Newsletters

Spring Term Newsletter 

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Spring Term - March/April Edition

Headteacher's welcome

Dear Parent /Carer,

It has been wonderful to welcome spring with the recent change in weather.  I hope that this continues over the Easter break for everyone. 

The term has continued to be busy with lots to celebrate.  It's been a busy time for our young athletes. We're proud to have two students heading to the National Table Tennis Finals in Wolverhampton later this month.  Congratulations to both Owen and Janice - what an achievement! Both of our netball teams have also done exceptionally well, reaching the County Finals. And let's not forget the dedicated runners who will be taking part in the County Cross Country Finals. We have also achieved first place in the Sedgemoor tag rugby competition, 7th in the county football finals, and 4th place in the sports hall athletics.  Well done to all the children involved and my thanks to Mr Birch, Mr Eva, Mr Staveley, Mrs Mead, Miss Mitchell and Mrs Pieters for supporting and helping to develop the children’s skills so successfully.

As well as our sporting success, it has been a busy term for the whole school with lots of curriculum enrichment happening, including: a visit to Watchet beach with the Somerset Wildlife Trust; a visit to the Weston-super-Mare Museum; a visit to The Brick and Tile Museum; a visit to Noah’s Ark Farm; a visit to Bristol Zoo Project; a local area walk; Easter Bingo organised by The Friends; World book day celebrations;  a visit from Professor Nitrate; drumming workshops; local tree planting; a workshop on toys and games; a visit from Avon and Somerset Fire and Rescue; workshops for parents; the list goes on and on!  My thanks to the staff and parents who have organised and supported these events over the term.

Thank you to all the parents who joined us recently for our iRock band performances; it was wonderful to hear them perform to the children in school too.  I admire their bravery in playing instruments and singing to over 400 children and adults.  What a wonderful achievement!

It was also lovely to hear the children in our school choir singing so beautifully with Mr Selby recently.  Thank you to the huge number of you who came to support the children.  I’m sure you will all agree with Mr Selby in recognising just how good the children were.

We have a few changes in our staff to announce. Firstly, we are saying goodbye to Mrs Carol Finlayson, our school cook, who is retiring. Thank you, Carol, for all the wonderful meals and memories.  Taking over in the kitchen is Mr Mark Harper, who we're thrilled to welcome aboard.

We are also welcoming back Miss Clare Martin from her maternity leave.  Miss Martin will be teaching in Year 2 alongside Miss Strode. Additionally, please join me in welcoming Ms Sarah Penfold, who will be covering for Mrs Abbie Winchester in Year 6 while she is on maternity leave.  Ms Penfold will work alongside Mrs Winchester until she goes on leave at the beginning of May.  We wish Mrs Winchester all the very best.

Thank you for your continued support of the school and your children and to the vast majority of you who were able to meet your children’s class teachers during parents’ evenings.  Your support is so important and makes such a positive difference to the children.

Wishing you all a peaceful Easter break,

 

 


Diary Dates 

Year 4 Swimming
All Day
from 27 Feb and on Thursday each week until 03 Apr
03
April
Easter Holidays
All Day
from 07 Apr until 17 Apr
07
April
Good Friday
All Day
18
April
Easter Monday
All Day
21
April
Back to School
All Day
22
April
Year 4 Swimming
All Day
from 24 Apr and on Thursday each week until 24 Apr
24
April

 

Safeguarding and E-Safety

 

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility

Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play in safeguarding children. Staff at our school play a particularly important role as they are in a position to identify concerns early and provide help for children to prevent concerns from escalating.  In the Safeguard Training that every member of staff here has completed, we have also learnt about “contextual safeguarding” and the influences and risks that our children may encounter outside of the family or school environments, perhaps whilst out with friends or attending clubs.

Would you know what to do if you were worried about a child?

The NSPCC  are offering a free 10-minute digital training session called 'Listen up, Speak up' aimed at every adult in the UK so that more people might know what to do if a child needs help and  where to go for support for others or for themselves.

Why not sign up and take the training and learn a bit more about the role that we all play in helping to safeguard children?

Here is a link so you can have a look yourself:   Listen up, Speak up | NSPCC

E-Safety

 

Online Safety

Talkie AI App

As AI grows in popularity, artificial intelligence apps are becoming more and more prominent.  One worth a look at is Talkie AI.

This app is rated as 17+ by the App store and 12+ by Google Play.

Talkie is an AI chatbot app. Users can use the app to create and interact with AI characters.  You should also be aware that this app includes in app purchases ranging from £4.99 - £49.99.

Talkie does offer a Teenager Mode; however, the content still may not be appropriate for your child. Bark reviews this app here, and recommends that your child should not be using this app:

Talkie AI review

 

 

 

 

Year 1

 

Spotlight on Year 1

Year 1 have been very busy this term – so much learning going on!  In our topic on ‘Toys’ we have been learning about and comparing toys from the past with toys we play with today. 

On Monday 3rd February 2025, we had a visit from Somerset Heritage. Sam came and talked to us about toys in the past showing us some old well-loved toys.

Teddy 
China Doll 
Rag Doll
Mangle
Wooden Horse

We explored some of the toys from over 100 years ago. We put on some Victorian clothing and played like Victorian children. We did some investigating, looking at the difference between old and new toys and comparing what they were made from.

Wicker Basket and Teddy Bear
Puppet and Card Games 
Puzzle Book and Book 
Skipping Rope 
Various Games 

We also looked at an old zoetrope animation, and made our own thaumatropes.

Old Zoetrope Animation

 

 

Example of our Thaumatropes

This learning has also been supported by our Science topic: Exploring Materials. We have been learning about the names of different materials and exploring their properties. This has helped us to understand why toys are made differently today from how they were made in the past.

 

 

Year 2 

 

Spotlight on Year 2 

 Healthy Eating Workshop 

This term, we were very lucky to attend a healthy eating workshop.  We had the opportunity to try lots of new things, such as pomegranates, sultanas, cooked fresh fish and many different types of vegetables.  Then we made bread and baked it at home.  How did yours taste?

 

 

 

 Year 2 Spring Term

 This term we have been learning all about the Great Fire of London in our History topic. We had a really fun day when we did lots of different activities to learn more about this historical event. We practised writing using quill pens like Samuel Pepys. We dressed up in the clothes that they would have worn at the time and also looked at some artefacts, like a leather bucket that would have been used at the time by firefighters. We also made a water bucket chain to put out an imaginary fire!

We have also been working very hard on our Maths and English. We have been multiplying and dividing in Maths and learning our 3 times tables. We love using Times Tables Rockstars and keep trying to do better than the other class! In English, we have been writing about dragons and finding out more about this wonderful legendary creature.

    

   

 

 

Sport News 

 

Somerset U11 girls' Table Tennis, South West area finals:

Well done to Janice, Pippa, Layla and Megan who went to Plymouth to represent Somerset in the U11 girls team Table Tennis tournament. The girls played some outstanding table tennis at a very high level. We unfortunately lost against Devon, however managed to win against Cornwall so the girls finished in 2nd place which is a brilliant achievement.

Girls Table Tennis 

 

Y4 Sportshall Athletics:

Well done to our Year 4 Sportshall Athletics team who managed to finish 4th place out of 14 teams competing in the Sedgemoor school’s indoor athletics competition.

Sportshall Athletics 

Boys' Football County Finals:

Well done to our boys' football team who went to compete in the Somerset Schools Football County Finals. The boys played some brilliant football with a great attitude. There were 12 teams competing and we managed to finish in 7th place.

Somerset Table Tennis Champions:

A huge congratulations to Owen and Janice  who both won the Somerset Schools Table Tennis County Championship for the U11 boys and U11 girls. This is a fantastic achievement to have 2 Somerset County Champions and both have qualified to compete in the National Finals in April. Good luck to you both.

Somerset Table Tennis Champions Girls 
Somerset Table Tennis Champions Boys 

Tag Rugby Champions:

Congratulations to our Y5 / Y6 Tag Rugby team who went to compete in the Sedgemoor schools Tag Rugby tournament. There were 9 schools taking part, and we managed to win the tournament, playing 4 games with 4 wins and scoring a total of 20 tries across those games. There was some brilliant teamwork, sportsmanship, and excellent rugby on display.

Tag Rugby Champions

 

What's been going on/exciting news

 

Spelling Bee

The Year 6 Ambassadors helped to organise the Somerset Bridge 2025 Spelling Bee competition, with first rounds being held in classes and then the finals being completed on Thursday 27th March. The children who took part all did fantastically well and we were very impressed with the ability of our children.  After a very tense, yet exciting final the winners were as follows: Reception- Albie and Poppy; Year 1 and 2- Ryan; Year 3 and 4- Paddy; Year 5 and 6 – Jess. A huge congratulations goes out to our winners, who each gained 15 house points! Well done to all of the other children who also took part!

 

 

 

Reminders

 

Absences:

If your child is absent, please remember to ring school before 8.30am and leave a message on the absence line. In your message leave your child's full name and clearly specify the reason they are not at school. For example, if your child has a temperature, please say that your child has a temperature and not just state that they are ill. 

Thank you.