Headteacher Newsletter Issue 13
FORTNIGHTLY NEWSLETTER ISSUE 13: 25.3.22
Staffing
We are sad to say that Mrs Carlisle will be leaving Clavering Primary School at the end of term to pursue a new venture and spend more time with her family. Mrs Carlisle has been with us for the last two academic years and we would like to wish her well and thank her for her hard work. Mrs Carlisle will hopefully be returning for supply work until her new career starts.
Ms Crosby will become the teacher of class one. She will be teaching the class for the summer term, Monday – Wednesday. Mrs Tokeley will be teaching the class on Thursday and Friday.
Mrs Tokeley will be teaching class four, as she is now, Monday – Wednesday and an experienced teacher, Mrs Gates, will be joining us next term to teach the class on Thursday and Friday. Mrs Tokeley will still be the teacher of class four.
All staff members are meeting as part of a handover process to ensure our children continue to enjoy their learning and make excellent progress for the rest of the academic year.
Art Week
We had a fantastic Art Week last week. Please see our Friday Focus that was issued last week for details. This is also on our website:
http://www.clavering.essex.sch.uk/2022/03/friday-focus-18-3-22/
Red Nose Day
Thank you for all the generous contributions everybody made towards Red Nose Day and the Red Cross. All monies raised will be shared equally between the two charities. The children looked fantastic dressed in red and had a great day taking part in activities.
Daws Hall
Year 5 brought their rivers learning to life on Monday with a trip to Daws Hall Nature Reserve on the River Stour. The children had a wonderful day, practising their map-reading skills with an orienteering activity, observing river features and measuring flow rates, temperature and water quality of both the River Stour and its tributary, the Losh House Brook. We particularly enjoyed taking kick samples of the invertebrates on the bed of the brook and identifying what we had found; ask your child about the ‘hair worm’, a particularly ghoulish little parasite that we learned about!
Year 2 Dance Festival
Class Two had a fantastic time at the Dance Festival. They all performed their dance to ‘Wake me up before you go-go’ by ‘Wham!’ amazingly! We all really enjoyed watching the variety of dances performed by the other schools.
Cross country:
On Friday 11th March, members of classes 3, 4, 5 and 6 attended the Uttlesford final cross-country event at Carver Barracks. The children were up against some tough competition, but they all ran brilliantly over a much longer distance than the first round. Polly in class 3 even won her race meaning she progresses to the county final next month!
Sports Hall Athletics Year 6
Wednesday 23rd March Class 6 went to JFAN for Sports Hall Athletics. We were all very excited for the whole class were taking part in different field and track events. First were the track events including chest push, javelin, triple jump standing long jump , vertical jump and speed bounce. Next were the track events with fun obstacle over and under relays as well as regular relay races and a tactical paarlauf race. We all had great fun and really tried to do our best. There were four other school competing against Clavering. It was a tough competition and we were extremely proud to come joint first and get through to the final next Monday at Lord Butler. Thank you to Beth Lawless and Sonja Phipps for helping and well done Class 6 for excellent behaviour and teamwork!
TAG Rugby – Year 5
Year 5 spent a great afternoon in the sun at the 1st Bishops Stortford Community Tag Rugby Festival on Wednesday. They represented Clavering against 5 other teams, each team playing 7 matches in all. Everyone took their turn to play and all impressed with their improved skills and teamwork. Taylor was selected for special mention for his speed and agility and was awarded a BSRFC rugby ball. All teams played well, winning many of their matches, and should be proud of their performances. (The children were disappointed that no winning team was announced but were all confident that they would have won!). Well done Year 5 – we look forward to taking part again next year.
Dodgeball
In the autumn term one of our dodgeball teams, made up of six children from year 3 and 4, qualified for the Uttlesford final. After the event being rescheduled several times, they were finally able to compete in the final yesterday. They won their initial group, which led to them progressing through with the other top teams into group one. They worked well as a team and played a further five tough, fast paced games and came 6th out of twelve schools!
Lisa Dunlop, Sports Coach visit
Last week Classes 3 and 4 were visited by Mrs Dunlop from JFAN. She ran the virtual sports hall athletics competition which involved activities such as chest push, standing high jump, 100m sprint, standing long jump and speed bounce. The children achieved some great times and scores and worked hard. We look forward to hearing the results soon.
COVID update
I am pleased to say that we are now coming out of the recent COVID outbreak situation. Thank you so much for your support with isolation and Lateral Flow testing. Fortunately, we were able to maintain staffing and our usual provision and it is down to the tight teamwork across the whole school community.
Rates are high in the area and many schools are struggling. We will bare this in mind next week as we start to relax the recent protective measures. Tray Day, an opportunity to come into school and see the children’s work, will be moved to next term but we will resume our whole school assemblies and cross-school working. Staff will continue to wear masks until the end of term.
As a reminder, the main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are:
- a high temperature– this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- a new, continuous cough– this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
- a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste– this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
If you have any of these symptoms you should take a PCR test, as per the guidance. You are advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people while you are waiting for the test result.
Other symptoms linked with COVID-19 include shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of appetite, muscle ache, sore throat, headache, stuffy or runny nose, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting. Any of these symptoms may also have another cause.
To clarify this is the isolation advice –
Anyone who receives a positive lateral flow result will need to start isolating immediately. This will be day 0 of the isolation period. On day 5 and 6 you can take two lateral flow tests 24 hours apart. If they both come back negative, your child can return to school on day 6, if they do not have a temperature. If the LFT is positive, then the isolation period must continue.
A guide for parents of children aged 5-11 – Covid-19 Vaccination Information
Health experts have advised that parents of all children aged 5 to 11 years should be offered the chance to have their child vaccinated.
The NHS will contact parents to explain how to make an appointment.
In the meantime more information can be found in this leaflet.
Lost property
We have a great deal of lost property at the moment. Please could we make sure all uniform is named so that we can return misplaced items. Lost items will be on display during the last week of term, then they will be recycled.
Sickness
The school office should be notified on the first day of each absence before registration at 9.00am and this should be followed up in writing on the day of return.
If your child has been vomiting or had an upset stomach, a 48 hour leave of absence from the last episode is required. For guidance on other illnesses please contact the School Office or refer to the document on the website in the ‘Attendance’ section – “Guidance on infection control in schools and other childcare settings”.
Lateness
School starts at 8.50 a.m. We have noticed several children are consistently arriving late for school – ‘late’ is defined by not being within the school gates by 8.50 a.m. Please make every effort to be at school on time and if you know that your journey will be disrupted by road works, do allow time for this.
Please note that lateness is recorded on a per pupil basis.
Thank you.
Mobile Phones
This is a gentle reminder not to use mobile phones whilst on the school site. This is part of our safeguarding policy for all of our children.
Application for leave of absence for term time holidays
Guidance from the Local Authority:
“Leave of absence may only be granted by a person authorised in that behalf by the proprietor of the school. As from 1st September 2013, the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 amended Regulation 7 to prohibit the proprietor of a maintained school from granting leave of absence to a pupil, except where an advance application has been made by the parent with whom the pupil normally resides, and the proprietor considers that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application.
Taking your child out of school during term time could be detrimental to your child’s educational progress. There is no entitlement to parents to take their child out of school during term time, however, you may apply to the school for leave of absence if you believe there are exceptional circumstances.
If the absence is not authorised and the holiday is taken, the case will be referred to the Education Welfare Service who may issue a Penalty Notice for £120 (or £60 if paid within 21 days) to each parent for each child taken out of school.”
Please note occasional days for birthdays and treats cannot be authorised and cheaper prices cannot be considered to be a valid reason. No leave of absence will be granted during our assessment weeks or the first week of the Autumn term. Medical appointments, if at all possible, should be made outside school hours. Siblings of children attending medical appointments should remain in school.
Free School Meals Funding
You can register for Free Schools Meals Funding if you meet the criteria below.
If you have a child in Key Stage One and are receiving the free meal, which is part of the universal offer, you could be missing out on this additional funding for the school, which will support your child with their learning, if you meet the criteria below. You have to apply for this funding. If you think you meet the criteria below then please follow the guidance below and contact the school office.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
31st March Easter Egg Hunt
1st April End of term
Clubs – Summer Term 2022
| Monday | |
| Football Club | Year 6 3.15-4.15 |
| Tennis Club | Year 1 – 6 3.15 – 4.15 |
| Drama Club STING | Year 1-6 3.15 -4.15 |
| Tuesday | |
| Football Club | Year 4 & 5 3.15 – 4.15 |
| Fitness Club | Year group 1 & 2 3.15-4.15 |
| Wednesday | |
| Football club | Year 3 3.15-4.15 |
| Fitness club | Year group 4,5,6 3.15 – 4.15 |
| Molton Wonky Glass Fusing workshop
Further information to follow |
Year groups 1 & 2 3.15 -4.15 (limited places)
4 week workshop in May |
| Thursday | |
| Football club | Year 1 & 2 3.15-4.15 |
| Relax Kids | Year 1 – 3 3.15 -4.15 |
All clubs will start the week beginning 25th April
Swimming
Swimming lessons will commence on 25th April for Year 3.
ACHIEVEMENTS
STAR OF THE WEEK
Week ending March 11th
Reception Alfie – for his great effort and progress in writing
Year One Seren – for writing a well-formed letter including a correct beginning and end with different sentence types
Year Two Dougray – for being enthusiastic and using scientific language in our investigation
Year Three Milly – for always working hard and contributing to class discussions
Year Four Jack – for great effort in contributing to class discussion
Year Five Louisa – for careful, independent work making her bookmark
Year Six Harry – for his description of Jacqueline Auriol breaking the sound barrier in 1953
Week ending March 18th
Reception Thea – for her sensational subtraction
Year One Wilbur – for his excellent problem solving when working out fact family number sentences
Year Two Minty – for fantastic contributions to the class Art Week project
Year Three Tommie – for a great piece of descriptive writing
Year Four Toby – for great understanding of the Water Cycle and a super story board demonstrating this
Year Five Arlo – for his thoughtful contributions in class, particularly in Science
Year Six Barnaby – for his positive attitude towards his learning and being a good role model
HEADTEACHER’S AWARD
For children who have achieved their personal best:
Reception
Henry – for his outstanding creativity and excellent progress in reading and writing
Annabelle – for brilliant progress in phonics and reading.
Year One
Isaac – for his continued outstanding progress in maths, confidently applying his skills to solve 2 step problems.
Frankie – for his excellent progress with writing, improving his spelling and sentence structure.
Year Two
Sophie – for a fantastic improvement with her reading.
Kitty – for a super attitude to learning all the time.
Year Three
Alexa – for fantastic progress in maths with applying methods to calculations and writing using great description.
Joseph – for brilliant progress with handwriting and using exciting adjectives in written pieces.
Year Four
Teddy – for great understanding and progress in maths and writing.
Martha – for super understanding and progress in maths.
Year Five
Amelie – for consistent hard work, focus and contributions in class
Liam – for consistent hard work, focus and contributions in class
Year Six
Woody – for his commitment to do his best in all areas of his learning and being a good role model.
Holly – for always trying to do her best whilst being creative too.
Cartoon Attitude Learning Awards
We have our super-hero learning behaviours, which the children created in their house groups during friendship week last year. This term the children worked hard on resilience, championed by “Resileroo”. Two children from each class were nominated for a special award and will enjoy a hot chocolate treat with Miss Allsop.
Reception: Cruz and Jakob
Class 1: Willa and Barney
Class 2: Phoebe S and Teddy
Class 3: Jemima and Toben
Class 4: Morgan and Ava
Class 5: Aaron and Emmie
Class 6: Daisy and Olivia A
WRITER OF THE WEEK
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w/e 18.3.22
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R Ollie for working hard to make his writing smaller 1 Elizabeth for her creative ideas linked to the ‘Shipwreck’ music 2 Hattie for her fantastic ‘art inspired’ free writing 3 Carrie for her great descriptive language using a thesaurus 4 Ernie for his creative water cycle comic board 5 Brian for good use of technical vocabulary in his writing about a river’s journey 6 Ethan for good focus and taking pride in his work
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Look out for our next edition of ‘Friday Focus’:
The fortnightly Friday Focus is a chance for every class at Clavering to share their learning with the Clavering School community. It is a great opportunity to find out what each year group has been up to and engage in conversations around learning.
If you have any questions at any time, please feel free to make an appointment.
Have a good weekend.
Rosalind Allsop
Headteacher
