Geography Day
- Date: Wednesday 18th June
We will be holding a whole school Geography Day on Wednesday 18th June. Each year, the group will be learning about a different continent in the morning through a range of activities.
We will spend the afternoon learning about Africa, specifically Kenya and our link school, Bright Future Academy in the town of Oyugis.
To celebrate, we are going to wear the colours of the Kenyan flag; black, white, green and red. Please can your child wear one of these colours on their top half (school jumpers count as red!).
Transition
This half-term, we will be spending some time getting the children ready for their next steps in education, and we thought that it would be good to share with you some of the plans that we have to help the children prepare for moving on.
PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) lessons focus on transition this half-term and children begin to learn that change can be a good thing and that moving on to another class or school is just part of their learning journey.
Class mixes
Reception to Year 1
When the Reception children move to Year 1 in September, they will be in new class groups. We take this opportunity to mix children from Ants and Bees to create 2 new classes: Butterflies and Ladybirds. This is to enable us to balance the classes using our in-depth knowledge of the children, something that we didn't have last July. Reception children and their parents will find out which class they will be in on Tuesday 1st July.
Year 1 to Year 2
The mix of children in Year 1 will not be changed for their move to Year 2. They will find out which class they are moving to on Tuesday 1st July.
Year 2 to Holy Trinity
Year 2 children who are going to Holy Trinity Junior School will be mixed and put into 3 class groups ready for their move. Again, we will use our in-depth knowledge of the children to make as balanced a mix as possible. Holy Trinity will then add children from other schools starting with them in September to the 3 groups. Children and parents will find out their class on Tuesday 1st July
Transition activities
This week, we started the first of our transition activities. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the Reception children visited the Year 1 classrooms. They spent time in each of the classes so that they could meet some of the Year 1 team and familiarise themselves with the Year 1 learning environment. They have not visited their class teachers for next year nor were they in their new class groups, they simply visited Year 1.
Also, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the children in Year 1 visited Year 2. They visited one classroom on Tuesday and the other on Thursday. Again, this is for children to meet the Year 2 team and get used to the Year 2 classrooms, which are very different to the Year 1 learning environment.
In addition to this, on both Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we also welcomed some of our new Reception intake to spend some time in school.
For the Year 2s, on Tuesday 17th June in the afternoon, they will be visiting Holy Trinity School (if that is where they are going to for their Key Stage 2 years). They will spend some time playing on the field, will meet the Year 3 teachers and will have the opportunity to ask them questions.
There are more activities planned over the coming weeks and there will be more details in future newsletters.
Refugee Week
Next week, the RRS Ambassadors will mark Refugee Week 2025. The Ambassadors will lead school worship on Tuesday and share their learning about refugees and why it is important to try and help them.
The Ambassadors are organising some fundraising for Wycombe Refugee Partnership and this will take the form of a sale of 'goods'.
Over the last few weeks and next week, all children in the school have and will be busy making items to sell in the sale.
Reception will make biscuits, Year 1 will decorate cakes and Year 2 have been making friendship bracelets.
The RRS Ambassadors will sell the items for donations in our Eco Barn during school time from 2pm on Friday 20th and the idea is the children will visit the sale with their classes and buy 1 item. Please would parents/carers send in a small donation on Friday 20th so that your child/ren can choose buy an item. This money will then be donated to Wycombe Refugee Partnership.
Sandygate Sunday
- Date: Sunday 22nd June, 10.59am-12 noon
On Sunday 22nd June it will be one of our regular 'Sandygate Sundays' at All Saints Church. We will be taking part in their 10.59 service with some children reading prayers, and we will sing one of our worship songs.
We would love to see as many red jumpers in the congregation as possible to identify them as Sandygate pupils. They should sit with their family during the service and the school staff in church will invite them up at the appropriate times. Please indicate below if you will attend the service. It is likely to finish at 12 noon.
Praise in the Park
Praise in the Park is where church schools in Marlow gather together to sing and retell Bible stories through dance. This year we are being joined by Holy Trinity School, Little Marlow School and Saint Peter's School. The event will be held in Higginson Park on Thursday 10th July from 1.30pm-2.30pm. If you wish, you can collect your child after the performance, or we can walk them back to school for normal end-of-day collection arrangements. We will ask you to complete a form to let us know what you would like to do after the performance. This will be sent out soon.
We will need some volunteers to walk with the children to and from the event. Please let the office know.
Sports Day
- Date: Monday 23rd June, 9am – 12 noon
Come and join us for a fun and supportive morning of sport and with the PFA providing refreshments for the adults. What more could you want for a Monday morning?
The morning will start at around 9.30am after our young athletes have been registered and organised into their teams. The children will spend the first half of the morning in teams of mixed year groups (siblings will be together) taking part in a round-robin of sporting activities. These should finish at around 10.30am, when the children will go back inside the school for a drink and fruit snack.
At 11.00am they will come back out onto the field in their classes and will take part in a running race against their classmates. The event will finish before lunch at 12.
Open Afternoon
- Date: Wednesday 2nd July, 4pm – 6pm
Open Afternoon is a chance for your family to come in to see the school building and grounds in a very relaxed, social way after the school day. The children in Years 1 & R will have spent the previous morning in the classroom they are moving to in September and this will be an opportunity for them to show this to you. You can come and see some of the work the children have done, which is displayed in classrooms and communal areas. You do not have to stay for the whole time, but we would appreciate the children being there for their year group or club performance. It is a relaxed event and families can come and go as suits them and their other commitments.
Each year group is working on a short performance, a dance or a song, which they will give during the afternoon and the Maypole and Sandygate Singers will also perform. The timings below are rough ones, but the events will take place in this order:
- 4.00pm – Looking around classrooms
- 4.30pm – Maypole Club
- 4.45pm – Reception
- 5.00pm – Year 1
- 5.15pm – Sandyate Singers
- 5.30pm – Year 2
