John Watson School Newsletter 27th May 2016 Dates for the Diary: May Dates Friday 27th: ​
End of Term 5 June Dates Monday 6th:​
Start of Term 6 Tuesday 7th:​
Continence Clinic Wednesday 8th:​
Orthoptic Clinic Tuesday 14th:​
Dr. Ragunathan Clinic (Secondary) Tuesday 14th: ​
PECS Workshop Ofsted Ofsted Inspectors spent two days with us this week, as you know. They wished us to pass on our thanks to staff, governors and pupils for making them feel so welcome. Thank you to those parents who shared their views of the school. We will of course let parents see the report as soon as it is published. We anticipate this being within the next few weeks. Food & More: New Menu Nursery​
: We have been busy this week making lots of cakes and posters for our cake sale. Nursery parents came with their children to buy the cakes and we made lots of money which we are going to use to fill up our outside sandpit with sand. Holton:​
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This week we continued to learn about dinosaurs. We had to rescue some dinosaurs that had got stuck in the mud (chocolate) and made big stomping prints in the paint. We learnt the song ‘Stomp, stomp, stomp around’ to the tune of ‘Row, row, row, your boat’ and danced like dinosaurs! Our song is written below if you would like to learn it too! Key Stage 1​
: Forest Hill Class: ​
We have been focusing on being active and on healthy living. Pupils joined in with the ​
Tortoise You will all receive a new menu from ​
Food & More ​
in and the Hare​
story as well as ​
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, your child’s book bag today. For your information, the What do you see?​
by Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr. Pupils quorn sausage on Wednesday and the quorn roast on used a variety of tools like tweezers, spoons and bowls Thursday have been swapped so that everyone can enjoy to fill cups and pots with coloured pasta and rice. During a mid­week roast! outside play pupils have been exploring the science area and mixing sand and water. Venison House Update This week the Venison House has undertaken a little Key Stage 2 revamp! The digger and dumper were kindly donated by Waterperry Class​
: Waterperry class have been learning Hirebase on Monday and on Tuesday two workmen, about Life Cycles and have completed different activities Dave and Colin came and dug out new paths to the on ​
The Very Hungry Caterpillar ​
by Eric Carle. Pupils have sensory area and the pond. They also levelled an uneven enjoyed reading and role playing the story. surface. The revamp has already made a huge difference! We would like to say ​
a huge thank you​
to Dave and Colin Cornfields Class: ​
We have continued with our topic on for their hard work, and to Richard at Hirebase for life cycles of mini beasts. We collected a tray of soil from arranging the digger and dumper for us. our school garden and hunted for mini beasts. We had a sheet with photos to see if we could identify any of the Summer Ball 2016 creatures. We found woodlice, a worm, some ants, a The date for the 2016 Summer Ball is confirmed ­ ​
Friday millipede, some snails and a slug. We really liked 1st July 2016​
! This year the Ball will take place at Holton watching how the worm moved by growing longer and Village Hall. The Ball planning is in full swing and full then shorter again. details will be sent out early next term. A few reminders: Reporting Absence: If your child is unwell, please remember to call the office and let us know. A message can be left on the answering machine before the office opens. Sickness: To help us to control infection, if your child has suffered from diarrhoea or vomiting, we ask that your child is kept away from school for 48 hours following the last incident. This protects our other vulnerable students and of course means staff are less likely to be absent too! Attendance: If you need to take your child out of school during term­time please complete a Leave of Absence Request Form which is available from the school office. Leave is only​
authorised in truly ​
exceptional circumstances​
and will always be at the discretion of the Headteacher. Thank you for your support with this. Governor Vacancy: We have vacancies for co­opted governors from either John Watson School or Wheatley Nursery School. You do not need experience of being a governor as free training is offered! If you are interested and want to know more please contact Helen Nowicki, Chair of Governors on [email protected]​
. STOMP, STOMP, STOMP AROUND Stomp, stomp, stomp around On your great big feet. Swish your tail, The turn around. Now go take a seat! Riverside Class: ​
The seeds we have planted started to grow this week! We made shoebox gardens using natural materials. We also made rhubarb crumble using homegrown rhubarb. We celebrated our achievements this year by making cards for each other. Key Stage 3 Park Class:​
This week we have been looking into different sculptures made by recycled material or material that you can find in the nature. Pupils had really good ideas what they could do, like Star Wars characters, bird nests or heart shapes. We then went into Venison House and found loads of sticks and stones and created a bird nest. We will carry on creating sculptures after half­term. Wheatley Class: ​
This week we have been designing and making our own pizzas. We researched ingredients, made shopping lists and visited Asda to buy the ingredients. We then made pizza boxes before assembling and cooking our pizzas to take home. We have also looked at our outside areas and identified areas that need to be improved. Key Stage 4 Shotover Class​
: As a result of Key Stage 4 writing and asking for help, Colin and Dave arrived to dig out the new paths we marked out for them. It was very exciting! These paths will make the Venison House accessible to us all. Over the next few weeks the path will be put in and lots of things will start to take shape ready for the grand opening. Sixth Form Oxford Class: ​
This week we have started thinking about the Summer Ball. We have discussed the options on what to wear and how to get ready. We are now looking at preparing to go and try on clothes after half term. We have all been working hard on ensuring all our work is up to date in preparation for our hand in dates for our ASDAN accreditation. After half term we are looking forward to organising the food for the ball. We hope you all have a lovely half­term! School will reopen on Monday 6th June.