Fairfields Primary School

Dear Fairfields Community,

It has been another great week in the school and despite the challenges of both pupil and staff absence, the wonderful team at Fairfields have supported each other, and the children, in ensuring the smooth running of the school. Thank you so much for your understanding and support and we hope that, now we are at the end of the week, all our children and families are feeling much better too. Mr Mardell has worked hard to deep clean the whole school and keep replenishing the soaps and sanitisers to ensure that we are doing our best to keep ourselves well- thank you Mr Mardell! We hope to see the children and feeling better back next week!

Lunar New Year

We have yet to have any parent volunteers come forward to offer help for our Lunar New Year celebrations after school on 7^th February (a massive thank you to those who have given their time to make envelopes). We would love to run the following activities (no knowledge of Chinese or Lunar New Year necessary!) but will have to reduce the activities if we cannot man all of the stalls:

1. Chopstick Challenge- How many marshmallows can you pick up with the chopsticks in one minute?
2. Dragon crafts: paper chain dragons and spiral dragons
3. Pairs game and Chinese writing- match the lunar new year animals to the pictures and win a prize!
4. Colouring sheets
5. A food activity

These events are always loved by the children and parent volunteers were who made our Diwali celebration in the Autumn term so amazing. Please do get in touch with Miss Harper if you can spare any time to help. 

Respecting our School community

Please can I remind parents and carers that we do not tolerate abusive, harassing or intimidating behaviour towards our staff, or between parents on the school premises. The team at Fairfields work very hard and we are very happy to talk to you if you are concerned about anything. However, to model to the children our core values which are at the centre of our school, please can I remind you to approach staff and other parents in a respectful manner. 

Absence Requests

We have had an increase in the number of requests to take children out of school for extended periods, in some cases for more than a month. I wanted to take this time to clarify that, if your child is out of school for an extended period of time, the class teacher is not expected to set work for you to take for your child as this would be additional work for the teacher on top of the very busy job which they already do.

If you take your child out of school to go away and do not return to school by the date you have told us you are returning, we will get in touch with you as your child will then be classed as ‘Missing in Education’. This may result in us needing to alert the local authority if we cannot contact you, and a possibility of your child losing their school place. We have a long waiting list in most year groups for school spaces and some of the children on these waiting lists are not in education and waiting for a space to become available in a local school, so it is vital that you communicate with us if your child is not in school when we expect them.

Reading Update

This Thursday was our first parent/ carer school library visit with Madrid class. It was lovely to see so many of you come in to enjoy our library space with your children. Parent and carers of children in Rome class are welcome to join us next Thursday 1^st February from 2.30-3.00pm. 

Thank you so much for all the wonderful books donated to the school for our book swap, and to the School Council for setting up the books. It was lovely that all the children had an opportunity to come and choose a book after school that they can take away and keep. We hope they enjoy reading it and sharing it with you. It would be lovely to do this again in the summer if we can to really help to encourage a love for reading. 

Children’s Mental Health Week

We are busy planning Children’s Mental Health week which will be held in the week beginning Monday 5^th February. We are excited to let you know that, as part of the week, we will be inviting parents into school at 2.00pm on Friday 9^th February to meet the Mental Health in Schools Team who will be sharing with you the ‘Back to Basics’ initiative which our Children’s Mental Health Week is focussed around. We will send more details out next week.

Clubs

Teacher led clubs start this week if you have signed your child up for a club after school. Please can we politely remind you that you must inform us if your child is not able to attend the club on any day so that we have an accurate register. 

Sing Star- a message from Sing Star coaches

Dear Parents of Years 3-6,
Exciting news! We are offering trials on 29th January & 5th February for our Monday after-school singing class. To secure a spot, please email us at info@singstarvocalcoaching.co.uk.
*Note: This offer is for the Monday class for years 3-6 only.
Time: 3:15-4:15pm
Thank you for your interest! Limited spaces available.

(Please see the attached flyer which is not available to view on some devices through Jotter).

Chairs free to a good home

We have 12 blue plastic wheelie children's chairs which were in use in our old ICT suite which we no longer need. They are able to be adjusted in height and would make great desk chairs for children. It would be great to give them away to anyone who can make use of them, rather than disposing of them. If you are interested, please email admin@fairfields.hants.sch.uk and we will allocate them on a first come first served basis.

Lego

If you have any unwanted lego at home (even random pieces) we always need to replenish our stocks in school. Lego is really useful in school for the children to use at wet playtimes, for DT and computing lessons, and we also find it a useful tool to support children who need help to regulate their emotions. If you have any unwanted lego at home that you are happy to donate, we would be very grateful.

Updates from year groups

FS

Foundation Stage had a 'super' superhero day today! They enjoyed coming to school dressed as Superheroes (including real-life superheroes in the community). They made their very own 'Supertato' using potatoes and were set an urgent mission saving all of the soft toys in the playground after Evil Pea hid them all! The FS superheroes saved the day and all of the soft toys are safe! Well done, Foundation Stage! Kapow! 

Year 1

Year 1 have worked hard this week, practicing number facts to ten and writing a class story about the magic jam pot! Well done Year 1, we have been really impressed with all your work.

Year 2

Well done year 2 for another fantastic week in school. We hope you enjoyed trying different types of bread and making your own bread roll! Thank you to those who have already returned their London trip slips, please continue to bring them in as soon as possible. If you need a new letter, please let us know. 

Year 3

Year 3 have enjoyed creating their own Iron Man models this week and have really impressed us with their creativity and problem solving skills. We are very excited about our trip to the Winchester Science Centre on Thursday. Please ensure that your child is wearing school uniform on the day and has a packed lunch, unless you have ordered one from school.

Year 4

Year 4 have enjoyed their science this week, making string telephones and exploring how sound travels. Thank you for all the recycling- the children enjoyed making their musical instruments in DT and hopefully played them for you at home!

If you are following the suggested payment plan for the residential (from the letter) a £50 payment is due around this time. If you have any questions about the residential, please come and speak to the team and they can support you.

Year 5

This week in Year 5 we have learnt all about mummification.  In groups, using cuddly toys, we undertook all the rituals of Ancient Egypt mummification to gain a better understanding of the process.

A polite reminder: if your child has long hair, can they please tie it back for PE on Thursdays.

Year 6

We have had a brilliant week writing letters as our main character from our book 'The Island at the end of everything', as well as mastering 3D shapes. Year 6 have made some changes to the homework from this week to aid revision for the tests. Please see the letter sent home on Friday. We are looking forward to Bikeability next week. Please send you child in wearing PE kit and a warm/waterproof coat Monday-Wednesday, as well as bringing their bike and cycle helmet. These can be stored each day on the top playground, but cannot be kept overnight. 

Sunflower Café

The Sunflower Café is open on a Monday morning from 8.40am and on Friday from 2.50-3.10pm. Please do come along to chat with Tracey, our Home/School link worker who can support you with any problems or queries.

Dates:

Week beginning Monday 29^th January: Clubs start

Thursday 1^st February: Year 3 science trip

Thursday 1st February: Rome class parents and carers school library visit 2.30pm

Wednesday 7^th February: Lunar New Year celebrations after school

Week beginning 5^th February: Children’s Mental Health Week

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

Enjoy the weekend and thank you as always for your support.

Mrs Vicky Hopkins