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The Stoke Poges School “Building on High Expectations”

News Bulletin - 29th March 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school this month and to see them reuniting with their friends and teachers. I would like to say a huge thank you to you for your support with home learning and for keeping the children motivated through these challenging and uncertain times.

Our teachers are looking forward to sharing your child’s progress with you during our parent consultations via Schoolcloud this week. Please contact the school office if you have been unable to book an appointment and require assistance in doing so.

We are very grateful to the PTA for continuing to organise events such as The Mother’s Day Secret Gift Sale, which raised an amazing £640.00 for the school. I’m sure that the Easter Egg Hunt on Wednesday will also be as popular as ever and I look forward to seeing the children enjoying the spring sunshine, whilst hunting for clues.

The development of our ICT provision continues with the recent investment of an additional 32 laptops. This purchase will enable cross curricular lessons to take place within the classroom, with every child having access to a laptop.

Our Design & Technology, Science and Geography equipment has also been replenished with exciting new resources. We are looking forward to making good use of these during the planned activities for Science Week this week.

I'm really hopeful that we are coming to the end of the lockdown and that better days are on the horizon. The evidence shows that it is safer for people to meet outdoors rather than indoors and this is why from today, outdoor gatherings (including in private gardens) of either 6 people or 2 households will also be allowed. Caution still needs to be used to keep our community safe, however by observing the rules, I’m sure that we can all enjoy a happy and healthy Easter break and look forward to a bright Summer Term.

Best wishes,

Liz Astley

Head Teacher

Thank you to everyone who donated to Comic Relief during Red

Nose Day on Friday 19th March.

We raised a fantastic £ 472.00

Thank You!

Have a very Happy Easter! We return to school Monday 19th April

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Why not have a go at some of these fun Easter craft activities?

25+ Easter Crafts for Kids

https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/easter-crafts-for-kids/

Hatching Chick Craft

https://iheartcraftythings.com/hatching-chick-craft-free-pattern.html

Bubble Wrap Sheep

https://www.craftymorning.com/bubble-wrap-sheep-craft-kids/

How to make Paper Hyacinths

https://onelittleproject.com/paper-hyacinth-flowers/

Class Attendance %

Academic year to

Butterflies 94.3

Ladybirds 95.9

Bumblebees 96.5

Spiders 96.8

Dragonflies 96.5

Caterpillars 97.1

3PM 97.1

3K 95.0

4F 96.0

4GS 96.1

5MH 95.6

5G 97.2

6T 98.0

6SC 97.8

Attendance Tables

We are delighted to publish attendance tables for

each class to enable you to see how your child’s

class is performing against our target of 97% attendance.

Children who fall below 95% will be monitored and parents contacted by our Attendance Officer

so we can support you in getting your child to school.

It is essential that parents report any absence and

the reason for it by 9am on each day of your child’s absence, using the school App or by

leaving a message on the school absence line (01753 643319 opt. 1).

Please remember to cancel your child’s lunch

before 9.00am to avoid being charged.

If your child is going to be late to school for any reason, please also leave a message on the school

App or absence line before 9am.

Routine appointments should be made outside of

school hours. If your child is attending a medical appointment please provide a copy of the appointment letter to your child’s teacher.

Easter Craft Activities

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Foundation Stage

Year 1

Even though most of the children were at home, Year 1 enjoyed taking part in a special World Book Day. The Bumblebees and Spiders dressed up and had lots of fun discussing the books they had read and the characters they became. Some of the children in school and at home even made Bumblebear biscuits!

As part of our learning on instructions, Year 1 were invited to have a Teddy Bears picnic at home. The children planned their picnic, wrote the invitations and made instructions on how to have a Teddy Bears picnic. They had lots of fun and even had a special visit on Teams from Ms Astley and Mrs Benians!

The Foundation children have had an incredible time continuing their ‘Our Outdoor Adventure’ topic. It’s been lovely to see them playing and learning together.

They have enjoyed visiting our new outdoor farm and writing shed and have planted some seeds. We can’t wait to see how they grow.

Investigating with water has been a favourite. The children have problem solved and experimented with different materials and objects that start, stop and continue the flow of water.

We’ve been really impressed with their knowledge of numbers and how engaged they’ve been with the challenges we’ve set.

We also have some fabulous Phonics superstars and are so proud to see real readers emerging.

A highlight of our time back in school has been our book, “Stanley’s Stick”. The children have immersed themselves in the creativity of the book and have used their imaginations to produce some fantastic writing, ideas and art work.

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Year 3

Year 2 have been delighted to welcome back the children in Dragonflies and Caterpillars class.

Our core text this week has been Rain before Rainbows by Smriti Halls.

Following the theme of the book, we have worked on our transition back

to school and painted some ‘dark days’ watercolour paintings moving

then on to our beautifully bright colourful rainbows to symbolise new

beginnings.

Year 2

It has been fantastic to welcome back all our Year 3 children to school.

We’ve been really busy getting back into the swing of things.

In our first week back, we read the book ‘Rain Before Rainbows’, which

reminded us all of the positive message to always have hope through

uncertain times. The children created some beautiful artwork in response

to this inspirational story.

In Science we are learning all about plants. We have been investigating

the conditions needed to grow healthy plants and have even planted a

sunflower seed each. Fingers crossed for lots of beautiful blooms!

As part of our topic on Ancient Egypt, we have been learning about the

Ancient Egyptian writing system and the children have written their

names in hieroglyphs. Parents, can you crack the code and work out

who’s who?!

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Recommended Reading

The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright & Jim Field

A story about confidence, self-esteem, and a shy little mouse who sets out on a journey to

find his roar.

Meg and Mog

by Helen Nicoll & Jan Pienkowski

A great story for first reading aloud.

Tuesday

by David Wiesner

A magical picture book with few words. Ideal for Year 2

storytelling.

Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Year 6

Time Travelling with a Hamster

by Ross Wellford

A moving and memorable story about time travel. With intriguing twists

from start to finish, this story is a real roller coaster of emotions.

Foundation Stage Year 1 Year 2

The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepherd

An enchanting series about a boy who discovers a strange old tree at the bottom of his

grandad's garden.

There’s a wolf in my tent!

by Pamela Butchart

A hilarious and exciting tale about weird goings on during

Izzy’s school camping trip.

Beetle Boy

by M.G. Leonard

A detective story with a twist. This is an exciting and original story that will appeal equally

to boys and girls.

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Thank you to Project Rise, who have kindly donated peas and beans for our school to grow. A pack, with a QR code for growing instructions, will be in your child’s bag tonight. As the weather improves, now is the perfect time to get outside and enjoy some gardening.

Project Rise would love to see how your peas and beans are coming along, so please email your photos to office@stokepoges.school and we will forward them on. Happy growing!

Year 4

Year 4 pupils have settled back into school routine with great maturity and determination. The children have shown enthusiasm learning about narrative poetry over the last few weeks. We focused on poems written and performed by Michael Rosen. After reading a variety of entertaining narrative poems pupils had a go at writing and performing their own chocolate themed poetry. Both their poems and their performances were fantastic. Children were able to combine and create humorous poems that were performed with rhythm, pace, clarity and expression. Michael Rosen would be proud!

We have also focused on a couple of stories since coming back to school – ‘While We Can’t Hug’ and ‘Rain before Rainbows’. Both stories have encouraged a lot of discussion around our feelings during lockdown and whilst back at school. The children discussed how they are all keen to be back and see their friends after so long. We talked about the symbolism of a rainbow during lockdown and created a large rainbow collage for our classroom.

Project Rise

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Year 5

Stoke Poges School’s royal visitor!

On Thursday 11th March, Year 5 had a day like no other. Stepping back in time to 1885, they experienced school as a Victorian child. This made for some interesting changes to discipline and routine!

The children were welcomed into school by some rather stern-looking school mistresses (Ms Gamiet and Mrs Harris, both better known as Ma’am), each with a cane in hand. They had to make their way silently into segregated classrooms, with girls on one side and boys on the other. The day started with a reminder of the class rules and congregational prayer, where we recited the Our Father and reflected upon the meaning. Some silent handwriting practise followed, before making our way quietly down to the hall for hymn practise.

The vicar (Mr Follant) led us in practising the hymn ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ for a special guest. Unbeknown to the children, the special guest was none other than Queen Victoria (Mrs Fetherston) on her first royal visit to a primary school! We think she enjoyed our hymn, even though she did not seem amused.

Next, Matron (Mrs Kidby) came to inspect the children’s hands, nails and shoes – her discerning eye didn’t miss a thing! Maths, or Arithmetic, was a lesson in pounds, shilling and pence with some word problems based on Queen Victoria’s reign. This was followed by recreational education (or ‘games’ as we call it!) where the children played hopscotch, marbles, follow the leader and joined in with some skipping games and rhymes.

In the afternoon, we created silhouettes in a Victorian cameo style using some photographs taken earlier

in the week. They looked really effective! We enjoyed Victorian day, although, without a doubt, it was a

relief to have our modern comforts and friendly teachers of 2021 back by the end of the day!

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Year 6

We have loved having Year 6 back in school with us this term. We have had a fantastic time learning together and catching up with friends.

This term our learning has continued to centre around the theme of rivers. On the first day back at school, the children brought in their impressive river models that they had worked on over lockdown. These models demonstrate the learning that had taken place at home as they had been labelled with the different parts of a river.

Since returning to school, we have been learning about the artists David Hockney and L.S Lowry. We have discussed our impressions and opinions of their work, comparing the two artist’s styles and compositions. We have then created our own viewfinders in the hope of recreating a section of their famous work. This was not as easy as it sounds as Year 6 were asked to match the colours exactly! As we looked at the artist’s landscapes paintings, we have also been out into the Memorial garden collecting items of different colours. To continue to practise our colour mixing skills, we used the medium of our choice to re-create these colours from nature.

This week Year 6 were also extremely excited to take part in some forest school activities. Looking for found objects in the school grounds, the children created their own faces. After this creative task, the children played Noughts and Crosses.

In DT we have been learning about levers and pulleys. In groups, the children were challenged to design and create a suspension bridge which had a flat deck so that a toy car could travel across carrying its 1kg of cargo and could suspend using a pulley system so that large ships could pass underneath. There were lots of interesting design ideas across the year group and it was fantastic to hear the children consider their design brief carefully. Throughout the day, Year 6 were resilient and worked hard to solve any problems that they encountered. Here are just some of the amazing finished products.

We would like to say well done to all of Year 6 for coming back to school so positively. It is lovely to have

you all back! Have a restful holiday and lovely Easter break!

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Over the past few years, World Book Day at The Stoke Poges School has developed a near-legendary status. The Great Bookish Bake Off, Class Swap and Mastermind Challenge (not to mention the fabulous costumes) are regular annual fixtures that reflect our love of reading and authors.

So how did we manage to celebrate our favourite day during a pandemic?

The answer is: with innovation, creativity, and a lot of FUN!

World Book Day

We loved looking at the crazy places the children had found to read their books, the great bakes that were created, and the innovative costumes created from foraged bits and pieces from home! Some children created their own comic strips, dioramas, book-in-a-jar, egg-box book scenes and even took the time to record performances of favourite scenes from books.

We were thrilled to hear that several children at home tuned in to listen to authors at the Children’s Bookshow Digital Festival. Over at school the keyworker children were treated to take part in these events live, posing questions to the authors and subsequently delighting in having their questions answered directly.

It wouldn’t be World Book Day without some hilarity from the staff, and they didn’t disappoint this year with an absolutely bonkers reading of ‘The Book with no Pictures’ by B.J. Novak. If you haven’t seen it yet, do check your child’s Teams channel where the video was posted.

To wrap up the festivities, every child received a free book from the World Book Day tokens we were allocated once the children came back to school on March 8th.

The titles available this year were brilliant - written by top-quality, diverse authors. We hope that your children enjoyed reading their free book.

We would like to say a special thank you to Gareth, the manager at WHSmiths in Gerrards Cross, who kindly sourced the books for our school.

PTO for more World Book Day photos

After a LOT of home-schooling, we decided to make space for a day of no lessons, which would be filled instead with a lot of book appreciation instead. After a special assembly from Ms Gamiet and Miss Bovington introducing the day, children at home as well as our keyworker children at school embarked upon a range of fun activities from our World Book Day bingo card.

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World Book Day