Rothwell Victoria Infant School
CARE SHARE
HELP SMILE
RJS Newsletter March 2017
Upcoming Dates
9th March - Lower School Disco 6 – 7 p.m.
30th March (Thurs) - School closes to pupils
16th March - Upper School Disco 6 – 7 p.m.
18th April (Tues) - School re-opens to pupils
21st March
- Parents’ Evening
26th April (Wed) -Film Night - Whole School
24th March - Red Nose Day (wear red)
from 3.30 - 5.30 p.m.
th
th
30 March - Achievement Assembly (9:30 am)
25 May (Thurs) - Summer Fete
Football Club Development
Following concerns raised by parents, the school have contacted the building company working on the
old football club ground and there is now a man employed to ensure that the gates to the site will be
closed between 8.25 a.m. and 9.00 a.m., and between 3.20 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. The company building the
new houses will be coming into our school assembly on Monday 6th March to talk to the children about
their work and the importance of keeping safe and not entering building sites.
Newsletters
From the start of next term we will be producing weekly newsletters which will be sent via email.
Many schools are now doing this and we hope this will further improve communication. If you are yet
to pass your email details to the school please do so via the school office. In this way we can greatly
reduce the amount of paper being sent out and this will also ensure letters are not ‘lost’ between
school and home. Thank you.
Kettering Eisteddfod
Good luck to the School Choir and all the children who have entered the Kettering Eisteddfod this
year. Children from each year group will be participating in various classes on 15th & 16th March. We
will update you on their successes in future newsletters.
PFA
The PFA is still looking for new members so if you are able to contribute your support you will be
made very welcome. Claire Jarvis is the Chair of the group and can be contacted via both school
offices. If you wish to get involved in this very worthwhile and supportive group please leave your
details at the office for Claire to contact you.
Pupil Premium
If you are in receipt of certain benefits your child may be entitled to financial support for their
education; this is known as Pupil Premium. The Pupil Premium is given to the school and we use the
funding to pay for school trips and other educational activities. We also support the purchase of
uniform. The Northants County Council website provides a list of the benefits which may allow your
child to be entitled to this funding. If you require any further information or support with this
process please contact the school office. All communication will be completely confidential.
School Websites
Please visit the web site for each school on a regular basis as they will be routinely updated with
dates of upcoming events etc. The Infant School website can be found at
www.rothwellvictoriainfants.net The Junior School site can be found at www.rothwelljunior.net Each
school also has a Facebook page which you are invited to follow.
Dates for the Autumn Term- Rothwell Victoria Infant School
Year Group Updates
Year 3 - This half term for Year 3 has been a really busy one! Since returning from the Christmas
break we have been learning all about Kenya in Africa. We have found out where Kenya is in the world
and what different parts of the country are like. We looked at the different animals that are found
there and designed silhouette paintings based on sunset or sunrise. In numeracy we have learnt all
about shape; we carefully examined traditional African designs and then related it to our shape topic
in maths to produce a variety of African inspired patterns, incorporating a variety of geometric
shapes in different media. We were really lucky to have a Djembe drummer come to school and teach
us all about African Drumming. We had great fun making lots of noise! We have also been taking part
in a strings project learning to play the violin or cello; concert details to follow! Looking ahead, we will
be arranging a trip to the Zoo after Easter, as well as a trip to Tesco to follow their ‘farm to fork’
trail and of course our Year 3 one night residential trip which takes place in May!
Year 4 - Excitingly, we started 2017 by jumping on an aeroplane and flying all the way to the Arctic!
Our main skill this term is making connections as we are linking our learning throughout. We have
learnt lots of interesting facts about the animals which live in cold places and how the Inuit people
have adapted to such an extreme habitat. Then, we had fun writing our own information page where
we applied all our new knowledge and linked this with our non-fiction writing skills. Additionally, we
enjoyed learning about abstract art and created our own ‘Cold and Arctic’ themed pieces. Now the
journey has started to India and we have already learnt a lot including: how to write our names in
Hindi, where India is in the world and what Indian music sounds like. Two classes have already visited
the Mandir, with two more visiting next week and we are looking forward to experiencing Indian
dancing and a food tasting!
Year 5 - This term in Year 5 we have been learning about space and our solar system. We really
enjoyed ‘Space Week’ in which we dressed as aliens, made dehydrated space food and received a visit
from a planetarium...which filled the whole library! Thank you very much for your support with this, we
had a fantastic time.
In literacy we produced field guides for animals which live on the fictional planet of Pandora. The
children were incredibly engaged and have produced some wonderfully creative work. In numeracy we
are currently working on multiplication, division and fractions, although our investigations take us into
a variety of different mathematical concepts on daily basis. We have continued to ask fantastic
questions. Here are some which you might want to try and answer:
What is brain tissue made of? How are memories made? Should Pluto be reinstated as a planet? Why?
Which words are sometimes prepositions and sometimes adverbs? Can you give examples?
Can you find 3 fractions that add up to 1 whole and all have different denominators? One of the
children’s answers was 26/200ths + 150/300ths + 185/500ths.
Year 6 - Our brand new topic, Graveyards and Gargoyles, began with a fascinating morning spent at
the Holy Trinity Church and a visit to the bone crypt. For this wonderful opportunity, we would like to
thank Revd John Westwood, Rev. Ruth Colby and Mick Coggins who welcomed us and answered a
myriad of questions from children and teachers alike. The visit inspired some tremendous work from
the children over the half term, particularly the gothic horror stories they wrote in literacy. We are
very much looking forward to seeing the children dressed as gothic horror characters on World Book
Day. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the Year 6 boys whose good
sportsmanship was commented upon at a recent cross country event. Although this is something we
pride ourselves upon, and expect from children who represent the school, to receive an email from
another school to acknowledge and praise this behaviour is something we are very proud of.