to snatch velcroed tags from their opponent’s waist to make a “tackle”. Some of the participants in the tag rugby enrichment session are pictured.

Holiday Club’s visit to Cadbury World

Franche 726Quality Childcare - Home from Home

HOLIDAY CLUB7am - 6pm for ages 3-14

Tues March 29th to Mon April 11th

Open from 7am to 6pm

Easter Holiday TripsTuesday 29th March: Boing Zone & Park day trip

Thursday 31st March: Bowling adventure day Monday 4th April: West Midland Safari ParkWednesday 6th April: Little Owl Farm Park

TO BOOK A SPACE CALL 01562 751788 OPTION 3 OR VISIT www.francheprimary.org.uk

The sound of music has filled the corridors of Franche this term, with samba, body percussion, choral singing, rap, musical theatre, music composition and much, much more on offer!

The music team, led by Mrs Thomas, offers individual and class instrument lessons and lots of performance opportunities, while also implementing the new National Curriculum for Music.

Year 4 are taking part in a year of FAME (First Access Music Education) lessons in cornet and violin, with a concert for parents at the end of the year.

The school choir has performed at the NEC Arena as part of the Young Voices programme and taken part in a workshop at Birmingham’s world famous Symphony Hall, with more shows coming up as part of

the Youth Makes Music festival and the Big Sing event at Worcester University.

We are also running our first ever trip to a London musical to see the brilliant Wicked! A visit by a former member of the Stomp! musical performance troupe is also in the pipeline next term, while the choir is set to perform competitively at an event organised by Worcestershire NHS to find the best primary school choir in the county.

That’s not all! Earlier this term children in Year 5 took part in a project called Around the World with Francis Drake, run in collaboration with Wyre Forest Young Voices. We have also extended the hand of friendship to pupils at Foley Park and Sutton Park primary schools, who now join our Showstoppers group for weekly rehearsals.

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SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING

NURSERY

The main theme has been Down on the Farm, with our youngest pupils learning about animals, farming and food production, including growing beans. This has also incorporated number games and challenges; number recognition and counting; and rhyming.

RECEPTION

Reception parents have enjoyed going back to the classroom to join in lessons with their children.Many of them have taken up the invitation to ‘stay and share’ in a range of activities based around the Spring Term themes, which included Julia Donaldson’s Room on a Broom book, rhyming and number bonds.Feedback from parents has been very positive, with comments including: “I enjoyed watching the children learn new things and working out the correct answers as a group. You can see their independent thinking during the group sessions.” “I really enjoyed the phonics session and feel it will help me at home.”

Teachers across the school have introduced exciting year-based themesand topics this Spring Term which give boundless opportunities for children to use their literacy, numeracy, science and creative skills.

ADVENTURES ACROSS THE YEARS

World Book Day was celebrated across the school, with pupils and staff getting into the spirit of the event. There were amazing costumes on show - well done to everyone who played their part. The day also featured literary events, story telling

and a Book Fair.

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SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING

YEAR 1

A mystery machine crash-landed on the playground - triggering a range of activities based on the book Rosie Revere, Engineer, by Andrea Beaty. Design and invention, research into the first flights and the invention of the jet engine, science and maths have all been used in the teaching of this topic. Proud pupils will now show off their work in a series of class assemblies in front of their parents, who they will then invite into class to show them what they have been learning.

YEAR 3

A series of strange parcels which arrived in Year 3 this term was the starting point for an exciting topic. Each parcel contained a unique Lost Thing with one key message: “make it feel like it belongs”. Pupils created an action plan which led them to research and discover what the lost thing was, while also writing letters to the sender to update him on their progress. The project focussed particularly on the development of higher end English and Art skills, including encouraging the children to use their imaginations and inspiration, to develop sentence structure and to learn new art techniques including water colouring, quilling, pop up and collage.Pupils also developed their own stories which they shared with Year One pupils. Their second topic of the term was on the theme Dig, Discover, Date! With support from the Natural History Museum pupils had to investigate ancient bones found in the Wyre Forest.

YEAR 4

The Roman era was the focus for Year 4 in the first half term. Pupils were enlisted in the Roman Army and wrote persuasive pieces to encourage the Celts to join them. They found out how the Romans still influence Britain today by looking at inventions and ways of life.

They created their own shields and then taught Year 3 pupils how to work in formation to defeat the enemy. The poem Iron Man, by Ted Hughes, inspired English and science work around metals and sound. Pupils also created an acrostic poem linked to the first chapter.

YEAR 2

Life during The Great Fire of London has been the catalyst for exciting studies in Year 2, which has included investigations into Samuel Pepys and his famous diary and the architecture of Sir Christopher Wren, scientific inquiry into flammability of different materials, and design and art work creating model houses of the period. It was also an opportunity to teach fire safety. The topic has now switched to the geography of modern London and the artwork of Abram Games, who designed iconic London Transport posters.

In Year 2 in Design and Technology, Children were making a new London Bridge. They tested the ways of making our bridges stronger by folding and twisting materials. The aim was to make our bridges strong enough to hold toy cars. Sophie Hinton 2C

IN MEMORY - Tributes have been flooding in for our former Parent, Governor and PTA stalwart Sue Collingridge

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Franche Community Primary School, Chestnut Grove, Franche, Kidderminster DY11 5QBT: 01562 751788 W: www.francheprimary.org.uk E: office@francheprimary.worcs.sch.uk

YEAR 6

It’s an exciting term for Year 6 as they gear up towards SATs while also continuing to enjoy fantastic topics. They have looked at the Ancient Greeks, breaking a code to help them understand their language and discovering myths and legends of the period. They have written their own mythical stories and poems. Maths has focussed on Archimedes’ Principle and the volume of objects - with one experiment triggering many Eureka! moments. Additional topics on light - how it travels and how to manipulate it - and the ancient Olympics have also been studied, culminating in an intense mini-Olympics featuring the hoplite, chariot racing, wrestling, discus and a torch relay.

SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING

YEAR 5

Space, the final frontier has been the key topic for Year 5 this term.

They have been set challenges by astronaut Bob Lucas to find out why we have day and night and the seasons, the effects of gravity on falling objects, and describing space using figurative language in poetry. They also took part in a wonderful home learning project, making their own model planet. Real astronaut Tim Peake also sent video messages inviting pupils to put together a project plan about whether there was life on Mars. Children have planned, designed and made space vehicles and written space-based poetry. They were also due to visit the Space Centre in Leicester.

Pupils have also been reflecting on prayer in RE and looking at the friendship theme of Getting On and Falling Out to support pupils to manage friendship issues.

Division using the Dienes to understand the reasoning behind the bus stop method of division (why we carry etc). The lesson which the children did this in was focused around a beaver called Papa Titioning who had lots of beavers ringing him and asking for logs, so he had to divide the logs he has between the beavers.