4th March 2022

We are already back into the swing of the new half-term and the week has been packed with activities related to World Book Day. Yesterday we loved seeing all the book characters that came to school and the children enjoyed admiring each other's costumes in school worship.  Each class has created a book cover picture for the school library, and you will be able to see the Year 1 creations in the photographs below.  This, and the other World Book Week activities have been organised for the children by Mrs Burkitt, and she has really pulled the stops out this year! Of course none of these ideas would come to fruition without the support of the teachers, teaching assistants and parents.

Today the children will be bringing home a letter for parents about school funding.  As you probably know, school budgets are increasingly under pressure and at Marlow Infants we are no exception. In fact, we are nearly the lowest funded school amongst similar size schools in the County, which coupled with increasingly prohibitive utility bills is putting us in a very difficult position. I encourage you to all read the letter to understand the position we are in. 

Next week, we are looking forward to taking part in Waste Week and welcoming pupils and adults from 9 other schools in Marlow as we host the Marlow Schools' Eco Conference on Wednesday.

Mrs Reynolds

Story Potato Competition

The entries for the Story Potato competition were all so fantastic, it was very difficult to choose the winners. They were announced in celebration worship this morning and you can them below. There are more pictures here where you can also see the artwork the classes have been working on all week to decorate our library. 

The winners were:

Reception - James R for Mr Tall

Year 1 - Jennifer for Hospital Dog

Year 2 - Erin T for the Christmasaurus

World Book Week Roundup

Reading Challenge

We hope that you have all been taking part in our Reading Challenge and recording how many minutes you spend reading each day. Don't forget to tell us how many you have done here: 

Week 1 https://forms.gle/GFdST1RPTxHpmYdNA

Week 2 https://forms.gle/4BNfmuvTdWGNJgkQA

If you have been sponsored for your reading over the last two weeks then thank you so much and don't forget to pay in your money on parentpay.

Online Book Fair

It is the last week to order from the online Book Club running with Scholastic Books here https://schools.scholastic.co.uk/marlow-ce/digital-book-club

All the books in the Book Club are discounted, some by as much as 50%. Any books you buy help us to buy books for our school library - for every £1 you spend the school receives 20p to spend. This really does help us and we are trying to restock our non-fiction books at the moment

You can see the leaflet for the Book Club here

Amazon Wishlist

We also have an Amazon wishlist of books that we would like so, if you wanted to donate a book to us please check it out : https://amzn.eu/3epujzK

Reading Survey

Mrs Burkitt would like to find out how much the children like to read and what so she would be very grateful if you could get your child to complete the survey here https://forms.gle/BEzhRJbzLwsMmrTZ9

Book Token

Every child should have brought home a World Book Day Book Token today. The token is worth £1 against any book and can be used in most bookshops. You could also use it for a World Book Day Book which you can get completely free with your token.  The tokens are valid until 27th April.

The books this year are: 

• Rocket Rules by Nathan Bryan & Dapo Adeola
• Dinosaur Road and Friends by National Geographic
• Hey Duggee The World Book Day Badge
• Silly Book of True or False! by Matt Lucas
• Jemima the Pig and the 127 Acorns by Michael Morpurgo
• The Worst Class in the World by Joanna Nadin
• Welcome to Grimwood by Nadie Shireen
• The Wizard and Me by Simon Farnaby
• Peak Peril by Sharna Jackson
• Think like a Boss by Rashmi Sirdeshpande
• The Last Word by Ben Bailey Smith
• Boy, Missing by Sophie McKenzie

Report from the Eco Warriors

Next week we are going to be leading an Eco Worship on 'Recycle to Read'. In our worship we are going to tell everyone about how to recycle our broken hard plastic toys and unwanted tech like phones, tablets, smart watches, cameras and MP3 players. 

We have collection boxed at school: for plastic toys under the barn and for tech in the entrance foyer.

Our school earns books for everything we recycle.

Also next week we are holding an Eco Conference where Eco Warriors from the other schools in Marlow are coming to see our great Eco projects.  We will be sharing our ideas and showing them round our school. 

The Eco Warriors: Megan, Jasper, George, Daisy, Woody, Luca, Sophia & Lotte

Remember to recycle your tech and broken plastic toys!

Next Week's 'Learning at a Glance'

Class Homepages & Home Learning

The Class Homepages for this term are now live and updated on the school website. Home Learning is all loaded onto Google Classroom/Tapestry in the next few days. 

Year 2 Great Fire of London Day

Tuesday 8th March

On Tuesday 8th March, we have a company called History off the Page coming in to school, and they will transform our school hall to 17th Century London. During the morning the children will have a chance to role-play some of the crafts and trades which would have been taking place in London in the 1600s. These include the crafts of metal working and baking as well as the seamstress and apothecary trades. In the afternoon the children will get to try out being archaeologists; sifting through the ashes of the fire. 

In order to make the most of this experience, it would be really great if the children could dress up for the day in 17th century dress. This can be very simple and can be easily constructed from items you may have at home, we do not expect anyone to go to great expense. 

If you have any problem with this please ask in the school office as we do have a few items children could borrow. 

Year 2 Visit to All Saints Church

Friday 11th March

On 11th March Year 2 will be visiting All Saints Church to support their RE learning. Their topic for RE next half-term is Salvation and during their visit to the church they will be looking for signs of Easter and learning about how Christians follow Jesus' example in helping those in need. 

Please ensure that your child has appropriate outdoor clothing for the weather on Friday including a waterproof coat. 

COVID Risk Assessment

Following the changes in Government Guidance, our school Risk Assessment and Outbreak Management plans have been updated and the new documents can be viewed on the school website.

We continue to ensure good ventilation within school, encourage children to wash their hands regularly and to follow the 'Catch it, Bin it, Kill it' advice to reduce the spread of germs. We will also be asking parents and visitors to continue to wear face coverings at events where there are large numbers present such as class worship and parent meetings.

The UK Health Security Agency guidance - COVID-19: people with COVID-19 and their contacts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) is clear that children should not attend school if they test positive for COVID and the guidance for parents - What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges during COVID-19 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) states ‘ Pupils, staff and other adults who have COVID-19 symptoms, should follow guidance on People with COVID-19 and their contacts.’  And ‘If you insist on your child attending nursery, school, or college when they have symptoms, they can take the decision to refuse your child if, in their reasonable judgement, it is necessary to protect other pupils and staff from possible infection with COVID-19.’

The graphic below illustrates how to safely return to normal routine before 10 days. 

Class Worship - register for Bee & Ant Class Worship

We would ask that parents register if they would like to attend class worship using the links below. We also ask that you wear a mask when on school premises and if you are able to take a LFD test before attending that would be appreciated. 

The remaining Class Worship dates are as below and parent sign up will be communicated in the school Newsletter 2 weeks before each date. 

• Bee Class Friday 11th March https://forms.gle/oMYbL75HoPjboH1H6
• Ant Class Friday 18th March https://forms.gle/gED8vbgMDnFGLbdo6
• Grasshopper Class Friday 25th March

For class worships our COVID risk assessment applies and we would ask that:

• face coverings are worn at all times on school premises
• attendees take a lateral flow test before attending if possible
• you should not attend if you have any COVID symptoms

Summer Fayre

We are very keen to run a school summer fayre this year to celebrate the restrictions ending and also to provide an opportunity to have the whole school and our extended families together in one place.  The summer fayre is an outdoor event, held on the school field, with fun stalls, food and drink.  Look out for the email giving details of how you can help with this event next week. Date is likely to be Saturday 21^st May 11am-2pm.

Doughnut Day

Due to the severe weather at the end of last half term we were unable to hold the doughnut sale as planned.   This will now take place when the children finish for Easter, Friday 8^th April at 13:15.

School Disco

The School disco has proven to be very popular and we are pleased to have been able to open it up to all children.  Bookings have now closed on ParentPay. Due to the tight timings, we do ask that you please help by dropping and collecting your children at the designated times.  We will send details about this separately.  If you are able to offer support during the disco itself, we would be grateful for a few more helpers particularly at the 15:45 event.

Please email marlowcofepfa@gmail.com

Bag2School

Thank you for all your donations yesterday. Bag to school raised £68.80