I
Steeple Claydon School and Nursery
Weekly Newsletter
Friday 25th November 2016
To all our families,
I am so very ‘PROUD’ of our children, staff and community and
delighted to inform you that we have been officially awarded the
Primary School of the Year for PE in all of Bucks and MK. It is a
great achievement and recognises our success in PE and wider
sports festivals. A special thank you to Mr Anderson (our Sports
Coach) and also to Mrs Abu-Rish for her help in organising the
transport to and from festivals and checking kit. Thanks to you as
parents for your support in taking children to festivals! In the photo
you can see that we got to meet Sir Steve Redgrave! Go Steeple!
Highlights this week…
NurseryThe children have enjoyed their outdoor learning this week and they have also started to rehearse for
their part in the Nativity. They have made some beautiful star decorations to go on the Christmas tree
in church. Thanks to parents who have been returning observation notes from home to contribute to
learning journeys- keep them coming in and don’t hesitate to ask for more if you need them.
ReceptionThey are also getting ready for the Nativity and learning about Christmas around the world and the
different traditions and the ways that it is celebrated. They have recorded a video of their singing for
the Sharing Assembly next week and have enjoyed learning the song.
Year OneMiss Steggles is proud of how well Year One have been curious about the Great Fire of London. They
have also been writing stories about Katie, the character from the popular children’s storybook series by
James Mayhew.
Year TwoThe children have worked hard to learn about non-fiction texts and have completed some excellent
work on fractions. Wow!
Year ThreeA huge well done to Year Three who have been learning about alliteration in their English lessons this
week and using them in their descriptions. I was impressed to see the writing from Libby, Grace and
Freya- what a super effort! We also welcomed another Lucas into Year Three this week.
Year FourIn Grammar lessons, the class have been learning how to use speech marks accurately and also finding
different synonyms for words to ensure their word choice is more ambitious.
Year FiveIn Maths this week, Year Five have been looking at area and problems involving area. Lucia came to
show me her maths work that she had completed independently. They are also loving their ID Topic and
have been looking at genetics and DNA and finding out what makes each of us unique.
Year SixWelcome to Kiera who has started our school this week and she has already made a positive start to
being a ‘Steeple Star’. Max A has been doing extra home learning to show his growing confidence with
fractions and the whole class have impressed me with how well they have grasped solving problems
involving finding % of amounts. In English, the children are learning about features and structure of
non-chronological reports and have been learning about genetic traits in Topic.
Behaviour Award
This week’s class award goes to Reception. A huge congratulations to Chloe F in Year Three who is the
individual winner this week due to how hard she has worked on achieving her targets! Well done!
Attendance…
Attendance is at 96.73%. We appreciate it’s that time of year and we have some sickness in the school
at the moment, thank you to all parents for their support in promptly calling the Office and making
them aware of the reasons.
Punctuality…
Please can I remind parents/carers that our school day starts at 8:45am and that we do have
handwriting/spellings/reading at this time and so it is important that your child is in school for this
time. There has been more children than usual this week arriving about 8:55am and so missing out on
this learning opportunity. I do understand that this time of year it can be harder to get up and out with
wet weather and darker mornings; I just don’t want this to become a regular occurrence. Many thanks
for your support with this and nipping it in the bud.
Christmas Lunch reminder…
If you wish your child to have a hot Christmas Lunch on Thursday 8th December then please remember to
order and pay by end of Tuesday 29th November via the Fresh Start website. Children will be able to
wear a Christmas jumper on this day to help get in the festive spirit.
Christmas Tree…
Many thanks to Claydon Christmas Tree Farm who will be donating our school Christmas tree again this
year. Claydon Christmas Tree Farm opens on Saturday 26th November. There will be a live Nativity of
animals, reindeer, tractor rides and a café selling hot food and drinks. The also sell a range of Christmas
decorations and of course trees!
Travel Plan update….
We also achieved the Silver Kitemark in our Travel Plan and thank you to you as families for supporting
this with Bike To School and Walk to School weeks.
Parking update…
Thank you to parents/carers who have been parking considerately outside school and we have had a
positive response to our text reminders. We have updated our website with road safety/Highway Code
and parking reminders as well as a map of the village and where to park to avoid congestion and parking
on kerbs/paths/grass verges outside of school. We have contacted the PCSO and the local council about
this and they are going to do patrols of the area to support the village in keeping roads safe for our
children.
Year Four Swimming Lessons…
I am delighted to report that we are now able to offer swimming lessons again and our Year Four
children will be starting this in the Spring Term (see separate letter sent home).
Help fundraise for our school when shopping online!
If you shop online then if you access your favourite retailers via the EasyGiving Link on the bottom of
our FOSCS page or using this https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/foscsbuckingham/ link
then you will be able to register and every time you shop, the retailer will donate money to our school
at no extra cost to you!
FOSCS Update…
You will have received an email reminder this week about FOSCS events and the all important Christmas
Fayre. This is on Saturday 10th December from 12pm-3pm with of course Santa and his grotto, as well as
stalls, hot food and drinks and games and activities to get us in the Christmas mood!
Nativity tickets and KS2 concert tickets…
Please check your emails regarding letters that have come home recently about how to obtain tickets
for these events and check with the office if you have any queries.
Have a great weekend and it’s now only four weeks until Christmas- bring it on!
Best wishes
Sara J Boyce
Sara Boyce
Headteacher
[email protected]