Wednesday, 24th July 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

Summer Term Newsletter No. 12

END OF THE YEAR

So, we come to the end of a very busy school year. We have been delighted with how much progress the children have made in their learning over the year and how well they have applied themselves to all that they do. It really is a great pleasure to work with them every day, exploring learning and developing skills and understanding. As you know, we have an extremely dedicated staff at the school and they have been integral to the children’s successes over the year. We are so fortune to have such a special team. We would also like to say a big thank you to all of you for your support both with the children’s learning and with the wider social and fundraising events. The year has been punctuated with so many wonderful occasions, most recently the amazing Ashstock weekend, and it is the community of this school that makes it such a great place to be and work. We hope you all have a very restful and happy summer break.

BOOK PRIZE ASSEMBLY TODAY

This morning in our final assembly, we celebrated the particular efforts and achievements of the Book Prize winners. The teachers thought very carefully about who should win the Book Prize this term and the decisions are never easy to make. Here are their choices:

Hedgehog Class                      Finn B.

Squirrel Class                         Wilfred J.

Rabbit Class                            Maddy H.

Frog Class                               Elan R.

Butterfly Class                        James C.

Dragonfly Class                      Amaya E.

Otter Class                              Daniel P.

Fox Class                                Corinne A.-S.

Badger Class                           Mason B.

Robin Class                             Angus E.

Skylark Class                          Ellie A.

Woodpecker Class                  Zarifa H.

Kingfisher Class                     Sam Q.

Swan Class                              Owen G.

Owl Class                                Scott S.

Kestrel Class                           Carla L.

Eagle Class                             Bas S.

Hawk Class                             Freddie H.

ART AND DESIGN PRIZES

We also celebrated seven children today with a strong creative flair and a love of art and design whose talents have really caught the eye of the teachers this term. They are:

Reception Year                      Sophie N.

Year 1                                     Eva G.-H.

Year 2                                     Angelica F.-S.

Lower KS2                             Ben M.

Year 5                                     Lilia H.

Hawk Class                            Matthew M.

Eagle Class                            Joseph M.

SPORTS AWARDS

The Sports Awards this term go to two exceptional sporting talents, Billy R. and George U.  Both boys have such an appetite for sport and are naturally gifted, too. It has been a real privilege to see them perform with such distinction for the school and we will watch with fascination how their sporting careers unfold. Many congratulations on your awards, Billy and George.

STAFF FAREWELLS

Sadly, we say farewell to an unusually high number of staff today.

  • Miss Sophie Drew has been truly outstanding as one of our PE leads, co-ordinating so many events in school and out, and working closely with parents through the Sports Committee. She has been a brilliant class teacher, too, and worked with great dedication to ensure the children have the best possible learning experiences. Sophie is heading to a school nearer to her home in London. Thank you for all you have done, Sophie.
  • Miss Georgia Orchin went straight into Year 6 when she joined the school two years ago and she was a complete natural. She has given the children in Year 6 the most wonderful final year at the school with her positive energy and enthusiasm for learning. Nothing is ever too much trouble for her. She has been equally impressive with all her co-ordination of RE and in particular the various services we have had at school and at St Mary’s Church. We wish her every success as she heads home to Northern Ireland.
  • Miss Joanna Tingle has had two very important years, working in Year 2 and Year 6. She has done a brilliant job, not only preparing the children so well for SATs, but making the learning so enjoyable. She always has a smile on her face and the children have loved being in her class. She, too, is heading back home to Lincolnshire and we are sure she will continue to go from strength to strength as a class teacher.
  • Miss Sonja Holden is leaving her Year 2 class teacher role this term, but we are delighted to inform you that she will continue to develop all the fantastic cookery sessions she has led this year and she has already planned in the first four year group sessions for next term. We thank Sonja for all the passion she puts into her teaching and learning and for making such a positive impact on so many children’s lives.
  • Miss Sonia Berglund has developed as a teacher in so many ways this year and we are delighted that she has passed her NQT year. She is exploring a number of different avenues from here and she is certainly keen to take many of the things she has enjoyed and learnt at Ashley into the next stage of her career. She has worked with such dedication and we congratulate her for all she has achieved.
  • Mrs Jenny Cookman has been an integral part of the Reception Year team with a wealth of knowledge and experience around Early Years learning. She has made a particularly strong impact in terms of the outdoor learning in Reception, leading on Forest School and giving the children so many valuable outdoor learning activities. Jenny is also really interested in SEND provision and we wish her all the best for the future.
  • There can rarely have been a more positive, cheerful and dedicated Special Needs Assistant in our school than Mrs Jenna Caswell. She is a constant happy, smiling presence every day and the work she has done with some of our SEND children has been exceptional. She is now taking all these skills and more into her new role as a Police Officer, a role we know she will do brilliantly.
  • Mrs Pauline Povah has been such a wonderful member of our support staff team, working first as a Special Needs Assistant and then more recently as a Teaching Assistant in Squirrel Class. She has such a great understanding of Special Needs and she is now going to develop those skills further with a degree course in SEND. We send her our very best wishes as she develops this work.
  • Ms Sarah Lickfold is one of our midday supervisors. She comes in to support the lunchtime team every day and works incredibly hard during one of our busiest times. We thank her more sincerely for all her hard work and commitment.
  • And last, but by no means least, we say a huge thank you to Mr Dylan Crawford, who has been our PE apprentice for the year and has gone above and beyond the call of duty again and again and again in support of PE and Sport and so much more. You are welcome back any time you like, Dylan. You never know, one day there might be a full-time job for you if you are interested?!

THANK YOU TO YEAR 6

We wish all our Year 6 children every success as they move onto secondary school. Their fabulous ‘Mary Poppins’ musical on Friday evening was the icing on the cake on a wonderful final year at the school. We are so proud of every one of them and all they have achieved and we are sure they will continue to flourish at secondary school. Come back and see us soon, Year 6. Farewell to all the families who are leaving, too.

ASHSTOCK

What a wonderful Ashstock we had last weekend. The sense of community and togetherness was palpable throughout the weekend and we hope all of you enjoyed your stay, whether it was for the first time or the last time or somewhere in between! Our Ashstock team, led by the amazing Gaynor Murray and Mat Goldhawk, ensured the whole event was remarkably well organised and we are so grateful to them all for their incredible work, running the event. A special mention to our FOA Chairs, Gill Stephenson and Fahima Moncur, for all their tireless work over the year.

GREEN STALL ROUND UP 2019

To all our wonderful parent community, a huge thank you for all your support, hard work - and most importantly spending those £££'s - fundraising throughout the year on the Green Stalls. You baked and dipped and sprinkled and served and fetched and carried and were generally so amazing that this year... you managed to raise a fantastic £3000!

Amongst other things these funds have been used to provide an Egyptian Theatre Workshop for Year 4, a 'Day at the Beach' including visiting donkeys for Year 1, a thorough revamp of the courtyard play zone including new chess sets and even a new wendy house! As well as year group stalls, we were also able to raise additional money through the sale of branded Ashley tote bags (on sale again in September!) and the bee-bombs seed bags to help bring back the bees. The Green Stall pot was then also able to pay for every Ashley child to have class gardening sessions with professional gardener Clare Dorey this year. 

We look forward to working with each year group's class reps again next year to get the most out of the Green Stalls and look at other ways to raise money for our wonderful school and its brilliant children!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

So, it just remains for me, on behalf of everyone here at the school, to wish all of you a very happy and relaxing summer holiday. We look forward to seeing most of you back on Thursday, 5th September for the start of what we hope will be another successful, high achieving year. To those of you moving on, we wish you every success.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dunne

Headteacher

MESSAGES FROM THE FRIENDS OF ASHLEY

The FOA committee are hugely appreciative of all the support received over the school year. Thank you so much for your generosity in giving both your time and money, thank you for your brilliant ideas and of course thank you for your good humour! It has been a wonderful year and without a doubt the children have benefited from not only the money raised but also from the events themselves.  

ASHSTOCK 2019 

Wow! What a fabulous weekend the Ashstock team put together. They worked their socks off and it showed! The weekend was truly wonderful and thanks for all of your feedback – it’s great that everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Mat, Gaynor and Fran… thank you for spoiling us.   

We’re already looking for the Ashstock 2020 team so get in touch if you are interested.  

A big thank you to all the children and parents attending Ashstock who helped raise over £130 for the Princess Alice Hospice charity. 

AGM – 17th September 2019 

Our next meeting will be our AGM when the committee for the school year will be voted in. We will also be discussing events, finances and spend requests. Everyone is welcome!  

FIREWORKS – 3rd November 2019 

Save the date for the FOA Fireworks! What a way to finish off the October half term break. We’ll be hosting the first FOA Fireworks on the Sunday before school returns. The gates will open at 4:30pm and there will be two fireworks displays during the evening. The first at 6:15pm will be low noise and then you can get the loud experience at 7pm. Tickets include both displays and will be on sale in September.   

 

We love to hear from you so do get in touch with Gill or Fahima. 

thefriendsofashley@gmail.com