22nd January 2021

Hopefully you saw the news story that we sent out yesterday where we shared with you the details of the school in India that we are being twinned with. It was exciting for me to attend the launch of the project with people from our area and from India too. This was, of course, a remote launch and not what was originally planned but at least we can now begin the work with CMS LPS Urakam. The focus of the twinning project is an environmental one and we are looking forward to understanding more about what issues the Indian school are facing and learning about and sharing some of the work we are doing.

I hope that those parents who attended the ‘Drop In’ sessions on Monday found them useful, it was good to see how well attended they were. I know it has been a difficult time for many of you, adjusting to the remote learning and trying to juggle many other things. We are always happy to answer any queries and help where we can.  On the class home pages on the school website we have posted the presentations from Monday and with each presentation the teachers have answered the questions that were asked during the meet.

Next week we are planning ‘a day away from the screen’ on Friday (apart from Time to Talk if you have booked on one for next Friday) which focuses on the RSPB Bird Week that had been planned into our curriculum for next week.  Had the children been in school for the Bird Week, there would have been time away from the core curriculum and it seems sensible to do the same at home and make the activities not screen-based.  

Mrs Reynolds

Parent Drop-in Sessions

It was fantastic that so many of you could join us for the Parent Drop-in Sessions on Monday. We hope that you found them useful. We are just uploading the slides onto the Class Homepages on the school website  and these have the questions that were raised during the sessions added in to them

As mentioned in these sessions, Mrs Howarth has recorded a video to explain the Maths Curriculum for KS1 and this is also on the class homepages.

NSPCC Number Day

On 5th February 2021, we will be taking part in the NSPCC Number Day.  Despite not being in school we still wish to make this possible for you all to participate at home so that we can still support the NSPCC in such challenging times.

We will be asking you to dress up in 'numbers', so please be as creative as you can-  the video here will give you some ideas! There are also some ideas for number activities to do on the day.

You don't have to spend money on buying new clothes.  You could wear an item of clothing with a number on it, this can be as simple as a sports shirt or cap, even a onesie!  Or you could write some numbers on pieces of paper and attach to a top you already have.

To help raise lots for the NSPCC we ask that you click on the link below which will take you to our fundraising page.   The suggested donation is £2.  

http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/marlowinfantsnumberday

Adopt an Animal

We have decided to support the WWF by having each year group 'Adopt an Animal' for the year ahead. This will complement our Science learning about animals in their habitat, our Geography learning about different continents and our RRS learning about children's right to have a free opinion to be listened to.

Year 2 will be using their Time to Talk sessions this week to campaign for the animal they wish to adopt. The other year groups will be deciding on their animals in the coming weeks.  

Once the children have voted for an animal for their year group we will start the adoption process. We will receive a cuddly toy version of our chosen animal, plus newsletter updates and the knowledge that our money is helping the animal to survive.

Bird Day 29th January

Every year in school we participate in the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch. We coordinate this with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch which takes place from 29-31 January this year. You can find more information about this here Taking Part in Big Garden Birdwatch - RSPB 

For the Garden Birdwatch you pick one hour during the day and then record the birds that visit your garden during that hour. The results are then uploaded to the RSPB website. Every count is important so, if you don’t see anything, please still submit your result. Finding out which birds don’t visit your area is as important as understanding those which do!

The Big Garden Birdwatch has been going for 40 years so the RSPB now have 40 years of data which has helped increase their understanding of the challenges faced by wildlife.

We have designated next Friday 29th January as a non-screen day where children can enjoy learning more about the birds that visit our gardens and local areas. We will not be setting online activities for that day but there is a wide range of activities that the children could participate in including bird watching, bird food making, craft activities or research. We have uploaded some activities to inspire you and your children on Google Classrooms or Tapestry and there are lots of ideas here too Fun Activities for Kids | Fun & Learning - The RSPB

All resources will be made available from the beginning of the week so there will be no need to use the computer on Friday.

Please do share with us any photos you take of activities you get up to.   

We wanted to let you know that the PFA is producing the first ever Sandygate Cookbook! 

Featuring family-favourite recipes from the whole school community - children, parents and staff - we hope to encourage children to get involved with cooking meals at home and to foster a love of food and healthy eating. 

Have you got a recipe that you and your family love?  Maybe "Nana's banana bread", "Mum's spaghetti bolognese", "The best chocolate cake ever" or "Jasper's juicy jaffa cakes"?  If you do and you're happy to share it, we would love to include it in the book.  When we have all the different recipes, we will collate them and put them into the CookBook.  We would love a selection of both family favourites and kid-friendly recipes that the children could have a go at themselves (with some help of course).

They will then be available to purchase and be a wonderful keepsake.

Our headings at the moment:

• Starters, Soups and Salads
• Vegetarian and Vegan
• Main Dishes
• Breads, Cakes and Biscuits
• Desserts
• Miscellaneous
• Lockdown Loves

Once you have chosen your favourite, well-loved recipe, please type out the recipe in a word document (following the guidelines below) and email it to:- marlowcofepfa@gmail.com.  Each recipe should include:

• Name of your child and class they are in e.g. "Freya Snell - Butterfly Class"
• Name of the recipe
• List the ingredients (please could quantities be in metric measurements if possible)
• Simple, easy-to-follow instructions

PLEASE NOTE - the recipes must be your own and not from a cook book you own already (but it is ok to use an original recipe where you have made at least 3/4 changes to it - i.e. added your own signature to it).

We will be asking for illustrations for the book at a later date so if your child would like to do an accompanying picture then let us know and we will take that into consideration with the formatting and layout.  We will then be in touch when we know with further details of how these can be sent to us as well.

The deadline for emailing the recipes back to us is FRIDAY 29th JANUARY.

We are really looking forward to reading all your delicious recipes!