19^th January 2024

Yesterday, we saw the first class led worship of the year. Dragonfly class were wonderful and taught us a lot about the value of forgiveness. In preparing for the worship, the children had lots of ideas about what they wanted to share and how they wanted to do it. Thank you to Mrs Mitchell, Mrs Ross and the rest of the Year 2 team who helped the children prepare for their special moment!

You will see below the links for the other classes – please do book a place to see your child's class worship.

The children have been out and about in the school grounds this week , taking part in the RSPB Big School's Birdwatch. They have been identifying different species of birds and counting how many of each they see. Below are a couple of photos of Dragonfly class bird spotting. They filled up the school bird bath as it was empty.

Mrs Reynolds

Next Week's 'Learning at a Glance'

Walk to School Week – Whole school

As you know, we have been running a 'Bling your Wheels' competition this week, and we have had some wonderful entries.

We judged the entries and the winners are...

• Sophia P from Ant class for 'Creative use of colour' 
• Findlay M from Ladybird class for 'Eco-friendly decorating'

During school worship yesterday, Mrs Reynolds presented both children with a book called 'The Odd Fish' by Naomi Jones.

Science Mascots – Whole school

This week in school, Mrs Browning and the science councillors shared with the rest of the children some information about science learning in school. The councillors had decided at their latest meeting that they wanted a science mascot to celebrate learning in science. 

They have decided to run a competition to design a mascot. All children have been given a sheet of paper to bring home on which to draw their design and the councillors will choose the winning mascot next week. Please send your child's design back to school on Monday (22^nd January).

Reception Curriculum Evening – Reception

Thank you to the parents who attended our curriculum evening last night. We hope you found it informative. If you were unable to attend the session, we have a handful of spare resource packs in the office for collection. The presentation has also been uploaded to your class homepages labelled: Reception Curriculum Information Session – Spring Term.

Christmas nativity memory – Whole school

We have now sent out the Christmas nativity bundles to all families who ordered them before Christmas. If you haven't received an email from us, and you think you ordered it, please contact the office.

Keeping warm – Whole school

The weather has been very cold this week and this is expected to continue over the next few weeks. Therefore, children must come to school dressed appropriately for their outside lessons. Please send your child in wearing their jumper's, trousers/tights, thick winter coats, hats and gloves.

Here is a reminder of the Little Muddy Me (outdoor learning) timetable:

• Reception: Wednesday
• Year 1: Tuesday
• Year 2: Thursday

If your child does First Soccer or Playball outside during lunchtime, they must wear trousers/tights, otherwise they may be refused to attend the session that day. On PE days children must wear their tracksuit bottoms or leggings.

Absence due to illness – Whole school

If your child is absent from school due to illness, please ring the school office by 9.30am on the first day of absence to inform us. There is a dedicated voice mailbox (option 1) for leaving messages about absence. Please do give details of why the child is absent, otherwise the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. Parents or carers are required to phone the school office for every day of their child’s absence, due to illness.

Big Garden Birdwatch – Whole school

At home, you can also support the RSPB by gathering information about the bird population in the UK. The Big Garden Birdwatch will be taking place between the 26th and 28th January. You don't even need a garden, you can count birds and identify them from your balcony or in the park. The information you send the RSPB can help them identify how the bird population is faring and, as a result, help them to protect birds. You can sign up here for a free guide and also find out how to attract birds to your garden.

Class-Led Worship – Whole school

We will be holding class-led worships over the next few months. Each class will be basing their worship on their class value, and we would like to invite parents/carers to join in with the worship. Each class worship will be from 9am-9.30am. We are limiting 2 tickets per family. To book your tickets, please complete the Google form here.

• Grasshopper Class: Respect – Thursday 25^th January
• Ladybird Class: Perseverance – Thursday 1^st February
• Butterfly Class: Service – Thursday 8^th February
• Ant Class: Kindness – Thursday 29^th February
• Bee Class: Thankfulness – Thursday 14^th March

NSPCC Number Day: Friday 2^nd February – Whole School

We are delighted to be supporting the NSPCC by taking part in Number Day again this year.

The NSPCC need our support more than ever. By raising money, we can help to fund their vital services such as Childline – the helpline that’s always there for children and young people, whatever their problem or concern.

On average, a child contacts Childline every 25 seconds.

Making maths meaningful

Number Day is a great way to make maths fun and bring about a positive, ‘can-do’ attitude towards it.

• We are taking on Buddy’s Key Challenge in our classes to help raise vital funds for the NSPCC. We are working to solve exciting maths puzzles in our classes, against the clock with Buddy, the Speak out. Stay safe. mascot.
• We are having a fun day of maths activities, and we will be taking part in Dress up for Digits. Pupils are asked to wear an item of clothing with a number on it (football shirt, cap, netball shirt or even a onesie!). Or get even more creative by dressing in a maths or numbers theme. To help raise money for the NSPCC, we are asking for donations, and we’d love everyone in the school to take part in this special event.

Safe fundraising

We’ve set up a Just Giving page:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/marlow-c-of-e-infant-school-numberday2024

Please donate and share with friends, so we can support the NSPCC.

It all adds up

We’re really looking forward to all the fun of Number Day, and we really appreciate your support. All the money we raise will make an enormous difference to children today and help the NSPCC be there for children tomorrow.

Candlemas Service – Whole school

We will have a special school worship to celebrate the feast of Candlemas on Monday 5^th February. The Service will be planned and led by Year 2 Worship Leaders.

We would like to invite parents/carers to join in. Due to the size of our hall, we are limiting tickets to 1 parent/carer per family. Please click here to reserve your place.

Wycombe Wanderers football event

We were thrilled to see so many happy faces on Monday when 3 Wycombe Wanderers ran a special training session for our Sandygaters. A massive thank you to Leila Choleva, Katherine Parkins and Zara McCarthy who made the afternoon a roaring success, and to Jason McCarthy and his teammates, Jack Grimmer and Chris Forino-Joseph, who made sure our mini-players had such a good time.

It's Disco Time! 

It's that time of year again, letting the children blow away the winter cobwebs with a spring disco! Dave the Disco will be hosting the best party in town on Saturday 2^nd March. We will hold two identical discos so that all children have a chance to party. The first Disco will run from 2-3.30pm and the second from 4-5.30pm. There will be music, fun and games and snacks. Tickets will be available shortly on ParentPay priced at £10 per child. We don't want any child to miss out on this experience, so if this is going to be financially difficult for you, please contact the school office.

 Wine & Cheese Tasting Night 

Tickets will be on sale early next week for our infamous wine and cheese night being held on Saturday 16th March at 8pm in the school hall. It is being run by 2 of our year 1 parents (Helen Kitchen doing the wine and Carly Stage the cheese!) and like last year, looks like it's going to be a fabulous evening! Tickets are £25pp and non-school family/friends are welcome to join them (adults only). This is going to be a fun and relaxed evening of wine tasting (and drinking!!) and cheese eating in a friendly and relaxed style and no prior knowledge about wine or cheese is needed. No other food will be provided apart from cheese and biscuits, but you're welcome to bring snacks. There will be a bar with soft drinks and snacks and other games on the night. 

Family Bingo Fun

There are a few tickets left for our Family Bingo event. Come and join us in the school hall on the afternoon of Saturday 3rd February for some family-filled fun! There will be Bingo games, bar, tuck shop, pizza and raffles (adults and children). 

There are lots of prizes for the bingo winners and a chance to get together with some Sandygate families for fun, games and a catch-up. This annual event is usually a lot of fun! Tickets are now available to purchase on ParentPay (£15 for a family ticket and £5 for additional individual tickets) along with pizzas (£15 each for a large pizza) to pre-order for supper on the night. 

And finally... 

We are so pleased to announce that Marlow Infants and Holy Trinity parent Patrick Tomnie has agreed to organise the 2nd annual Golf Day on Friday 26^th April to be held at Harleyford Golf Club. All are welcome and if last year is anything to go by, it's going to be a fantastic day! Please see details in the flyer below with details about this event and how to sign up. 

Dates for your diary

• Bingo: Saturday 3^rd February 3.30-5.30pm
• School Disco: Saturday 2^nd March 2pm and 4pm – tickets will go on sale next week
• Bag2School: Tuesday 5^th March
• Wine & Cheese Tasting Evening: Saturday 16^th March
• Golf Day: Friday 26^th April
• May Fayre: Saturday 11^th May
• Summer parents ball: Saturday 2^2nd June
• School camp night: Saturday & Sunday 13-14^th July