Great Tew SchoolNewsletter

Week 208th Feb, 2019

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Rev'd Ginny led our assembly on Monday and she talked to us about the Christian festival of Candlemas which marks the end of Christmas. Rev'd Ginny explained how a tradition of Candlemas is to bless all the candles to be used in Church for the following year. Rev'd Ginny blessed some candles for us all, with the help of some eager children. It was interesting to hear that Candlemas used to be called the Festival of Lights, just as Divali is often known; it marked the mid point of winter, half way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

Tue 12 Parents' Evening 4pm to 7pm

Thur 14 Parents' Evening 3.30 to 5.30pm

Coming Up

News from Recept ion

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The classroom was full of budding scientists on Monday afternoon as the children were set the challenge of devising a fair test investigation. Year 1 had to prove which elastic band had the most stretch while the Year 2 children had to try and prove which was the warmest place in our classroom and cloakroom using ice-cubes! It was exhausting! There were many heated discussions between the Year 1 children as they thought they had devised a fair test only to have me come along and point out a problem using the mantra 'You change one thing, you measure one thing, you keep the rest the same'. The year 2 children were disappointed that we don't have radiators so that led to a discussion about under floor heating! We sent Connie off on a voyage of discovery without her shoes on and she successfully located a lovely warm pipe which didn't disappoint in the ice melting race.

In your child's home learning folder this week there are a pack of cards, Year 1 have doubles of numbers 0 - 12 and Year 2 have the two times table. I have shown the children the 'no cheating' method of stacking the shuffled pile in front of themselves and not touching the top card until they have decided upon the answer! I need them to be really speedy, immediate recall is what we're after. Good luck!!

News From Years 1 & 2

We were all very pleased to welcome back Miss Read this week. The children were very happy to see her - we had all missed her while she was away.

Ch-ch-ch-ch..... sh-sh-sh-shhhh! You may well have guessed already that these were the 'best friend' sounds that we have been learning about this week. The children have explored ways of correctly reading and spelling words with these sounds in them. Please note that it is most helpful to children if these sounds are pronounced without an 'uh' sound (chuh and shuh) but simply as ch, like a train and sh as if asking for quiet.

In maths this week the children used the language of capacity to describe how much a container can hold and to compare the size of two or more containers (full, empty, overflow, half full, almost empty...).

The children have been interested in the different types of birds that we see in our garden this week and have helped to put food out for them during the cold weather. There was close examination of mealworms alongside lots of thoughtful questions and discussion, as I'm sure you can imagine!

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News from Years 3 & 4The children in Year 3 and 4 took part in Internet Safety Day by completing a survey about how they use the Internet. Florence, William & Lucy reported, "We enjoyed gathering the surveys together and looking at the results. We are still looking at the results but found that most of the class mainly uses the Internet for games. The surveys showed us that no-one has shared any personal information and everyone loves using the Internet."

Archie, Matthew & Alexander went on the website Thinkuknow. They explored the website and trialled the Internet Safety Game 'Band Runner' and told us: "Band Runner is a really useful tool for KS2 children. It's fun but at the same time it teaches children how to keep safe online. It educates kids to make safe online choices and to think before posting. We would highly recommend the game."

All the children looked at Internet Safety posters online and created some of their own. We enjoyed Internet Safety Day.

Sport ing Hero: Cecily - for fantastic listening and great team work

Home Learning Hero: Sophie - for completing all her home learning activities, even though she wasn't well.

Our narrative unit is very nearly over in Literacy, and the results of this are indicative of the children's hard work, imagination and determination to improve. The command of the reader, control of sentence structure and mature use of extremely powerful vocabulary have been consistently evident in the children's writing and we cannot wait to share them with you at Parents' Evening.

We welcomed Miss Spiers this week, who is a PGCE student from Oxford Brookes University in her second placement, and who will be with us until the end of March. She has already built up a fantastic rapport with the students, knew all their names by the second day and had the majority of characters well sussed out! I know she was also very flattered when Rosie personally thanked her for a lovely Science lesson on Thursday - a super example of good manners. I know Year 5 and 6 really enjoyed the lesson, so see if they can explain the difference between heliocentric and geocentric....

Our week drew to a close with some blind drawing in art. As a ten minute warm-up activity, the children had the almost-impossible task of NOT looking at what they were drawing; they were asked to complete a continuous line drawing (where there pencils didn't leave the page and their eyes didn't leave the peacock feather they were drawing). Result? Some beautiful interpretations to share with you!

News From Years 5 & 6

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This week's Good Manners' Champion is Jack in Year 6. Jack has consistently good manners around and about school, which he shows to everyone he meets. He carries out his important job of delivering the registers every day with great pride and maturity and a lovely smile on his face. This is what we thought Jack should know: you are such a polite register monitor, always waiting patiently if there's a delay and always saying thank you! you are very gentle and kind to the younger children; you are funny - you often do funny things in the playground but you don't show off and you don't realise you're funny; you have lots of good ideas in shared writing - it was fun working with you and you helped the other children learn; you are a real asset to the school - your behaviour is a really good role model for the younger children; when I taught you how to play draughts (after you'd taught me chess) you thought it was really funny when you thought you'd won but then I had to tell you you weren't playing it properly! Well done Jack - you are a fantastic ambassador for your school and a wonderful role model to the other children. You really should feel proud!

Good Manners'Champion

Grace - for trying really hard with her writ ing and a super att itude to her learning

Xander - for really good concentrat ion and applicat ion in writ ing lessons, which led to him writ ing a wonderful storyAmi - for her excellent att itude towards other members of the class, modelling exemplary behaviour for learningWilla ? for working incredibly hard on her writ ing, producing some fantast ic outcomes

Reception

Years 1 & 2

Years 3 & 4

Years 5 &6

Well done to the following children, who have been showing a Growth Mindset towards their learning, both in and out of the classrooms.

Stars of the Week

House Points this week!

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+ House Point Awards

Bronze Award: Emelia, Lily C, Lucy H, Martha,

Sophie, Theo,

Silver Award: Holly, Lucy S

Coming Up! - Dates for your Diary

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Family Focus Art (Y4-6) at Chipping Norton School 6-7.30

Parents Evening 4.00-7.00pm

Parents Evening 3.30-5.30pm

Half-Term

Heights and Weights for Reception and Y6

Y5&6 to Harry Potter World

World Book Day

Reception Eye Tests

Y3&4 to Roald Dahl Museum

Y5&6 to Chipping Norton Music Festival

Y2&3 Schoolympics at Chipping Norton School

End of term - please note term ends at 2pm

FEB Mon 12Tues 12Thur 14

Mon 18-Fri 22 Tue 26

MAR Tue 5Thur 7Mon 11Tue 12

Wed 20Wed 27

APR Fri 5

Autumn Term 1Wednesday 5th September to Friday 19th October (INSET day on 4th September)

Half Term ? Monday 22nd October to Friday 26th October

Autumn Term 2Monday 29th October to Friday 21st December AT MIDDAY

Christmas Holiday ? Monday 24th December to Friday 4th January

Spring Term 1Monday 7th January to Friday 15th February

Half Term ? Monday 18th February to Friday 22nd February

Spring Term 2Monday 25th February to Friday 5th April at 2pm

Easter Holiday ? Monday 8th April to Tuesday 23rd April

Summer Term 1Tuesday 23rd April to Thursday 23rd May ((with INSET day on Friday 24th May and May Day Bank Holiday on Monday 6th May)

Half Term ? Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May (with INSET day on Friday 24th May)

Summer Term 2 Monday 3rd June to Friday 19th July at 2pm (with INSET days on Monday 22nd, Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th July)

INSET (Staff Training) DAYS *no school for children on these days*:Tuesday 4th SeptemberFriday 24th MayMonday 22nd, Tuesday 23rd & Wednesday 24th July

Term Dates 2018-2019

Netball Fest ival

A huge well done to all of the children who took part in the netball festival at Chipping Norton School:

Annabelle, Belle, Elena, Florence, Louis, Martha, Milo, Monty, Otterlie, Parker, Royce, Vivi and Zac. The

children played exceptionally well, led by their captains Annabelle and Parker, and they represented their

school with pride. A particular well done goes to our Sporting Champions, Florence and Milo, both of whom were chosen for being particularly good at supporting other team members, finding a space, good passing

and strong defence. The children won all their matches except one, and were very pleased to have

come second in the tournament.