18 September 2020

Dear Parents and Carers of Year 6 pupils Welcome to the Year 6 weekly newsletter. This week the children have been following their curriculum timetable and have been able to take part in all the subjects that Parkfields has to offer. There have been a few changes to the norm when moving around the school but the feedback from the children has been good. Some have even commented that they have enjoyed it more than last year!

CELEBRATIONS

Golden Tickets are awarded for commendable acts

of good citizenship. Well done to those who received Golden Tickets this week.

Dylan K Taylor R Diana B

Sasha L Harvey B Taylor J

Hayley G Ethan G (x2) Nikodem S

Jasmine T Jai J Rohan R

Ollie C Grace B Kyle C

Freddie S Zoe G Juliette D

Meggie CG Sam T Sean W

Louie P

PRAISE POSTCARDS Jack R

INFORMATION

Parents Consultation Evening - will be from 4pm - 7pm on the 21st September. The online appointments are booking up fast. You should now have all the information to be able to book. However, if you need a reminder, please visit the school website for all the details under Letters and the appropriate Year group. If you have any questions, please email Mrs Scott - dscott@parkfieldsschool.co.uk or call the school. Mrs Scott will be available Monday (9am-4pm) to assist with any queries The system is automated and will cut off after 5 minutes, to allow for the next parent’s appointment. If after booking, you are unable to attend the session, please ensure that you cancel the appointment so that it can be made available to other families.

Masks The children have been absolutely fantastic when wearing their masks, with very few exceptions. To enable us all to stay safe please would you continue to remind them to bring them in.

Reading Books Please could you check that your child has a reading book in school. Sadly, the library cannot be used at this time. However, they can request to borrow one, if they are unable to bring one in. Enrichment The children were told about their Art enrichment this week; they were given paper copies to bring home. The deadline is 6 Elm & Oak – 12th October. 6 Ash - 13 October. 6 Beech – 14th October. 6 Cedar 15th October. The task is to reproduce a famous work of art and put themselves into the picture. It would be helpful if the children could find out about the artwork and print off an original of the artwork, so that they can talk about it when they present their work in class. If they are unable to print off the work they can write the name onto the back of their masterpiece and then we can display it on the screen. Many Thanks for your support with this. P.E. Football boots will also be needed for rounders when the ground gets wet and muddy (trainers are sufficient at the moment). Spellings - are being set weekly and will be in your child’s planner, they will be tested in their weekly English lesson Ash - Friday Beech - Tuesday Cedar - Friday Elm - Tuesday Oak – Tuesday

Thank you, as always for your support and ‘nudging’ with the learning of the children’s spellings.

School Photos School Photo’s were distributed at the beginning of the week. Orders via the school must be received before the Vancols’ collection morning of Tuesday 29th September. School Meals Attached is the menu that we are using on a 3-week rota basis. Monday 21st September, we will be on week 3. Meals are £2.25 per day, payable in advance by cheque or cash weekly (cheques payable to Interserve Catering Services). Please write your child’s name and form class on the envelope and/or on the reverse of the cheque. Thank you. Letters Any letters sent out during each week will be on our website under the appropriate Year Group and/or whole School. Please check both areas regularly. School Crossing Patrol

Please could you remind parents and children to abide by social distancing rules and

the rule of 6 around the school crossing patrol officers (SCP). We understand that

this is the responsibility of the parents and/or children, however we have received

some complaints from members of the public stating that parents are not abiding by

the rule of 6 around the SCPs. We are speaking to the SCPs and will be informing

them that although the rule does not apply to them as they are in a working

environment, parents should abide by them and that they will need to ensure that

parents/children maintain 2 metres away from them.

Claire Kingham Road Safety Officer Highways Central Bedfordshire Council Changes to Personal Information Parents/Carers are reminded to inform the school office with any change of personal information for them or their child, e.g. name, address, email address and contact personnel with correct telephone numbers to ensure we can reach you but especially in an emergency situation. Contacting the school In your email communication with the school, regarding your child(ren), please ensure you give their name and class/pod group.

Online Safety Please see the poster below for some helpful tips

ACTIVITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The more we know about the children the better we can support them. If you or your child have any particular information or concerns, that you would like to bring to our attention please do not hesitate to email their pod teacher. Best wishes for a happy, restful weekend. From Mrs Phillips and the Year 6 Team. Head of Year 6 -- Mrs Phillips - cphillips@parkfieldsschool.co.uk 6 Ash – Mrs Ruck - sruck@parkfieldsschool.co.uk 6 Beech – Mrs McLaughlin - smclaughlin@parkfieldsschool.co.uk and Mrs Phillips - cphillips@parkfieldsschool.co.uk 6 Cedar – Mrs Pooley - jpooley@parkfieldsschool.co.uk 6 Elm and Spruce – Mrs Jarvis - cjarvis@parkfieldsschool.co.uk Parkfields Middle School Park Road Toddington Beds LU5 6AB Tel: 01525 872555 schooladmin@parkfieldsschool.co.uk

USEFUL INFORMATION that has been in previous emails

Instrumental Music Lessons – September 2020

We are pleased to announce that one to one instrumental teaching lessons will be starting again at school from September. These will be taking place in a new, larger ventilated room and in the main hall. Both these venues have been risk assessed and all necessary COVID safety measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of our pupils and staff. Our Instrumental Music Staff are highly qualified and experienced musicians and teachers and will be offering one to one lessons in School from September. Lessons are offered for Violin, Cello, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Drums/Percussion, Trombone, Trumpet, Guitars, Singing and Piano.

Contact For further details and if your child is interested in learning an instrument, please do contact the new Subject Leader of Music at Parkfields, Mr Winn at jwinn@parkfieldsschool.co.uk who will be delighted to assist. On the days that they have P.E. they will need to come into school in their P.E. kit and wearing their white school trainers (there will be no changing in the changing rooms). They do not need to bring their school uniform on these days. Football boots will be needed for rounder’s and football when the ground is wet and muddy. P.E. Lessons will be –

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Ash Boys – rugby Girls - rounders

Boys – cricket Girls - netball

Beech Boys – rugby Girls - rounders

Boys – cricket Girls - netball

Cedar Boys – rugby Girls - rounders

Boys – cricket Girls - netball

Elm/Oak Boys – rugby Girls - rounders

Boys – cricket Girls - netball

Maths - message from the Maths department - We will be setting Maths homework from next week on the site 'Mathswatch'. Homework will become available on a Thursday’ and will be need to be completed by the following Monday morning, regardless of when Maths lessons are. Thank you for your support with this.

Art and Technology lessons – ( Aprons will not be needed for at least 2 weeks).

Planners – The planners are filled with lots of additional information to support your child’s learning. It would be great if you could have a look through. If, like me, you were involved in family Zoom quizzes during the lockdown they could have been quite an asset for your child. They also contain pages for information that we urgently need, please look and sign pages 8,9,10 and 11! Condover Hall, residential trip Naturally, there will be questions regarding our planned trip to Condover Hall in the summer term. Mrs Bracey is in contact with JCA and further information will be shared in due course. Games We would like to put together a range of indoor and outdoor toys and activities for ‘rainy days’. As you can probably imagine the children are now more restricted than usual and we thought that this might help. If you have any spare outdoor games (garden games, balls, skipping ropes etc.) or indoor activities (board games, packs of cards, activity books etc.) we would be very grateful for any kind donations.

HARVEST FESTIVAL

Our Harvest assembly takes place on Monday 5th

October.

I know I don’t need to remind you how much

contributions are needed in this current climate. This

year we will be supporting the Trussell Trust. Lists of

suggested items from The Trussell Trust are shown in

the links below. If you are able to contribute your

support would be hugely appreciated by us and the

trust.

https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/emergency-food/food-parcel/

https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/emergency-food/non-food-items/

KOOTH – a message from Kooth Dear Parents & Carers, Over the coming weeks your child may mention they have been made aware in school of a service called Kooth, commissioned by Bedford, Luton & Milton Keynes.

Kooth is a Free, Anonymous and Safe Online Mental Wellbeing Community for young people aged 11-19 within the local area.

We provide a range of services to support young people’s wellbeing. Our trained and qualified counsellors are available until 10pm each night, 365 days per year. We also host pre-moderated, age appropriate peer to peer discussion boards, live forums and articles all of which hold young person friendly information as well as therapeutic content.

Whilst your child may not need or use the service, as part of supporting our schools to support students to look after their wellbeing, we are ensuring all children are aware of provision in the area that could assist them now, in their transition to secondary school or in the future.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss what Kooth can offer, please speak to Mrs Minshull or Mrs McNeil who will be able to answer your queries. If you would prefer to speak to representatives from Kooth directly, please email the Kooth team on parents@xenzone.com

Kind Regards

Tiana Golden

BLMK Integration & Participation Worker