Updates from Mrs Stephenson:

Thursday, 27th July

Thank you so much everyone for all the support you have given us so that our children ‘Live life in all its fullness’ every day! Wishing you all a rest at some point over the summer break, ready to do it all over again in September, whether with us or at your new schools!

Saturday, 1st July

We’re looking forward to the Chaddleworth Village Fete this afternoon. And next week we have the Owls production of Fantastic Mr Fox to look forward to at the Corn Exchange Theatre. Meanwhile Red Kites are heading to Welford to speak to the RAF Welford Historical Society to find out more about World War II. Busy, busy, busy!

Saturday, 24th June

What a week! The Red Kites performance of ‘The Toy Shop’ at The Watermill Theatre was a-maz-ing!!! Three nights of collaboration, concentration and creativity! And they had such fun doing it too. One of the children stepped into a role with less than an hour to go before curtain up and she did such a brilliant job. Wow! You couldn’t ask for anything more. A very proud moment for all of us watching - thank you to Miss Oram, Mrs Higgins, Mrs Wilson and Miss Carter and also to those who came to watch it. Thank you parents helping the children to learn their lines and getting them to and from the theatre/school three days in a row. We will all sleep well this weekend!

Thank you also to John O’ Gaunt School for running the Primary Project so our Y4 and Y5 children can experience secondary school. They had a great time using bunsen burners, getting to grips with maths problems, creating their own medals and designing chocolate bar wrappers - and these are just some of the activities.

Saturday, 17th June

The Big Question this week was ‘Who is a good role model for ‘endurance’? Why?’ I wonder who you think has shown the greatest endurance?

Our Endurance Prayer

Dear Lord,
sometimes it’s hard to keep trying.
It’s hard when things are tough
or when everything seems to be going wrong.
Please help us never to give up
but always to endure.
Please help us to be people who encourage others to keep trying
as we all aim for different goals in life.
Thank you that you never give up on us. 
Amen

Saturday, 10th June

The summer weather seems to have arrived - although we still needed a warmer layer first thing in the morning! And so we begin T6 with the Learning Power ‘ Enjoy Learning’ and the Christian Value of ‘Endurance’. Owls heard about Ernest Shackleton and his expedition - what an example of endurance.

He said:

1. The quality I look for most is optimism: especially optimism in the face of reverses and apparent defeat. Optimism is true moral courage.

2. To be brave cheerily, to be patient with a glad heart, to stand the agonies of thirst with laughter and song, to walk beside death for months and never be sad – that's the spirit that makes courage worth having.

3. Men are not made from easy victories but based on great defeats.

4. Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.

I wonder which (if any) of these quotes made you think and ponder what courage, determination and endurance mean to you.

Saturday, 27th May

The holidays are here and it’s an opportunity to try something new or learn something…like tying shoe laces.

Here are some other ideas…

1. Learn to play a new game

2. Make a den for someone else

3. Try foods from around the world

4. Learn to skip

5. Visit the library

6. Create an obstacle course

7. Go pond-dipping

8. Put on a puppet show

9. Enter a competition that is run outside of school

10. Go bird watching

11. Raise money for charity

12. Fly a kite

13. Visit a museum

14. Write to the King

15. Build a habitat for an animal or insect

16. Use sewing skills to make something

17. Learn basic first aid skills

18. The £2 challenge - shop and make a meal for your family for £2

19. Go on a scavenger hunt

20. Track wildlife

Have a lovely holiday!

Saturday, 20th May

What a difference the sunshine makes! It looks like (dare I say it!) we will be having a few days of sunshine. Please remember to send your child in with sun screen on and a sun hat. No sunglasses please unless prescription sunglasses as the children will be running around in them and the plastic ones aren’t always very robust!

In our final week of focussing on the Christian Value of Wisdom, I wonder how long the children think it takes us to be wise. Does everyone become wise? Are we born wise? Who or what helps us decide whether someone is wise or not?

Hope you are able to enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Saturday, 13th May

Another four day week and I think we are packing five days into four! It was certainly a busy weekend followed by a busy week. The Year 6 children showed fantastic learning behaviours during their SATs. They were calm, focused and ready for whatever they were given. Well done Year 6 and thank you Miss Oram for getting them ready for everything! They are having a well-deserved treat on Thursday.

This week we are thinking about who gave us the wisest advice, as we think deeper about our Christian value Wisdom and what it means to us. I wonder who gave you the wisest advice - what was it? What impact did it have?

Saturday, 6th May

It might only have been a four day school week but we still managed a three page newsletter! There has been so much information to share! Our PTFA are helping to raise money towards the cost of our trip to Mudeford in July. The coach will cost £1800 which is £22.50 per child so we are very grateful for all donations towards this amount.

It’s also a good opportunity to remind parents of the Saunders, Wynn and Coventry Educational Foundation and their offer of financial help to further the educational needs of the children and students (up to the age of 25) of the Parish of Chaddleworth. The Trustees meet four times a year to consider applications including any relating to the additional cost of home-schooling and remote study for students.  Previous contributions have been made towards the cost of school uniforms, books for university courses, specific equipment and kit for courses, and residential courses.

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend, however you choose to spend it!

Saturday, 22nd April

On Thursday evening, Eid celebrations began and tomorrow it is St George’s Day. As a school community, celebrating together is an important part of learning. It helps the children to remember events in history and RE for example, promotes wellbeing and positive feelings towards each other but it also allows the children to reflect on why we are celebrating. It encourages deeper, philosophical questions such as what is the purpose of a particular celebration? Should everyone celebrate something? Does a celebration have to be a big one? Can you celebrate on your own? We are soon to be taking part in festivities for The King’s Coronation and we will be asking the children these questions. I wonder what wise (our new Christian value focus - Wisdom) answers they will come up with.

Saturday, 1st April

As we start our Easter holidays, I have to congratulate our whole school team on what they have achieved this term. The quality of learning has been phenomenal! And everyone has played their part in achieving this, from making sure the children have what they need when they arrive in school (thank you parents and carers) to making sure the school runs smoothly (thank you office team) to healthy, fun lunchtimes (thankyou kitchen and lunchtime team) to delivering learning that motivates, ensures progress and ‘sticks’ (thank you teachers, teaching assistants, ELSAs and SENCo) to those who check and support (thank you governors), have a lovely well deserved break!

Saturday, 25th March

Next week is Autism Acceptance Week so we will be thinking about what autism is, focusing on the positive aspects and thinking about how our own needs are all different. Our Christian Value focus of friendship certainly includes acceptance.

Not long now until the end of term but lots to look forward to still. Please look out for vocabulary mats that will be sent out next week. We have found a rich vocabulary key to making good progress so please do spend some time over the holidays thinking about the words and using them in context.

Saturday, 18th March

The children’s ‘Build the Change’ ideas were fantastic! Hope you are able to join us this afternoon for Crafternoon Tea 2pm - 4pm.

Saturday, 11th March

Good afternoon all! We had a lovely opportunity as staff to go out for a meal last night to relax, reflect and have some fun. It was a great mental health boost (and a great curry as well!) We appreciated each other’s company and it got me thinking about the week ahead and acts of kindness that we are going to be creating. Just last week, someone offered me a lift, someone (I don’t know who!) left me some iced buns (thank you whoever that was!) and someone planned a staff night out for us all! Thank you! I will certainly be looking for ways to pay these kind actions forward.

Saturday, 24th February

Look at this! Year 1 have been learning how to retell ‘The Three Little Pigs’. I can’t wait for the next instalment!

World Book Day is going to be an exciting day with book swaps, masked readers and recommended reads. I am wondering which book character to dress up as! One of the children said she would write a book about me and then I can come dressed as normal! What a wonderful idea but I think I will have to put my thinking cap on over the weekend and come up with a children’s book character!

Saturday, 11th February

Good luck with your matchbox challenge everyone! Looking forward to seeing how many items you can fit in them. As Mrs Higgins said in Collective Worship, it’s surprising how big a matchbox suddenly becomes! Thank you Mrs Richardson for coming in to promote the event - the children were certainly talking about it as they left on Friday afternoon so hopefully we’ll have lots of entries!

Have a lovely half term!

Saturday, 4th February

Number Day was fantastic! Thank you so much for your support and thank you Mrs Sayer for organising it!

Next week is Children’s Mental Health Week. I wonder how many of the 5 things to feel happy and healthy you can do this weekend!

Saturday, 28th January

It’s been a busy week but a very productive one as we enjoyed meeting up with parents and sharing the latest news about learning progress! And the children have loved sharing their books too. Thank you!

Next week we are looking forward to celebrating maths with Number Day on Friday. I wonder how many new facts we can learn in one day!

Saturday, 21st January

Our Christian Value this month is ‘Trust’ and Owls have shown this in abundance this week! They went to Oakwood Climbing Centre for two days and an overnight stay - they loved it! Climbing, leap of faith, orienteering, crate stacking, low ropes and bush craft were just some of the activities that the children tried. They had to trust each other to complete tasks and also had to trust them selves that they could ‘have a go’, even though it might be difficult. Fantastic effort Owls! See their class blog for more photos.

Saturday, 14th January

Thank you PTFA for funding new playground equipment! Anvil won the bake sale competition and so chose the new equipment …they are looking forward to sharing the scooters, balls, domino game and diablos with the whole school. Thank you parents for your support too!

Saturday, 7th January

What a great start to the term! Walking round school, the children are so purposeful and focused on their learning and we know this doesn’t just happen by accident. Thank you for sending your children in to school with a positive attitude to learning, having had a good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast. This, combined with a chat during Breakfast Club, a conversation on the minibus, a smile at the gate…as well as fantastic teaching and learning support, it all adds up to happy children in class, ready to learn! Thank you everyone for your support!

Saturday, 17th December

Two more days of school left and having had 4 trips last week, we have one more trip to go! Our termly visit to church at St Mary’s will be an opportunity for us to sing together as a community and consider what Christmas means to us. There are many, many people who have contributed to helping us ‘Live life in all its fullness’ this term and we would like to thank them all. Thank you! We wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year!

Saturday, 10th December

The children sing a harvest song about being ‘so thankful’ and yesterday we were ‘so thankful’ when the burst water main was repaired and water was restored. It makes us realise how vital running water is and how we can take it for granted!

Please have a look at the nativity pictures on the Robins and Kingfishers pages - they told the story of the first Christmas beautifully. And the Owls and Red Kites Carol Concert was lovely too. We are well and truly embracing the festive spirit!

Wrap up warm this weekend! One child remarked the other day about their new piece of clothing which they had never come across before - a vest! Many of the children aren’t used to wearing vests but next week has a Level 3 Cold Weather Alert so please send your children to school with multiple layers, a hat and gloves.

How to stay well in winter

Friday, 2nd December

What a lovely Christingle service we had yesterday! On Monday we had an Advent service led by Owls, on Wednesday we had St Andrew’s Day celebrations and today I have been enjoying the Nativity rehearsals for next week with a parent who was looking round the school for Set 23 - we both agreed how lovely it sounded. Bring your tissues on Wed/Thurs parents and carers, you will need them!!

And our children have been enjoying their raffle prizes - ringing the bell, watching a film at lunchtime and drinking hot chocolate were among the 10 prizes for children. Thank you for your donations!

Saturday, 25th November

I can’t believe that advent starts this Sunday! The Robins and Kingfishers are busy getting ready for their Nativity performance - they are learning to speak clearly, with confidence and remember lines. I have to say they are doing a fantastic job! Thank you parents for practising the lines with the children. Meanwhile, the Owls and Red Kites are rehearsing the carols and songs ready for their ‘Lessons and Carols’ performance. We can’t wait! But do you remember last year’s performance?

Can you believe that this time last year the Nativity was outside (even though it was raining - there was nothing that was going to stop us performing!). And the Carol Concert was watched by a masked up, socially distanced, limited capacity audience!

I wonder if just that memory has had the same effect on you as it did on me! I am so incredibly thankful for our health, our community and that this year, we can celebrate Christmas together.

Saturday, 19th November

What a fantastic day we had at the Winter Fete. Thank you so much for coming! It was such a success not only because we were able to raise for the school but also because we got to meet our extended community over a cup of tea and slice of cake. It takes a huge amount of organisation behind the scenes to create such a successful event. Thank you PTFA for this brilliant opportunity and thank you staff for helping too!

Saturday, 12th November

I would like to thank all those who helped us to reflect during our Remembrance Service. Rev. Miri, a past pupil who played ‘The Last Post’ and all the children who presented thought-provoking contributions allowed everyone to contemplate and give thanks.

Saturday, 5th November

We had fantastic Indian dancing on Thursday with all classes learning with Krupa, a specialist teacher who visited us this week. We have also been visited by Polly Capron, one of our Governors, who was monitoring RE and Collective Worship. She was very impressed with Owls pupil led Collective Worship and liked the way all the children were invited to take part, how they were included and they were certainly inspired to think about what resilience meant for them.

Kingfishers are learning about ‘The Gunpowder Plot’ so I hope they are inspired tonight! Hope you all have a fun, safe evening!

Saturday, 22nd October

Our pupil led Harvest Festival of thanks was both thoughtful and inspiring. Frankie, our wellbeing champion, challenged us all to think about 5 things that we can be thankful for each day and Owls explained how important our human rights are, including warmth, shelter and food, hence collecting food for the charity Loose Ends. We can certainly be thankful to all of our parents and carers who were so generous with their donations.

Thank you to all the parents, carers, friends and community who are sponsoring our children to find as many words as they can from:

Great Shefford

We are ready and waiting with prizes for every entry to the PTFA ‘Word in a Word’ fundraiser! Hoping we can raise enough to run a Lego workshop and get some new Lego coding kits!

Saturday, 8th October

As the weather becomes colder and we head into the darker months, having World Mental Health Day on Monday 10th October is great timing as it will set us up well with new resources and strategies to help us feel like we can live life in all its fullness. My favourite ones are getting some fresh air (I go on a walk most evenings!) and listening to music - I wonder what you listen to to lift your mood. Perhaps our newly appointed Singing and Collective Worship leaders can help put together a list! Watch this space!

Saturday, 24th September

The Red Kites led our Collective Worship following the funeral for the Queen with songs, prayers and memories of a life spent in service for our country. Thank you Red Kites for inspiring us to think deeply about a life well-lived.

Red Kites have had an event packed start to the term, with Manor Adventure taking place the previous week. (Photos here: Manor Adventure 2022) What a display of Courage - our Christian Value for the term. We asked the children if they felt they had experienced our vision of ‘Living life in all its fullness’ and I expect you can guess their answer!

Next week the Red Kites will again lead us in Collective Worship as they celebrate their achievements during the residential trip. I can’t wait!

Friday, 8th July

We have had such a busy week across the school! Indian Dance workshop, Lego coding workshop, a visit from Thames Water, a trip to Dorchester Abbey…and next week, Cotswold Wildlife Park! This is all part of our vision to make sure our children ‘Live life in all its fullness’ with learning opportunities from direct experience.

Saturday, 2nd July

What a fantastic 40th Birthday! Thank you so much to the PTFA for organising and running it!

Friday, 24th June

Sports Day and an Ofsted visit (which we had been expecting for some time) made it an interesting week. We have to wait until the report is published in a few week’s time to let you know the outcome. So onwards with next week - we are all looking forward to the 40th birthday celebrations on Saturday - hope you are all practising for the Bake Off!

Saturday, 18th June

What a scorcher yesterday! The children coped well despite the heat thanks in part to the staff ensuring the children stayed in the shade, stayed indoors at the hottest part of the day and gave the children drinks of cold water. And they continued with their learning. Kingfishers, Owls and Red Kites are learning about healthy eating and are creating healthy snacks, smoothies and three course meals as part of Design and Technology. so yesterday was the perfect opportunity to try various dips for Kingfishers and smoothies for Owls. They surprsied themselves in trying more than they thought they might - fantastic! ‘Having a Go’, ‘Enjoying Learning’ and ‘Don’t Give Up’ all in action!

Saturday, 11th June

As we head to the end of the academic year, it is a fantastic time to reflect on everything that has been achieved:

• A renewed vision - ‘Living life in all its fullness’

• A reviewed, bespoke curriculum

• A programme of trips and visitors

• A welcoming back into school for parents and visitors

• New resources including reading books and non fiction texts

• A new library and sensory room being developed

  
  

Our Christian value is ‘Endurance’ and we have certainly shown this! Thank you everyone for making this possible! We are looking ahead to plans for next year and will be asking for your feedback soon!

Thursday, 26th May

What an end to the term! We had a fantastic Platinum Jubilee Celebration at Chaddleworth thanks to help from the PTFA (cakes and decorations) Rev Miri and of course the staff team who all worked so hard to make sure the children had a day to remember.

It started with a walk to St Andrew’s Church, followed by a service where two of our children sang our school song beautifully. We listened to an acrostic Jubilee poem about the queen, written by one of the Red Kites and we heard about King Solomon and how he chose wisdom over all the other anything he could have asked God for which deepened our understanding about the Christian Value of Wisdom – our focus for this term.

Having walked back to Chaddleworth, after lunch, we sang the National Anthem which was followed by 1950s games planned and organised by the Red Kites. They gave such clear instructions and the children loved learning how to play tiddlywinks, quoits and hopscotch among many other games…I can see that our playground game repertoire has been expanded! Parents said how much they enjoyed it too – thank you for coming!

And then we had afternoon tea!

Joyous has our country been,

Under the reign of our noble Queen.

Being Queen must not be easy.

I adore our gracious monarch.

Lo and behold, her reign’s been the longest.

Everyone looks up to her.

Eternal love blesses her soul.

By Rosanna

Saturday, 21st May

As we head into the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, I wonder what memorable moments the children will carry with them forever. I remember the mug, coin and a even a tin pencil case I was given for the Silver Jubilee but I don’t remember much more than that. We plan for our children to remember a whole lot more! We want them to feel a sense of community when we gather at Chaddleworth School to play games and have afternoon tea, to know what we are celebrating, why it will be a significant historical moment and what it means to different people. We can’t wait!

Saturday, 14th May

When we line up in the morning, we use that time to welcome the whole school, give out messages of support and encouragement, advertise competitions, announce shadow/house captain messages and also practice some learning. We have worked on 5,6,7,8, 56 is 7 x 8…we are working hard to make sure we use all the opportunities we have to learn. Please can you take any opportunity you have over the next few weeks to talk to your child about coins, their value and change given as the children tell us they have little experience of money and with the jubilee celebrations coming up, we think you may be visiting stalls etc. Thank you!

Saturday, 7th May

Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week with the theme of ‘Loneliness’, something that everyone faces at some points in their life. So this a great opportunity to find out more as a parent/carer or child. How can we help others who are facing loneliness? How can we help ourselves? Visit our Wellbeing page for information about this and other worries or concerns.

Our Year 6 children have been working hard at school and home to get ready for SATs next week. The children are sitting them at Chaddleworth School, as in previous years, so that they have the space, peace and quiet that they will need to concentrate. They have also asked for lots of snacks! Good luck Year 6!

Saturday, 30th April

Shefford Annual Parish Council Meeting Speech

Saturday, 16th April

Our curriculum maps are all available on the class pages or click on the links below.

Robins

Kingfishers

Owls

Red Kites

Please have a look at them with your child(ren) and discuss any new vocabulary - this is a fantastic way of getting your child ready for the new term! We also have the Junk Jamboree for the Jubilee to look forward to, as well as our term-time school events. We are considering the Christian Value of Wisdom this term and asking the Big Question: What qualities do wise people have? I wonder how you would answer this question.

I hope you are enjoying the sunshine today….I hope it lasts!

Saturday, 2nd April

It was such a lovely day yesterday walking with the children through the chilly but mainly sunny weather. Dr Brown asked the children about what they saw when they turned round to look at Shefford and they described how the settlement was ‘long’ because it had developed along the road and at the bottom of a valley - a fantastic opportunity for learning about geography through a real experience.

Next week we are raising awareness about autism so that we all have a better understanding of both ourselves and people around us. We want our children to ‘Live life in all its fullness’ which includes understanding that we are all unique and that to get the most out of all our relationships, we need to be able to understand similarities and differences between each other.

Our House and Shadow Captains spoke with Kate Pike from the Mental Health Support Team this week to help them gather some ideas about what they could do to improve mental health across the school and will be reporting to Mrs Sayer, our Senior Mental Health Lead, next week. We look forward to hearing their plans!

Opening of the running track:

Saturday, 26th March

It is good to be back! Covid has continued to challenge us but we have had a good week of learning including the writing of a flashback narrative (Red Kites), instructions (Owls), designing of motor vehicles (Kingfishers and Red Kites) and fantastic phonics including sentence writing (Robins).

Today it is Earth Hour so from 8.30pm - 9.30pm, the World Wide Fund for Nature are encouraging everyone to switch off our lights and turn off our phones to highlight climate change and the changes we can make to stop it. This is a little late in the evening for our children so I wonder if you can switch off devices for an hour today. Have a look at the resources first - maybe you could use the time to create the poster design. Earth Hour Presentation

Click on the poster below to get a PDF copy of it

Saturday, 12th March

Despite a challenging week, we can look back, be proud of what we have achieved and look forward to Science Week next week! You could have a go at entering the British Science Week competition. We look forward to sharing our learning on Friday!

Saturday, 5th March

This week has been one of those ‘a month in a week’ weeks! We have had so much learning going on with Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and World Book Day. Our Reading Champions did a great job of reminding us all about VIPERS!

Vocabulary is such a great starting point for understanding a text. If you are listening to your child read, have a quick flick through before they start reading and see if there are any tricky words you can introduce before they get started.

Saturday, 19th February

I hope everyone got through yesterday’s stormy weather without any incidents. We are thankful that our preparations on Thursday appear to have protected the school. We were due to have our 40th birthday celebrations but instead are using the opportunity to celebrate through the year. We want our children to have an understanding of history in a real context and linked to our community so this is the ideal opportunity.

I had not realised that we are heading for one of those special dates until the PTFA suggested a fundraising event. Thank you PTFA!

Saturday, 12th February

It is Shefford School’s 40th birthday celebration on Friday! We are looking forward to looking at photos of the school from the past and also learning about what going to school in the 80s was like - we have at least one visitor coming in to share their experiences of Shefford School. If you remember what it was like then, please get in touch! It helps us feel connected to our community and gives context to life in the 1980s in Great Shefford.

Rev Miri visited us on Wednesday and asked the children to consider what special things they might bake for a loved one on Valentine’s Day. They suggested roast dinner, pizza and cake. The children then considered what it was like to be ‘full’ and the meaning of ‘full’ linked to our vision: Living life in all its fullness. We thanked God for all those times that we have been full and asked for help for those who might not be full when they go to bed tonight.

Meanwhile the basketball hoops have arrived! The children always have active play times, especially with the new playground equipment that our play leaders selected, but now they have got even more choice.

Saturday, 5th February

What a difference a bit of sunshine makes! A great start to Children’s Mental Health Week. We are planning to ‘be in the moment’ and look for those ‘wow’ moments that lift our spirits. I shared with the children some ways in which we are ‘living life to the full’ and what it means for our school. This week I’m looking forward to hearing how they ‘live life in all its fullness’.

We are starting our planning for the Jubilee celebrations in June for both Shefford and Chaddleworth. It promises to be an exciting weekend at both locations!

And this week we are inviting our parents into school to see for themselves what the children have been learning. We can’t wait!

Saturday, 29th January

We are introducing ‘Weekend Wonders’ to the whole school. A ‘Weekend Wonder’ is a challenge to consider an ‘I wonder’ question or challenge that the children complete over the weekend. We will then celebrate the outcomes during our Tuesday Whole School Collective Worship. The Kingfishers have started us off with their Weekend Wonder:

If you fancy a challenge this weekend, why not see how many different shapes you can make with your shoes! Don’t forget to upload your pictures to the Teams assignment!

Watch out for all the challenges next week!

We are incredibly pleased with our new reading scheme books. The children are really enjoying them and it is clear that the close match between the phonic sounds that the children are learning and the practice of those sounds in their reading books is helping the children to make good progress. I enjoyed reading one of them this week.

Saturday, 22nd January

Good morning all. Our House and Shadow Captains and Arts Leader have announced a competition to design a poster on the theme of ‘Keeping safe’. Our Christian Value of ‘Trust’ links with this and Collective Worship this week is focusing on who we trust and also why we don’t trust everyone. Do we trust someone who we don’t know? Do we trust someone who contacts us online? Do we trust someone who we don’t know but who offers us something we want? How do we make decisions about who to trust and who not to trust to keep ourselves safe? I look forward to sharing the results in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, I have enjoyed buying tickets from the Robins - I now have access to everything at a very reasonable rate! Maths in action! In Red Kites they have been learning how to compare fractions and were asked the question ‘Which is bigger, a fifth or a tenth and how do you know?’ Getting the ‘answer’ is great but we know that they have really understood a concept when they can give the ‘I know this because…’ part. How do we know 6 x 4 really is 24? How do we know that 5 + 4 = 9? These are the sorts of questions that your children are being asked.

Saturday, 15th January

I had the absolute pleasure of accompanying Owls to Ufton Court for an extended day visit. The children had a fantastic time learning about local history. They took part in a drama involving the Tudor raids to find Catholic priests, looked for evidence and held a trial where the evidence was presented. Later on the children dressed up in Tudor costumes, learnt how to dance a pavane and ate a huge Tudor banquet! The children listened well, participated with enthusiasm and were fully immersed in their learning. This was certainly a memorable experience for us all!

Sunday, 9th January

Happy New Year!

We have had a fantastic start to the term, with all of our children finding out about what the topic of ‘Journeys’ will mean for them. At the very end of term, we are planning to take all of our children on a pilgrimage in the local area. We not only want our children to learn about their locality but also about themselves as they walk along the route. They will find out about Courage, Compassion, Trust, Friendship, Wisdom and Endurance. So a physical as well as personal journey.

But before we get that far into term, Owls are off to Ufton Court next week. They will have an action packed day learning about local history and what it might have been like to live in a local Tudor mansion. To bring the learning alive and make the experience truly memorable, they will be hearing real stories about Ufton Court, dressing up in costumes, taking part in a drama and feasting on a Tudor banquet! We can’t wait!

The House and Shadow Captains are working in partnership with the Arts Leaders who have decided that they would like to launch a competition to design posters about keeping everyone safe. They are looking forward to announcing it during the morning messages this week.

I shall leave you with my ‘golden moment’ this week which was when one of the Robins in Reception came to show Mrs Sayer (our Assistant Headteacher and Maths Lead) and me his maths learning. He said: “I have subitised 6”. Subitising is a term that was introduced by the Swiss psychologist Piaget. It’s the ability to look at a small number of objects and instantly recognise how many objects there are without needing to count - an extremely useful skill to master when learning about numbers. Fantastic!

Thursday, 23rd December

We are nearly there - 2 more ‘sleeps’ to go! I hope you are able to sleep, even if the children are finding it more difficult!

Getting your child a phone for Christmas? At the end of term we sent out paper copies of the documents below. Now is a great time to consider how you want your child to use their phone and what safety measures you can put in place. The phone advice is written by a past pupil and is a good place to start.

I hope you all have a lovely, safe Christmas and look forward to the New Year with the Christian Value of ‘Trust’ and the Learning Power of ‘Have a Go’!

Sunday, 12th December

As we head into the final week of term, we can reflect on what has been achieved this term. We have embedded the Christian Values of Courage and Compassion so that children can give examples of when they are demonstrating ether value. They know that to show courage, something has to be difficult and to show compassion you need to be able to understand how others are feeling and take action to help them feel better. Our safeguarding survey for the children highlighted the children’s understanding of talking to a trusted adult and also that safeguarding is the responsibility of everyone. They would like more learning about cyber bullying and what to do around unknown adults. Having implemented Oracy learning, the children use ‘agree, build, challenge’ to discuss thoughts and ideas - they know how to disagree politely!

They have performed in front of an audience for the first time in a very long time and some have had their first performance ever!

We have been on trips both local (Chaddleworth welly walk, Trindledown Farm, Wantage Museum, Watermill Theatre, Littlecote Roman Villa) and far, (The Manor, Shropshire, Winchester Science Museum) to enrich the curriculum and provide memorable experiences that make the learning ‘stickier’! (We want the children to remember their learning forever and describe it as ‘sticking’ with them so the stickier it is, the better!) We have been visited by dentists, astronomers and gardeners.

4LEGS radio were witness to the PTFA fundraising event on Friday. Thank you to everyone who sponsored the Reindeer Run - the children loved it (as well as the reindeer antlers) and are keen to get going with the reflective garden project. This was followed by a very successful school uniform and second hand book sale. What a ‘win win win win’ - parents can clear out unwanted items, they can buy items at a reduced rate, items are being recycled and the PTFA can raise funds for the reflective garden. Fantastic!

Our governors have been busy both behind the scenes and in front of them! Governors have helped on school trips, supported our services on Remembrance Day and for Christingle, talked to the children and staff about learning and are finding out what it is like to be a child in our school throughout the term. They are fantastic at asking questions that make the leaders think about why we do what we do when we do it and challenge us to do it even better. Our shared strategic vision is supporting the school to make progress despite the challenging circumstances with the determination that our children deserve the best, no matter what.

Meanwhile, we get ready for the last week. Children, staff and parents are no doubt having to show the Christian value of ‘Endurance’ as we round off the term. Living life in all it’s fullness and going the extra mile can be tiring! We will be pacing ourselves, looking out for each other’s wellbeing, showing compassion where it is needed and finding inspiration to get to the end point. I wonder where each person’s inspiration will come from. For me it comes from the moment the children walk through the gate at the start of the day and say ‘Good morning’. And even if it hasn’t been a good morning for them, I know that their school day is going to bring them multiple opportunities for it to feel better.

We can’t say a big enough ‘Thank You’ to everyone who has supported us, worked alongside us, given up their free time, worked in the evenings and weekends in order to make our children’s experiences the best they can be but… THANK YOU!

Have a restful weekend!

Saturday, 4th December

What lovely Christingle services. We sang, danced and lit our Christingles. I hope those who were unable to make it to the service still lit the Christingles that they made in school and had a moment of reflection at home. A collection was made for the Children’s Society and if there are any more donations, please send them to the office. Emily, Erin, David and Noah read Bible passages so clearly during the different services and I am sure we all left feeling uplifted.

The PTFA are working tirelessly to help raise funds and smiles!

Bags2Schools - last day for dropping off bags is Monday before 9am

School Uniform and Second Hand Book Sale is on Friday, please bring in donations this week

Reindeer Run - a fun sponsored run for the children during school time

Thank you PTFA!

Saturday, 27th November

Wow! What a fantastic performance yesterday. The whole school went to see ‘The Jungle Book’ at The Watermill and the children loved it! Our Whole School Collective Worship will be looking for those ‘Wow’ moments on Monday and suspect that lots will mention this experience.

Tomorrow is the First Day of Advent and also the start of the Jewish festival of Hannukah.

Did you know that the word advent is from the Latin word for arrival — “adventus”. Advent marks the start of the spiritual period of preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas Day, and the beginning of a new Christian year.

Hanukkah, which means ‘dedication’ in Hebrew, begins on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and usually falls in November or December. Often called the Festival of Lights, the holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, games, and gifts.

Whether you are celebrating Advent, Hannukah, another special occasion or just relaxing, I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Saturday, 20th November

In Collective Worship this week we thought about our ‘Ow’ moments and our ‘Wow’ moments - we thought of it as being a ‘window’, looking out at the world around us and seeing other people’s experiences. Our ‘Ow’ moment was thinking about those who had lost their lives in wars and our ‘Wow’ moment was appreciating the spectacular leaf display that autumn has brought. I wonder what ‘Ow’ or ‘Wow’ moments you are going to have this weekend.

In other news, we are working hard to make our learning ‘stick’ so that we remember our learning an hour later…. a day later….. a week later…… and forever! It can be a challenge! So to make it easier we are going to have some key instant recall facts (KIRFs) spread around the school so that when we are walking along the corridor, eating our lunch or playing outside, we can practise our facts!

EYFS - Looking and recognising 5 objects without counting

Year 1 - Addition and subtraction facts up to 6

Year 2 - Multiplication facts for x2

Year 3 - Multiplication facts for x3

Year 4 - Multiplication facts for x6

Year 5 - All multiplication facts up to 12 x 12

Year 6 - Factor pairs

Saturday, 13th November

Good morning! What a grey Saturday morning!

I am looking for spiritual moments with the children so that they can learn what spiritual moments are and for me, this week it was during our Remembrance Day service which we held in school. The children all showed such respect and understanding as they remembered the fallen.

I also had the absolute pleasure of reading the poems that Kingfishers and Owls have written so thoughtfully. See the Kingfishers page for their writing.

This is the Owls class poem:

Petrified, I climbed up the trench walls

Up to No-Man’s land and saw my death

It was like a ghost town

The German guns began to fire like darts from the enemy trenches

The British snipers raised their guns like an elephant’s trunk

Bursting bullets fired in retaliation

Bombs exploded like thunder

Soldiers from both sides

Were charging like angry bulls

Soldiers fell like bowling pins to the ground

Shot soldiers were dropping like flies

Blood, as red as lava, flowed like a river, across the ground

Death everywhere.

Saturday, 6th November

I have to share this photo again - it appeared in our newsletter this week and I am no photographer but it was such a spectacular sight!

It was certainly an ‘awe and wonder’ moment! We will be talking to the children about moments of ‘awe and wonder’. I wonder if the Red Kites will feel this when they finish painting the night sky in the style of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’, using London’s landscape and fireworks instead of stars. Maybe it will be when they ‘walk the gallery’ of their finished paintings.

I wonder if Robins felt it when they arrived at Chaddleworth School on Wednesday for their welly walk!

I wonder if Owls felt it when they read each other’s newspaper reports! I was certainly wowed by the the class vocabulary as the vicious lava flowed and deathly ash rained down like snow.

I wonder if Kingfishers will feel it when they….sorry Kingfishers - don’t want to give it away! I wonder what Miss Rignall and Mrs Oberholzer have planned for you this week that will take your breath away!

Have a lovely, safe, awe inspiring bonfire weekend!

Saturday, 23rd October

We can look forward to starting next term by selecting our pupil leaders. We have Digi-leaders, Reading Champions, Eco-Warriors, Arts and Sports leaders to name a few and of course, Shadow House-Captains. Those in Red Kites who wish to be considered for the roles have prepared speeches - in fact they all want to be considered for a role so they have all prepared a speech! The Shadow House Captains learn how to be a good leader by looking to the House Captains as good role models. Each leader will identify targets that they want to achieve by the end of the year.

Our Big Question this week is: What makes a good leader. I wonder what the children think! We will find out after half term.

Hope you are able to enjoy a restful half term!

Saturday, 16th October

After a challenging end to the week, we can look back and recognise what fantastic teamwork we have seen from staff, parents and children. The children adapted quickly to the reinstating of bubbles, understanding why it was important, parents and carers have been extra vigilant with symptoms and are testing regularly, staff have stepped up and covered where needed so that school continues as normally as possible but I think we will all be glad when we reach half term! Thank you everyone - it is all very much appreciated!

Wishing you all a peaceful weekend.

Saturday, 9th October

We had more visitors this week as we showed several families round our school and we also welcomed our parents and carers in to school to meet their child’s class teacher. Next week we looking forward to meeting the Newbury Astronomical Society. We can’t wait as they are going to help us find out about planets and stars and show us telescopes and explain how they work! It’s great to have experts in to answer all those tricky questions!

The children have asked to support Christian Aid this year so we are doing this by starting with donations for fruit tree saplings and cocoa plants. We are celebrating harvest on Wednesday by harvesting our fruit and vegetables which one of our parents is very kindly going to cook up for us so the children can try some.

EYFS parents are invited to join a phonics workshop with Mrs Higgins and Mrs Langford on Wednesday after school - make sure it’s in your diary as this is one you really don’t want to miss!

Have a lovely weekend!

Saturday, 2nd October

What a rainy day! Thankfully it didn’t rain as I took our visitors round yesterday during our Open Day. Jim Hazlewood, our Chair of Governors and Polly Capron, our Local Authority Governor, joined us for the tours. I think the Red Kites in particular enjoyed telling our visitors about Manor Adventure and also being House Captains. The whole class are busy writing speeches ready to present - see Red Kites class blog. When we popped our heads round the door, we found Owls delivering their own speeches in role as Boudicca as she called upon the Iceni tribe to join her in battle against the Romans. The speeches were obviously successful as we could hear them cheering after we left!

The Robins are looking forward to visiting Trindledown Farm on Wednesday - I wonder what animals they will see there. Meanwhile Kingfishers are trying to catch a star with some amazing story writing.

We are also looking forward to meeting our parents and carers next week and will be asking them about our school vision, reading at home and what they want their children to achieve this year.

So we are looking forward to another busy week!

Saturday, 25th September

Having just returned from our Year 5 and 6 week long adventure at The Manor in Shropshire , I certainly enjoyed my sleep last night! The Red Kites will shortly be using this experience to consider challenges and how they overcome them as leaders. We have Reading Champions and Digi-leaders in each class and the House Captains have asked that there are Eco Leaders in each class too as it is their priority for the year. The Red Kites will be preparing speeches for the other roles such as Shadow House Captain, Play, Sports and Arts Leaders. We look forward to hearing their reasons for wanting to take on a particular role.

Meanwhile, we are preparing for our Open Day on 1st October, with an additional date to be added shortly. To book an appointment for the Open Day, please contact the school office: office@csf.w-berks.sch.uk

Sunday, 19th September

I wonder how the children in Red Kites are feeling tonight. Tomorrow we are off on their residential trip to Manor Adventure in Shropshire for a week of climbing, walking, abseiling, kayaking and so many more activities that will be both challenging and exciting. I am certain that we will witness many moments of courage and determination. Looking forward to reporting back through the week - see the Red Kites blog for their daily update!

Saturday, 11th September

I hope you have been able to visit the class pages as they give you a flavour of the learning that week. We are privileged to be able to offer specialist teaching for swimming, Forest School, French, music and MNR Sports Coaching. They have all begun and we now feel like we are fully in the swing of school life! Looking forward to another action packed week, finding out more about light and space as part of our ‘Starry Night’ theme.

Saturday, 4th September

We’re back! It has been such a delight to welcome everyone back into school! Thank you so much to our staff who have prepared everything so that we are ready to receive the children and our parents and carers who have been brilliant at making the new morning and afternoon routines run smoothly. Thank you!

We are off to a flying start with class pages and new class blogs. This is a fantastic way to keep in touch with your child’s learning and are well worth a visit!

The House Captains led Collective Worship on Thursday which included a check that everyone knew about our Christian Value for this term - ‘Courage’. This year, they would like to focus on the environment. I am sure we will see some courageous advocacy as they lobby for change! They will be joined in a few week’s time by Shadow Captains who have been elected by the whole school. They then learn how to be a good leader by working alongside the House Captains. When they are in Year 6, they are promoted to House Captain.

I hope you are all able to enjoy a bit of sunshine this weekend!

Wednesday, 1st September

We can’t wait to welcome in all our children tomorrow! Looking forward to putting into action all our exciting plans for learning. ‘Starry night’ is our theme for KS1 and KS2 whilst EYFS are going to be letting Mrs Higgins what they would like to learn about. We use this page to keep everyone in our school community updated with the latest information, alongside the weekly newsletters which can be found here: Newsletters

Sunday, 11th July

Apologies for the late entry - it has been a report writing weekend and I have just completed my final comments. It really is a pleasure to review the children’s progress over the year. We have now had two full terms of learning and one with remote learning and despite this, the children have made the most of every learning opportunity.

The football starts in an hour. During Collective Worship on Friday, we wondered if the players and fans would show endurance, compassion and wisdom. We certainly hope so! I think they would have benefitted from seeing how well our children showed this during Sports Day. They were all such fantastic role models!

We head into the final few days and are preparing to say ‘hello’ to some and ‘goodbye’ to others. Challenging and exciting times ahead!

Saturday, 3rd July

During lunchtime last week something didn’t seem quite right and I couldn’t work it out until I realised that it was the Kingfishers turn on the play equipment. What I was expecting to do at lunchtime was support a group of them playing football which has become a bit of a lunchtime routine! The boys and girls have discovered a real passion for playing football (except when it’s their turn on the play equipment!) They organise their teams, work out who’s going in goal and play with an imagined pitch edge that fits with the position of the goals, all with very few words spoken - I find it tricky to work out who is on which side but they manage brilliantly! Have they been inspired by the Euro 2020 games? Have they been inspired by the enthusiasm of a smaller group of children who had already started to play? Inspiration can often come from many places before we take the plunge and try something new. One of our parents sent me this video which is incredibly inspiring - Sky Brown will become Britain’s youngest summer Olympian when she competes in Tokyo at the age of 13 years and 11 days in skateboarding’s debut on the biggest stage in sport. I wonder what it might inspire you to do - maybe not skateboarding but maybe something that you’ve been thinking about for a while…

Saturday, 26th June

In Collective Worship, the children have been thinking about this verse from Isaiah:

“But those who trust in the Lord for help
    will find their strength renewed.
They will rise on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not get weary;
    they will walk and not grow weak.”

Isaiah 40: 31

As we head towards the end of term, we will certainly need to find our strength renewed. I wonder how we all do that?

Sometimes my strength is renewed by taking time out to read a book! At the moment I am reading a book set in Australia, by the beach, and it’s definitely making me think of summer! This all links well to our visitor who is coming in next week from the West Berks library services to help launch the summer reading challenge. This year the theme is Wild World Heroes. Not sure what books to choose? Have a look at the link below. I wonder how many children will complete the challenge!

Saturday, 19th June

What a rainy day it was yesterday and it looks like it is set to last! I can’t believe the change - one moment we are looking for shady areas for the children to play in and then it’s a whole day of wet play! The Robins and Kingfishers have loved playing on the back field where there is more shade and different equipment to enjoy.

I’ve just finished writing an article for the Chaddleworth News, telling everyone about our plans for the end of term. We are so excited to be able to offer versions of the usual events. They are not quite what we had hoped for but better than missing out!

Next week we have a drumming workshop with Alex which sounds very exciting! I wonder who will sign up for lessons!

Sunday, 13th June

Our Christian Value focus - Endurance - was chosen carefully for this term. It’s like we are in a marathon race, having completed five unique terms, and are heading for that final mile - our final term of the school year. The trip to Bridge Farm last week certainly helped energise us all. The children found out about the plant life cycle first hand and also learnt how the crops are cultivated and harvested.

Have you been watching the football? I wonder how many examples we will see of Endurance - keeping on going, even when it’s difficult. Which footballer would get our Endurance award? Do they have to win the match to prove that they showed endurance? Wales played their first match yesterday, England play today and Scotland tomorrow. I wonder how the football fans show endurance!!! In our household, Mr Stephenson will be watching the match and wherever I am in the house, I will know the score!!

Saturday, 29th May

Hello! Today, apparently it is Mount Everest Day, Paper Clip Day and…Put A Pillow On Your Fridge Day! I have not made these up! I struggled with Paper Clip Day until I realised that it was more about celebrating inventions. I wonder what everyday inventions there are that we don’t even think about…I wonder if we know someone who might invent the next everyday object…or maybe it’s you! We want our children to be curious and to apply their wisdom and knowledge of the world to a problem, to keep on going until they find a solution. Next term, we are exploring the Christian Value of Endurance! To keep on going, even when things become difficult. A little while ago, when I was teaching year 5 and 6, we had a design project that led the children to make their own inventions - I still have the cat feeding machine that one of the children made for me! Lily had to persevere until she had completed her design. It couldn’t have been easy sawing the wood, fixing it together and creating a product that did what it was supposed to do!

Hopefully, alongside endurance, there will also be some enjoyment - our learning power next term! I am certainly looking forward to the learning opportunities that are being planned for the next few weeks.

Hope you have a sunny, restful break!

Saturday, 22nd May

Thank you so much for your playground ideas - have a look at Kingfishers page to see the children learning ‘new’ playground games.

We have been reviewing our reading scheme books and placed a very large order on Thursday - we can’t wait to fill up the shelves with the latest books, hot off the press!

The French Week planning is in full swing - the theme is ‘Healthy Eating’. Mrs Wilson, our French teacher, will be teaching the children how to ask for fruit or salad items so that they can make a fruit smoothie or salad! Having learnt about plants, the theme allows for links and connections to be made with previous learning!

Same but different

I wonder if you can spot the odd one out. Look carefully. Be ready to explain your answer!

The children have been learning how to explain an answer and also think about links and connections using ‘same but different’ photos, words or numbers. So what did you think? I though photo 3 because that dog is facing left. Or is it photo 2 because that dog is outside? Or the only one with ears that stick up (is there a name for that? I might need to ‘be curious’ and look it up!) Or was it photo 1 because it’s the only one with a tail sticking up? There are no right or wrong answers as long as you can justify it!

Try this one…the numbers 1, 2 and 9. Which is the odd one out? And why?

Have a lovely weekend despite the weather!

Saturday, 15th May

Good morning! I was wondering about playground games this week and what our favourite playground games are/were. I remember playing a game we called ‘Polo’ where we ran between two terrapins (for the children, terrapins were classrooms in a separate building to the rest of the school - like a huge caravan only it had desks and toilets in - maybe I’ll find a photo of one and add it below!)

Anyway, we used to run between the two terrapins if we had blue socks or a pet or loved playing football - depending on what the person who was ‘it’ said. As we ran across, the person who was ‘it’ would try to catch us and if we were caught, we were then ‘it’. I wonder if you have played a similar game - maybe you call it something different. Active games like this are fantastic at play times - they encourage an active lifestyle and also increase social skills (following rules, listening to instructions, playing fairly, knowing how to resolve a difference of opinion!) I seem to remember that we were stopped from playing this game because the teachers found the thumping on the walls of the terrapin too noisy! So we went on to play ‘elastics’ and a ball in tights game (it was fun, I promise!). Adults, I wonder if you have any favourite playground games that you could suggest to the children? We’d love to hear from you!

Saturday, 8th May

As it’s Mental Health Awareness Week next week, I thought it would be helpful to have some ‘nature’ ideas ready to try out, to improve our mental health. Just the titles of the ideas got me interested. Not sure I will be hugging trees but I’m sure that this is something that other people might find helpful when they are trying to relax. Another suggestion was cloud watching which I think I’d prefer to do. At the moment I can’t see any cloud shapes because it looks like there is one enormous cloud overhead! I’ll have to pick another idea - I think grounding might be my next choice! We all find different ways to help us unwind and relax - I wonder what you do. Hope you have a restful weekend!



Saturday, 1st May

It’s May Day today - a celebration of spring and the coming of summer! I wonder if you will see any May Day celebrations this weekend. Traditionally it’s a time for singing and dancing. Do you remember when we had Morris dancers in school a couple of years ago? Watch the clip below to see some local Morris dancers talk about the traditions of the dance.

Saturday, 24th April

We had our first whole school worship this term with the House Captains and Shadow Captains, Sports Leader, Arts Leader, Play Leader, Reading Champions, Eco Warriors and Digi Leaders all introducing themselves. We looked at the impact they had had so far this year - new books in classes, football nets, an art display to inspire others and the Eco Warriors with a little help from a House Captain explained why it was important to turn off lights so we will wait to hear about the impact of these on Monday.

On Monday, we will also hear from the House Captains about the new star reward system…I wonder how many will get a star for being ‘Wise’ - our Christian Value this term. The clip below has some interesting thoughts!

Thursday, 1st April

As we head into the Easter weekend, I wonder what you are planning to do. I searched for exciting Easter activities…there are so many! Egg hunts, Easter scavenger hunts, making Easter decorations - I didn’t know where to start!

Remember to pop down to St Mary’s to see the decorations!

Have a lovely Easter!

Saturday, 27th March

Good afternoon! As the children left school on Friday afternoon, I overheard a conversation which was a lovely demonstration of the ability to justify an answer and disagree politely - the oracy skills we are looking for! Three Kingfishers were talking about the palm crosses they had been given for Palm Sunday tomorrow. One of the children wasn’t convinced that the palm crosses were made from palm leaves because palm leaves are green. Another child agreed that palm leaves were definitely green so the palm crosses couldn’t be made from palm leaves but thought that the palm crosses felt like palm leaves. Then another child added that yes, palm leaves were green and the palm crosses felt like palm leaves but they felt like that because they were definitely made from palm leaves as when palm leaves dry, they turn brown.

Looking forward to our Easter Collective Worship on Tuesday at 9.30am and Learning Power Awards on Thursday!



Saturday, 20th March

Hello! I can’t believe that we only have two weeks left until the end of term! I hope you are enjoying the class pages - it’s a great chance to find out about the learning and to discuss it. We know how important talking is and that vocabulary skills at the age of 5 are a very strong predictor of the qualifications achieved at school leaving age and beyond. With that in mind, we want to encourage your child to talk!!

Perhaps today you could try a ‘Big Question’. This weeks’ Big Question is ‘What do you do if a friend lets you down?’

Or you could try some ‘Would you rather’ questions.

• Would you rather be able to fly like a bird or swim like a fish?

• Would you rather be able to touch the top of the sky or the deepest part of the ocean?

• Would you rather have a treehouse or a hideout under the ground?

Saturday, 13th March

What a great first week back! The learning across the school created such a buzz! We have missed having all of our children in school! I wonder what we want to keep from our experiences. Did parents and carers like knowing about what was being taught and how it was being taught? Did children enjoy sharing their learning with parents and carers? I wonder how we can keep this? To start us off, we’ve updated our class pages so you can see some of the learning. Look out for the Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs) for maths.

Mothering Sunday

‘Posies & Prayers’ message from Rev. Miri

Small posies of fresh flowers with a Mothering Sunday blessing will be available on Sunday morning for families to collect from church porches in Brightwalton, Chaddleworth, Fawley, Great Shefford, Leckhampstead and Welford. When collecting posies please make sure that you do all that you can to make this a safe and joyful opportunity by maintaining social distancing when you are in the porch and churchyard and using the hand sanitizer that will is available at all collection points. 

This was a great success last year with a steady stream of families visiting the churches to collect a posy for someone special or to lay on the grave of a mother or grandmother who we ‘love but see no longer’.  Please let your friends and neighbours know about this, but also warn them to be early to avoid disappointment! 

Many thanks to all involved in creating the posies, especially as extra care has been required this year in order to make the posies as Covid-safe as possible.   

Saturday, 6th March

We can’t wait for us all to be back together again at school! Science week beckons with opportunities to be curious learners. I wonder what happens if…I wonder why…I wonder how…I’m sure the children will be eager to tell you about what they have learnt. It is also Women’s History Month. Last week the children learnt about Florence Nightingale and this week, they are learning about….well I’ll let them tell you that too! Part of the discussion about women in history has included women alive today who will become a part of history. We thought about women who have worked on the coronavirus vaccinations or helped to get the Mars rover into space. Who do you think will be remembered in 10 years’ time, 50 years’ time or 100 years’ time?

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday!

Saturday, 27th February

Blue skies and sunshine! What a great start to the day - it really feels like spring is on the way! Have you spotted any snowdrops yet? Daffodils? It’s St David’s Day on Monday and so we’ll be thinking about Welsh symbols including daffodils. Mrs Higgins is going to be our St David’s Day expert - she says she is going to be wearing a hat - I wonder what it’s going to look like!

It’s also the start of Women’s History Month. I wonder which women who are alive today will be known in 100 years time like Florence Nightingale. Hmm…

And Thursday is World Book Day! Which animal are you going to dress up as? I loved reading ‘Watership Down’ and also ‘The Sheep-Pig’ - great animal books I would recommend!

What a busy week! Make the most of your weekend so you are ready for the last week of remote learning! Nearly there!

Saturday, 13th February

Hello all - have you had a look at the 100 indoor activities yet? We do number 5 already - our favourites are Monoploy, Risk, Catan and Buccaneer (which Mr Stephenson always wins!!) Number 2 sounds fun, number 42 was a mystery until I researched it and number 86 will be great practise for World Book Day on Thursday, 4th March. Our theme this year is ‘Amazing Animals’. Books for Topics has some great ideas if you want to try something new. Let me know which animal books you love here:

Have a lovely half term!

Saturday, 6th February

Have you all been able to make your bird feeders? I wonder which birds have come to visit it. These are Mr Langford’s amazing bird photos. Can you work out what the name of each bird is? Can you work out if they are male or female? How did you know?

Saturday, 30th January

Two fantastic opportunities this weekend - why don’t you try both? I wonder whether you would chose to do the run first, then relax and watch for birds in your garden, or the other way round? Remember to submit your results! I am wondering which class will have the most entries! Mrs Higgins is quite competitive so watch out Kingfishers, Owls and Red Kites - get your trainers on before Robins overtake you!

Tuesday, 26th January

These top tips from Mrs Judge, our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant, are a great way to help boost your emotional wellbeing….. Joyful January

Sunday, 24th January 5.00pm

Hello all - we will be open tomorrow. Please take care on the way in, we expect the minor roads to be icy. If you feel it is unsafe to drive in, please stay at home and let us know - remote learning will continue as normal. Hope you had a chance to enjoy the snow.

Sunday, 24th January 11.30am

Mrs Higgins was right!!! We have a few centimetres of snow here. The weather forecast does look like we will be fine to open tomorrow but I will update everyone later if the forecast changes or local conditions are different to those expected. We have a plan in the event of needing to close which takes into account your needs as parents who will possibly need to continue to work from home. It also allows an opportunity for the children to fully immerse themselves in learning about snow!! I’ll put a message on this page later on tonight with an update.

Take care! Enjoy the snow!!!

Saturday, 23rd January

What a beautiful day it is! Kingfishers, you are learning about the seasons and we can sometimes think of winter as being dark and gloomy but the sun is shining brightly today! And I think you might be in for a treat tomorrow. Mrs Higgins has been texting me again with the weather forecast and she is convinced it will snow!! Find the BBC weather forecast. It says there is an 80% chance of snow in Great Shefford.

Next week we will be learning about staying safe online and the older children will be learning about using mobile phones safely as well.

Christmas seems a long time ago but maybe you got a new mobile phone. Getting a phone is exciting and when used carefully, they are a fantastic way of staying in touch with other people as well as giving you access to all sorts of Apps. Sometimes things go wrong though. Here are some common issues that children in past year 5 and year 6 classes have had to consider. What would you do if…

• Someone was writing unkind messages?

• Someone asked for your phone number?

• Someone kept messaging you late at night?

• Someone joined a group you are in but you don’t know them?

• Someone you did not know sent you a message?

Monday, 18th January

Go to Oak Academy Virtual Library for free online books. This week it’s Jacqueline Wilson’s ‘The Story of Tracy Beaker’ - suitable for 9 - 11 year olds.

Saturday, 16th January

Good morning all! I hope you are taking a well earned break today! Some of you have been enjoying Cosmic Kids Yoga and Mrs Judge, our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA), has sent us some yoga poses for everyone to try at home!

Hope you have a restful weekend!

Thursday, 14th January

Hello all - we have put together our remote learning offer which is also on our home learning page, along with the home school agreement for using Teams. Thank you for emailing the office with your agreement to the acceptable use of Teams. The platform is performing well. You tell us that your children are enjoying seeing each other and also the staff as well as continuing their learning. What a great start to remote learning!

Saturday, 9th January

I’ve just noticed it’s gone past 12pm so good afternoon! Well, we’ve completed a week and what a week it has been. I can’t tell you how much your lovely comments on the Great Shefford village Facebook page meant to us all - thank you! We do this because we want to provide the best for our families and so it is lovely to have this feedback.

We are aware that the situation could be putting financial pressure on families, whether it’s as a result of increased heating costs or increased data, increased food bills as a result of not being able to shop in your usual way or some other additional expense. Please follow follow this link for Winter Fuel Grant - which has a variety of offers including an offer if your household income after tax, Council Tax and energy costs is less than £35,000 per year.

Have a restful weekend - looking forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Thursday, 7th January

We continue to learn how Teams works and have spent this afternoon looking at breakout rooms, timetables and how to make remote learning accessible in the event of IT issues. We plan to drop off resources with all families shortly - White Rose maths resources, exercise books and reading books. Let us know if there is anything else that you would find helpful.

Is it taking a while for your child to type up responses? Try BBC Dance Mat - a fun way to learn touch typing.

Wednesday, 6th January

Our Christian value this term is ‘Trust’ and our learning power is ‘Have a go’ - I think we are all achieving these goals whether parents, staff or children! Una Parkes, our Chair of Governors, is in regular contact and Rev. Miri is thinking of us all too - prayers will be said every Sunday for the whole school community.

Keep letting us know how the remote learning is going. Is it working for your family? Is there anything that would be helpful. Are there any resources that you need? Reading books? Exercise books? Let us know!

Tuesday, 5th January

Day one completed! A huge thank you to all our parents and carers who have been so supportive as we settle into a new routine. We really appreciated your feedback! You tell us that the children have loved seeing each other and the teachers today.

You also tell us that a daily timetable would make it easier and we absolutely agree. We are working on timings so that there is some staggering between live lessons - we think this will help if you are supporting more than one child with learning and/or if you are working from home and need some breaks in the timetable. More detailed timetables are being formulated and will be with you shortly!

Red Kites start: 9am - 3pm

Robins start: 9.15am - 2pm

Owls: 9.30am - 2.30pm

Kingfishers: 10.00am - 2.30pm

Looking forward to day two!

Monday, 4th January

As you will have heard, all primary schools are to close from tomorrow to all pupils except those who are children of key workers or are vulnerable.

We are pleased that our remote learning package is ready to roll out. In order to ease this transition we are going to start gently and build up to a full day’s learning.

Tomorrow, we aim to get all the children logged on to Teams to say hello to their teacher and experience some short interactive activities throughout the day. Nothing too daunting on day one! Our aim is to build confidence in using the new system to support effective learning in the coming weeks.

Red Kites start: 9am

Owls start: 9.30am

Kingfishers: 10am

Robins: 10.30am

Tomorrow, all online sessions will end by 2.30pm

The teachers will guide you through the day. Please be reassured that your child will not be expected to stay online for long sessions and regular breaks will be built into the shape of the day. We will take it a step at a time.

If you are unable to access Teams tomorrow, don’t worry! Mrs Kimber, Mrs Nutley and I will be on hand to talk you through the process so that we have everyone online by the end of the day. Please email (our preferred option) office@csf.w-berks.sch.uk and we will get to you as quickly as possible.

While we await specific guidelines, we are working on the principles of the first lockdown. If you think your child is entitled to attend school under the key worker or vulnerable children criteria and you wish your child to attend school, please email Mrs Stephenson headteacher@csf.w-berks.sch.uk . Please do not send your child into school until you have received confirmation of a place.

We will all take this a day at a time and as always, will review our practice daily so that we support our families to get the best outcomes for our children. Please let us know your thoughts too - effective communication and feedback are vital.

Thank you. Hope to see you all online tomorrow!

Wednesday, 30th December

Thankfully we are open as planned from Tuesday, 5th January.

On the Monday, 4th January, staff are in school, developing the remote learning offer. All remote learning (if we need to use it) will be delivered through Teams - through live online teaching and through the Teams assignments page.

If you have not yet signed up your child/children to have an account, we urgently need you to follow this link: Teams Account so that we can be ready. Thank you.

I hope you have all been able to enjoy the break, even if it has been different. Have a lovely last few days before we get going again! Happy New Year!

Saturday, 19th December

Hello all - we made it! As we knew we would! Now it’s just a few sleeps until Christmas. I will miss the Open Air Carol Service at Great Shefford park today at 6pm - a number of the staff live outside Berkshire which has made travelling complicated! However, I was lucky enough to hear the Wantage Silver Band play an open air concert last night which has started my festive break well!

Thank you so much for your lovely presents and wishes for a lovely Christmas - we are all ready for a break and plan to enjoy it, even if it is different.

Our plans for INSET on January 4th have been slightly altered as we wait for Microsoft to activate the Teams accounts. If the issue is resolved by Monday, 4th January, our plan will be back on track and we will hold our virtual classrooms:

• 11.30 Owls

• 11.45 Kingfishers

• 12.00 Red Kites

• 12.15 Robins

We will send you details of the account, password and how to get started.

Did you catch us on 4LEGS radio? If not, you can catch up - Friday 18th December 2.30pm onwards.

I hope you all have a restful Christmas break!

Saturday, 12th December

Nearly there…and before we’ve even had Christmas, we are planning ahead to the new year!

On our INSET day the teachers will be continuing their learning in order to be able to deliver lessons via Teams. We would like all the children to join us from home on the 4th as well. The idea is that on Monday, 4th January, all the teachers will be on Teams and the children will all be join their class and interact with the 15 minute lesson / worship / welcome between 11.00am and 12.00pm.

Invitations with specific times will be sent out next week to the children who have signed up to accounts. If you have not already signed up (or can’t remember if you have) please follow this link: Teams Account

Accelerated Reader - KS2

The children are being given their log ins this week. Have you given consent for your child to have an account?

If not (or you can’t remember) follow this link: Accelerated Reader

13 sleeps to go until Christmas!

Saturday, 5th December

Have you made your Christingle yet? Are you saving yours for tomorrow when we can join the Christingle Service via Zoom?

While Robins and Kingfishers have been busy getting ready for their nativity, we have given Owls and Red Kites the opportunity to learn a Christmas song with Katie from Berkshire Maestros. It was always going to be a challenge getting singing up and running again but with windows open, class groups and distancing in the hall, they managed it. They have absolutely loved working with Katie. Can’t wait to hear the end product on Sunday during the service!

Next week we will film our nativity! It will be different but again, we can’t wait to share it with you. We are putting our best efforts in to make it special so whilst it might be different, hopefully you will enjoy it just as much!

Also, we must give a huge ‘thank you’ to the PTFA for decorating the outside of the school last weekend and also our elves who were busy getting the inside of school decorated. I’ll add some photos of the classrooms so you can see it too!

Saturday, 28th November

Good morning! I’ve uploaded the ‘Books for Topics’ recommended reads for each year group. I’m sure there are some familiar books and also some new books that you might want to add to your Christmas list! Have you heard about VIPERS? It’s a way of helping to understand a text.

Saturday, 21st November

I had a look at my diary and it is 34 days until Christmas Day! We are having a Christmas Postbox so you might like to get started with writing some cards. Mrs Higgins and Mrs Hawkins were saying on Friday evening how well the children always spell ‘love’. We think it might be because you write that word in your cards so this year we are wondering if you can add in ‘beautiful’ ‘because’ and ‘said’ !! Now there’s a challenge! (All the cards will be quarantined for 72 hours before being handed out.)

Next week, when I look into reading in school and at home, be ready to tell me what you would like to see in our library. Do you read every day at home? I do! I wonder if Owls have gone home this weekend to find out more about Egyptian mummies - they loved finding out all the gruesome details. Are you enjoying your library books Robins? Red Kites - you love those animal books - do you read more about them at home? Kingfishers - your teachers share class stories and you love the funny ones. Are you sharing a funny storybook this weekend?

To find some recommended reading lists, follow this link Books for Topics

Saturday, 14th November

I am writing this message on a blustery day - at times the wind is howling down the chimney and I can hear spots of rain landing in the fire place. It makes me glad to be inside in the warm with a cup of coffee to hand! I certainly feel relaxed but if I didn’t I now have three mindfulness strategies to practise.

Saturday, 14th November

I am writing this message on a blustery day - at times the wind is howling down the chimney and I can hear spots of rain landing in the fire place. It makes me glad to be inside in the warm with a cup of coffee to hand! I certainly feel relaxed but if I didn’t I now have three mindfulness strategies to practise.

Saturday, 14th November

I am writing this message on a blustery day - at times the wind is howling down the chimney and I can hear spots of rain landing in the fire place. It makes me glad to be inside in the warm with a cup of coffee to hand! I certainly feel relaxed but if I didn’t I now have three mindfulness strategies to practise.

We are always mindful of the need to prevent bullying but it is good to have a special week as a reminder to focus our thoughts on what bullying is, why people bully and how to stop it. The House and Shadow Captains’ video is ready for next week to help the children think about their role if they see someone being unkind. They have also produced these posters:

Thank you to the House and Shadow Captains - they are working hard to make sure the school is a safe and friendly environment.

Saturday, 7th November

Good morning! The children were fascinated by the frosty leaves this week.

Meanwhile, we have been preparing for Remembrance Day next week. The children tell us personal stories of family members affected by war - I wonder if parents and carers have some stories they could share. What does Remembrance Day mean to you? Let me know and we can include your thoughts in our Worship on Wednesday.

I wonder how many children remember ‘Tree Pose’, our next mindfulness strategy. Try it but watch out you take your time while going into the pose so you don’t fall over! That wouldn’t be very mindful at all!

Saturday, 24th October

As promised, the Kingfishers display of Noah’s Ark!

Have a lovely half term break everyone - looking forward to next term’s exciting opportunities!

Friday, 23rd October

The Arts leaders, along with other members of Red Kites have invited all the children to enter their competitions.

Poetry Competition

Have a go at writing a poem about anything! Open to all years. Prizes for first, second and third. The judges will be the Arts leaders, Zach and Ewan and a special guest!

Drawing Competition

Have a go at drawing a scary picture for Halloween. The spookiest picture will win a prize (but nothing too spooky please!!) Please return entries using the red box at the gate by Monday, 2nd November. Thank you - good luck! Lexi

Closing date 9th November

Saturday, 17th October

Hello! I’ve been practising the finger breathing this week and so have the children - it’s certainly made me slow down and take a brain break! Try this one - bee breath..

• Breathe in through nose and slowly lift arms high

• Breathe out, lips together and hmmm (like a bee) as you slowly bring your arms to your side

• You can repeat this 3 times

Bee Breath helps us to co-ordinate body and breath.

Find a quiet space to try it!!

I have loved watching the art in Red Kites this week. Mr Holder broke the task down into manageable steps so that over the week, the skills built up and by Friday, they have all drawn an amazing portrait of a friend. Have a look at their class page to see some examples.

Robins fruit kebabs looked delicious too - the children had to use the learning power ‘Don’t give up’ to get the fruit onto the straws - it wasn’t easy, but they did it!

I must remember to take a photo of Kingfishers displays to share with you - Noah’s Ark is being filled with animals. Photo coming soon!

And finally, on Friday I had the pleasure of hearing some of the music the Owls have been learning with Caroline from Berkshire Maestros - thank you Owls, it was a great end to a busy week!

Saturday, 10th October

Good morning! Today I am working on our remote learning plan so that if we have to work at home again, we have an even better home learning offer. It will include a full day of learning, live lessons and a new learning platform! We hope that we don’t have to use it but better to be prepared and ready so that at a moment’s notice we can switch over.

World Mental Health Day

The children learnt about the brain and how the jumpy superhero part of your brain sometimes needs to be helped to calm down so that the smart part of your brain can work properly!

One strategy to calm down the jumpy superhero part of your brain is finger breathing. Draw slowly round each finger with your other hand, counting as you go. Then go back again.

Harvest Worship Thursday, 1st October

Robins’ Harvest Song

Kingfisher’s Harvest Poem

Owls Autumn Poem

Red Kites Harvest Reflections

Friday, 25th September

I have been blown away (and I have also been blown away - what weather!) by the children’s learning this week. Robins have been telling me all about David and Goliath and how courageous David was. Kingfishers have been learning about bears - their outdoor adventures with the polar bears has been very creative! In Owls, I have learnt all about the Stone Age from talking to the children - wow! The Red Kites have planned and carried out their own video contribution for the Harvest Festival independently. Looking forward to what next week brings!

Friday, 18th September

What a brilliant weather week for being outdoors! I have had the pleasure of working with Red Kites this week and they have certainly enjoyed being outside. We had a look at their outside space and discussed how they would like to develop it. Rope swings and wheeled vehicles were very popular! They also asked if we could get the recycling bins again. The ones that we used to have had to be put away as we can only have pedal bins so that is going to be the first job for the new eco warriors. I love this enthusiasm!

Drama enthusiasts will be interested in the Watermill Theatre’s online opportunities; the Corn Exchange are also offering various online workshops.

Friday, 11th September

You have found our new pages for class learning and updates!

We loved posting photos of learning and adding videos to the website during lockdown because we know how much the children, parents, governors and whole school community enjoyed them.

As a result of such positive feedback, we are going to continue to update the class pages with photos. Every Friday evening photos of the week’s learning will be posted so that you can talk to your child about what they have been learning during the week. The children’s home learning will also appear on these pages.

I will use my page to update you with news and information about the school.

Please let us know what you think of the new pages - I will add a form to my page in two weeks time to review what you think so far.