News

Friday, 23rd March 2012

Dear Parents,

Spring Term Newsletter No. 11

PAUSE DAY TODAY

Today we have enjoyed a Pause Day. The whole school has taken time to pause and reflect on the events of that first Easter time. The children have been working in mixed classes throughout the day and have been using a range of media to engage with the Easter Story; drama, art, food and games, to name a few. Each class has also visited our Reflection Room which has been beautifully set up by a team of Ashley parents and folk from St Mary’s and St John’s Churches. The team has worked really hard to create displays which capture the overarching story of the Bible and help to set the events of Easter in a wider context. A huge thank you to all those involved in the preparation and set up of the room – a lot of work has gone into it and you have really done a fantastic job!

The Reflection Room (next to the current Year 5 classroom in the Linear Block) is open after school today and we would encourage you to go along with your child and have a look at the displays. Mrs Scott and Mandy Watts (the Youth and Children’s Worker at St Mary’s and St John’s) will be there to answer any questions and show you round. A special thank you to Katharine Scott, who has co-ordinated the day so carefully.

YEAR 4 GREEN STALL

This afternoon the Year 4 children, parents and staff will be sharing their Green Stall with you. Last week the children in Year 4 made beautiful soaps and lavender hand creams as part of their learning around working with nature. Some of these products will be on display this afternoon, along with delicious Easter and spring themed cakes, plants, eggcup cosies, biscuits, jams and marmalades. There will also be Grow Bag Frames on sale. The Year 4 children have put together the frames and planted up the grow bags during the day. We hope lots of you will be keen to use these award-winning frames for any food growing you might have planned for the summer. They are a bargain price of £12 and you can even pay half now and half after Easter! The frames would also make great gifts.

YEAR 5 GIRLS NETBALL

Well done to our Year 5 girls’ netball team, whose performances just get better and better. On Tuesday the girls played in an inter-schools tournament at Bell Farm. They came third in their group, beating some very good opposition. Their best result was a win against Cardinal Newman 4-1. On Wednesday they played against St Cuthbert’s in a friendly to give lots of the girls a chance to play. The final score was 17-6 to Ashley with Tayla Grant scoring with virtually every attempt! There are further netball matches planned on our new Ashley court, which will be marked out over the Easter holidays.

PARENT CONSULTATIONS

We were very pleased to see such a good turn-out for our Parent Consultations on Monday and Tuesday and hope you found the meeting valuable in terms of discussing how your child is progressing and the next steps that will take them forward. If you have discussed specific issues around your child’s learning that may need further attention, please do keep working with us to address these areas. Our partnership together is key to their success.

WORKING PARTY TOMORROW AT 10AM

Tomorrow morning we have a Working Party here at school, starting at 10am and finishing around midday. We want to dig out and wood chip a path through the wild area at the back of the field and we also need to plant up a new potato growing area. There are various other clearing and weeding projects around the grounds to prepare for the summer, too. We look forward to a great turn-out. Do bring your children, as well as some sturdy spades and forks. It looks like being another sunny, dry, spring day!

DESIGN FOR CHANGE PROJECTS

On Monday the children will be running our whole school assembly when they present their Design for Change projects for this term. Each class will be sharing one project that links to something in school or the wider community that they would like to change. The process they go through is Feel (what you would like to change for the better), Imagine (what you could do to change it), Do (the project), and Share (how the project went and where you might want to go next). It is an extremely empowering process for the children and next Friday we will tell you more about what the children decided to do.

GREAT WORKS

Alongside the Design for Change projects, the classes are drawing their learning for this half-term together with a range of Great Works. Of particular note will be Year 5’s sharing of their stunning Indian topic work, which you can come in and see at the end of school on Wednesday, and the Year 1 juice and biscuit party with an invited guest to talk about learning and school life in the past, which takes place on Tuesday afternoon.

FOA MEETING NEXT WEDNESDAY AT 8PM

Following the success of the FOA Green Nose Day Discos last Friday – thank you once again to Lee Cowden, DJ Janek ‘Mr Manic’ Schaefer and all the parent helpers – and with the Summer Term Circus and May Ball already sold out, the FOA committee will be coming together next Wednesday at 8pm to ensure everything is ready for the Summer Term, especially our Olympic themed Summer Fete on Saturday, 23rd June. The meeting is open to all parents so please do come along if you would like to find out more about what is being planned.

EASTER SERVICE AND BOOK PRIZE ASSEMBLY

Next Thursday we will be retelling the Easter story in our in-house Easter Service. This year we are focusing on the Emotions of Easter from the Fear of Lent to the Excitement of Palm Sunday, from the Humility of the Last Supper and Jesus washing his disciples feet to the Disappointment of Judas’s Betrayal, from the Anger and Pain of the Crucifixion to the Sadness of Jesus’s Death and ultimately to the Joy of his Resurrection. It promises to be a moving retelling of the story.

EASTER BONNET PARADE AND BOOK PRIZE ASSEMBLY

Our final day of the term is next Friday, when our day finishes at the slightly earlier time of 2pm. In the morning we will have two assemblies. The first one is an Easter bonnet parade, when the children promenade round the hall in Easter bonnets. We would be delighted if each child could come in with a bonnet or hat with an Easter or springtime theme. After break we will have our Book Prize, Art Prize and Sports Award assembly, when we will announce the children who have excelled this term in these key areas.

MRS REBBECK’S REVISED ROLE

Looking ahead to the Summer Term and as the parents of Dragonfly Class will know, we have decided to revise the teaching situation in Dragonflies from Easter. In simple terms what this means is that Alison Wilde’s teaching partner will be a new teacher called Gemma Sargeant, who came in recently to meet the class. Mrs Rebbeck will focus her time specifically on Special Needs. She is always happy to meet with you, should you have any particular SEN concerns about your child. If you would like to speak with Mrs Rebbeck, she can be contacted on m.rebbeck@ashleyschool.org.uk

Thank you for your generous donations to Sport Relief last Friday. We raised a fantastic £200. Have a great weekend and please come to the Working Party if you can. We start at 10! Every hand makes a difference.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher

PS Year 6 parents, please note that there is a Chamonix meeting on Monday at 8pm for 30-45 minutes.