Farewell from Mr Johnson
Mr Johnson says farewell and reflects on his time at Stanmore as he returns to Stoke Park Junior school.
As I look out of my office window watching FOS set up for the Christmas Fair and Key Stage 2 playing on the equipment, I find it hard to believe that we have nearly completed the autumn term and therefore 2018, it compounds the feeling that being at Stanmore is a real honour and privilege and I hope you all feel as I do, that the school continues to go from strength to strength.
The children are fantastic, have an amazing thirst for learning and desire to achieve and I’m really fortunate to have such a committed and dedicated staff team that always bring that little bit of sunshine into the building to enrich everyone lives.
It is therefore with mixed emotions that I write my last newsletter as today is my last day as Interim Headteacher as come tomorrow Mrs Taylor takes up her role as the new substantive Headteacher, however I will still be around until the end term ensuring that there is a smooth and comprehensive handover of leadership between Mrs Taylor and myself.
I would like to thank you for supporting the school and all of you who help on a daily basis to enrich the learning and help make Stanmore a happy and nurturing environment for all our pupils. I shall miss you all dearly and please know that Stanmore will always have a place in heart. I know that Stanmore is in a very strong position with Mrs Taylor, she will continue to drive forward the required improvements on the journey to good and beyond and I know that you will all be behind her supporting all the way.
I wish you all a very pleasant Christmas and New Year and look forward to hearing how Stanmore continues to improve and be the BEST that it possibly can be.
Friends of Stanmore - Raffle prizes
Friends of Stanmore - great prizes in our raffle this year.
Top prize £100 cash!!!
Then ( in no particular order) £20 gift voucher from Tesco, £25 voucher from Sizzlers takeaway shop, £30 voucher from Manow Thai restaurant, £10 smiggle voucher, 2 kids go free vouchers for kids2day, Houdini's escape room experience.. " escape from Alcatraz" for 7 people, free family golf voucher at Riverside bowl, Andover, free admission for upto family of 5 at frankies fun factory, family ticket at Longdown Activity Farm, bottle of prosecco, books, chocolates, a mini pin ball machine, a beautiful handmade clutch bag made by Rachel Patterson( very talented Stanmore school mum!) , and more to come!!
You don’t want to miss out on these great prizes, so get those raffle tickets SOLD!!
Year 1 - who does that rabbit belong to?
Part, part, whole; and Emily Brown. Find out what has been happening in Year 1 last week.
Here is the news from Year 1 for the week commencing of 19thNovember.
In maths, we have been using our number knowledge to explore the ‘part – part – whole’ model, showing the addition and subtraction facts for a number. For example:
7 + 8 = 15
8 + 7 = 15
15 – 7 = 8
15 – 8 = 7
We used blue and green counters to help us to understand the addition and subtraction sentences, then we tried to solve Mrs Jones’ ‘Am I right or wrong?’ problems on the board. Next week, we will be revisiting our work on multiplication and division, doubles and halves.
In English, we have started our new book, ‘That rabbit belongs to Emily Brown’ and enjoyed working with some students from the University of Winchester who helped us explore the book using iPads. As we will be writing to the Queen in the book, we have looked at the features of a letter and learning some new grammar to be used in our writing. Today, we learned how to use ‘s’ or ‘es’ to mark plural nouns, and will be covering writing questions next week.
Learning about the history behind traditional playtime games was our focus in history this week, and we loved joining in with some old favourites such as ‘Ring a ring of roses’, and ‘Here we go round the Mulberry bush’.
We have almost finished our art project with the Winchester University students – it’s looking fantastic! Please come in to view the children’s work on Tuesday 27th November from 3.00pm in the classrooms.
We continue to work on our phonics and reading daily. Thank you for your continued support and reading with your child regularly at home.
A reminder that parents’ evenings are on Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th November, and that the appointments are 10 minutes long. If you have something to discuss that will take longer than 10 minutes, it will be necessary to book another time to talk to your child’s teacher. Thank you for your understanding and helping us to keep to time! The children’s finished and current books will be out for you to look through in the KS1 corridor before or after your appointment.
University of Winchester Art Project
We are lucky to have students from University of Winchester coming in to work with our pupils on a whole school art project
We are lucky to have students from University of Winchester coming in to work with our pupils on a whole school art project to be displayed at the front entrance.
Winchester Cathedral Nativity Chalet
Nativity Chalet is inspired by drawings created by pupils at Stanmore Primary School
This year's Nativity Chalet is inspired by drawings created by pupils at Stanmore Primary School and it looks incredible!
School Grounds Tidy-Up
Mrs Lowy led a merry band of teachers, parents and children in a 2 hour tidy-up of the school grounds.
Mrs Lowy led a merry band of teachers, parents and children in a 2 hour tidy-up of the school grounds. A huge mountain of leaves were cleared with hot chocolate and marshmallows served at half time.
Goodbye Biff and Chip
Friends of Stanmore buy new reading books for our children.
Hello Worst Witch and many others!
Great news! The FoS have bought nearly 200 new reading scheme books for KS2. They will be arriving in the Years 3 and 4 classrooms this week (19 - 23 November 2018).
KS1 books will be ordered in the near future, watch this space :)
Year 1 - money and words ending in 'ed'
Find out more about our learning in Year 1 this week.
In maths, we have been learning about British currency. Using real coins, the children have been identifying and representing the value of our money up to 20, 50p or £1.00. They have been making amounts of money using the coins, and on Thursday, enjoyed applying their knowledge of money buy playing ‘shops’. The children loved handling the money, and many are becoming fluent in recognising the different coins and their values; the children would benefit from continuing to practise this at home. Next week, we will be working on our addition and subtraction skills within 20 and solving problems using these skills.
In English, we planned and wrote our adventure stories for Traction Man. Our hero found himself in many exciting adventures, including flying to Los Angeles after lassoing the Evil Dishcloth, and chasing the Evil Dishcloth into a Cupboard of Doom! We spent time learning to edit and improve our work, such as checking punctuation, checking the correct spelling of the past tense ‘ed’ words (walked, not walkt). selecting high quality adjectives, adding conjunctions (and, but, because, so that) and using a thesaurus to find synonyms. We will be sending these stories to Mini Grey, Traction Man’s author, to inspire her thoughts for future creations!
Last week was the national ‘Anti-bullying’ week and was marked by a week-long PSHE focus on this year’s key theme- ‘choose respect’. Year 1 looked at ‘respect’ in terms of being a good friend to others, and how to respect our friends and others within the school and wider community. We ended our week with an assembly to parents/carers in which we shared our work, including the recipe we created for ‘Friendship Soup’.
On Tuesday, we welcomed teaching students from the University of Winchester who are working with the children on a whole-school art project. The children are exploring the theme of ‘the environment’ and will be creating artwork to be displayed in school. The children have some incredible ideas which they are expressing through their art – we cannot wait to see the end results!
We continue to work on our phonics and reading daily. The children are able to change their coloured band books every day – if you find that you are getting the same book repeatedly, please let the class teacher know so that we can help your child select a different text. Please can you ensure that coloured band books and reading diaries are in school daily, and that any reading you do at home is logged in the diary. Many thanks.
Thank you for your continued support regarding homework – we are delighted to receive so many completed spelling and maths/English homeworks each week. Some people have mentioned that they have problems accessing My Maths from a tablet or mobile phone; if you need to have the My Maths activities printed out, please let your class teacher know.
A gentle reminder that parents’ evenings are on Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th November. If you have not already booked your appointment, please see your class teacher who can book you a slot. Your child’s English, maths and topic books will be available for you to view outside the classroom, before or after your appointment. To ensure that we do not overrun, the appointments are strictly 10 minutes long. If you have any concerns that needs to be discussed at length, it may be necessary to book a time after school following parents’ evening. Thank you for your understanding and for helping us to keep to time.
Mrs Taylor starts on 1st December 2018
Mrs Taylor starts as our new Headteacher at the beginning of December.
Dear Parents and Carers,
Following the announcement that Mrs Sharon Taylor has been appointed as our new Headteacher, I am very pleased to confirm that she will join us officially as from the 1st December 2018. Given that this is a Saturday, her first day in school will be Monday 3rd December 2018.
I know as parents and carers you will be keen to meet Mrs Taylor, and she is keen to meet as many of you as possible. With this in mind she will be attending both parent evening’s on 27th November and 29th November, and will also be at the Friends of Stanmore Christmas Fair.
In order to help ensure we have a smooth and effective handover in the leadership of the school, Mr Johnson will remain with us until the end of term, working with Mrs Taylor for a number of days each week.
These are exciting times for us, as we continue to move forward driving continuous improvements for the children and their learning, and work to ensure everyone in our school community is the BEST that they can be.
Yours faithfully,
Chris Lindsay
Chair of Governors
Anti-bullying week: 12th - 16th November 2018
Find out what we will be doing as a school in Anti-Bullying week.
Dear Parents and carers,
At present there is much national concern about bullying and how to prevent it. As part of our work to develop all children’s social, emotional and behavioural skills, we are holding a special focused week, to think about anti-bullying and how to treat others with kindness.
I would like to emphasise that this is not because we have any more bullying than other schools. It is a planned part of the PSHE Curriculum that takes place every year at this time.
During the week, children’s timetables may change slightly, although they will continue to follow the National Curriculum. Most of their lessons during the week will have a focus on helping them to develop the skills, understanding and confidence to recognise and act when they see or experience bullying. The lessons will be varied and involve the children in many fun activities linked to this year’s anti-bullying theme, ‘Choose respect’ by designing and carrying out surveys, drama, dance, art, using and composing interactive stories, making books, reading and writing poetry.
To share and enjoy all the work the children will have done, we will be holding special outcome assemblies. We would very much like to invite you to share these assemblies with your child’s class.
Assembly 1 for Juniper Class (Mrs Jones), Rowan Class (Mr Cascarini), Willow Class (Miss Hurley), Sycamore Class (Miss Norris), Beech Class (Miss Kingshott) and Oak Class (Miss Reed).
Assembly 2 for Maple Class (Miss Young), Hazel Class (Miss Bryce), Birch Class (Mrs Haumann), Aspen Class (Mrs Horkan) and Elm Class (Mrs Kempson).
Additionally, we will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 16th November, when all children and adults working in the school are invited to wear blue to show their support for anti-bullying week.
Your child may be bringing home some information and activities for you to share, talk about and enjoy at home. We look forward to welcoming you to the children’s assembly and working as partners with you in this important area.
With best wishes,
Liz Jones
PSHE Subject Leader