We are so proud of our Year 6 children – what a successful week of Bikeability training! Each and every child that has taken part has grown in confidence whilst aiming to reach their ‘personal best’, whatever that looked like. We had children starting the week having never ridden a bike who, today, were flying around the playground with the most incredible smiles on their faces! Some children had never ridden on the roads before and now feel like they could enjoy a bike ride with friends or family.
Over the week, most of the children learnt to:
– Cycle safely and responsibly
– Identify and respond to hazards
– Start and stop on-road journeys
– Maintain suitable riding positions
– Share the road with others and communicate with other road users
– Comply with signals, signs and road markings
– Manage risk when cycling
– Negotiate junctions (pass side roads, turn at T junctions, and crossroads and roundabouts if present)
If your child took part, they will come home with their certificate and badge on Monday. Please look carefully at the back of the certificate to see if there were any elements of the training that the team felt they could do with extra practice in.
For more information, tips or ideas for bike routes, please see their website – https://bikeability.org.uk/cycle-more/cycle-more-2020/
Why not see the progress for yourself and go out on a family bike ride? We would love to see photos!
Last week was busy but amazing! Our pupils loved the prayer space at Immanuel, and were very reflective and thoughtful through the different activities. Year 5 loved the ‘World at Large’ music/drama week, during which they wrote songs and plays about our school values. On Friday, they performed them to the school as well as over 200 parents and relatives. It was outstanding – and fun! Year 1 pupils went to Milestones, and are still recovering from the excitement. HeartSmart@Home launched for 25 Year 4 parents and pupils on Friday. Children across the school enjoyed finding out about their new projects for this half-term too. I’m so pleased to see care, enjoyment and learning at the heart of the children’s experiences.
Thank you parents and carers for your donations for the Capital Projects fund. It really does make a difference, and enables to do things like refurbish toilets, purchase IT equipment, carpet, windows and more. With our large school and very tight budgets, your support is so appreciated.
Finally, see the Knowledge Organisers and Project Leaflets for this half-term below. Have a great week.
World Book Day – This Week!
On Thursday 5th March, we are celebrating World Book Day.
We’ll start with Bookie Breakfast – do come into class at 8.30am-8.50am to read a book with your child if you are able.
Dressing up for the day as a book character is optional. There is no expectation to buy anything. We’ll also be doing various activities during the day.
This week, the school received an amazing cheque for £12,189! It has been months and years of hard work and generosity, and has been put towards our recent HUGE book order and also much needed general supplies. Budgets are very tight, our school is large, and our books have been in huge need of an upgrade and restock, so THANK YOU parents, and THANK YOU FOSM team! We are so grateful.
Reminder – Cake sale is Friday 13th March. Cakes will be on sale in the small hall after school. Plates coming home this week. Remember, we’re a nut free school!
Star Learners
Year R – Ellie, Lily, Arianne
Year 2 – Theo S, Henry, Charlie B
Year 3 – Amelia, Charlie R, Lewis
Year 4 – Lottie B, Daisy (4SH), Brody
Year 5 – Nevaya, DJ, Pippa
Year 6 – Keeley, Amy, Rhys M
Attendance
KS1 Class: 99.31%
KS2 Class: 4SH 99.33%
In our worship this week…
… we are thinking about being a good friend. How we can we support others? How does this make them feel, and us feel? We’ll also be doing our ‘Unselfie Challenge’!
Chicken Pox
We now have cases of Chicken Pox in all of our KS1 year groups. Please look out for any signs or symptoms for your child.
Thank you
Coronavirus Update
The Department for Education (DfE) have opened a new helpline for parents to access, should they have any questions about COVID-19. With regards to medical questions, 111 is still the best contact to use. To contact the DfE about COVID-19:
Phone: 0800 046 8687 Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
The DfE also issued the following advice: No school should close in response to a suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19 case unless directed to do so by Public Health England.
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!
Please note the next cake sale is Friday 13th March. Cakes will be on sale in the small hall after school.
Plates will be sent home with your child at the beginning of March. Could we please remind you we are a nut free school, as we have a number of children with allergies. Thank you for your support and generosity!
Interested in learning to teach?
Come to one of three information sessions to find out more. Click here for the dates and more information. Alternatively, speak to Mr Applegate.
Mental Health Support
Our website has a variety of information – just click here.
Also check out ‘The Ark‘ – our pastoral team’s blog of helpful information.
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!
Your child may have been talking about feeling ‘red’ or ‘yellow’. What does this mean? Well, St Mark’s are adopting a really helpful way for children to identify and talk about their emotional state- even when they are angry or anxious! Identifying the colour helps children to know how to move towards a more settled state, which may not always been straight to green. It also enables them to know ‘it’s ok to feel this way’, although we are still responsible for our actions. Why not talk through it with your child?
INSET Days – 2020/2021
Thur 3rd Sept 2020
Fri 4th Sept 2020 (School starts Monday 7th Sept)
Mon 4th Jan 2021
Thur 1st April 2021
Mon 7th June 2021
Music Rehearsals and Performances for KS2 children only
March 2020
Wed 18th: 4.15pm – 5.30pm Part A Choir rehearsal and Chamber Choir at Bishopswood Junior School
Fri 27th: 4.15pm – 5.30pm Part b Choir rehearsal and Narrators at Bishopswood Junior School
May 2020
Wed 6th: 4.15pm-5.30pm Chamber Choir rehearsals at Bishopswood Junior School
Thurs 7th: 4.15pm – 5.30pm Orchestra rehearsals at Costello School
Wed 13th: 4.15pm-5.30pm Chamber Choir rehearsals at Bishopswood Junior School
Fri 15th: 4.15pm-5.30pm Orchestra rehearsals at Costello School
June 2020
Mon 1st: 9.30am-2.30pm All day choir rehearsal at St Mark’s CofE Primary School (Children still need to attend, even though it is an Inset Day)
Fri 5th: 9.30am-2.30pm All day Orchestra and Dancers’ rehearsal at Christ Church Chineham
Tues 9th: 9.30am-2.30pm All day rehearsal for whole concert at the Anvil
We hope you all had a wonderful half term break and we would like to thank you all for attending our parents’ evenings. We hope you found them helpful.
This week, we have launched our new project ‘Me and You’ which is based around our history topic where we learn about and compare the lives and times of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria. The children were excited to use the clues to help them to identify what our topic could be about. In our English, we are also using the wonderful books of Anthony Browne to consider differing viewpoints of characters and we will look at human and animal growth in science. The children are already excited about our learning and we are planning to have a class museum on the last day of the half term, Thursday 2nd April, between 8.30 and 9.00am. We would love you all to attend so that they can share what they have learnt with you.
Our Knowledge Organiser and Project Leaflet will be coming home on Friday. Please enjoy sharing this with your children.
We would also like to let you know that our healthy eating cookbooks from last term are nearly ready for you. The children have been working extremely hard and are keen to share what they have learnt with you. We will have an example copy ready for you to look at on Monday 9th March and will be taking orders during this week to distribute the following week. We will be asking for donations, with a minimum of 50p per copy, to cover the cost of photocopying. If you would like to donate more than this, the children have chosen to give any profits to Christian Aid, as a response to activities from our prayer space.
Glyphs, Sacrifices and Pok-a-Tok: discovering the Maya way of life!
On Monday, the children were hooked into our exciting new topic – Temples of Doom! We began by watching a short video which introduced the Maya civilisation. Throughout the afternoon, our enthusiastic children took part in three different activities to immerse themselves in the Maya lifestyle.
To be accurate historians, we needed to identify where the Maya civilisation lay on a timeline of world history. They compared the length of the Maya civilisation with others such as the Ancient Greeks, Ancient Egyptians and Victorians. They also used the timeline to judge which historical groups coincided around the world e.g. they had to deduce that Emperor Claudius was alive in Rome at the same time Maya rulers occupied modern day Mexico but it was impossible for Queen Victoria to have met a Maya ruler.
Did you know the Maya developed one of most sophisticated number systems ever developed in the Americas? They invented the notation of ‘zero’ as a place holder. We had a taster of becoming Maya mathematicians once we had solved what the dots and lines represented.
Amazingly, the Maya hieroglyphic script was the only fully-fledged writing system in the Americas. We discovered some of the glyphs they used which consisted of either ‘logograms’ (pictures representing whole words) or ‘syllabograms’ (sounds put together to create words). With difficulty for some of us. we then attempted to create our names using these glyphs!
Come and visit our Maya Museum!
We would love to invite you to our parent project outcome on Thursday 2nd April at 9am. As historians, and Maya experts, we can’t wait to share all of our learning with you as we treat you to a morning in our ‘Maya Museum’.
Bikeability– Important Information!
Next week, the children will take part in their ‘Bikeability’ training, which aims to develop their skills and confidence when riding a bike. Hopefully, it will enable the children to make a short journey on a road in a safer manner and become more aware of road safety issues.
Bikes and Helmets
If your child needs to borrow a bike or helmet, and you haven’t already informed us using the consent form that you returned, please let us know as soon as possible. Ideally, any children who own their own bike and helmet will bring them to school each morning and take them home each afternoon. It is advised that they also bring a bike lock to ensure their bike is kept safe during the day whilst not in use. Please ensure that they also bring the bike lock key too!
If for any reason, your child is unable to take home their bike and helmet each day, they can leave it in the classroom overnight. They must be responsible for bringing it in safely at the end of the day, and taking it back outside each morning. We hope you understand that we do not have the space to accommodate every child’s bike overnight and so we encourage those who can take them home each day to please do so.
Clothing
Children are required to wear non-baggy trousers (leggings or joggers that are tight at the ankle are fine) and trainers during their Bikeability session. They will need to be in normal school uniform throughout the rest of the day. On Thursday 5th March, which is World Book Day, the children will still be required to change into suitable clothing for their session if their outfit is not appropriate.
Lunches
Although the children’s lunchtime may vary each day during Bikeability week, school dinners will still be available for any child who requires one.
Please contact us if you have any questions about Bikeability week.
On Monday, the children were given several clues to guess our new project. They started with a take away pot with either pasta or rice inside. They asked some super questions and made some good predictions as we slowly relieved the clues to our new project. They then had fun creating their own skeletons and trying to label the bones (We will be working on understanding the names of the bones). After break, we explained to the children that we were going to learn a new dance but something went wrong with the video and had been taken over by these skeletons ………. The children soon guessed who they were as they completed the YMCA, Macarena and Baby Shark. They enjoyed joining in!
The children thought of some sensible questions about our big question ‘Why do we need a skeleton?’. At the end of the day they brought home their knowledge organisers and Project leaflet. Please share these with your children.
We are looking forward to learning more about ‘What’s Inside!’
A few reminders: * Our reading raffle will continue this term. 3 reads = 1 raffle ticket/ 4 reads = 2 raffle tickets / 5&6 reads = 3 raffle tickets/ 7 reads = 4 raffle tickets. We have had lots of winners each week and 2 big winners, Harry and Marcus, who have enjoyed their new books. * Timestables – Timetables rock stars – Please keep logging on – we will be giving out some certificates next week for fastest and most improved. * Spellings – Spelling shed – This week’s spellings have now been added.
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