Friday 10th July 2020

This week, there has been a lot of transition work going on in all Year groups. The Year 2s had their Zoom chats with Mr Butler and Mrs Field at Holy Trinity and their virtual tour of the school caused great excitement. Across the rest of the school, the children have found out the classes that they will be in next year and this is a sure sign that the end of term is approaching.  

With less than one week left before the children finish school for the summer, I can safely say that this has been one of the most unusual and challenging years in my working life. I have been so uplifted by the support and positivity that our parent body have given me and the staff team - we always say that there is something special about working at Sandygate and one of the things that makes it so special are the parents and carers. 

We have been looking through the home learning books that have been sent in - these will be sent back at the end of term- and the quality and quantity of work that the children have done is magnificent. We have noticed that the children have made progress and have taken part in a wide range of activities. I know many of you have found it tough and have decided that teaching is not a career choice you will be making but you certainly deserve one of my special stickers - please see below (Sorry that it is not a scented one - or smelly sticker as the children call them)!

We are currently working on our plans for September and I hope to have some details to you by the end of next week. I know that the government guidance may change again before September but we hope to be able to sketch out an outline  which will give you  an indication of the direction that we are going in and allow you to make plans for the beginning of the autumn term

Mrs Reynolds

Year 2 Leaver's Service

As we mentioned last week, we will be holding a Leaver's Service on Wednesday afternoon for our Year 2 children.

Unfortunately, given the current climate, it is not possible for parents to attend this service but we will be producing a video for Year 2 parents to include the service and some other clips of them in school. 

The words for the songs that we will be singing have been uploaded to the Home Learning Section of the website if you would like to practise with your child at home. All children will be joining in with the singing, not just Year 2, so everyone can practise them.

Words for songs

School Website & App

We apologise that there are some issues with accessing the videos from the children's new teachers, we are working hard with e4Education to get this sorted so you can access them as soon as possible.

We hope that our new website will enable us to communicate with parents as efficiently as we can. In order to stay up to date with school news and events we would ask every parent to download the School News app. Details on how to do this can be found here on the school website.

The app 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

News from the Federation of Holy Trinity and Little Marlow CE Schools

We have been informed by the Federation that their Executive Headteacher, Steve Butler, will be leaving the federation in December to take up a new headship in January. 

Their Governing Body said: 

'Steve h as been Executive Head since 2016 and has worked tirelessly for both schools, always keeping the staff and pupils at the heart of 
all plans and decisions. His personal touch and approachable presence at both schools, both in term time and out, has made him a much respected and loved figure amongst all and he will be missed.'

At Marlow Infants we have worked closely with Mr Butler over the last few years and will be sorry to see him go.

Rising Stars

With the end of term fast approaching, we have made the decision to allocate all remaining books in the childrens' current book bands for the children to read both up until the end of term and throughout the summer holiday. The number of books will vary depending upon the stage each child is working at as there are a lot more early readers and the amount decreases as the books get harder.

We are delighted that so many children are enjoying the books and hope Rising Stars will inspire them to develop their comprehension skills as they collect stars for the quizzes at the end of the books.

The Summer Reading Challenge

Each year 'The Summer Reading Challenge', presented by The Reading Agency and funded by Arts Council England, encourages children aged 4 to 11 to set themselves a reading challenge.

This year, Silly Squad, the Summer Reading Challenge 2020, will celebrate funny books, happiness and laughter. Children taking part in the Challenge will join the Silly Squad, an adventurous team of animals who love to have a laugh and get stuck into all different kinds of funny books!

To find out more, please visit:

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk

Class Photos 

We are conscious that a lot of children may be missing their friends in these unprecedented times and parents often like to buy a class photograph each year as a reminder of their child's time at school and their friends.  As our school photographers have been unable to get into school this term to take Class photographs, they have created a composite Class group with the Rainbow of Hope as a record of these difficult times. 

These Class group photos are separate from the Bubble Photos taken and sold by the PFA.

You can view the image for free by entering the appropriate code for your child's class listed below on our website at www.photoordering.co.uk

Ant -code -  CCT8UY

Bee – code - SB224P

Butterfly – code - 3GR8X6

Dragonfly -code -  X2DE94

Grasshopper – code - V2A9F5

Ladybird – code - YXF9KY

If you need help ordering you can view our How to order video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtgsqHxWjAY

If you have any questions our customer support team continue to work from home and can be contacted on support@sbsdigital.co.uk

PFA News

Tea Towels and Bubble Photos

Thank you to everyone who has bought tea towels and bubble photos.  Our suppliers for both of these assure us they will have them delivered in time to hand out next week and we will be doing this at pickup once they arrive.  We will ensure that we coordinate this in line with social distancing measures and will let you know exactly how this will work once we have it set up.

Bag2School

Please don’t forget Bag2School on Wednesday morning.  Bring your unwanted clothes and shoes in at drop off.  We will have specific areas for yoga to drop them and will direct anyone with a bag to where they need to go.

Ice Pops

Finally it wouldn’t be the end of term without ice pops and we are not going to let Coronavirus stand in our way of this tradition.  We will be selling these to Year 2 on Wednesday and to Reception and Year 1 on Thursday.  We will have a dedicated table for each year group at pickup and please can we ask that you only come and purchase your ice pop once you have collected your child.  We will have buckets for you to throw your money into and sadly we can’t give change at the moment so please come with some coins.  Suggested donation 50p-£1. 

Teacher Cards

Finally, there will also be buckets at drop off from Monday for you to place any cards for your children’s teachers. 

Lighthouse

Although Lighthouse Marlow is unable to take place this year the team at Lighthouse Central have been working hard with all the Lighthouse teams around Buckinghamshire, and beyond, to offer a different Lighthouse experience this year - Lighthouse Live.

Lighthouse Live will run as an online holiday club from 27th to 31st July.  There will be lots of the usual Lighthouse activities: sports, craft, singing and, of course, gunge but all from the comfort of your own home.

Each day there will be some familiar faces from Lighthouse Marlow delivering some of the content so tune in to spot them.

More details are in the flyer below and you can register at Lighthouse Central