We have had a lovely start to our new term looking at our RE learning about Special Things. The children enjoyed exploring the concept of Special Things and talked about the toys and objects from home which were special to them. We then linked this to special things within the Christian and Jewish faiths. Each class enjoyed creating their own cloth for the class special table, with every child making one piece of the cloth. They look amazing!
We are continuing to develop our Maths knowledge of numbers within 20 by looking at how they are made up of tens and ones and comparing the numbers using the language of greater than and less than. We have also started to look at the story, ‘Lost in the Toy Museum’ as part of our English learning where we will explore the use of adjectives within our writing about toys.
We have also started our new project, Imagination, where we will be looking at how toys have changed throughout history. A note went home on Friday asking for the children to please bring in a small toy (which will stay in school until half term) to use for our Toy Exhibition on Thursday 6th February. Please ensure they come to school in a named carrier bag or named in another way.
What an exciting day we had in Year 3! It was lovely to see all the children dressed in red, white and blue clothes today. The children were extremely excited this morning when arriving in their classrooms to find a locked suitcase. We started the morning by predicting why we were dressed in these colours and what might be in the suitcase. We decided it was too small to have all of our clothes in to go on holiday! We then tried to have a guess at the codes for the padlocks but had no luck.
The children then completed a scavenger hunt to find different clues. The clues were maths problems to solve but had the children intrigued, as they talked about euros and pounds. Once they found the answers they had to unscramble the word ‘flag’ which lead to some more calculations before eventually finding the code to open the padlock ‘2652’.
They then completed many activities that were found in the suitcase to learn about the facts on our knowledge organiser and about our new topic. The children had a super day and created some of their own flags only using red, white and blue.
We hope they are as excited about our new topic as we are. The children have brought home their knowledge organisers and topic information for this half term. Please share this with your child and place it in a prominent place at home so that they learn all our facts.
Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful break and feel rested for the new term.
Our themes this term are ‘wellbeing’ and ‘aspirations’. We’ll be thinking about what we can all do to keep ourselves healthy in mind and body. With our careers fair coming up, we’ll also be looking at our own interests and skills, as well as learning about a whole range of jobs. Hopefully we’ll become inspired by them!
Our newsletter has had a change for the New Year. Instead of being a picture on our website, it is written on our website. This has lots of advantages: a better layout on the screen, clicking links within the newsletter, and easier administration for our staff. It should also feel shorter in length.
A reminder that we are raising funds through FOSM for improving and expanding our books in school. This includes “learning to read” books as well as “loving reading” books! Thank you for your ongoing generosity, including 2 parents of a Year R pupil who kindly gave us a Christmas gift.
Finally, look out for Autumn term school reports coming out this week. We hope that you find them helpful. As always, please speak to your class teacher if you have any questions. Parents’ evening booking details are coming out soon, too.
Have a great week,
Mr Applegate :)
Spring Term After School Clubs
We will be sending letters home soon to children who have secured an after school club place.
Every effort has been made to allocate their first choice, but some children will have their second or third choice.
Third Menu Option
Starting Tuesday 7th January, the school kitchen will be offering a third menu option on Tuesdays only.
The choices will be:
Week 1: Fish wrap with chips
Week 2: Hot Dog and Chips
Week 3: Pizzini and Chips
Please note we will be returning on Week 2, so the option on 7th January will be Hot Dog and Chips (which went down well today!)
Service Pupil Premium
Parents – are you a member of the Services
Schools are entitled to an additional pot of money if a parent is in the Services, such as the Armed Forces. However, we need to know about it and complete a form. If this applies to you, please do get in touch with the office by 14th January. Thank you.
Reports
Our autumn term reports come out this week. We produce a termly report so that you feel in the loop about how your child is getting on at school. If you have any questions about it, please do speak to the class teacher. Look out for the teacher comment, too!
St Mark’s are moving with the time
We’re aware that techy watches are becoming increasingly popular. We are therefore relaxing our rules to move with the times. If children have a fitbit or tech watch they want to wear to school, this is fine. However, it is done so with the following rules, and failing to follow these rules will result in not being able to wear the watch to school again, or having it taken off the child to give to the parent.
Watches must not be played with in class or during learning time. They must be on mute.
No watches with cameras are allowed.
Watches must not be connected to wireless networks, Bluetooth, networks or otherwise, and must not communicate with each other.
Any damage, loss or theft of watches is not the school’s responsibilities. If parents allow their children to bring expensive watches in, they do so knowing that they may be broken or lost. The school will not take responsibility for this or dedicate time to resolving issues – even if it is the result of another child damaging it.
Should this change of rules result in difficulties, the school may reverse the policy!
Careers Fair
We’re excited to be running our St Mark’s Careers Fair again! Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th February, 9-11:30am. To find out more and to register:
St Mark’s boasts a large hall, a smaller hall, a kitchenette, a very large field and playgrounds. Our hire rates are very competitive. Our facilities can be hired for:
Did you know? Our after school club has great features, including:
1. No deposit required. Simply pay as you go. 2. Bookings are online, quick and easy: www.stmarksprimary.net/scl 3. You can book the night before – no need to book weeks in advance, but you can do that too! 4. Children can attend after school clubs, and then go to SCL when they finish – and also pay a reduced rate. 5. There is plenty of space, and the club is financially secure. It’s here to stay. 6. An afternoon snack and meal are provided. 7. Activities at SCL are varied and fun. 8. Cost is £12/session, or £9 if attending later because of a school club. 9. Hours are 3:20pm to 6pm. 10. Child care vouchers are accepted!
This week we will be sending home a report on your child’s learning over the Autumn term. Within this report we will comment briefly on your child’s ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’. These are:
playing and exploring – how your child investigates and experiences things, and their ability to ‘have a go’.
active learning – how your child concentrates and perseveres if they encounter difficulties, and enjoys achievements.
creating and thinking critically how your child can develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
This report will include ‘I can’ statements (things your child has achieved and learned to do since starting school) and next steps. We hope you find the reports useful.
Our website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Facebook
We’re aware that techy watches are becoming increasingly popular. We are therefore relaxing our rules to move with the times. If children have a fitbit or tech watch they want to wear to school, this is fine. However, it is done so with the following rules, and failing to follow these rules will result in not being able to wear the watch to school again, or having it taken off the child to give to the parent.
