Weekly Update 17 12.1.2412 January 2024 (by Vicky Hopkins (vhopkins)) |
Dear Fairfields Community,
We have had a great week at school and, despite the cold weather, the children were so happy to see a bit of snow too!
Dame Maria Miller MP visit
Maria Miller, MP for Basingstoke, joined me in school today to talk about the successes in the school, as well as the challenges in education. She also met with the House Captains and School Council who were interested in finding out more about her role. The School Council will update you next week on some of the information she shared with them.
Menu Change
On 18th January it is Census Day and we will be having a special menu of Chicken Nuggets with Potato Wedges or Macaroni Cheese. It would be great if as many children as possible could have a school meal that day as some of our school funding is impacted by take up of school dinners.
Reading at Fairfields- lots of exciting updates! Please read!
We want to really work together to promote a love for reading in our school community and we wanted to introduce a couple of new events which we hope will support this.
School Council- Book Swap
To promote our love for reading in the school, the school council want to arrange a book swap so that we can share some of the unused books you might have at home with others in the school community who might enjoy them. If this is successful, it could be something we can do at several points in the year.
If you have any unwanted children's books at home which you are happy to donate, please can you send them into school with your child, or through the school office, by Monday 22nd January. The School Council will collect these up and hopefully, if we can get enough books, on Friday 26th January we will hold a book swap on the playground where you can come and collect a new book for your child to keep. There will be no cost for taking a book- we want to create an excitement for the children around being able to take a book home to keep. Please can you check that none of the donated books brought to school are the school's own library books, or books from any other local library. Many thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing what the children pick!
Welcome to our school library- come and visit!
We now have a brand new, beautiful school library which the children love. We are aware that we have not had the opportunity yet to invite you in to experience it too. We would like to invite you in to enjoy the library space with your child, they can show you around and you can enjoy a story together, or join in a group story with the teacher. We know that our families are really busy so if you can't make it, please do not worry as your child will enjoy a book with a guest teacher in the library during this time too. We will send out dates for all classes in due course, but our first date is:
Thursday 25th January: Madrid class (2.30-3.00pm)
Please come through the office and we look forward to seeing you then.
Well done to the following children who won our termly vouchers in our reading raffle. The more books your child reads, the more raffle tickets they have entered into the draw at the end of each half term.
Jayquan (Ottawa), Haneef (Paris), Ceyda (Rome) and Martina (Lima)
Children starting school in September 2024
A reminder that the deadline for FS applications for children starting Foundation Stage in September 2024 is on Monday 15th January.
Updates from year groups
All Year Groups
Please may we remind parents to send their children to school with a coat, as we will try and get outside as much as we can to get fresh air, even in the colder weather.
FS
FS's next topic is 'People Who Help Us'. We are really looking forward to having a Superhero Day at the end of Week 4 where the children will be able to come into school dressed up as someone who helps us, e.g. superheroes, doctors, nurses, vets, teachers, policemen, firemen etc. More details to come.
Year 1
We have enjoyed learning about different parts of the body in science this week. Keep up the great work Year 1.
Year 2
Well done children for another brilliant week in school! Please can we remind parents that children need to be lining up for school at 8.40am ready to enter the building shortly after. Due to timetable changes, from next week, we have had to change our library day to Thursday afternoons. This means children will bring new books home on Thursday. Children are still welcome to bring their books into school on Wednesday with their homework. If your child was in school today (Friday 12th Jan), they will have logged into TTRockstars and stuck their log in slip in the front of their homework book. We have emailed parents an instruction sheet with how to use TTRockstars, please use this to support your child in practicing their times tables for 10 minutes a day.
Year 3
A huge well done to year 3 on their first full week back. They have been becoming experts in the history of Basingstoke! A reminder that Winchester Science trip letters need to be in by Monday 15th January to ensure we can plan accordingly for the trip. We are super excited!
Year 4
The children have had a great week learning about short division and biographies. The were able to meet Phillip Astley! Can we remind children to not bring in toys. The children are bringing in fiddle bits and toys which are a distraction to them and others. Children are allowed to bring in pens/stationary to use during doodle time only.
If you have any recycling at home - the children are going to start to make some musical instruments, so we would like cardboard boxes/cereal boxes, milk lids and tubes. Thank you! Finally, please continue to bring in residential letters. Have a lovely weekend.
Year 5
The children have enjoyed learning about the history of the Ancient Egyptian civilisation this week. Next Monday, we will have a Fire Safety workshop run by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Services. The session is classroom based and aim to provide important age-appropriate fire safety messages by incorporating activities for the children. We hope your child will go home telling you about all the safety tips they learnt.
Year 6
We have been enjoying writing in a journalistic style all about Mary Anning's fossil discoveries and we have been impressed with how confident pupils are getting at finding missing angles within shapes. Thank you for your hard work creating topic homework last week, we loved seeing it all.
Help Wanted for Lunar New Year Celebrations
We will be celebrating Lunar New Year on Wednesday 7th February after school. We would like to run a range of exciting activities as in previous years but we will need parent volunteers to enable us to do this. We will also need help with making lucky red envelopes as these were such a success last year. If you would be able to help with cutting these out and sticking them that would also be a massive help! Please contact Miss Harper if you can support in any way. As always, you do not need to celebrate this festival yourself to help us with running the activities!
Sunflower Café
The Sunflower Hub is delighted to be welcoming the School Nurse for an informal drop in session for parents and carers on Monday 15th January from 8.40. Please do come along to chat about issues such as sleep, fussy eating, toileting, low level emotional health and healthy lifestyles. Complimentary Refreshments will be available.
Other Information (all attachments can viewed on Arbor, but are not available on all devices through Jotter)
Please see attached a flyer from the Mental Health Support Team for the Autism Awareness Workshop they are offering this half term.
Spotlight have some discounted events which they are offering families. More details can be found in the attachment.
Please also find attached details of the CAMH’s events for parents to access which may be useful.
Dates:
Monday 15th January: School nurse parent drop in at the Sunflower Café (8.40am-9.45am)
Monday 15th January: Deadline for applications for new starters in FS in September 2024
Monday 15th January: Year 2 and year 5 Fire Safety visits
Thursday 25th January: Madrid class parents welcome to the school library (2.30-3.00pm)
Wednesday 7th February: Lunar New Year celebrations after school
For other key days, please look at the calendar on the website or the School Jotter.
PE Days are as follows:
FS: PE to start in summer term
Year 1: Tuesday (outdoor PE)
Year 2: Tuesday (indoor PE)
Year 3: Monday (outdoor) and Thursday (indoor PE)
Year 4: Wednesday (indoor PE)
Year 5: Thursday (outdoor PE)
Year 6: Monday (indoor) and Friday (outdoor PE)
Start and finish times are as follows:
Foundation Stage, Year 1 and 2: 8.40am- 3.10pm
Years 3- 6: 8.45am- 3.15pm
Keep warm and enjoy the weekend!
Mrs Vicky Hopkins
