FRANCHE
COMMUNITY
PRIMARY
Easter 2016
Best!
Simply the
The Franche Flyer
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF FRANCHE COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL
CELEBRATING OUR CHILDREN’S SUCCESSES
Dear Parents and Friends,
We were delighted by the number of Parents willing to give up their time to support
our school by volunteering to become Parent governors. Thank you too for your votes.
Congratulations to our new parent governors; Jenny Monger, Matt Whitehouse and reelected Kirstie Stuart.
Meet our newest pupil!
See Page 4
Dates for your Diary
Jenny Monger
Kirstie Stuart
Matt Whitehouse
I was greeted this morning by Mrs Davies, Year 6 Teacher, who spent yesterday with our
year 5 & 6 children at the National Exhibition Centre, Big Bang Fair.
You will be very proud to know that she was incredibly impressed and full of praise for
APRIL
Tuesday 12th: Back to school!
Tuesday 21st: Youth Makes Music
Concert, Kidderminster Town Hall
our pupils, their behaviour and attitudes
Wenesday 27th - 29th: Year 4
residential trip to Boreatton Park
to learning. She said it was so noticeable
MAY
how well-mannered and appreciative of
Monday 9th - 13th: SATs Week
the educational visit they were. They are
Monday 16th - 20th: Year 6
residential trip to Brecon Beacons
as always a great credit to our school
and to you as Parents.
JUNE
We are celebrating our Children’s many
Saturday 4th: PTA fundraiser at
Kidderminster Town Hall featuring
local band Blind Lemon (tickets on
sale)
successes this term and we join to wish
you all a very Happy Easter.
With very best wishes
Val Weddell-Hall
Friday 10th: Queen’s 90th birthday
celebrations in school
JULY
OBE
Friday 1st: Franche Fest
Head Teacher
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STARS OF TV SHOW FLY INTO FRANCHE
THE stars of popular Cbeebies TV show The
Rhyme Rocket dazzled youngsters at Franche
when they dropped by for a day of poetry and
mayhem.
The madcap pair, known as Professor Poet
and First Officer Ditty from the Planet Rhyme,
blasted into town to share their rhyming antics
with children from Nursery, Reception, Year 1
and Year 2 as part of their
focus on phonics, rhyming words and literacy.
Head of early years Miss Lazenby said: “It was
a fabulous event; the children were engrossed
from start to finish and loved finding rhyming
words and joining in with all the actions. We
always seek to inject fun and humour into our
children’s learning, and this was a great way
to do that.”
Pictured with the Rhyme Rocket duo Professor Poet, left, and First Officer Ditty, right, are Franche nursery pupils Isabella
(front) and Billy-James and reception pupils Grace and Finlay.
Our Tots keeping busy!
Science day trip to Baxter
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MILES FOR MARCH CHALLENGE
Pupils and teachers at Franche are together running a staggering
struggled but just a week later the same children were eagerly
15,000 miles this March for Sport Relief.
putting on their trainers, desperate to beat their best time!” Staff
aren’t shirking the challenge either, joining in with pupils. Each
Every one of the 800-plus pupils and staff has been encouraged to
participant has to complete ten laps of the playground to achieve
take up the challenge to run a daily mile throughout March.
their daily goal. Many of the children are stepping up to two, or
The project is the brainchild of head of sport Emma Running, who
even three, miles during the daily sessions.The challenge also
has been delighted at the fantastic response from pupils. “Some
featured a Sports Safari day, when pupils from older year groups
of our children were reluctant participants on the first day and
led exercises and sporty events with younger pupils.
SPORTING TRIUMPHS
Sport and physical activities are thriving at Franche.
Teams have competed in football (boys and girls, under 10s
and under 11s); Kho Kho Festival, netball league, dance
festival, indoor athletics championship, basketball, tag rugby
and cross country, with excellent results. Two Year 6 pupils
will be representing the district in the county competition
this month.
Competition at a school level is also growing, with interhouse events, year band leagues and class contests, many
ably supported by our team of young leaders from Year 6.
Opportunities also abound for all pupils who enjoy physical
exercise at a less intense level, through our PE and extracurricular programme which includes fantastic sports like
bell-boating, archery, skiing and ballet
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Going for Bronze!
Pupils in Year 5 & 6 have been the first to join in with the new
Junior Duke of Edinburgh-style activity scheme, launched last
year. The intrepid students have pledged to achieve goals in four
key areas - physical fitness (Get Active, Stay Active), learn a new
skill or interest (My Interest), complete eight hours of community
activities or protecting the environment (Me and My World), and
complete an outdoor activity or adventure (Adventure).
Their objective is to gain their Bronze Award in the Junior Award
Scheme for Schools (JASS).
Led by Mr Fountain, the pupils have taken on a range of activities
and challenges. Together they have carried out environmental
work in the local area, including litter picking around Franche. They
have also visited an adventure park to take part in daring activities
including climbing, abseiling and zooming down zip-lines.
All of the group are close to achieving their Bronze awards, with
successful pupils expected to be rewarded before the end of the
school year.
Well done to all of the pupils taking part.
FRANCHIE THE HAMSTER JOINS OUR SCHOOL
The latest addition to the Year 6 family is a furry bundle of energy
called Franchie. Franchie is a Syrian hamster who joined the year group
earlier this month. She was chosen by Year 6 pupils Caitlin Stanton, Eleanor
Fairbrother, Kiera Roberts and Tilly O’Callaghan.
The quartet were given permission to introduce a Year 6 pet to reward their
brilliant efforts to organise and run a Hallowe’en disco last year. Franchie is
now settling in to her new home in a quiet room in the Year 6 communal area.
Said Tilly: “We did a lot of research. We took advice from a vet and have
learned what to feed it and when, and what to do to keep her healthy.”
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MUSIC ROUND UP
The sound of music has filled the corridors
of Franche this term, with samba, body
percussion, choral singing, rap, musical
theatre, music composition and much,
much more on offer!
The music team, led by Mrs Thomas, offers
individual and class instrument lessons
and lots of performance opportunities,
while also implementing the new National
Curriculum for Music.
Year 4 are taking part in a year of FAME
(First Access Music Education) lessons
in cornet and violin, with a concert for
parents at the end of the year.
The school choir has performed at the
NEC Arena as part of the Young Voices
programme and taken part in a workshop
at Birmingham’s world famous Symphony
Hall, with more shows coming up as part of
the Youth Makes Music festival and the Big
Sing event at Worcester University.
We are also running our first ever trip to a
London musical to see the brilliant Wicked!
A visit by a former member of the Stomp!
musical performance troupe is also in
the pipeline next term, while the choir is
set to perform competitively at an event
organised by Worcestershire NHS to find
the best primary school choir in the county.
That’s not all! Earlier this term children
in Year 5 took part in a project called
Around the World with Francis Drake, run
in collaboration with Wyre Forest Young
Voices. We have also extended the hand
of friendship to pupils at Foley Park and
Sutton Park primary schools, who now
join our Showstoppers group for weekly
rehearsals.
The safety of school sport has been in
the spotlight this month, with calls for
tackling to be outlawed in school rugby. At
Franche we only play a non-contact form
of rugby called tag rugby.
Participants have to snatch velcroed tags
from their opponent’s waist to make
a “tackle”. Some of the participants in
the tag rugby enrichment session are
pictured.
Holiday Club’s visit to Cadbury World
HOLIDAY CLUB
7am - 6pm for ages 3-14
Franche 726
Tues March 29th to Mon April 11th
Open from 7am to 6pm
Quality Childcare - Home from Home
Easter Holiday Trips
Tuesday 29th March: Boing Zone & Park day trip
Thursday 31st March: Bowling adventure day
Monday 4th April: West Midland Safari Park
Wednesday 6th April: Little Owl Farm Park
TO BOOK A SPACE CALL 01562 751788 OPTION 3 OR VISIT www.francheprimary.org.uk
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SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING
ADVENTURES ACROSS THE YEARS
World Book Day was celebrated across the school, with pupils and staff getting into the spirit of the event. There were
amazing costumes on show - well done to everyone who played their part. The day also featured literary events, story telling
and a Book Fair.
Teachers across the school have introduced exciting year-based themesand topics this Spring Term which give
boundless opportunities for children to use their literacy, numeracy, science and creative skills.
NURSERY
RECEPTION
The main theme has been Down on the Farm, with our
youngest pupils learning about animals, farming and
food production, including growing beans. This has also
incorporated number games and challenges; number
recognition and counting; and rhyming.
Reception parents have enjoyed going back to the
classroom to join in lessons with their children.
Many of them have taken up the invitation to ‘stay and
share’ in a range of activities based around the Spring
Term themes, which included Julia Donaldson’s Room on
a Broom book, rhyming and number bonds.
Feedback from parents has been very positive, with
comments including: “I enjoyed watching the children
learn new things and working out the correct answers
as a group. You can see their independent thinking
during the group sessions.” “I really enjoyed the phonics
session and feel it will help me at home.”
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SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING
YEAR 1
YEAR 2
A mystery machine crash-landed on the playground
- triggering a range of activities based on the book
Rosie Revere, Engineer, by Andrea Beaty. Design and
invention, research into the first flights and the invention
of the jet engine, science and maths have all been used
in the teaching of this topic. Proud pupils will now show
off their work in a series of class assemblies in front
of their parents, who they will then invite into class to
show them what they have been learning.
Life during The Great Fire of London has been the
catalyst for exciting studies in Year 2, which has included
investigations into Samuel Pepys and his famous diary
and the architecture of Sir Christopher Wren, scientific
inquiry into flammability of different materials, and
design and art work creating model houses of the
period. It was also an opportunity to teach fire safety.
The topic has now switched to the geography of modern
London and the artwork of Abram Games, who designed
iconic London Transport posters.
YEAR 3
A series of strange parcels which arrived in Year 3 this
term was the starting point for an exciting topic. Each
parcel contained a unique Lost Thing with one key
message: “make it feel like it belongs”. Pupils created
an action plan which led them to research and discover
what the lost thing was, while also writing letters to the
sender to update him on their progress. The project
focussed particularly on the development of higher end
English and Art skills, including encouraging the children
to use their imaginations and inspiration, to develop
sentence structure and to learn new art techniques
including water colouring, quilling, pop up and collage.
Pupils also developed their own stories which they
shared with Year One pupils. Their second topic of
the term was on the theme Dig, Discover, Date! With
support from the Natural History Museum pupils had to
investigate ancient bones found in the Wyre Forest.
In Year 2 in Design and Technology, Children were making a new
London Bridge. They tested the ways of making our bridges stronger
by folding and twisting materials. The aim was to make our bridges
strong enough to hold toy cars. Sophie Hinton 2C
YEAR 4
The Roman era was the focus for Year 4 in the first half
term. Pupils were enlisted in the Roman Army and wrote
persuasive pieces to encourage the Celts to join them.
They found out how the Romans still influence Britain
today by looking at inventions and ways of life.
They created their own shields and then taught Year 3
pupils how to work in formation to defeat the enemy.
The poem Iron Man, by Ted Hughes, inspired English
and science work around metals and sound. Pupils also
created an acrostic poem linked to the first chapter.
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SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING
YEAR 6
It’s an exciting term for Year 6 as they gear up towards
SATs while also continuing to enjoy fantastic topics.
They have looked at the Ancient Greeks, breaking
a code to help them understand their language and
discovering myths and legends of the period. They have
written their own mythical stories and poems. Maths has
focussed on Archimedes’ Principle and the volume of
objects - with one experiment triggering many Eureka!
moments. Additional topics on light - how it travels
and how to manipulate it - and the ancient Olympics
have also been studied, culminating in an intense miniOlympics featuring the hoplite, chariot racing, wrestling,
discus and a torch relay.
Division using the Dienes to understand the reasoning
behind the bus stop method of division (why we carry
etc). The lesson which the children did this in was
focused around a beaver called Papa Titioning who had
lots of beavers ringing him and asking for logs, so he
had to divide the logs he has between the beavers.
YEAR 5
Space, the final frontier has been the key topic for Year
5 this term.
They have been set challenges by astronaut Bob Lucas
to find out why we have day and night and the seasons,
the effects of gravity on falling objects, and describing
space using figurative language in poetry. They also took
part in a wonderful home learning project, making their
own model planet. Real astronaut Tim Peake also sent
video messages inviting pupils to put together a project
plan about whether there was life on Mars. Children
have planned, designed and made space vehicles and
written space-based poetry. They were also due to visit
the Space Centre in Leicester.
IN MEMORY - Tributes
have been flooding
in for our former
Parent, Governor
and PTA stalwart Sue
Collingridge
Pupils have also been reflecting on prayer in RE and
looking at the friendship theme of Getting On and Falling
Out to support pupils to manage friendship issues.
Franche Community Primary School, Chestnut Grove, Franche, Kidderminster DY11 5QB
T: 01562 751788 W: www.francheprimary.org.uk E: [email protected]
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