2020 – St Mark's CofE Primary School

December 4, 2020

Latest Newsletter

Key dates coming up

9th Dec – Last day for Christmas Cards (see below)

From 14th Dec – Children’s Christmas videos will be available (bear with us as there is a lot of editing!)

15th Dec – Last day for Staff gifts (see below)

17th Dec – Non uniform, Christmas Lunch and afternoon party – with a massive surprise!

18th Dec – Last day of term – normal finish times

4th Jan – INSET DAY

5th Jan – Term starts for children

Staff Gifts: There is never any expectation or pressure to buy staff Christmas presents. However, if you would like to, please bring them in by 15th Dec to allow for quarantine. Thank you.

Christmas Cards – to be Covid-safe, the last day for bringing in Christmas cards for other children is 9th Dec. Cards will then be quarantined, sorted, and re-quarantined before handing out. Remember, no name and class on the envelope means no delivery!

Goodbye and Thank you!

We sadly said goodbye to Mrs Friend this week. She has been part of our lunchtime team for 6 years, and part of our school for 10 years as her children were at St Mark’s. On behalf of our school community, we thank thank you, and all the best in the future!

Simba and the North Pole

Between now and Christmas we’ve got our sponsored walk to help get Simba to the North Pole to meet Santa. Sponsorship form is here! We’re holding a non-uniform day with Christmas party (Thursday 17th Dec – same day as Christmas Lunch), which MAY also include a surprise appearance from a very special guest (we’re not promising anything just yet!). We’re also trying to arrange a small virtual Christmas raffle. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to have as many prizes as we would normally do given the current situation, but we hope you’ll still want to win and buy tickets.

(As you are probably aware, we are unable to hold our Christmas Fayre this year. We are so disappointed as not only does this raise around £5000 each year for our school, but it’s always a great day and offers many of our children the opportunity for a visit with Santa.)

Non Uniform Day

FOSM will be holding a non uniform day on Thursday 17th December for the class Christmas parties.

There will be buckets on the school gates to help raise funds. Thank you for your generosity so far, it really helps our school :-)

Thank you Gift

An amazing grandparent, who wishes to remain anonymous, has kindly donated £250 towards our school fundraising total. Thank you so much – we are so grateful!

FOSM news

Simba Raffle – Congratulations to Madison H in Year 6 who won the Simba raffle! Thank you to everyone who took part.

Nearly New Uniform – we have a new email address. If you would like to purchase any Nearly New Uniform, please email your request to: uniform.fosm@stmarksce.org.uk

St Mark’s Christmas Eve book sale

Local author and St Mark’s school mum Caroline Meek has created a new Christmas Eve book. We have 200 copies available. The price is £5 per book with all profits from the sale going to St Marks.

If you would like to purchase copies, please provide the right amount of cash or a cheque in an envelope with your child’s name and their class detailed on the front, to your child’s class teacher, by Friday 11^th December. All books will be delivered week commencing the 14^th of December. Due to quarantine requirements we cannot accept late orders. Cheques should be paid to “Caroline Meek” and have the child’s name and class on the back.

Book snapshot: Christmas is Chloe and Ben’s favourite time of year. They love seeing how happy it makes everyone. Join them as they visit their neighbours from around the world, and find out how they celebrate Christmas.

All profits go to St Mark’s to support your children and SimplyHealth with match any money raised. Thank you for your support.

Well done Isobelle, and thank you Wates Construction!

Isobelle in year 5 sent in a drawing and explanation of why St Mark’s should be awarded a grant from Wates Construction. Not only did she do a brilliant job, she also won the money for our school – £500! Well done Isobelle! And thank you to mum, dad and Wates Construction for your support and generosity!

Basingstoke Family Support Service

During these difficult times it can be hard to know where to ask for help. Basingstoke Family Support Service provide free support and advice for families in need. Our Session of Support (SOS) appointments are available over the phone to assist with a concern you need help with. Let us know if you think this could help you.

RockStars Headliners

Fastest Speed:

Year 6: 1st – Noa, 2nd – Bela and 3rd – Scarlett B

Year 5: 1st – Brody, 2nd – Samuel W and 3rd – Ryan R

Year 4: 1st – Kalel, 2nd – Matthew and 3rd – Iremide

Year 3: 1st – Isla B, 2nd – Zane and 3rd – Will H

Star Learners Last Week!

Well done to:

Year R: Thea, Kara, Elias
Year 1: Callan, Ellie, Mia
Year 2: Isobel, Ewan, Amber
Year 3: Owen, George H, Ashley, Theo M
Year 4: Ethan, James-Dean, Darcy
Year 5: Emily, Neve, Annabella
Year 6: Ollie P, Sophie Wh, Dan H

Immanuel Church

Regular Notices

Year R Tours – September 2021

Interested in joining St Mark’s for September 2021? We’re running tours and online sessions. Click here to find out more

SCL After school care and Half Term Child Care

Click here for Half-term child care booking! Held at Hatch Warren Community Centre.

Click here for regular after school care at St Mark’s.

Covid Reminders

Use the email covid@stmarksce.org.uk if you have questions or need to report symptoms or a positive case.
Please keep us updated – for example, of test results.
Read this letter from Public Health England about symptoms and testing.
NHS Symptoms Check
If a child or parent is at home because of symptoms, please keep the siblings off too. IE the whole household needs to isolate, and the person with symptoms needs to get a test.
We are moving online with homework, spellings and Google Classrooms. If you need help with technology, please do let us know by emailing the office.
If a child is off school but able to work, then Google Classroom work is available – and it should be completed. Teachers spend a lot of time making sure this work is available so no-one misses out!

Do you have a spare laptop you don’t need?

Do you have a laptop lying around, which we can use to support children at home? Doesn’t need to be new or quick. We blitz it, and install all the software necessary. That way a child who doesn’t have access to a laptop for home learning can really benefit. If you can help, please email the office.

What is your child learning this term?

Read the following for your child’s year group to find out more! It includes information about homework, reading, general expectations and more. The Knowledge Organiser helps you to know the knowledge the children should be learning for their project. Test them and see how they are getting on!

Online Forms

Absence Request form – going to be absent (e.g. wedding, funeral, holiday etc)? Use this form
Pupil Premium Form – have your work/benefit circumstances changed? Complete this form so we can check if your child is elligible for free school meals and other support at school.
Getting Home Arrangements – tell us how your child gets home each day.
Mobile Phone Request – for older children needing to bring a phone to school

Going to be absent?

We’ve moved our absence request form online. This is for absence requests such as holidays, weddings, funeral, special events, and more. You don’t need to use this form for sickness or self-isolation (but please email/phone the office if they are unwell).

Support our school whilst you shop!

Email and Contact Details

If you don’t receive the school newsletter and year group emails via email, you can sign up here!

Remember, if you change your contact details, please let the office know here.

Get in touch with us

Email Us

Phone Us

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December 2, 2020

Year 5 Learning Update – Globe Trotting Around North America

Overview

What a busy few weeks we have had in Year 5. The children have immersed themselves in our topic – Globe Trotting Around North America – and have been learning about all the differences that can be found across the continent including the biomes that can be found there, the land use and the different ways that different tribes have lived depending on their origin.

Big News! We have our class ‘State-Off’ coming up next week so would love the children to practise naming as many of the 50 states from the USA as they can. Which class will be victorious? We will find out soon!

English

‘The Midnight Fox’ by Betsy Byars is a traditional tale set in North America and we have been focusing our English all around this book. The children are currently rewriting the story from the fox’s perspective but last week, they wrote the most exceptional letters!

In the story, Uncle Fred goes fox hunting and when the children were faced with a recent newspaper report about fox hunting, they become so passionate about the topic! The children learned that Jeremy Hunt MP wanted to have a free vote on whether the ban on fox hunting should remain or be lifted and they wrote persuasive letters to him to encourage him to either leave the ban in place, or allow a free vote on the issue, depending on their own personal opinion. Please see some outstanding examples below.

Design Technology

As mentioned above, the children have been learning about the different tribes that live, and have lived, across North America. They have learned about how, depending on their origin, these people lived in homes ranging from teepees to igloos, lived on everything from deer to seals and wore a range of clothing and colours. From this research, the children have begun designing and completing their own weaves. Here are a few examples from last week.

We are excited to share the children’s other pieces of artwork with you at the end of term and hopefully some of their stories too. Look out for our final website update for 2020! We are so proud, as always, of how hard the children are working and particularly with how hard they have worked in their assessments over the last few days. Their results will be shared with you soon when you receive their end of term reports.

Many thanks,

The Year 5 Team