Fairfields Primary School

Dear Fairfields Community,

It has been an exciting World Book Week this week, and lovely to see all the children in the school enjoying books and celebrating a love of reading. We have been hearing new stories, reading to younger children, sharing books we enjoy, talking about why we love reading and of course dressing up! Thank you for all your support with all the wonderful costumes which we loved seeing the children share today. A particular thank you to Miss Watkins who organised the week, and to the staff team for their hard work in making it such an enjoyable time.

Super Citizens

Well done to all the children- they have been working so hard this half term on the core values. I promised the children 2 super citizen dates this half term as they missed one in the autumn. Teachers chose super citizens from their classes this week, and will do so again before the end of half term. Well done to the following children who were nominated- we are very proud of you!

Nella- London

Jessica- Paris

Jake- Rome

Florence- Warsaw

Scarlett- Madrid

Shrita- Budapest

Emilie- Kathmandu

Noah- Ankara

Kanyasri- New Delhi

Elijah- Canberra

Ioan- Nairobi

Rory- Cairo

Antonia- Lima

Zuzanna- Ottawa

Healthy Lives Week and Sports Day

This year, Healthy Lives Week will be the week beginning 17^th June. Sports Day will be on Thursday 20^th June with the back up day Friday 21^st June if needed. The calendar sent out at the beginning of the year had an error on it with the sports day date, apologies! Sports day will run the same as previous years, with Key Stage 2 (years 3 - 6) in the morning 9.30am - 12pm, and Key Stage 1 and Foundation Stage (FS - year 2) in the afternoon, 1 - 3pm.  Further information about this will be sent out nearer the time. 

Ramadan

Some of the children have informed us that they are wanting to fast from next week for Ramadan. Can parents please inform the school via the school office, email or by speaking to the class teacher if you want your child to fast so that we can make arrangements for them at lunchtime.

Rugby Celebrations

Well done to the year 5/6 rugby team who took part in a tournament against 3 other schools on Thursday. The team played excellently, winning their match against St Mary’s and only losing by a try or two against the other schools! The team need at least 2 year 5/6 girls to play with them at their upcoming matches before the end of this term. If there are any girls in year 5 or 6 who would like to give rugby a go, please contact the office who can add them to the register for rugby practice next week, Thursday 14^th March 3.15 – 4pm.

Football Club

Thank to all the children who attended the football club trial. All of the pupils displayed skills, we saw great team spirit too and it is always hard to pick. We have selected our team now and those who were picked have received the form to fill in to attend the first session next week. The remaining children will go on a waiting list, in case anyone leaves during the summer term, and can always try out next year.  

Miss Warwick

Times Tables

Well done, year 4!  This week was their turn to compete with St John's and St Bede's in a Top of the Rocks competition. We were delighted to win both battles showing how well our year 4 pupils are doing at trying to learn all of their times tables by the end of the year. Pupils from the year group also took the top three places in both competitions. Thank you to all the parents who are helping their children work on their tables at home. We also saw a clear improvement in test scores after parents' evenings so the discussions we had clearly led to brilliant effort at home! Next week, it is the turn of year 3 again.

Updates from year groups

FS

Foundation Stage have had an exciting Book Week this week. They enjoyed a reading session with their Year 6 buddies which meant lots of smiling faces. They had lots of fun getting into character for dress up day too! Super choices, FS! They also enjoyed continuing their topic by becoming mini biologists and hunting for bugs in the allotment during Forest School. They found ladybirds, millipedes, centipedes, earthworms and more! Well done, FS! Have a lovely weekend! 

Year 1

Year 1 have enjoyed Book Week, especially selecting a book from the menu at The Book Cafe to tuck into. We are also really looking forward to our Marwell Zoo trip next Wednesday. Please hand in homework next week on Thursday instead of Wednesday so that on Wednesday, children only bring to school what they need for the trip.

Year 2

Well done children on another great week in school, we loved seeing all your fantastic World Book Day outfits! We just have a reminder about our year group assembly on Monday at 2.40pm. Parents are invited into school to watch this. 

Year 3

Year 3 have really enjoyed book week activities and we have loved seeing the wonderful costumes they were wearing this Friday. Please note that our PE day next week will be on Monday instead of Thursday due to another year group being on a trip. This will be for next week only.

Year 4

Year 4 have had a great week! They've enjoyed making carbon dioxide in science and painting sunsets in art. They've also enjoyed our book week activities, from creating creakers to our book bistro.

Year 5

This week Year 5 have embraced the Book Week lessons; we have particularly enjoyed creating comic strips for our text called ‘Journey’.  In DT we enjoyed evaluating different types of bread for healthiness, taste, texture and looks, so that we can design our own alien bread in the coming weeks.

Year 6

Year 6 have been enjoying a whole range of books for Book Week and have even sampled new books within our 'Book Bistro'. We hope they continue to read for pleasure at home. Parents, please find extra copies of the Easter School letter and the letter inviting pupils to play badminton at Costello on the Year 6 pages of the website. Both need consent with a reply slip returned to us as soon as possible. We are hosting a zoom parent meeting about the upcoming SATs tests on Wednesday 27^th March at 5:30pm - please save the date, more information to follow. 

Sunflower Café

The school nurse will be back at the Sunflower Café on Monday 11^th March from 8.40 till 10.00am. Please do come and drop in to chat informally about sleep, eating, mental health or any other worries.  

The café is open to come and meet other parents and to chat to our Home/School Link Worker, Tracey, every Monday from 8.40am, and on a Friday from 2.50pm until 3.10pm.

Other Information (attachments may not be able to be viewed on some devices through the Jotter app, but can be seen on Arbor)

Please find attached details of the Mum2Mum market in Basingstoke.

We have been contacted by the Basingstoke Neighbourhood Police Team about an increase in keyless car thefts in the last month in the area. Please find attached guidance from them which they have asked us to share with you on keeping vehicles safe.

Dates:

Monday 11t^h March: School nurse parent drop in at the Sunflower Café (8.40am-10.00am)

Monday 11^th March: Year 2 assembly- parents welcome to attend in the hall (2.40- 3.00pm)

Thursday 14th March: New Delhi class parents and carers school library visit (2.30pm- 3.00pm)

Monday 25^th March: ‘Understanding and Responding to Anxiety’ parent workshop with PBS in the school hall (6.00pm-8.00pm)

Wednesday 27^th March: Year 6 SATs Zoom meeting (5:30pm)

Thursday 28^th March: PTA Easter event after school

Friday 29^th March: Bank holiday and start of the Easter holidays

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: Thursday (indoor PE)

Year 4: Thursday (outdoor PE)

Year 5: Wednesday (indoor 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

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Vicky Hopkins