Friday, 18th May 2012

Dear Parents,

Summer Term Newsletter No. 5

OFFICIAL OPENING NEXT FRIDAY AT 9.30AM

It is just one week until we officially open our new classroom blocks, the community kitchen, the hall extension and the new reception. It has been a long journey to reach this point and a huge amount of hard work and careful planning has gone into making it happen. We welcome our MP, Dominic Raab, to Ashley next Friday for the opening, along with Bishop Ian, the Bishop of Dorking, and many other invited guests, including representatives from Surrey County Council and the Diocese, who so generously funded this new build work.

In anticipation that the weather will be dry and we can be outside, we look forward to welcoming many of you to the opening. It is a chance to give thanks for and to bless our new school buildings, as well as to recognise all those who have contributed so much. And, of course, we plan to celebrate in style! Please let the office know as soon as possible if you can be there. We would like everyone to be in place by 9.20am so that we can start promptly at 9.30am.

WORKING PARTY AND STAGE MOVE

A huge thank you to all of you who came along to the Working Party last Saturday morning. We had close to 50 parents there and everyone put in a great shift, digging and clearing areas of the school grounds that we want to smarten up for our opening next week. Thank you, too, to the parents who assisted Mr Cadman in relocating the staging from the Reception outdoor area to its original position behind the Year 6 classroom. Many hands really did make light work, although that platform was certainly heavier than we thought!

YEAR 2 COMPARE AND CONTRAST GRASSLANDS AND WOODLANDS

Yesterday, Year 2 spent the afternoon at West End Common, comparing mini-beasts found in grassland and woodland habitats. The classes were blessed with a sunny afternoon and they really enjoyed squelching through mud, lifting up logs and being great mini-beast investigators. The favourite part of the afternoon was catching lively frogs!!! Thank you to all the parents and carers who helped to make this trip happen and to Link Up with Nature for leading the sessions.

YEAR 3 LEARN ABOUT OUR LOCAL WOODLANDS

On Wednesday, Fox and Badger Classes also visited West End Common, but for a very different purpose. They were there to identify the trees in the woodland by using an identification key and to learn why our local woodlands are so important. Best of all, the children learnt that by stamping on the ground the children and the adults were able to charm the earthworms up to the surface. Altogether they managed to find 100 worms! Once again, thank you to all the parents and carers who provided lifts and accompanied Year 3 on their trip.

SWAN CLASS ASSEMBLY

We say very well done to Swan Class for a most informative and expressive class assembly on Wednesday morning, sharing lots of fascinating learning about the Ancient Egyptians and how they lived 3,000 years ago. The Year 4 children are really enjoying learning about Ancient Egyptian life and their enthusiasm for the topic certainly came through during their confident, engaging presentation.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN REMEDIES WORKSHOP – A REPORT FROM YEAR 4

As part of our learning about the Ancient Egyptians, Kingfisher and Swan Classes took part in an Egyptian remedies workshop on Tuesday. We walked around the field, looking at herbs and flowers that were used by the Ancient Egyptians because of their healing properties. After that we made a bath milk made from Ashley honey, lavender oil and garlic. Thank you, Ashley bees, for our super soft skin! We would also like to thank Elaine Cole, who ran the workshop, and the FOA, who helped to fund it.

INFANT FLOWER PROJECT

Many thanks to the core group of infant parents who have worked with such dedication in preparing the six flower beds for the infant flower project. The project will involve investigating which colour of flower is most attractive to insects and in particular bees, and we now have all six colours in place; red, yellow, white, blue, purple and pink. As many of you will notice as you come into the school, the beds are already looking very eye-catching and will undoubtedly be a big attraction to our insect community!

CHAMONIX FUN SPORTS DAY TOMORROW

The Year 6 parents have worked extremely hard to organise the Fun Sports Day event tomorrow. The afternoon is the final fundraising event for the Year 6 Chamonix trip that heads off in exactly one month’s time. We hope the weather stays dry and the football tournament and additional fun and games are a great success. If last year’s event is anything to go by, it should be a cracking afternoon. Barbecue and drinks available, too.

PLATE CUP FINAL ON SUNDAY

Good Luck to three of our Year 4 boys, Matthew Hall, Christopher Hope and Nathan Sutton-Hooker, who are appearing in the Walton Casuals Wolves Under 9’s Plate Cup Final against Milford Pumas at Laleham Recreation Ground on Sunday. It is great to three Ashley pupils representing the team that is coached by one of our Dads, Jon Hope. We look forward to hearing how it went, boys.

FOA MAY BALL

A week tomorrow is the FOA May Ball. A fantastic parent team has put together the event and attention to detail has been paid to every aspect of the evening from special deals for the hiring of suits, haircuts and taxi services to a quality evening’s entertainment. It promises to be a great night out for those of you attending.

DOGS IN SCHOOL

A reminder to those of you who bring dogs to school that they are not allowed into the school grounds. We ask you to leave them tied up by the gate outside my office at the front of school so that they are away from children and families at the beginning and end of the school day. We thank you for your support with this matter.

END OF HALF-TERM

Don’t forget that our half-term finishes slightly early on Thursday, 31st May as Friday, 1st June is an Inset Day. For those of you planning to get away during the half-term break, it gives you a chance to head off before the weekend traffic.

Please let us know about next Friday. We would love you to be there.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher

Friday, 11th May 2012

Dear Parents,

Summer Term Newsletter No. 4

WORKING PARTY TOMORROW MORNING

Ashley School needs you! In anticipation of our Official Opening on Friday, 25th May, we would be really grateful if a team of parents could assist us in preparing our school site for this special occasion. The more people who can lend a hand, the more we can get done. We will start at 9.30am and finish at midday and we welcome any time you can give, whether it be half an hour at the beginning, an hour at the end or for the duration of the session. With the winter sporting season over, we hope that many of you can join us. Please bring digging forks, spades and brooms and if anyone has a chainsaw for some wood that needs cutting, even better. Your children are, of course, most welcome to come along and play on the field. We have 500 parents now part of Ashley School and if just 10% of you could come along, just think what we can achieve. Thank you.

NEW RECEPTION YEAR PARENTS EVENING

We were delighted to welcome several new faces along with a good number of familiar faces to our New Reception Year parents evening on Wednesday. The hour long session was a chance for parents of children starting in September to understand a little more about what the children’s first year at school will be like. Our fantastic Reception Year team and our equally brilliant kitchen staff and school business manager had worked really hard to ensure the evening ran smoothly with packs of information and school-made breads, cakes and rhubarb flapjacks ready for collection and consumption. Many thanks to parents Laura Edmonds and Nikki Vesey who did such an excellent job preparing the starter packs for the children. We hope those of you who attended had a good evening.

YEAR 4 WORK WITH THE PRINCE’S SCHOOL OF TRADITIONAL ARTS (PSTA)

You may remember that a few weeks’ back our Year 5 children worked on beautiful Indian miniature paintings with two artists from Prince Charles’s School of Traditional Arts. Well this week it was the turn of our Year 4 children to work with three artists from the Prince’s School to create the most stunning piece of artwork themed around the coronation paving stone in Westminster Abbey. The artwork captures the beauty and harmony of our cosmos and the final result is truly something to behold. You will be able to see it at our Official Opening. Great Work, Year 4!

YEAR 5 GREEN STALL TODAY

After their amazing adventure in Bude last week, Year 5 have been busy back in school this week, writing thank you letters to their team leaders and capturing some of the best moments from their trip. This afternoon Year 5 will be sharing their Green Stall with you and included in their array of wholesome produce will be cards they have made using photos of shells, rocks and beach scenes. The children have mounted the photos very carefully using the right coloured card to go with the image. At £1.00 a go, they really are great value. Thank you to the Year 5 parents, staff and children for working so well together to prepare today’s stall. Community in action!

YEAR 6 SATS WEEK

We wish our Year 6 children the best of luck on Monday for the start of their end of Key Stage 2 SATs assessments. This year for the first time the SATs tests will only focus on Reading and Maths as Writing will be assessed internally by the school. Science is also now teacher assessed. We believe this is a good step forward as it enables us to judge a child’s level of attainment in writing based on a number of pieces of writing done over a period of time, rather than two pieces of writing carried out in test conditions. We have high hopes for our Year 6 children, who have worked really well this year. Whilst we value the children much more than just the SATs results, these end of Key Stage 2 tests do give the school, the children and, of course, you the parents an indication of how they are progressing in their core learning. Think clearly and work quickly and carefully, Year 6.

SWAN CLASS ASSEMBLY NEXT WEDNESDAY AT 9.15AM

Next Wednesday at 9.15am it is Swan Class’s assembly when they will be sharing with us some of their learning about Ancient Egyptian life and how we can learn from the way they used to live. Looking forward to it, Swans.

CHAMONIX FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT – SATURDAY, 19th MAY

We now have most classes signed up with teams for the Chamonix football tournament a week tomorrow. Last year’s Chamonix football tournament was a great success and this year the event has been taken to new heights with a whole host of non-football activities to keep the family entertained. There will be a netball tournament run by one of our former Ashley pupils Amy Lowe. There will be a pamper zone for those of you who fancy something a little more leisurely. And there will be lots of games and a bouncy castle for the children. With a bar and barbecue, too, it sounds like a great family afternoon out. The event starts at midday with football from 1pm.

OFFICIAL OPENING – FRIDAY, 25th MAY AT 9.30AM

In two weeks’ time on Friday, 25th May we will be officially opening our New Build. Our local MP Dominic Raab will be here along with the Bishop of Dorking and many other invited guests. In anticipation of fine weather (!?!) we hope that many of you will be able to attend as well. We will start promptly at 9.30am and we plan to have the occasion out on the playground so that we can accommodate the large numbers. After the opening, we will have drinks and school-made biscuits and cakes in the hall, followed by tours of the school site. If you are keen to come, please let the office know. If it is raining on the day and we cannot hold the opening outside, we will not be able to accommodate parents in the hall unless the numbers are small. Fingers crossed for sunshine!

ASHLEY FLOWER SHOW – MONDAY, 9th JULY

It’s still a little way off, but with all this rain getting everything growing we wanted to highlight that on Monday, 9th July we will be celebrating our annual Ashley Flower Show. In line with our food and flower growing in school this term, we are keen for the children to have a go and growing something at home, which they can bring in and share at the Flower Show. Amongst other things, there will also be a photo competition focused on the natural world and our local biodiversity so do keep the camera handy next time you are out for a walk.

Thank you to the team of parents who have been digging the infant class flower beds this week. You have been amazing. We hope to have the plants and flowers in place for each class over the next 10 days.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUB

If your child has had to go home ill during the school day and they should be attending the After School Club, could you please let the club know. The school office doesn’t have a register of children for the After School Club so please could you make them aware if your child will not be attending. Thank you.

TRAVEL TO AND FROM SCHOOL

We are in consultation with Surrey County Council once again to try and get the pedestrian crossings made safer for those of you who walk to school. It is unfortunately not easy to get things moving forward, but we are on the case and will let you know as soon as we have any news from County. Still with travel to and from school, the police have been in touch to say that there are a number of parents who are parking opposite school, causing disruption to the traffic. They have told us that they will be monitoring the situation over the coming weeks. If you do need to drive to school, please can you make sure your parking does not cause disruption on the one-way system. Even more importantly, please use the pedestrian crossings to get your child safely into school.

MAY’S VALUE IS QUALITY

Our Value for the month of May is Quality. We will be thinking particularly about what makes for quality learning and quality work. We will also be reflecting on the qualities we have or aspire to have, as well as what quality relationships look like. Do share this value at home, especially in the context of producing quality work!

We hope to see many of you in the morning. Whatever time you can give will be much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher

PS There will be a Parent Prayer Meeting in the hall next Friday, 18th May at 9.00am. All welcome.

The senior art director for the campaign commented that “The children have been amazing. When we first came to Ashley we brought models but found that the children of the school exude such happiness, allowed to be themselves, that when we came back we cast from within the school.”

Headteacher Richard Dunne said “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Sainsbury’s and for them to be using the Ashley community and grounds as a location for their campaign. This presents an opportunity for the children that they might otherwise not get and they have really enjoyed being part of something so special.”

Parent, Karen Barlow said how events like these at Ashley make you proud to be part of the school, watching the children in action she commented “how natural they were, how they took it in their stride and had fun at the same time.”

Look out for the Ashley school children in store this Summer.

[Show as slideshow]

Friday, 4th May 2012

Dear Parents,

Summer Term Newsletter No. 3

NEWSLETTER BY EMAIL ONLY – FROM NEXT WEEK

A couple of years back we trialled sending out newsletters by email only, but found that too many people were not accessing the information so we went back to newsletters in hard copy. As we look to reduce our consumption of paper and keep communication virtual, we would like to try and send out the newsletter link to the website by email only. This means no hard copies from next week. If any of you would like to collect a printed copy, please do so at the end of school on a Friday and copies will be available from the letter rack. We will also post up a copy on the whiteboard by the gates. If any of you do not currently receive the newsletter link by email, please let the office know and they will add you to the list. We hope this system will work, but do let us know of any concerns.

YEAR 5 BUDE EXPERIENCE

Our Year 5 children and staff return from their Adventure International week away in Cornwall this afternoon. Yes, the weather has been mixed, but despite the inclement conditions, they have had the most amazing time. Midway through the week, they rated the week at least 10/10 and in some cases 1,000,000/10! With so much of their learning taking place outside, surfboarding, kayaking, abseiling, canoeing and bike riding, to name just some of the activities, the children have had plenty of fresh air and exercise. And, of course, they have slept well, too. A huge thank you to the staff who looked after the children so well all week; Jackie Stevens, Tash Morgan, Ruth Bardel, Catrin Rides and our student teacher Anna Gibson. Welcome back to school life, Year 5.

STAFF TRAINING ON POLLING DAY

We had a very productive day yesterday for Polling Day. All the staff were in for a morning session where we reflected on the Ashley vision, explored what ‘Adventure in Learning’ means, reviewed current practices across the school to identify where and how we can improve the quality of the learning, and shared our learning enquiries for the 2nd half of term. We also had time updating our ICT skills and the afternoon was focused on displays of learning.

BADGER CLASS ASSEMBLY

We thank the children in Badger Class for presenting such a creative assembly around springtime and awakening in the woodlands through dance and poetry. Their thoughtful, sensitively performed dances and their richly worded class poem painted a magical scene of the natural world coming back to live in spring. Great work, Badgers.

YEAR 4 HEAD TO HASLEMERE – ZAC TARVER REPORTS

On Tuesday Year 4 went to Haslemere Museum to learn all about Ancient Egypt. First we learnt about how the Ancient Egyptians mummified people. Then we did a range of activities such as playing Egyptian board games and solving hieroglyphics. We were even allowed to touch real Ancient Egyptian artefacts. After lunch we mummified our teddies, gave them death masks and wrote our toy’s name on papyrus paper. We had a really fantastic time!

YEAR 6 NETBALL MATCH – MRS RICH REPORTS

On Monday the Year 6 netball team played their first ever home netball match on the new court against St. Charles. St. Charles is a one-form entry school like our Year 6 year group and they have also finished their netball season, but they were very happy to play a friendly as we were so keen to show off our new court. The girls played extremely well. Their passing, foot work and dodging skills were fantastic and they were a really strong team. It was a tough game as St. Charles gave our girls a real run for their money. We are really pleased to announce that Ashley won the game 4v2. The excellent shooting skills came from Sophie Adam, Hannah Deacon and Tabitha Parkes, but it was a real team effort that ensured they won the match. A great end to the season, girls!

SAINSBURY’S PHOTO-SHOOT

We had a Sainsbury’s photo team with us on Tuesday and Wednesday to run a photo-shoot for this autumn’s Back to School uniform brochure. The team worked with 8 of our children from Years 1 and 2, and a few Mums, too! The posters will be out within the next six weeks and the brochure soon after. Well done to everyone who took part. The photo-shoot team so enjoyed their time at the school that they are already planning to return later in the year!

FOA MEETING AND SUPPORT

Following the great success of last Saturday’s Happy Circus, members of the FOA committee met on Monday to talk through the up and coming events, including the May Ball – tickets are available for collection at the end of school today – and the Summer Fete on Saturday, 23rd June. Funds from the FOA are being used to support the outdoor play areas such as the junior trim trail and the soon-to-be-installed infant castle, as well as specific funding for new playtime equipment and a termly contribution of £250 for each class to use for topic enhancing learning activities. Thank you, FOA, for really making a difference to the children’s learning and enjoyment in school.

MEDIUM TERM PLANS UP

Please not that the year group Medium Term Plans are now in the file located on the windowsill in the foyer. An overview of the learning is being added to the year group section of the website, too. Please do have a look at the focus for this half-term’s learning enquiry to see how you can support your child’s learning.

DELPHIS ECO RELAUNCH – A MESSAGE FROM RHIANNON, AMY, GEMMA AND HARRIET

On Monday we – Rhiannon Dickson, Amy Brewis, Jemma Young and Harriet Leggett – went to see the infant children in Years R and 1 to show them a slideshow and present a play to help them understand our Eco Turtle project about the school’s eco-friendly, value for money cleaning products. We gave the Reception children order forms attached to a parent guide, informing parents about the Eco Turtle project. Everyone can get a bottle by sending in the reply slip or completing an order form from the office. Remember, the bottle costs just £1.00 and a squirt of one of the cleaning products is 50p. You then need to add water. You can top up your bottle again and again for just 50p from the pumping station outside the office. We are looking into how we can make key rings or badges to give out to families after you have topped up your bottle at least three times. You will then be part of the Eco Turtle family! Thank you for your support. We think this is a great project and hope you do, too.

CHAMONIX FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT – SATURDAY, 19th MAY

The Chamonix football tournament is just two weeks’ away. Six teams have signed up for the tournament, including a staff team of teachers, Pro Direct coaches and boyfriends! But there are still seven classes who have not yet signed up. There is still plenty of time for teams to support this event so please spread the word and see who can come along. It’s 5-a-side so not too much to ask and it would be great to have every class there. We know that some classes have a number of players keen to participate, but not enough to make a team. The class teams not yet signed up are; Squirrel Class, Frog Class, Dragonfly Class, Fox Class, Badger Class, Kingfisher Class and Swan Class.

ANGRY PLANET – FAMILY PROM

It’s a little way off, but if any of you are interested in The Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, there is a Family Prom on Sunday, 5th August at 4.30pm, when the world premiere of a newly composed piece ‘Angry Planet’ will be performed. The concert will last about an hour and tickets cost just £6 – £12 from the Royal Albert Hall box office.

USE OF STAFF CAR PARK AND DOGS ON THE SCHOOL PREMISES

We would like to remind you all that the staff car park is not to be used by parents at the start and end of the school day. Please also note that dogs are not allowed on the school site and should be left at the front gate just by my office while you drop off children. Dogs should at no time be brought up to the wooden gates and into the school site. Thank you for you co-operation with these two matters. Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend. Sunshine, anyone?

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher

PS It was pond dipping all round for Reception today. Wellies in mud – What squelchy fun!

Dear Parents,

Summer Term Newsletter No. 2

CHAMONIX FRENCH CAFÉ AND INTER-CLASS FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

Thank you to all of you who came along in support of the final French Café today.  The Year 6 parents and indeed the children have worked extremely hard to make the cafés a success and we hope to have enjoyed your monthly Friday morning visits.  The final Chamonixfundraising event is the inter-class football tournament on Saturday, 19^th May.  Most classes now have a team signed up and, if last year is anything to go by, it promises to be a highly entertaining afternoon.  We just need to make sure that the day concludes with limbs, joints and muscles all intact!

A message for Year 6 parents; don’t forget that the children are linking up with Esher Church School and Reigate St Mary’s Prep School next Tuesday afternoon for a Chamonix team building session in Esher.  We need to be there for a 1pm start so if any of you are able to assist with transport, please come to the school reception at 12.40pm.  We think we have enough parents to get the children toEsher, but we do need more cars for the return journey at 3pm.  Please let Mr Cadman or Mrs Hart know if you can assist.

PARENT READING WORKSHOP

Jackie Stevens and Lisa Atkinson were delighted to see so many of you at the Parent Reading Workshop last night.  We hope those of you who attended found the session valuable.  Certainly the feedback from Jackie and Lisa was that it had been a really positive session with lots of interaction from you all.  Do let us know if you have any ideas about further workshops we could run?

NETBALL FIRST MATCH – A REPORT FROM MRS RICH

The Year 5 netball team played their first ever home game on the newly marked netball court yesterday afternoon against St.Cuthbert’s.  Even though the netball season has finished, the netballers wanted to have at least one match on their new courts.  It was touch and go whether the match would go ahead due to the disruptive weather but luckily the sun came out for the match, although it was extremely windy, which the girls found hard to play in.  The girls played really well as a team, but despite their best efforts, they lost 3-0.  Well done, girls.  Let’s look forward to many more home games from September.  On Monday it is Year 6’s turn to play their first and possibly last game on the court.

HAPPY’S CIRCUS AND FOA MEETING ON MONDAY

A reminder from the Circus team that the Happy Circus performance starts tomorrow at 2pm. The gates will open at 1.15pm and entry will be by ticket only so please ensure you bring your tickets with you. There will be an interval at 2.45pm until 3.15pm with the performance finishing at 4pm.  The committee would appreciate it if everyone ensures any litter is put in the bins provided or taken home.  They hope everyone has a fun time.  Don’t forget to bring your wellies if it’s raining!  On Monday evening at 8pm we have an FOA meeting at school.  With the May Ball and Summer Fete next up in May and June, it will be a chance to see how planning is going for both events and to look at where the funds raised can go in support of this school and your children’s learning.  Please come along if you can.

YEAR 5 HEAD TO BUDE

On Sunday morning bright and early the Year 5 children will gather with their suitcases at the school for the start of what will be an action-packed week away down in Bude at the Adventure International Centre.  And what a busy week they will have including kayaking, surfing, canoeing, beach walks and climbing.  With so much activity and fresh sea air, the children are sure to sleep well.  Have a fantastic time, Year 5!

Sadly I won’t be at the Happy Circus tomorrow or indeed at school on Sunday morning to wave off Year 5 as I will be down in Devon, leading a training weekend with some of our local secondary school 6^th formers.  This is part of a challenge the Governors have set me – in my own time, I might add! – to develop some of the practices around leadership and sustainability that are such a feature of this school.  It promises to be a fascinating weekend.

BADGER CLASS ASSEMBLY

Next Wednesday it is the turn of Badger Class to share their learning with the school in their class assembly at 9.15am.  The Year 3 children are learning about why our local woodlands are so important to us and Badger Class have been thinking about how to capture the awakening of the woodland in springtime through poetry.  We look forward to enjoying your class assembly on Wednesday, Badgers.

INFANT FLOWER PROJECT – MEETING NEXT FRIDAY AT 2.30PM

It is not very often that we run a science project that involves more than one class or year group, but this half-term we would like to run an investigation about flowers that each of our infant classes can participate in and it is this.  With the Reception Year’s focus on finding out about Nature, Year 1’s enquiry about what we can learn from flowers and Year 2s learning questions exploring what bees and other minibeasts can teach us, we have decided to trial a simple investigation around which flower colour is most attractive to insects and in particular bees.  We would like to create six areas of the same size 1.5 metres squared that we can then plant up with flowers of a particular colour.  Once the flowers come into bloom, the children from each class will then check their patch for one minute three times a day and record how many insects they see, noting especially the bees.

In support of this learning, if any of you are interested in flowers and would like to help set up one of the growing beds with small groups of children from one of the classes, we would be delighted to hear from you.  We will need 2 or 3 parents to help dig over and plant one plot and it doesn’t need to be parents of infant aged children.  Once the plot is planted up, the children will then start their investigation in school time.  If you are interested and want to find out more, I will explain the detail and show you the areas just before the end of school next Friday, 4^th May at 2.30pm.  We will meet in the hall.  If you are interested, but can’t come along, please email me sometime next week.  We have lists of flowers provided by RHS Wisley and some funding for each group to buy a selection of flowers, but you may have flowers you can provide, too.  We look forward to hearing from those of you with a passion for flowers!

POLLING DAY CLOSURE NEXT THURSDAY

Please don’t forget that next Thursday is Polling Day for local elections, which means the school is closed for the day.  The staff will be in for training and we look forward to making the most of this time to develop our planning into practice pedagogy.

WORKING PARTY ON SATURDAY, 12^th MAY

In preparation for our Official Opening on Friday, 25^th May we have a short Working Party on Saturday, 12^th May.  We would really appreciate a good turn-out so that we can get the school looking its best for the opening.  Please make a note of the date and we hope to have lots of you there for a productive session.

Have fun at the Happy Circus if you are going!

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher

Dear Parents,

Summer Term Newsletter No. 1

SUMMER TERM

So we reach the third and final term of the academic year. The playground has been finished during the holidays and many of you will have seen that we have lots of smart playground markings in place to enrich the children’s playtimes. With one or two minor issues to attend to, the school is now complete in terms of the build work. After such a long journey and many, many hours of meetings, it is great to be able to share this good news with you. We hope you are as pleased as we are with the outcomes.

As you will be aware, we are officially opening our new buildings on Friday, 25th May and in anticipation that we can hold the event outside, we would be pleased to have you at this special occasion. The event will start at 9.30am and after a break for drinks and some school-made nibbles, the children would like to take you on a tour of the school site. To help us with numbers we would be grateful if you could email the school office to let us know if you would like to come and whether you would like to stay on for the school tour after break. Please could you send replies to info@ashley.surrey.sch.uk

We welcome two new children to Ashley School this term. In our Reception Hedgehog Class we are very pleased to have James Maloney in the class and in Kingfisher Class we are delighted to welcome Lois Ugalde. In addition to our new children, we also welcome Gemma Sargeant, who has taken over from Maggie Rebbeck for the second half of the week in Dragonfly Class. And we have a name change, too. You will know that Miss Kelly got married during the Easter holidays. Her new married name is Mrs Slight. Please note!

FIRST HALF TERM

Along with the Official Opening on Friday, 25th May and various class dates, which will be shared by class teachers, we have a number of other events to highlight this half-term:

• Thursday, 26th April – Parent Workshop on Reading – See Below

• Friday, 27th April – Final Chamonix French Café

• Saturday, 28th April – FOA Family Circus 2-4pm

• Thursday, 3rd May – Polling Day School Closure

• Monday, 15th May – Year 6 SATs Week

• Saturday, 19th May – Chamonix Football Tournament

• Saturday, 26th May – FOA May Ball

• Friday, 1st June – Inset Day School Closure

PARENT WORKSHOP ON READING – NEXT THURSDAY AT 7.30PM IN THE HALL

There will be plenty of time for the children to develop their reading skills this term. Next Thursday, our Literacy subject leaders, Jackie Stevens and Lisa Atkinson, will be running an evening session for you to help you to learn how to best support your child with their reading, as well as giving us feedback on how the school reading scheme is working for you and your child. Jackie and Lisa have worked hard to prepare a very interesting workshop for you so please do come along for the hour-long session. It starts at 7.30pm in the school hall.

HALF-TERMLY TOPIC PROJECTS

After school on Wednesday, the class teachers from each year group shared with one another the learning enquiry that will form the focus for the year group’s learning this half-term. Rather than simply having a topic name, each year group will focus on a question that will enable the children to develop their learning in meaningful ways. Within the learning enquiry the children will undertake writing tasks, maths challenges, science investigations and a range of creative projects themed around art, design technology, music and dance. Most importantly each year group will culminate their learning with some kind of practical application or Great Work. The planning for the half-term, including what is being covered in the different subject areas, will be available for you to see in the entrance foyer from early next week and an overview will be put on the website. Here are the overarching Learning Enquiries for each topic project this half-term:

• Reception – What can we find out about Nature?

• Year 1 – What can flowers teach us?

• Year 2 – Why are bees so brilliant?

• Year 3 – Why are our local woodlands so important to us?

• Year 4 – What can we learn from the Ancient Egyptians about living sustainably?

• Year 5 – What does biodiversity mean to us?

• Year 6 – What are the differences and similarities between the British and French cultures?

You won’t be surprised to hear that – weather permitting – we are planning to do lots of the learning outside, and there will be a strong focus on growing food and flowers.

MARATHON RUN

We wish anyone running the London Marathon on Sunday Good Luck for their run. One of our Dads, Steve Carpenter, who will be familiar to many of you for his quizmaster role at our Ashley Quiz Nights, is running in aid of The British Heart Foundation and in memory of his Dad who sadly died from a heart related illness. If any of you would like to support Steve and this very worthwhile cause, you can donate at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SteveCarpenter

SUMMER TERM CLUBS

The Summer Term Club List is now on the school website. Please do have a look. Clubs will be starting next week and we look forward to lots of learning enrichment and fun through these clubs. Our Year 5 and 6 netball teams are in training this afternoon as they anticipate their first ever match on the new Ashley netball court!

LUNCH AND LEARN CLUB

Also this Summer Term we will be recommencing the Lunch and Learn Club. We would like to invite parents and family members to come to school and share their profession with a group of approximately 15 children over lunch. This is a great opportunity for parents who work in any profession to share their knowledge and experience with the children in our school, many of whom are at the age where they are starting to consider their future careers. The session will only last 20 minutes so please share your expertise with our children. If you are interested, could you contact the school office.

Here’s to a happy and successful Summer Term.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher

PS Please note that there is NO Chess Club on Monday. The club will be back to normal service on the 30th April.

Friday, 30th March 2012

Dear Parents,

Spring Term Newsletter No. 12

SPRING TERM BOOK PRIZE WINNERS

This morning we had two school assemblies. In our first assembly we celebrated all your fantastic Easter bonnets with a parade around the hall. Thank you for producing such an amazing array of Easter creations. Then in our final assembly we announced the Book Prize winners for the Spring Term. The prizes have been awarded to one child in every class who has made significant progress in their learning or simply stood out for their improved attitude or behaviour. Every term the teachers have to think carefully about the children they think most deserve this award. Many congratulations this time go to:

Hedgehog Class                                 Leo Wilkinson

Squirrel Class                                     Finn Clarke

Frog Class                                           Alexandra van Heerden

Dragonfly Class                                 Harry Wright

Rabbit Class                                       Bronia Morgan

Otter Class                                          Amy Wallis

Fox Class                                            Tilda James

Badger Class                                      Callum Gurr

Kingfisher Class                                Zac Tarver

Swan Class                                         Jenna Regnault

Owl Class                                           Jacqui Occomore

Eagle Class                                        Jessica Bernard AND Phoebe Carpenter

ART AND DESIGN PRIZES

As well as the Book Prizes we also celebrated the artistic talents of three members of our school whose art and design work has really stood out. The three children whose passion to be creative has really caught the eye are:

Infants                           Bettina Georgieva

Lower Juniors              Carolyn Lee

Upper Juniors              Cliff Wan

SPORTS AWARD

The Sports Award for the Spring Term goes to someone who understands the importance of teamwork and the value of enjoying sport, someone who has been a valued member of the Year 6 netball team and someone who always encourages and supports the team. Congratulations go to Hannah Deacon.

EASTER SERVICE

Yesterday morning the children shared with us a beautiful Easter Service themed around the emotions of Easter. The children sang and presented the service with great sensitivity, and made it a very special occasion for us all. As a school that puts Love and Service at the heart of our work, the Easter Service reminded us once again of God’s Love for us and need for us to share that Love through our actions, our words and our service every day.

INFANT SPORTS TOURNAMENTS

On Tuesday afternoon Hedgehog and Squirrel Class were involved in a mini sports tournament organised by Mrs Rich, Mr Phil and the Sports Council. The Reception children were mixed into 10 teams of 6 and took part in different assault courses. The Pro-Direct team came along to support the children in developing their sports skills and the Sports Council designed the assault courses and helped to lead the event. Each team tried their best to complete a range of assault courses as many times as possible within a set time. The assault courses included jumping over hurdles, dribbling, sprinting, and walking in and out of cones balancing a tennis ball on a racket. The children had lots of fun and were presented with a special sticker for their efforts and team work.

On Wednesday afternoon the Sports Council were busy again helping to run a football tournament for the Key Stage 1 classes. There were 16 teams altogether with each class divided into 4 teams. The Sports Council chose the teams and helped to set up the tournament, as well as refereeing and helping with the scoring. The children demonstrated excellent team work and gave lots of encouragement to their team mates. Following the league stages, there were semi-finals involving one team from each class and then a final between Team 9 from Otter Class and Team 14 from Rabbit Class. It was a very exciting final with the rest of the infants cheering on the side line. The winning team was Team 9 from Otters; Megan, William, Christina, Luka, Katie, Thomas, Jessica and Oliver. Well done Team 9. A big thank you to Mr Phil for making the event such a great success with his expert football knowledge. The Sports Council were also amazing and Mrs Rich was very proud of them! Thanks for all your help Sports Council; William Fitch, Tabitha Parks, Grace Byway, Myles Roberts, Ria Lyons, Sophie Wroth, Matthew Hall, Lily Byway, Alina Wallace, Adam Nesbitt and James Whitehouse.

DESIGN FOR CHANGE PROJECTS

On Monday morning the children led our school assembly and shared with us their Design for Change projects for this term. It is always great to hear what kind of projects the children have been designing. This term with our playground back in action several of their projects have linked to improving play spaces and creating a quiet area, teaching playground games to buddy year groups and looking at new play equipment. The children also addressed some cloakroom concerns and tried to find ways to cut out plastic bag use at school. Year 6 shared the challenge of interesting the wider community in their work on energy conservation. On a positive note they announced today that, as we bask in unseasonably warm sunshine, we have for the first time in the history of Ashley School generated more clean solar energy this week than we have consumed grid energy.

GREEN STALL SUCCESS

What a great success last Friday’s Green Stall was. Many thanks to all the Year 4 parents who provided lots of lovely flowers and seasonal produce and also to the children for their wonderful school-made soaps and hand creams. During the day the children planted up a number of Grow Bag Frames, which ensured the frames were a particularly popular item on the stall. Last Friday’s event raised an amazing £480 and the Year 4 team are now thinking about how best to use these funds to support their outdoor learning.

WORKING PARTY AND EASTER WORKS

Thank you so much to the parents who came along to the Working Party last Saturday. We were able to get some good work done, digging over the growing areas and starting the path through the wild area at the back of the field. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough hands to get the path completed, so we have arranged a Summer Term Working Party for Saturday, 12th May when we will focus on the path and also do some tidying up in preparation for our Official Opening. Please note the date. With a good turn-out, we can really make a difference. Over the Easter holidays the playground surfacing will be finished, along with other items on our New Build snagging list.

FIRST HALF OF THE SUMMER TERM

We return after Easter on Monday, 16th April. Please note that on Thursday, 3rd May the school will be closed for Polling Day Local Elections. On Saturday, 19th May there is the Chamonix Sports Fun Day and Football Tournament and the following Friday we have our Official Opening for the New Build at 9.30am with a community picnic on the field at lunchtime. Thursday, 31st May is Funky Fursday and Friday, 1st June is an Inset Day Closure so half-term starts then. We will send you all the latest news on dates after Easter. Please also note that there will be a Reading Workshop for Parents on Thursday, 26th April at 7.30pm in the Hall, when we will be sharing with you how you can best support reading with your child. Finally we send Sarah Kelly, our Year 4 Swan Class teacher, our love and best wishes for her Wedding Day tomorrow when she will marry Matthew. We wish you both many years of health and happiness together, Sarah. Happy Easter, everyone!

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher

PS Thank you, Year 6 parents, for an impromptu cake sale and Lush product sale today.

Watch the clip.

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.