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Flexibility has been in focus this week in school as we have proved that we can react at short notice to changing circumstances! The challenge has been the weather this week and we took the decision to have our Harvest Service on Wednesday instead of the planned day of Thursday - it turned out to be a really good decision. It was indeed wonderful to have all the school together and we covered the theme of 'What we have to be thankful for' and 'How we show that we are thankful' and the children's ideas were truly inspirational.
I am thrilled with the Friendship bands that have been coming into school which the children have been making as part of the Kindness Home Learning. I would love to see more because I am hoping to create a 'mobile' of Friendship bands in the school hall. Thursday next week is the deadline for the Kindness Home Learning. The last in the series of Values Home Learning goes live next Friday when we will be looking at Perseverance.
On Monday we had our first online Curriculum evening - this was for parents of Reception children and I would like to thank every one who attended. I hope that they found it useful - it seemed to go well from our point of view once we got over our initial technical issues
Finally as you probably know we have been trying to recruit Midday Supervisors and we have had some success with this. We are still short of Supervisors for a Friday lunchtime, so if anyone would like to help us this please contact the school office.
Mrs Reynolds
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Sandygate Star
- Ant - Francesca
- Bee - Kyle
- Butterfly - Anishka
- Ladybird - Raphael
- Dragonfly - Olive
- Grasshopper - Freddie B
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Value Award - Respect
- Ant - Rufus
- Bee - Poppy
- Butterfly - Annabelle
- Ladybird - Izzy
- Dragonfly - Tulla
- Grasshopper - Leo
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Mini Marathon and Harvest Collection
We would like to thank everyone who has sent in items for the One Can Trust Collection - both physical items and by donating to our Mini Marathon sponsorship page.
The money for the Mini Marathon is still coming in, and you can still donate via the Virgin Giving page here. The total at the time of writing this message is an amazing £969.50 which will be divided between our PFA and One Can Trust.
Our efforts have been reported this week in the Maidenhead Advertiser, the Bucks Free Press and My Marlow
Mrs Delany will be driving the donated items to the One Can Trust on Monday and we would like to thank her in advance for that.
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Reception
The children in Reception are looking at the nursery rhymes Incy-Wincy Spider and Little Miss Muffett and this week came face to face with the star of those rhymes (well, almost).
Mr Richardson brought in a cast tarantula skin for the children to see.
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Year 1 have enjoyed pretending to be pirates in PE this week
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Rights Respecting School Ambassadors (RRSA)
Last week our RRS Ambassadors led school worship and shared with us what Rights Respecting Schools is and why it is important.
For parents who are not aware, we are a Rights Respecting School and have been awarded the Silver:Rights Aware, which is the second stage of the award. This recognises that we embed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in our policy, practice and culture, we promote knowledge and understanding of the Convention throughout our school community and our children are beginning to see themselves as rights respecting global citizens.
This week the RRS Ambassadors have presented each class with a poster, shown below, to display in class showing what their rights are under the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Dates for Next Week and beyond
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PFA Zoom meeting
8:00pm – 9:00pm
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Governor Meeting - Finance & People committee
7:00pm – 8:30pm
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Year 2 Roman Dress up Day
All Day
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Parent Consultations
3:30pm – 6:30pm
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Parent Consultations
4:30pm – 7:30pm
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PFA Doughnut Day
3:00pm – 4:00pm
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Half Term
All Day
From 24 Oct until 01 Nov
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Next Week's 'Learning at a Glance'
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Year 2 Roman Day - Friday 16th October
All parents in Year 2 were sent an email earlier this week with full details of the Roman Day planned for Year 2 children.
We are inviting the children to dress up on this day, should they wish to, in a simple Roman costume. Please ensure that your child is warm in their costume as they will be wearing it all day, including outside break. If your child does not wish to dress up then they should wear normal school uniform on the day.
We will be making and tasting pizzas and so, if your child has any allergies or special dietary requirements you should let the school office know as soon as possible.
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Parent Consultations Monday 19th and Tuesday 21st October
Google Meet invites for all Parent Consultation appointments which have been booked have now been sent out. If you believe you have booked a Parent Consultation but have not received an invite for the Google Meet then please contact the school office as soon as possible.
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Year 1 Superhero Day Thursday 22nd October
On the last day of the half term, Year 1 are holding a 'Superhero Day' to celebrate all the work they have been doing on this topic.
We would like to invite the children to come to school on this day dressed as a Superhero - this does not need to be a comic book Superhero as we have also been thinking about 'everyday' Superheroes such as nurses and firemen. If they wish to create their own Superhero and make a costume that would also be great.
Should your child not wish to dress up then they should wear their school uniform on this day. The children will remain in their costume all day, including outside break, so please ensure that it is warm enough for the weather on the day.
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General News and Reminders
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07 Oct 2020
Harvest Festival 7th October 2020
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02 Oct 2020
We completed our mini marathon!
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A thank you from Mrs Downing
Dear Sandygate Family,
2 Marathons in 2 weeks complete and I am glad to say my second (the London Marathon) was so much more of a positive experience, despite battling the wind and the rain. I wanted to take this opportunity to send a personal and huge thank you for your kind sponsorship and I am very pleased to say we have raised a massive £1,437 for JIA at the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society. More than the sponsorship money I would like to thank you all for your kind words of encouragement - it has meant a huge amount and has kept me going!
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Sarah Downing
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Update on our Eco Work
The ecological gardens at Marlow Infants are preparing for sleep as Autumn draws in, seed pods form and the last of the blooms provide sweet nectar for remaining pollinators. Amphibians will take to the wood piles and the bug hotel and nature will prepare to regenerate using the fuel of plant life decay. The winter months are important for the land to regenerate, for the worms to do their work and for preparation for spring.
These gardens, The Wild World and The Nature Corridor help the children and adults in all manner of learning and are an important part in supporting their wellbeing and understanding of our natural world.
The gentle and fun management, leaving the land to see what might happens and wonder in the benefits for all, is the key principle of these spaces. In the pictures you will see with the pink flower, common mallow, this is an edible plant and if seen in abundance. The black seed pods are oregano, great for pizza toppings and can be used to make a herbal tea as well as many other applications. Finally the frog who holds an important place in the food chain as both predators and prey. As tadpoles, they eat algae, helping regulate blooms and reducing the chances of algal contamination. Frogs are an important source of food for a variety of animals, including birds, fish and snakes.
If you would like to join us from time to time we would welcome everyone, even if all that can be achieved is to sit and be and enjoy. If you are interested please email Natasha.somers@gmail.com
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Home Learning
Our Home Learning Policy has just been updated and can be found on the school website here
We would like to thank all the children who have uploaded their work onto Google Classrooms and Tapestry, your teachers have really enjoyed seeing it. WE would like to remind everyone that the only work that needs to physically come in to school is that on the Whole School Values set by Mrs Reynolds. Everything else for KS1 can be uploaded to your class G Drive or on the class stream and for Reception uploaded to Tapestry.
Whilst most parents appreciate the value and importance of home learning, a recent School survey showed some feel we set too little and some feel we set too much! In order to allow parents to support their children to the best of their ability without placing undue stress on family time, we have taken an approach of giving parents a range of suggestions on how to support their children’s learning at home, without prescribing when, where or how much extra work should be done.
As set out in our Home Learning Policy, the only Home Learning which we expect children to complete is:
- Daily reading
- Key words
- Weekly spellings in Year 2 (on Google Classroom)
- Termly Science home learning for the school holiday
All other activities are there to help support parents who wish to do work with their children at home. As such, although we love seeing what the children have been doing, they will not be marked by teachers.
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Attendance
We have just updated the Attendance for Learning Policy for this year and this is on the school website here. We would encourage all parents to read this.
Our Attendance target for this year is 97% and we will report on the Attendance levels for the school in this Newsletter throughout the year. For September our attendance was 97.45% with 1.62% absence due to illness or medical appointments. Grasshopper class had the highest attendance with 99.15%
Medical Appointments
In line with our Attendance for Learning Policy, we encourage parents to make 'routine' appointments outside of school time and these will not be authorised if made during school hours. We recognise this is not always possible for appointments scheduled by medical professionals but request for absence for these appointments should be submitted to school in advance and should be accompanied by a copy of the appointment card or letter.
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Changes to Pick-up Arrangements
If someone other than the child's parents is to collect your child from school we would ask that you inform the school office on the day either by email to office@marlow-infant.bucks.sch.uk or by leaving a message on the voicemail box on the school phone.
In each case we would ask that you give your child's name and their class so that we can ensure the message reaches the correct members of staff.
If you need to make a change after 2.45pm then we would ask that you phone through to the office and speak with a member of staff as the end of day is very busy in school and we may not pick up voice messages or emails after this time and before the end of the school day
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Midday Supervisors
We are looking to recruit a Midday Supervisor for Friday lunchtime. If you would like more details then please contact the school office.
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Parents & Friends Association News
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PFA Meetings
PFA meetings will be slightly different this year (isn’t everything!). In order to comply with current regulations, the elected committee will be meeting every half term to discuss current fundraising and logistics and this will be followed, a few days later, by a Zoom meeting to which everyone is invited (woohoo!). There you can find out what we have planned and you will have the opportunity to give feedback, make suggestions and even volunteer to help out - we still need and value your help and input even if we can't all meet face to face!
The minutes of the committee meetings will be published on the PFA page of the school website here in advance of the wider meeting and the Zoom link will be shared via WhatsApp and the school newsletter.
The committee met earlier this week and so our first Zoom catch-up will be this coming Monday evening (12th) at 8pm. You’ll have to bring your own wine I’m afraid
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/95401325156?pwd=aVA3RXFBZHpmdzk0SzZMdnNxMVEzUT09
Meeting ID: 954 0132 5156
Passcode: 170267
Bag2School
The first Bag2School of the year is next Wednesday, 14th October. Drop off points will be by the school gates but if you need a hand with getting anything to school then drop us a message via the PFA email and we can come and collect from you. Feel free to mention this to friends, family and your neighbours too!
Fill any bags with clothes, bedding etc and drop it at school, see below for details.
Donut Day
We will be selling donuts at pickup on the last day of the half term, Thursday 22nd. These will be pre-bagged and payment will be via donations into a bucket so please bring some spare change with you.
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