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March 2016

Young Voices

The spring term may have been very short but it was certainly filled with many exciting and rewarding

events. Children have taken part in gymnastic competitions; a Sponsored Read [which has raised over

£400 so far], Year 4 visited Grafham, Year 6 went down memory lane to the 1940’s in Stibbington and

children in Key Stage 1 came back to school for a night walk as part of their science topic. Teachers have

been working tirelessly to ensure the new assessment systems are in place and work has been moderated

with other schools. Young Voices was, however, the most memorable event of the term.

It was on Monday 8th February that I had the enormous pleasure of accompanying the School Choir on

their visit to the O2 Arena in London. After six months of rehearsals, the 36 pupil strong choir joined 8000

other primary school children at the O2 and became a voice in a million singing around the country as part

of ‘Young Voices’. Under the guidance of Mrs Downing and Mrs Glitherow, the choir learnt twelve long

medley songs word perfect and practiced actions to many of them ready to perform in such an amazing

arena. Children arrived at the O2 wearing ‘high viz’ jackets donated by the PTA and spent the whole day

rehearsing and learning even more songs. They then had the wonderful surprise and great fortune to sing

with famous artists including Laura Wright, Tom Billington, the Beatbox, Katie Melua, Lemar and even

Ben Haenow. The scale of the event was staggering and some children were overwhelmed.

This year Young Voices, the world’s largest children’s choir organisation, was celebrating it’s 20th

anniversary and as usual supported the Nordoff Robins Charity. The Gala night alone raised £75k for the

charity to use for music therapy to transform young lives.

Rocco described the day as, “ Amazing. Brilliant. Such a sense of achievement!”

Isabella said, “It was awesome, the best thing I’ve ever done!”

With pride, parents watched their children perform such a wonderful evening of music. It was certainly a

spectacular day for us all to remember! The choir repeated the performance back at school to the guests of

the community and parents who could not travel to the O2. Many children have already expressed an

interest to repeat the experience again next year. Thank you for all the parental support and a special thank

you to Mrs Downing for her time spent organising such an amazing opportunity for the children.

Angela Boxall

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A Climate of Change

Assessment

There have been many changes put on schools in the past year but changes to assessment have been a

massive challenge for everyone. Every school across the country has been free to form their own

assessment and tracking system of the National Curriculum and last term we introduced the stages of

learning. Teachers and parents can not make direct comparisons of the old levels and the new more

challenging stages of learning -as some people would say, it is like comparing apples with oranges.

Further information on assessment is still slowly and continually coming to light from the government.

Teachers have been working closely with the Asca clusters schools to ensure children’s work at each

stage of learning is moderated and standardised across all local schools. This will mean that work that is

identifying as from ‘age expectation at stage 3’, will be in agreement with teachers in other schools . It is

only in the past few weeks that up to date exemplar work has been published but we will not know

where the average boundary marks will fall for Year 6 children until the SATs tests have been taken in

May.

One of the key changes, especially for the Year 6 children this year, is how the Maths and Reading tests

will be reported. Using stage 6 criteria, children in Year 6 will be told if they have met or not met age

expectation. This in reality seems very harsh so it must be stressed that although the SATs tests are

important, they do only form one part of the overall assessment as a snap shot in time. Teachers will

continue to give their own formative assessments which will indicate if children have exceeded age

expectation or if they are working towards it with an indication of how close to it they are. Some of these

teacher assessments were discussed at the recent parent/child/ teacher consultations and will, as usual, be

included in the end of year reports.

Grammar We are now reaping the rewards as result of changes to the teaching of grammar, which were put into

place just before Christmas. Mrs Pawley has worked hard with staff across the school to develop the

knowledge and the higher order grammar skills required at each stage of learning. Everyone has been

amazed by what children are now expected to know and able to apply at each stage of learning.

Maths

Many children have also worked hard to plug the gaps to learn times tables. As a reminder, by the end of

Year 4 all children need to know all times tables to 12 x12 which will help in many other areas of their

maths. Sadly there are some things children just have to put the effort in and learn - times tables is one of

those things that need a little more effort. Does your child know all their tables to 12x12?

In Key Stage One, children should be working on their number facts including the rapid recall of all pos-

sible calculations that total a10 and a 20.

Mrs Spittle, the Maths leader, is in the process of updating the parent guide to school maths calculations

and these should be ready for you in early in the summer term.

Key Stage 2 Maths Workshop for Parents.

This maths morning organised by Mrs Spittle was very well

attended by parents. The morning demonstrated today’s

strategies for supporting children with maths and gave

parents the opportunity to join their children in a maths

lesson. Comments from parents were incredibly positive.

Plans to hold a similar event for parents of children in Key

Stage 1 are well underway, so keep a check on the

school diary dates.

Attendance Attendance to date this year is 96.1%

Same period last year was 95.5%

Number of these days that were unauthorised was191.

The class with the best attendance this term was Whales with 96.7 % attendance

Year 6 Easter Booster

April 5th, 6th & 7th

9:30 - 12.30pm

Year 6 Easter Booster

April 5th, 6th & 7th

9.30 - 12.30pm

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PTA

Do you fancy joining in?

Did you know that as a

parent you are

automatically a member of

the PTA? It’s entirely up to

you how active you are as a

member, you could do lots

or nothing or something

inbetween. You don’t have

to come to meetings

regularly or at all, just let

one of us know that you are

interested in helping and

what you would like to do

and we will fit around you.

Meetings are held in the

Sports & Social Club on

the second Tuesday of the

month at 7.30pm.

Thank you for your continued support! 3

Dear Parent and Carers,

I can’t believe that Christmas is such a distant memory and we are

looking forward to Easter already. After the heavy fundraising

schedule of the Autumn Term the PTA decided to slow it down a

little and start planning for the Summer Term events. However,

having typed that ,we have had a Sponsored Read, the KS2 Cake

Sale which raised £147.30 and we have run two after school clubs

this term too.

These events and others have helped us to provide funding for the

high visibility jackets for KS1 & KS2 which had their first outing

with the Young Voices Choir and the book tokens for the Easter

Bonnet Parade prizes for the winner and the runner up in each year

group.

What are we fundraising for this year?

In 2015/2016 the PTA are aiming to raise money for the

refurbishment of the library. We have been lucky enough to secure

a £1000 grant from the Old Village School Board Trust to purchase

new books and Steve Dodd, Chair of Governors, has also persuaded

Crown Paints to donate paint in the colour of our choice too. As

soon as we know the amount raised by the Sponsored Read, we will

let you know.

The Summer Term is nearly as busy for the PTA as the Autumn

Term so here are some dates for your diaries ……..

Wednesday, April 13th – School Discos with an exciting new DJ!!!

Due to the short term and the production of “The Circle of Life” the

Easter Discos will be the day after we return to school.

Friday, April 22nd – PTA Quiz night (teams of up to 6)

Tickets will be on sale soon at £7.50 to include a Ploughman’s

Supper, bring your own drinks.

Saturday, June 11th – Summer Fete

We are bringing the date of the Summer Fete forward to coincide

with the Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebrations and will be themed

around her 90 years. The fete will be held from 2pm – 4pm

followed by a family party with a BBQ and music. There will be

one dress down day between now and the fete, plus we would really

appreciate it if you could start saving your glass jars for one of the

new stalls.

Could you spare some time to help?

We will shortly be requesting volunteers for the stalls at the school

fete. Please consider sparing an hour of your time to help us raise

the money the school requires to provide much needed resources for

your children.

…. And finally

I would like to say thank you to all the Committee and volunteers

for their hard work and support during the Spring Term and on

behalf of all the PTA Committee I would like to thank you for your

continued support and I hope you have a great break and come back

ready to PARTY!!!!!!

Ruth Campbell - Chair, PTA

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Foundation Stage.

We have been very busy

learning in Foundation this

term. We all learnt about

Dinosaurs and did some

lovely dinosaur chalk

drawings in the playground.

In February, we all learnt how

to make pancakes, and then

had pancake races in the hall. Making our Mothers Day cards in

March also made us practice our writing skills, as well as our

art. Turtles and Dolphins are looking forward to the Summer Term with Mrs Robertson and Mrs

Spittle.

Year 1 & 2 Winter Walk.

One Monday evening in January, we all had to have an

early tea as we were coming back to school for a winter

walk, it was very exciting. We all wrapped up warmly and

went out onto the field to see what we could see. It was

quite a cloudy night so there weren’t many stars, but we

looked at the outline of the trees against the sky. Then we

set off out onto the field, making sure that none of us got

lost in the dark. No one did, so we all came back to the

campfire that Mr Watson from the Scouts had organised.

It was nice and warm, but we didn’t get too close. We all

sang songs around the campfire and had hot chocolate and marshmallows, which was great. After that

we went home.

Jamie and Abi.

World Book Day

As usual, World Book Day took place on the first

Thursday in March. All the children (and staff!)

were encouraged to dress up as their favourite

book character. This year, the day was also

combined

with a

Sponsored

Read in

conjunction

with the

PTA to

raise money

for a refurbishment of the school library.

As you can see, a great day was had by

all, especially Floppy the dog!

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Year 4 go to Grafham Water

On Wednesday 9th March, 30 Year 4 children arrived at school

‘dressed down’ in their own clothes very excited about their 3 day

residential trip to Grafham Water. Once we had been registered, we

all walked out to the car park where the coach was waiting for us. It

wasn’t a very long ride to Grafham and, once we got there, we

dropped all our bags off in a secure area and went to the lounge,

where we were told what all our activities would be. We would be

starting these after lunch, so we had lunch, which was lovely, and

then went to our rooms. There was a maximum of six people to each

room, but most of us didn’t have that many.

So now it was time for the first activity, which for us was Bushcraft

and Orienteering. For Bushcraft, in our groups we had to make dens

with ‘Y’ sticks and a blue cover over the top. We also had a campfire

and marshmallows! Orienteering was fun too as we had to follow a

map to find where the answer to a nature quiz was hidden. Then it was time for dinner, and after that we

went to the lounge, where we all made

pictures to put on the doors of our rooms.

On the second day, we started off with the

high ropes – not everyone went on the

highest ropes! We also did the Elvis walk

where we had to balance on just one rope whilst using two more ropes as handrails. We did also have a

harness on! Some of the boys went across the rickety bridge too.

In the afternoon we went canoeing, which was good fun although we got wet and muddy. In the evening

we had a talent show, We could all choose what we did – there was a lot of singing and dancing.

On the last day, we did the Grafham Challenge. This was where we were all blindfolded and had to hold

onto a rope and do an obstacle course. Finally we did archery, which was really good.

Grafham was a lot of fun and we would like to thank Mr Herring, Mrs Boxall, Mrs Robinson, Mrs

Edwards, Mrs Bartram and Mrs Stearne, with special thanks to Mrs Spittle for the marshmallows!

Oliver and Izzy.

Gymnastics Competition.

On Tuesday 8th March, 6 Year 3/4 girls went to Huntingdon Gym

to take part in a competition with 11 other schools. In teams of two,

we took part in floor routines consisting of a cartwheel, straddle,

splits and pike amongst others. We didn’t win but we all had a great

time competing. Thanks to Mr Herring for taking us.

Rachel

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Rotary Quiz.

On Thursday 25th February, 17 Year 6 pupils took part in the Rotary Quiz. We all

had to come back to school after tea ready for the 7pm start. We all made up one

team with Charlie as our team captain. The quiz lasted an hour and consisted of

three rounds – TV Shows, Pot Luck and General Knowledge with a 15 minute

break between rounds. Schools in different parts of the county took part with all

the results being fed into a central location. Someone from Rotary came into

school in case we had any problems and to make sure that we didn’t cheat! We all worked well together as

a team and there were no arguments. The TV round was probably our best. Once the Quiz had finished,

we all stayed at school eating popcorn to see how well we had done and we are thrilled to say that we

came 2nd out of 9 schools! Thanks to Mr Duncan and Mrs H-J for organising it all for us.

Charlie and Riley.

Year 6 Visit to Stibbington.

On Tuesday 19th January, Year 6 went to

Stibbington Day Centre to feel what it was like to

be an evacuee child in 1940. This was to help us

with our World War Two topic.

We all met at 8.30am to get ready for our exciting

trip. Everyone couldn’t wait to go, but first we had

to make sure we had our boxes that we had made

to put our gas masks in. We also had to put our

name labels onto our clothes.

After a forty minute drive, we arrived at

Stibbington and were met off the coach by the

Billeting Officer, Mrs Smith, who showed us

around the centre. First we went on a train, like the

evacuues would have travelled on during the war

Mrs Smith told us about how we would have felt if we were evacuues leaving our families. After that, we

walked through a field where the Land Girls would have worked on the crops with the farmers. It was

very muddy and the ground was freezing cold. When we left the field, we came to the entrance to the

school hall. Once there, we had to fill in identity cards. After that, we had sandwiches of spam, jam or

cheese with spice cake and an apple. Full but freezing, we went outside to have a break where we played

games like they would in the 1940’s, like skipping and hop scotch. Even the teachers joined in!

After lunch we all went to a classroom to do some spellings, which weren’t that hard. We tried on gas

masks. It was very hard to breathe with the mask on. It reminded us of a jelly fish with the tentacles going

in and out when you breathed. Then we heard the air raid siren, which meant that we had to go to the air

raid shelter. It was very narrow and a bit scary in the bunker, so we sang songs to keep us calm. Finally

the siren sounded again so we knew it was safe to leave.

We all really enjoyed our day and would love to go again. Thank you to Mrs Hunter-Jones and Mr Duncan

for taking us.

By Grace and Riley.

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Governors Parents

Steve Dodd (Chair)

Peter Wood-Eeles (Vice-Chair)

Simon Mead (Chair of

Resources)

Claire Eeley

Alan Evans

Karen Glen

Co-opted

Karen Harding

Nigel Graham

Jo Spittle

Jan Attwood

Gina Kujawinski

Local Authority

Angie Curtis (Chair of S & A)

Staff

Angela Boxall (Headteacher)

Michelle Robinson

Clerk

Loren Bradley

Associate.

Caroline McKeating

Interested in

becoming a

Governor?

Ready to give

something back to

your community?

Contact us for a chat.

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Dear Parent & Carers,

Although this has been a short term, we have certainly

packed a lot into it!

Firstly, I would like to thank Caroline McKeating for her

contribution as a Staff Governor now that her 4 year term of

office has ended. However, Caroline remains as an associate

Governor enabling her wealth of knowledge to be shared

with the Governing Body.

Secondly, I would like to welcome Michelle Robinson

(School Business Manager) as our new Staff Governor

together with Gina Kujawinski who joins us as a new

co-opted Governor.

The Governing Body continues to focus on the School

Development Plan which includes improvements in both

Mathematics and Literacy. With this in mind, several

governors visited the school in January to carry out link

visits with staff. Simon Mead attended a meeting of the

Senior Leadership Team, which he found to be very

informative. Nigel Graham met with children and staff to

review progress in Maths, while Claire Eeley came into

school to look at writing. All Governors then reported back

to Committee. Already we have seen significant

improvements and thank staff for their continued time and

effort which includes implementing early morning Maths

sessions, Easter Booster Session and Face to Face meetings

for Year 6.

The Curriculum Morning for Key Stage 2 was extremely

successful and the parental engagement was very much

appreciated to support moving Warboys School forward.

We have also had a visit from the Local Authority to support

improvements across the whole of the school in Maths and

Literacy which resulted in excellent feedback on the efforts

that the staff and pupils continue to make.

On behalf of the Governing Body, I would like to thank Mrs

Boxall and the Senior Leadership Team and Staff for their

hard work this term.

I wish you all a great Easter Holiday.

Steve Dodd

Chair of Warboys Governors

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Diary

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www.warboys.cambs.sch.uk

Tuesday 12th April 2016 Start of Summer Term

Wednesday 13th April 2016 PTA Easter Discos, KS1 5-6pm, KS2 6.15 -

7.15pm

Friday 15th April 2016 Seahorses Class Assembly

Friday 22nd April 2016 PTA Quiz Night

Wednesday 27th April 2016 Class Photographs

Friday 6th May 2016 Tigers Class Assembly

Wednesday 25th May 2016 Maths Morning, KS1 & Foundation

Friday 27th May 2016 Hawks Class Assembly

Monday 30th - Friday 3rd June 2016 Half term

Tuesday 7th June 2016 Year 5/6 Boys Cricket Tournament

Saturday 11th June 2016 PTA Summer Fete

Tuesday 21st June 2016 Year 5/6 Girls Cricket Tournament

Friday 24th June 2016 Dolphins Class Assembly

Monday 27th June - Thursday 30th

June 2016

Bikeability for Year 6

Friday 1st July 2016 Turtles Class Assembly

Wednesday 6th & Thursday 7th July

2016

Year 6 Induction Days

Tuesday 12th July 2016 PTA Summer Discos

Thursday 21stJuly 2016 End of Term.