Friday 2nd October 2020

The mini marathon has been a great success this week and I would like to thank Mrs Downing for organising  everything. The children have been so inspired by the event, that the Year 2 children have asked if they can hold another mini marathon for their class marble reward!  The fundraising details are in an article below but it has been a great way to launch our support for One Can Trust this Harvest time.

Speaking of Harvest, I forgot to mention in last week's newsletter that some of the Year 2 children sang a harvest song and said some prayers at last week's 'Sandygate Sunday' at All Saints church. Normally we invite the whole school to the Harvest service at church but this year our participation was 'remote' and we sent  a video. Reverend Dave has asked me to thank the children and to tell them that they are a special part of the church family. The link to the service is here

Next we start our collection of items for the One Can Trust in earnest (see details below) and we are hoping to hold a Harvest Service on next week. The plan is to hold the celebration outside so that all year groups can participate. It will not be the same as our usual Harvest Service as we are unable to have parents with us this year but we aim to give thanks for all our harvest gifts. So your prayers for a window in the weather would be really appreciated! We will take some photos to share with you.

Finally, thank you so much for supporting the Respect 'home learning'. I have started putting up the portraits in the hall that the children have brought in. There are so many! The next values home learning is up on the Google Classrooms and Tapestry now - the focus value for the next 2 weeks is Kindness.

Mrs Reynolds

Weekly Awards

This week's winners are:

Sandygate Star

Ant: Sadie,  Bee: Theo , Butterfly: Xander, Ladybird: Jasper,  Dragonfly: Willow E, Grasshopper: Thea

Value Award - Respect

Ant: Sacha, Bee: Jack , Butterfly: Zach, Ladybird: Sophia, Dragonfly: Leo, Grasshopper: Sophia

Next Week's 'Learning at a Glance'

COVID-19 Risk Assessment Reminders

We would just like to remind parents of the Risk Assessment we have in place for the school at present and the steps you need to be observing around school. In particular

• only one person should be picking up or dropping off children to minimise numbers and ease social distancing around school
• when waiting for drop-off or pick-up please stand on the spots and ensure you are observing current government guidelines on social distancing
• Once you have dropped off or collected your child please move away from school as quickly as possible, observing social distancing guidelines and the rule on groups of 6

In addition, if you do need to come to the school office we would ask that you do so after 9am or before 3pm as there are groups of children using the main entrance to enter and leave school. Wherever possible we would ask that you contact the office by email or phone in the first instance.

Mini London Marathon

The children, teachers and teaching assistants have battled sun, rain and wind to run 2.6 miles this week. The children (and staff) have shown a huge amount of resilience and have completed this amazing distance. It is a surprisingly long way! 

We are hoping to raise as much money as we can for One Can Trust and our own Sandygate PFA.  Any money we receive will be split equally between these two charities. 

To donate please go to https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1020094 and share this link with as many friends and family as possible.

Reception Curriculum Information Evening - Monday 5th October

This session was originally advertised in your New Parent pack as Monday 21st September. It will now be held on Monday 5th October at 7pm and will be a virtual session via Google Meet. We will send an email to you next week with the link for the Meet session. 

The session will last around an hour and a half and there will be some interaction, so make sure you have pencil and paper to hand! We will be covering the main areas of the curriculum for Reception and how we teach these to your child.

Harvest Collection

We will be collecting items for the One Can Trust all next week for our Harvest offering. There will be boxes out at drop-off and pick-up all week.  At present the One Can Trust are supporting more families than ever before and they have particular need for:

• Cooking Sauce
• Tinned Fruit
• Meat pies & meatballs
• Biscuits
• Tinned vegetables peas, carrots, mushrooms, green beans
• Laundry Detergent
• Nappies newborn & sizes 5,6, 7
• Deodorant

If every child could bring in one tin or packet then we would have 180 items to donate to One Can Trust which would make a big impact.

If there are any parents who might be able to help with transporting our donations to One Can Trust in Wycombe please let us know. Their warehouse is open for donations every weekday morning between 10 and 12.

My First Class

A photographer from the Maidenhead Advertiser will be in school on Thursday 8th October to take class photos of Ant and Bee class for their 'My First Class' feature. If you have not given permission for your child's image to be used in local media then they will not be included in this photograph.

Parent Consultations

Monday 19th & Wednesday 21st October

We will be holding Parent Consultations on Monday 19th October between 3.30 and 6.30pm and Wednesday 21st October between 4.30 and 7.30pm We will be holding these meetings by video call using Google Meet.

Parent Consultations offer an opportunity to discuss your child's progress with their class teacher. Each consultation is only 8 minutes long and so, if you have something you wish to discuss in more detail we would ask that you arrange an appointment via the school office for another occasion. We do ask that you stick to the 8 minutes as teachers only have 2 minutes to close the call with you, find the child's records for their next call and then open that call. If you go over the 8 minutes allocated it will cut into the time allowed for the next parents. 

The vast majority of parents have now booked their appointment and should have received an invite to a Google Meet appointment. If you have not yet booked please do so this week. If you booked but did not receive a Google Meet invite please contact the school office. 

Flu Vaccination

The school nursing team will be visiting school on 4th November to administer flu vaccinations for all year groups. A letter from them with a link to the online consent form was sent out earlier this week. If you have not received this please let the school office know.

You must complete the online consent form if you wish your child to have the vaccination and the nursing team would encourage you to complete it in the negative if you do not wish your child to have the vaccination so that they can ensure it has been seen by all parents. 

Data Collection Sheets

Thank you very much to all parents for being so prompt and efficient at returning their data collection sheets. It is very much appreciated.

Virtual Open Morning for September 2021 starters

As we are unable to welcome parents to our school due to COVID-19 restrictions we are instead holding a ‘virtual’ Open Morning for parents whose children are due to start school in September 2021.

There will be a video tour of the school and a short presentation from our Senior Leadership Team. Members of our Governing Body and current parents will also be in attendance and there will be an opportunity to ask them questions in a chat forum.

The Virtual Open Morning will be conducted over Google Meet and if you would like to attend you do need to pre-register on our website at https://www.marlow-infant.bucks.sch.uk/openmorning

Milk

We are experiencing a lot of wasted milk in school at present and so wanted to make the parents in Reception class aware of the way in which milk is delivered in school.

Each child is allocated 1/3 of a pint of milk which we give to the children at lunchtime in a beaker. This is the amount of milk that is delivered to school for children and we have no control over this. Many children find 1/3 of a pint is too much for them to drink and so we end up tipping it down the sink at the end of lunchtime. Many children simply refuse to drink any of the milk and whilst we will encourage them we will not force them to drink it.

We would urge you to talk with your child about whether or not they want to have milk and think about whether they can actually drink that amount. If they do not wish to continue with milk just let the school office know and we can cancel the order for you. Whilst we are happy to provide the children with their milk each day we do not wish to have pints of milk being thrown away each day. 

Year 2 Roman Day - Friday 16th October

Year 2 will be having a Roman Day on Friday 16th October as the finale to their topic this half term. A simple Roman costume will be needed for the day and more details will follow. 

Fruit snack

We would like to remind parents that the fruit snack for morning break should be 'real fruit' ie not Yoyos, winders or smoothie pouches. Also it should only be one small portion eg a small apple, a satsuma or a handful of grapes. The children only have a limited amount of time to eat their snack and it is only meant to be a quick snack to keep them going until lunchtime, which for Reception children is at 11.45.

Parents & Friends Association (PFA)

Copas Turkeys

We hope that you have all seen the News article which was published earlier this week. If you are ordering a turkey for Christmas this year please consider doing so from Copas and using the   “PTA TURKEY CASHBACK” product to their basket when ordering your turkey and select 'Marlow C of E Infant School' from the drop down menu.

It costs you nothing extra but raises money for us.

Santas Needed!

The PFA are already planning what they can in place of our usual Christmas Bazaar. One of the ideas they have is for an online Santa's Grotto. As Santa has to comply with COVID restrictions he won't be able to visit us in person as usual for children to meet with him so, instead, he will be offering Zoom call appointments for children to chat with him. However, as Santa is very busy, he is going to farm the calls out to a Santa Call Centre and so we need some stand-in Santas to man the video calls!

Do you, or someone you know, harbour a secret longing to be Santa for the day, or just a few hours? Our call centre will be running from school on a weekend before Christmas and even if you can only do an hour or two that will really help us (or rather Santa) out!  Full training, costume and script will be provided but if you have your own Santa suit then that's all the better. 

Please email us on marlowcofepfa@gmail.com

School Website & App

All parents have a log in for the school website which was sent out in the summer term. Unfortunately, there is a time limit on activating these accounts and so, if you have not activated your account to access the restricted areas of the website (Leavers Service, Home Learning activities, new class videos) please contact the school office and we can resend the password reset email. 

We would encourage you all to download the school app as this will notify you of News items as they are posted on our website and also gives you access to the school calendar to check Events. Over the coming months this app should also allow you to book parents evenings and give trip consents and we will update you as this comes online. Details on how to download the app are on the school website here