Picking up pace with painting, podcasts, and pat-a-cake making!

Update on the Zambezi Sunrise Trust

On Thursday in assembly we welcomed John Gillette from the Zambezi Sunrise Trust – a charity that we have supported and sponsored which has resulted in a fantastic new classroom fully funded by CVPS in Zambia, known as the Cramlington Classroom. John updated us on the recent developments in the school. We were excited to hear that
they have added two year groups onto their primary so that it now serves secondary aged pupils.

Beccy Owen our musician in residence this half term continued her work, this time with Y1 and Y2 and this will continue every Wednesday as she works across this term with all classes. We loved seeing the children’s joy when she sang with them.

And governor ‘face to face’ visits have restarted after lockdown restrictions eased with an opportunity for governors to see the children in classes and talk to staff about their plans and challenges. The governors then complete written reports that feed back to the staff and the governing body about their findings. This time around they commented positively on our key activities that link to our school development plans.

The post Covid challenges we face as a school align very closely to national scenarios which is reassuring. A regular dialogue this year (and last) also reflects on general staff wellbeing which is highlighted regularly as part of our school discussions and we commit a lot of time to this in our annual plan for staff meetings.

Nursery children have been baking and painting and even our teachers were training this week in school as you can see from our photos.

Virtual visits continue!

We are still making use of virtual support when we can and Y4 learned from a real live podcaster and local
journalist, Ian Wylie via a virtual platform. Ian shared what he does in his professional role and talked to the pupils about key insights into what makes a great podcast. He particularly liked the question that asked him whether there was anything you shouldn’t put into a podcast!

COVID Update

It’s been great to see the Covid rates in Cramlington reducing although still very high. Thankfully we have had no live cases reported in school this week or last which suggests that it’s on the wane – thankfully. We are still vigilant though so apologies if your child has the usual coughs and colds from this time of year and we have requested that they seek a PCR.

We are applying the criteria for PCR testing uniformly across school with the consideration that one day off to check a PCR by one child is preferable to a large number of children being impacted with a ten day
isolation period as a result of having allowed attendance by pupils with unconfirmed Covid.

The school nurse and the local health protection teams have advised us about the following symptoms being present with the predominant variant in school. This includes : headaches, runny noses and sore  throats, as well as the standard cough, high temperature and loss of taste/smell. Thankfully PCRs results currently are returned within 9-10 hours.

Christmas is around the corner

We have been so pleased to hear the sound of school singing as the children practise for the Carol services. It was sorely missed last year when we weren’t meant to sing together in the hall! Remember to check the diary dates at the bottom of this newsletter to confirm times for each class going up to the church for their Christmas Carol Service.

Nursery Nativity

Our nursery children will be video-recording their version of the nativity in-house this year to share with families as a keepsake. Previous years tell us that they find the scrutiny of proud family at the church really overwhelming which has led to tears and tiredness! The children will have pride of place in our reception class next year when they become the heroes of the nativity!

Parent governor vacancy

A final reminder for our parent governor vacancy for anyone interested in being involved in the running of the school. This involves being available to meet two or three evenings every half term and pop into  school once a term to review an area linked to the school development plan. Meetings are generally timetabled a year in advance and last around 60-90 minutes. At the moment they are on Tuesdays and
are online. If you are interested in contributing to the smooth running of the school in this way please let me know and I can share a bit more about the requirements of the role. We are especially keen to attract people who have an interest in finance and education at the moment. If there is more than one person interested we will hold a vote. The closing date is Friday the 26th November at 5pm. Please email the info
account on info@villageprimary.org for more information or to arrange a chat. Thank you to those who have expressed interest already.

School Council

School council has met again this week and Lyla Ives has shared her highlights of why she’s enjoying being the school council representative this year: ‘In the meeting today it was suggested that we ask children their favourite school lunch so we can check if everyone likes a lot things on the menu. Jess and Miah were finishing (painting the letters) the Buddy Stop sign for outside. I’m most excited about having everyone back together. Also making sure the litter pickers are being used and my cake idea for lunchtime!!’

This week we’ve been excited to hear that Katie Russell has been chosen to play a part in the pantomime. She recently auditioned to be a dancer in the Tynemouth Priory Theatre panto Sleeping Beauty and was successfully chosen to be 1 of the 10 dancers. She will be performing in 11 shows starting on 7th January 2022. She is super excited as this will be her first time performing in a pantomime. Well Done Katie! We are super proud of you!

Family Support Worker Amy’s Update

Hope Centre Services – The Hope Centre have been in touch to give us an update on the services they can provide to families. The Hope Centre is able to help with food parcels, school uniform and baby equipment. Over the Christmas period they are also helping families with gifts for children. All of their services are completely confidential, free of charge and available to families who have been referred by school. If you would like some more information about this service or feel that you would benefit from a referral, then please get in touch. You can contact me
confidentially via email – amybiggins@villageprimary.org

Paul’s outdoor idea

This week I would like you to make a mud face, a nice thick consistency is best so don’t add too much water. Mix the mud and water with a stick or spoon, then use your hands to squash the mud ‘dough’ together. Stick to a tree, wall or the floor and use stones, sticks, leaves or petals for the eyes, mouth, nose and hair. Don’t forget to upload your pictures of your creations
onto the class Facebook pages.

Achievement Awards

Children achieving gold this week
Y2 – Anabelle Lister, Y3 – Elliott Hopkinson,
Y5 – AJ Jefferson, Jacob Roper and Zara Wallace
Swimmer of the week – Katherine Doris
Kindness champion – Jack Mitchinson

Dates for your Diary

Cooking, remembering and more musical stories.

Throughout school there has been an air of busy-ness as all classes crack on with their learning with great gusto. Y1 has been baking, storytelling and creating all week with great enthusiasm and enjoyment as you can see from the photos above as Lacey grins from ear to ear! In Y2 the children made good use of their Forest School afternoon to identify the range of different objects outside that were alive or dead!

And we were so grateful in Y5 to Nicole Weatheritt’s 94 year old grandma Iris Weatheritt who puts us all to shame with her creative skills as she knitted 31 poppies to commemorate Remembrance Day! The children in Y5 and across the rest of school spent time this week thinking about those who gave their lives in the name of freedom both now and in years gone by. Thanks Iris – we really appreciated the poppies!

Our early years children continue to thrive with lots of exciting activities including their ‘tinker trays’, and creative ‘splurges’ this week with lots of focussed storytelling work.

COVID Update

Covid Contingency

We have reverted back to
‘business as usual’ with regard to attendance and we are no longer implementing our Covid Contingency Framework. This means that siblings do not need to isolate and that we are now back to our usual high expectations of attendance.

Huge huge thank you to all staff and parents who have supported our efforts to minimise the risk of spreading Covid by staying off to seek PCRs when they develop symptoms and for isolating siblings when there are positive cases in the family home. We really really appreciate that each and every one of us in our school communities have benefited from this joined up approach acknowledging the challenges that it brings.

We are however back to the usual attendance expectations. Letters will be sent out next week to notify parents of children who have had attendance below national levels and to clarify what support and guidance we can offer in school to support good attendance and punctuality.

Get well soon Laura!

We were sad to hear that our EYFS Coordinator has been in hospital this week and although she has now been discharged we want to all wish her lots of love while she recovers at home. Get well soon Laura – we miss you!

What’s our musical story?

Beccy Owen started her research with us this week and interviewed three classes in KS2 to find out what they know and can do with music at CVPS.
They sang with Beccy and talked about why they think our school is distinctive and unique. They told her about our singing prayer we sing before we eat lunch and about things they enjoy singing during the day.

We can’t wait to see her again next week. Beccy wants to set up an opportunity for families and parents to give feedback to her too so we are keen to hear from anyone who enjoys singing and would like to take part in contributing! Please let your child’s class teacher know if that’s you!

Harvest collection

It’s the last week next week for harvest festival donations which we are sending to the local food bank. Please bring any donations into school and the children can bring it to the front office and put it onto the donation table. Thanks so much to the generosity of everyone involved.

Parent governor vacancy

We have a parent governor vacancy for anyone interested in being involved in the running of the school. This involves being available to meet two or three evenings every half term and pop into school once a term to review an area linked to the school development plan. Meetings are generally timetabled a year in advance and last around 60-90 minutes. At the moment they are on Tuesdays and are online. If you are interested in contributing to the smooth running of the school in this way please let me know and I can share a bit more about the requirements of the role. We are especially keen to attract people who have an interest in finance and education at the moment. If there is more than one person interested we will hold a vote. The closing date is Friday the 26th November at 5pm. Please email the info account on info@villageprimary.org for more information or to arrange a chat.

Family Support Worker Amy’s Update

Attendance – attendance levels, particularly at this time of year, can be affected by illness such as sickness and tummy bugs. We would encourage parents / carers to send their children to school wherever possible. It is essential that all absences are reported to the school office as soon as possible and ideally before 8.30am. If we do not hear from you, the office staff will be in contact to establish the reason for the absence. If they are unable to make contact and you do not provide a reason for absence, it will be marked as unauthorised.

If you feel you would like support from school with your child’s attendance, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
There are lots of exciting things happening in school leading up to Christmas that I am sure the children will not want to miss out on!

Paul’s outdoor idea

This Sunday is Remembrance Sunday where we remember those that have served our country during wars both past and present.

I thought this week when you are out and about about you could make a poppy design or a silhouette of a soldier and send in the pictures to the Facebook pages. Alternatively you could send a photo of you with a poppy enjoying the outdoors.

Achievement Awards

Swimmer of the week – Ashveer Singh

Kindness champion – Amelia Nicholson

Dates for your Diary

Triptastic plans for Christmas (Oh yes there are!)

We have been looking to the future at CVPS and are so pleased that we can now consider Christmas 2021 as an ‘almost normal experience’.

Following last year’s restrictions we really missed all the usual CVPS Christmas traditions, so we have been inspired to make sure the children enjoy a fabulous Christmas this year. We have already booked some amazing activities and planned some lovely experiences as you can see below:

Y2, Y3, Y4 are off to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Thursday the 16th December. They will need to be collected later than usual after school – times to be confirmed.

Y5, Y6 are off to see Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, performed by the Scottish National Ballet in Edinburgh on Thursday 2nd December.

EYFS and Y1 are off to see the pantomime at Whitley Bay which also happens to be Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs.

While the school is heavily subsidising these visits we are asking for a £15 contribution from families for the Edinburgh visit, and a £10 contribution for the local pantomimes.

COVID Update

I would like to encourage any adults who have not yet received two vaccines to sign up for them. Covid rates are still very high locally.

We continue to apply all our usual hygiene measures including handwashing, hand sanitising and extra  leaning of touch points throughout school.

Our planned trips are subject to additional risk assessments as we use coaches and public transport to get  to the venues. Please be assured that we are now very vigilant about referencing and preparing for  Covid control measures on our ‘learning expeditions’ in addition to the usual. All risk assessments are  signed off manually by all staff attending a trip, as well as by any volunteers who come along. Parents are  welcome to receive copies if they wish.

Parent consultations Weds 10th December

In response to family and staff requests our usual parent consultation opportunity has been extended to an 8 minute slot per child for next Weds. Time slots have been released now for your child’s class teacher or the Higher Level Assistant Teacher in class if your child’s class has one. Please book your slots early to get the best choice. Staff will contact parents who have not made a booking by the end of Monday next week to fill in the remaining slots.

Huge well done to Erin Wraith for coming first in a horse riding competition. Erin explained to assembly this morning how she had to canter and ride over jumps in the outdoor ring before being awarded the rosette for first prize. Keep sending in the children’s achievements as we love to hear what they are up to outside of school.

In Y3 and in Y1 we see the children hard at work in class – more from Y4 and Y5 next week!

Christmas Carols at St Nicholas Church

We’d also like to remind families about the Christmas Carol Service that we have planned at St Nicholas Church on Tuesday the 14th December in the afternoon.

1.30-2.30pm EYFS, Y1, Y2                                                            2.30-3.30pm Y3-Y6

We have space for one adult to visit each service. We would like to respectfully request that younger siblings do not come to the service – similar to this year’s sports day arrangement so please make separate arrangements for that hour. School aged siblings from the first service will be cared for in church during KS2 service. All children from the first carol service can be taken home with families at the end of the service should they wish.

PE clubs and specialists

It’s not only our cultural offer that’s been getting some attention – we now have our plans for a host of PE specialists coming into school as you can see from the table below.

Trip to the Sage Gateshead

We are combining a visit to Sage Gateshead with a visit to the Baltic or The Discovery Museum on Thursday the 25th November. This visit will be fully subsidised by school funds but written consent will be required for children to attend.

CVPS Family Christmas Lunch

Back by popular demand, the very special family Christmas lunch event! Each child is able to invite one special adult of their choice to come to school for a special two course Christmas dinner, with turkey and all the usual trimmings. (dietary requirements catered for!) We have reduced the overall numbers in the hall on these days, spreading out the dates throughout the week as follows:

Monday 6th December – 11.30-12.30 Nursery and Reception
Tuesday 7th December – 11.30-12.30 Y3 and Y4
Wednesday 8th December – 11.30-12.30 Y1 and Y2
Thursday 9th December – 11.45-12.45 Y5 and Y6 (please note later time)
Christmas dinner tickets are £5 per adult and will be added onto Parent Pay for you to book. Children pay their usual for their meal that day.

Children (and adults) can wear a Christmas jumper to their Christmas dinner day!

Get ready to say ‘Cheese!’

We have booked in Tempest – our usual school photographer for those who are keen to have the usual Christmas stocking fillers, for Friday the 26th November. This session is for children currently attending CVPS only and siblings cannot be brought in as we’ve done previously.

We have been assured that children who order promptly will be able to get the photos returned in time for Christmas. We have also booked them in for next year so that the current Y6 leavers get the chance to buy a perfectly-posed whole class photo! Get ready to say ‘Cheese’!

Car park and outdoor news

A few months ago I explained that we were applying for planning consent to refurbish the car park and provide a lot of new outdoor gym equipment and a running track in the school field. We now have planning consent and will be starting the new work in the new year! After ten years we have the final piece of the outside space moving towards completion giving me not only a lesson in patience, but also giving the children a fabulous active space to enjoy alongside the creativity of forest school!

Family Support Worker Amy’s update

Why is punctuality so important?

We strongly believe that all children should have access to a good education as it provides a great start in life. To ensure children have an equal chance of accessing our engaging curriculum, it is important that they are attending school regularly and punctually. Arriving on time sets the children up for a great start to the day and puts them in a positive frame of mind for their learning.

Top tips for getting to school on time

• • A good night time routine to make sure the children aren’t too tired for school
• • Get to know your child’s timetable – work together to make sure they have everything ready the night before
• • Do homework in the evening rather than the morning
• • A good breakfast to set the children up for the day

In the coming weeks I will be setting up parent workshops or drop ins to discuss attendance and punctuality. So if there is anything you would like a hand with then let me know!

Amy – Family Support Worker

Paul’s outdoor idea

Firstly, may I thank you for all the effort that went into the nature frame over half term – I was very impressed with those posted on Facebook and those that came into School as well, so well done.

This week’s idea is a fun activity when you are out and about and was inspired by Greg James and his Radio One breakfast show. He set his listeners a challenge – the leaves are falling (especially in the stronger winds of last week). When you are out and about if a leaf is dropping your challenge is to try and catch a leaf off a tree before it hits the ground. Enjoy yourself and make sure you stay safe.

Achievement Awards

• Kindness champion – Olivia Hamilton
• Children achieving gold this week – Y1 – Leah Home

Dates for your Diary

Happy Half Term!

A bit more normality returned to school this week as we had less staff and children absent. I’ve been hugely inspired by the pupil progress meetings that have taken place with class teachers throughout school. Children have completed work both in books, and in usual assessments which supports really pleasing progress despite all the attendance challenges for both staff and children. The dedication and commitment of our team is second to none and your children inspire us to dig deep when things in school have been tough. Once again I’m exceptionally proud of the children’s progress throughout school.

COVID Update

Covid rates in the local community continue to be high and we still have more cases at school than any  time previously, around 12 -14 cases overall between Y5, Y2 and this week in reception.

We continue to be grateful to families for isolating siblings who have not yet had Covid when the first person in the household tests positive. This has significantly reduced the spread in classes – especially in younger age groups where the children are less aware of social distancing. Thank you.

A reminder to everyone that sadly we don’t have capacity to allocate homework and online learning to pupils who are absent or ill for anything other than school ‘approved’ Covid related absences. We hope you understand that this is to allow us to protect teacher workload while our staffing levels are less than they should be, and to support family understanding of the importance of attendance at school. The DfE have recently issued reminders to  schools about protecting attendance at school. It’s a really tricky balance to get right and we are working hard to reinforce the commitment to full school attendance as much as possible.

Statutory bodies are very focussed that children should be learning in school when they can and we are trying to ensure our school approach aligns with this 

Academic mentor

As part of the national tutoring programme we have brought in an academic mentor for English and are delighted to welcome back Kirsten Swales for this role in school. (Some of you may remember Kirsten as she was the nursery teacher previously known as Kirsten Hurst). Kirsten is married now and a Mum – congratulations! She is initially working across early years and Y1 as a support for our ‘catch up’ programme.

Back to normal

It has been wonderful to see the impact on the children since starting whole school assemblies in the hall and we are excited that despite the local Covid outbreak we are on track to continue assemblies in this  ay for next term, welcoming the reception class in with the rest of school is aways wonderful to have the whole school community altogether.

Harvest collection

Please send in any donations for harvest next half term which we are sending to the Centre for Hope. The usual list for collections is here and we ask that you try and send in specific items such as: Cereal, Soup, Pasta, Rice, Tinned tomatoes/ pasta sauce, Lentils, beans and  pulses, Tinned meat, Tinned vegetables, Tea/coffee, Tinned fruit, Biscuits, Fruit juice. There is also a need for basic toiletries and sanitary products.

Wonderful Reading!

Huge congratulations to both Reception class as well as Y4 and Y6 who have achieved much higher rates of reading at home! Keep it up over the half term!

Parent consultations

We have designated the parent consultations for Weds the 10th November using the online system we used last term as we are still conscious of high community Covid rates. Please book your slots early when you receive the link especially if you struggle with your availability. Teachers have asked to increase the time slots to allow slightly more time per student. As always if you have any concerns about your child’s
progress please let us know at any time. We are happy to make time to discuss concerns and want to be on hand to help as and when it’s needed.

Paul’s outdoor idea

As we approach half term I would like to thank everyone for their enthusiasm and work on the outdoor ideas. Over the half term I would love you to get out and about and collect natural material, leaves, nuts, berries and even interesting stones and create ‘natural frames’. You will need a frame or to make a frame from cardboard and attach your natural materials to the frame.

Have a look at the link https://youtu.be/Mt3zUhK0lkQ

We would love to see your creations on the class Facebook pages or in school after half term. Have fun!

Happy half term everyone! We hope you enjoy a good break, stay safe with Halloween and bonfire celebrations, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back into school on Monday the 1st November at the usual time.

Achievement Awards

Kindness champion – Ayman Allvendi;  Swimmer of the week – Regin McMullen
Children achieving gold – YN – Jacob Ray, YR – Polly Ross, Tilly Merrett, Y1 – Safiya Kodirova, Joseph
Gorton, Y5 – Reece Hopkinson, Y6 – Katie Russell (not reported last week), Isabelle Aitchison, Ellah Parker, Kieran Leck, Louis Archbold

Dates for your Diary

Firefighter assembly interrupted by 999!

One of the highlights of this week was a visit to Thursday’s assembly by the local firefighting team. We were really looking forward to hear from Glenn and the team about how important Bonfire Safety is, and how to stay safe in the autumn. What we didn’t expect was that the firefighters would get a call out at 8.50am right in the middle of their assembly!

Thankfully they left us their slides, and returned a bit later. We were able to learn all about the importance of staying safe around fireworks and how organised events are safer. We also reminded ourselves about the CVPS forest school fire safety rules such as the ‘respect’ position, allowing us to ‘jump back’. Firefighter Glenn explained to us all about his firefighting role and what sort of things he does to help people.

School attendance and sickness

It has been a horrendous week for school in terms of sickness and absences. We have had sickness and diarrhoea illnesses, flu type symptoms (after negative Covid PCRs) and a larger number of Covid positive cases particularly throughout Y5 and Y2. And it hasn’t just been children – as we had one day with 6 (or 20%) of our staff off school poorly too. No-one is more passionate about learning than our staff team, but with teachers off as well as admin staff and assistant teachers, we have really struggled to put up as much of the usual remote learning as we would have liked and it has been a challenge just getting through each day. We are hopeful that these seasonal infections will ease off and we hope that we can get back to normal as soon as possible. Thank you so much for supporting the school’s sickness policy and being patient with us this week.

COVID Update

Covid rates in the community continue to rise and Cramlington now tops the leader board in Northumberland. There are 995 cases per 100,000 in Cramlington West!
We have had 4 confirmed cases of Covid in Y2 and the same in Y5. Both classes are now working to the Covid Contingency plan as listed on our website.

A huge thank you to all the families who have kept children who are ‘close contacts’ of positive test outcomes at home for remote learning for the 3-5 day incubation period. It has been an absolute godsend as some have actually tested positive subsequently which has meant that we have limited the spread of this disruptive virus. We really appreciate this and know it has not always been easy.

PCR testing

The quickest way to get back to normal if your child has any of the Covid symptoms (including the main three as well as other milder ones) is to seek an appointment online at the local drive through test centre where results are coming back in some cases less than 12 hours from the test.
If you do not have a car – please ask school for one AS SOON AS YOUR CHILD IS SENT HOME. The PCRs which are home test kits take 3-5 days which means less time at school which I know is not popular with both children and their parents!

Harvest, Christmas and our very own School Song!

As explained above, the past two weeks we have found it incredibly challenging in school to sustain the usual routines and so I have taken the really difficult decision that we will not go ahead with our usual Harvest celebrations this year but instead we will collect donations after half term for the local food banks.

However we have booked our usual Christmas Carol service at St Nicholas Church in December. Tuesday the 14th December we will hold our Christmas Carol service complete with nativity for the youngest children at St Nicholas Church in Cramlington Village. We are asking that the children have one adult per family per service. Reception and Year 1 and 2 will be from 1.30 to 2.30pm and then Y3, 4, 5 and 6 from 2.30 to 3.30pm. We ask that as difficult as it will be for you to come alone (without younger siblings) that you try as much as possible to do this. Please let a member of staff know if this is likely to present a problem as we are just trying to make live versions possible as restrictions ease. As far as we know most other local schools are doing recorded versions of the usual Christmas events so we are trying to push for face to face services, but to do so responsibly in terms of minimising Covid risks.

Beccy Owen is a musician, singer, songwriter, performer, producer, musical director and sound designer and she comes to us highly recommended as a ‘Musician in residence’ next half term as part of our ‘What’s our musical story?’ topic. We can’t wait to hear from her and meet her in person straight after half term.
We hope to be able to sing our first live version of our very own school song that we are recording and composing with Beccy at our Christmas Carol Service. We are so fortunate to have commissioned her for the next half term.

Reading successes

A special mention has to go to Reception children as 81% achieved their goal to read at home at least five times this week. We are so so proud of this as it will set you all up for some really strong progress in your reading. Huge well done to everyone – extra playtime for being the highest number of ‘5 times readers’ this week in Y3 – their cheer in assembly said it all! I have to say that the most improved has definitely been the Y1 class – who struggled just three weeks ago to get more than 40% of the class reading often. They too are now 71%. Well done to our youngest children in school and especially their families who are such important factors in successful readers!

Paul’s outdoor idea

Let’s think about numbers in nature this week and how we can combine Mathematics and Art with some outdoor fun. I would like you to choose a number and make that number in a creative way using natural materials you have found in your garden or surrounding area. My favourite numbers are 17 and 56 so I would love to see those numbers. You could use conkers, acorns or maybe some rocks or pebbles. Take a photo of your creation and let me see some on the class Facebook pages.

Achievement Awards

Kindness champion – Charlotte Murray; Swimmer of the week – Sieannah Nicholson
Children achieving gold – YR (not reported last week) Theia Black, Charlie Thirlwell and Harrison Rowlandson, Y1 – Jensen Atkinson

Dates for your Diary

Y5/Y6 explore Lindisfarne

As part of our theme this term looking at our musical story, Year 5 and 6 visited Lindisfarne and reviewed some amazing historical sources that underpin a lot of north east history, linking with their Vikings topic. The rain and mist in the morning didn’t stop them from enjoying the drive across the causeway nor the  visits to the Priory, St Cuthbert’s monument and lime kilns amongst other things.

The sun even shone in the afternoon when the blue sky finally appeared. Pupils across both classes were very engaged in this learning expedition and filled with enthusiasm when they returned to school.

In and around the rest of school, I have had the pleasure of spending more time in our nursery this
half term, singing and sharing stories. We were curled up on the floor this week, and when the children weren’t looking I took their photo before they sprung to life as scarecrows. Y4 showcased some ‘disco dancing’ as they were doing the ‘Hustle’ with a blast from the 70s past! Throughout school we are almost back to some normality with the hall being used for assembly times, PE as well as lunchtimes again. We are tentatively reintroducing all the old routines and positive learning experiences and the children are
responding with great gusto! Great to have some normality back and the buzz of CVPS returning.

COVID Update

Daily updates with the local authority’s health protection teams give us access to the most up to date information. Please send any negative PCR test outcomes to the school office on info@villageprimary.org prior to children returning to school. It is equally important to let us know about any positive test outcomes as well.

Covid Contingency Plans

If a class has three pupils off who have tested positive within a 10 day window we are expected to activate
our Covid Contingency Plan. This is to limit additional spread within the class and school. We continue to be extremely appreciative of the cooperation of the families we serve at this challenging time and would like to say a huge thank you.

Please be assured that we would much rather have the children in school than at home. It seems strange
to be saying – ‘if in doubt keep them out’ – as in the past we have always welcomed the children even when
they are a bit under the weather.

Now we can only do that if we are positive that they test negative first when their symptoms are either
overtly Covid or even milder. Recent guidance for testing has been updated to include the milder symptoms we already listed in last week’s newsletter

Introducing Dr Bike

We have recently been part of a small bid to provide free bike maintenance for anyone who would like it. This will mean that anyone can bring along their child’s bike on a designated day to be able to get it maintained and checked for free. Please let your class teacher know if you would like to take advantage of this excellent offer.

Meet Amy Biggins – our new family support worker

I am so excited that Amy (Y1 teacher last year) has returned to CVPS as our new Family Support Worker. Amy’s role will be to support all our families with anything that helps them to promote  learning at home. She will be undertaking some additional training and lead on some of our child protection issues in school as well. Amy will be on the gates in the morning to greet you all and introduce herself in the coming week.

Our building

We are aware that for years the front of school has been in need of a redesign including the car park and the fencing/design of the entrance area. We have been working closely with a design team and are delighted that our submission of a new proposal has been accepted by the local authority’s planning team. Of course we’ll let you have sight as soon as we receive the finalised plans.

Y6 applications for High School

We have been prompted once again by Cramlington Learning Village for you to get your applications in for high school. They are hosting a virtual open evening of Thursday 7th October. Please check the Y6 class Facebook page for more details.

Paul’s outdoor idea

As the leaves are falling – this week I would love to see you making a natural magic wand.

Maybe you could attach a leaf by its’ stalk with masking tape or sticky tape. Wind string or wool around the stick to cover up the tape or other sections if you wish. Using glue or double sided tape, stick leaves and petals to the stick and the large leaf at the top.

Post your pictures on the class Facebook pages and I look forward to seeing your creations.

Achievement Awards

Kindness champion – Henry Taylor                 Swimmer of the week – Miles Straker

Children achieving gold – Y1– Millie Mitchinson, Joseph Gorton, Mason Gray and Jaxon Gunnell (not reported last week), Y3 – Jack Mitchinson, Y5 – Max Pearson and Amelia Hudson

Dates for your Diary

Fabulous Fitness for Y5

Since starting Y5 the children have been trialling Moki Fitness Bands throughout their school day to track their active minutes and steps. We have been aiming for 10000 steps a day in the Daily Mile, PE lessons and during Forest School and playtimes. Individual children scan in their results at the end of each day and then analyse the data and look for patterns and trends. These bands have been a huge success to encourage physical activity throughout the day. We are grateful to the Sports Premium funding allowing us to focus on innovative ways to improve children’s fitness. Next on the list to receive these bands in school is Y6!

Covid Update

We now have a number of confirmed Covid cases in Y4, Y5 and Y6 at school.
Please do NOT bring your children to school with the following symptoms:

• A new persistent cough
• A high temperature
• A headach

Delta variant also presents with:

• Sore throat
• Runny nose
• Sneezing

If your child has ANY of the above symptoms they are required to take a PCR test from the Drive In Test Centre, booked online. For families without access to a vehicle, please let school know as we have a very small number of postal PCR tests in school.

PE Kits needed in school

Our PE Coordinator Nicole Weatheritt has asked that families from Y1 to Y6 are gently reminded about sending a full school PE kit to allow children to take part in PE and physical activities in school. School funds can be made available for families who have financial difficulty with this. Examples are in the uniform policy sent out during transition weeks.

Cycle safety

Children who are travelling to and from school on bicycles or scooters then please ensure that they have a helmet – particularly in Y5 and Y6 when they come to school on their own. We will allow a grace period until the end of September for families to purchase helmets if you don’t already have them, but thereafter children will only be able to park their bikes at school if they wear a helmet.

Forest school finds

Children in KS2 forest school found a myriad of interesting creatures, including newts in the pond area and an amazing egg-carrying spider. With the young chickens out and about, and dear old Brownie stealing the show it was a real day of discovery on Wednesday this week. With map reading work, knot tying, compost learning, fire lay learning and creature finding, there was lots of learning outside. CVPS LOVES FOREST SCHOOL!

Judaism in Y4 – the story of Moses…

Y4 have been looking at some of the origins of Judaism as part of their learning in Religious Education sessions this week. They created their own Torahs, and practised a bit of Hebrew writing as well as deciding on a Y4 rule on their Torah.

Y6 High School Applications

Please remember that the deadline for you to apply to high school in Y6 is 31st October. You must all apply to high school. There are no automatic feeder schools and where you live determines where your catchment school’ is.

Paul’s Outdoor Idea

This week I would like you to create an animal using leaves collected in your garden or local area. It can be a real animal or an imaginary one. As well leaves you may need some pens, card or paper, googly eyes, glue and scissors.
Please post pictures of your creations on your class Facebook page, I can’t wait to see them!

Achievement Awards

Kindness Champion – Tilly Merrett

Swimmer of the week – Kieran Leck

Children achieving gold this week – Y1 – Jaxon Gunnell and Sofia Athenian, Y3 – Lacey Fender, Y4 -Aysha

Kaur and Mohammad Al Haj Moussa, Y5 – Emily Morgan, Y6 – Ben Drake, Isabelle Aitchison, Leo Trevisan

Dates for your Diary

Welcome back!

Many of the photos above are from our new reception children who have started school and settled in exceptionally well. They are curious explorers who have been able to investigate a host of different things in their classrooms this week including natural materials in their dough such as flowers, leaves and pine cones; storytelling to Pi in the enchanted light corner; create surfboards for dinosaurs, and fill teapots and kettles with bubbly water and enjoy a sand tray with pirate treasure! They have indeed been a really busy bunch and it’s been wonderful to see how well they have all settled with a highlight of the week being the Tiddlywinks session on Monday morning! Thanks to families for entrusting them in our care – we will be looking after them all well!

And in the rest of school – the children looked wonderful when they returned in their new uniforms! They have been polite and well mannered to the adults and their friends and are fast getting to grips with the bulk of routines. We are still encouraging (well really we’re expecting!) home reading every night in every year group and look forward to hosting an information event for parents about early reading skills on the morning of Weds 22nd September at 8.45 in the school hall, straight after drop off. This is targeted especially at families in early years and Y1 but we appreciate that there are a number of families who have joined us since the last reading event are welcome to attend. The session will be streamed and recorded, and the recorded version will be uploaded onto the class facebook pages. Please inform your child’s class teacher if you would like to attend. Our first staff training day was spent reviewing the new child protection guidelines which were updated to include a lot of additional research and increased expectations about addressing sexual harassment in schools. Children in primary schools are being regularly subjected to sexual harassment – particularly from peers, and especially online. This is something that all primary schools are being asked to address as part of their personal and social education programmes.

We are also tasked to challenge gender biases as part of our everyday programmes of learning. Please let us know if there are any aspects of our provision which you feel hinder

inclusion and equality in any way. Your feedback is really important to us as we look to giving all our children the best start in life and the best aspirations they can access.

Some new staff also toasted marshmallows, and made flatbread pizzas while being refreshed on their fire training! They now know how to create tepee fire lays as well as criss-cross and are all itching to create fires!

Covid Update

Guidance for the new term was published on August 27th and so we are currently reviewing all our current school arrangements in light of this.
We are hopeful to see the reintroduction of assembly times, and international visits as part of this which we are consulting with our staff about and how to provide as close to normal school life as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns about this – please contact your class teacher.
Most of our staff team are now double vaccinated and we know that the risks of Covid for those who are vaccinated are much reduced which is great news.
We are still vigilant about any Covid symptoms which require isolation for 10 days, and NHS Test and Trace speak to you following a positive test. The local health protection teams still request that we inform them of any positive Covid test results. We are grateful and pleased that whole bubble closures no longer exist and we will continue to implement most of the previous Covid control measures to minimise risks. We are in the process of completing an ‘outbreak/contingency’ plan should there be a number of cases at school. We will share this with you when it has been through the usual approval and consultation routes.
A huge thank you to everyone for continuing to be vigilant and respond appropriately to situations when we are required to send children home.

Parent governor role

We are delighted to have welcomed Andy Childs (parent of a child in Y1) to the governing body. We are really pleased to welcome Andy’s skills into school life and look forward to him getting to know us. A governor acts as a ‘critical friend’ challenging and supporting the school to continue in its journey to meet its mission statement. Anyone interested in serving in this way, please let your class teacher know and one of us will get in touch.
Our chair of governors Patsie Beaton continues into her second year as chair, ably supported by Samantha Harrison as the vice chair. Please check out the school website if you are interested in seeing more information about the governors.

Bye Bye Alison Malcolm

We are really grateful to Alison Malcolm who has served the school now for over ten years as a governor, dedicating significant time and commitment during that period, especially prior and just after we opened. Due to a new work role, Alison is stepping down from her governor role. She has been our chair of governors, a vice chair and led the finance committee (and the education committee) throughout these past ten years. Alison will be sorely missed but we are so so grateful to her for fulfilling such a dedicated and valuable position giving up hours of her time voluntarily to see the school start on its journey, and achieve so much as a result of her input. Alison will continue as a ‘member’ of the Trust of Cramlington Village Primary School, the entity that the governing body reports into.

Bye Bye Pinky

We are so sad to have to share that in August, Pinky our resident pig, has been really poorly. After much discussion and advice from his vet, it was decided between those who know Pinky best that it was time for him to be put down. We know that Pinky has been a really important character to many of the children and so we will create a special memory box for the children to note down favourite memories. Thank you so much to everyone who has played a part in caring for him so well, and showing him such patience when he refused to return to his pen! He was a rascal at times, but was overall a really smart creature who gave a lot of children (and adults) a lot of joy! Rest in peace Pinky – we’ll miss you!

Paul’s outdoor idea

I am really excited to be taking over the weekly Forest School activity, I love the outdoors and can’t wait for you to share your outdoor activities with me.
For our activity this week I would like you to consider the trees all around (there are lots of them and often we don’t notice them). Could you choose a special tree in your garden or surrounding area and then either draw a picture of it, take a leaf rubbing of a leaf or a piece of bark and think about who (or what) might live in the tree.

Achievement Awards

Kindness Champion – Miles Straker

Swimmer of the week – Jayden Thirlwell

Dates for your Diary

Happy holidays everyone!

Business as usual to the end!

It’s been non-stop busy-ness right to the end of term at CVPS

– as always! Y4 finally got to visit the Discovery Museum and enjoyed a lovely day away as you can see from some of their photos at the end of the newsletter.

All the year group teachers have now completed their planning days and have some wonderful musical experiences planned for the autumn term. We will be asking families with musical expertise to contribute where possible! And all classes in school were also able to welcome in a member of their family to share some of the physical activities that the children have begun during transition weeks.

It was great to see the families taking part in the tennis session on Wednesday afternoon! Y6 Basketball coaching showed some great sportsmanship from our Y6s develop on Tuesday and last week, the Y6 children were really inspired by Darius Dafoe who still scores baskets for the Eagles after 18 years!

We hosted Stephen Miller the Paralympian gold medal winner on Wednesday as well as the Newcastle Eagles Basketball coaches on Tuesday. Stephen visited all the children across Y2, Y3, Y4 and Y6 and shared some signed postcards as well as his explanation of the role he has, answering the children’s questions adeptly. He shared how his self belief has been positively impacted by finding his distinctive skills that he could succeed with in the Olympics. His discussion with the children was inspirational and we were so thankful he could visit CVPS. On Thursday this week we also had a chance to see a genuine 2012 Olympic torch that was shared with us. The children have certainly been immersed in a whole host of physical activities mostly outside, aided by the slightly cooler weather.

COVID Update

We have literally felt as if we have ‘limped’ to the end of the term, with a larger than ever number of staff isolating, and our Y5 bubble closed. We are pleased we did close it – as there have been 5 more positive test results in children as of today.

Closing the Y5 bubble was hugely inconvenient and disruptive, but we do feel it limited the spread of Covid particularly in those families who subsequently tested positive with siblings attending other classes. Let’s hope next year is a new year, with greater immunity and better reach of the vaccination programme, so that we can experience a lot less disruption.

Return to school reminders

Children return to school on Thursday the 2nd September at 8.30am for YN, Y1-6 and 8.45am for YR

Y1/Y2 change to the end of school time

We would like to pilot a change to the school day in the autumn time.

Letters have been shared online with parents of pupils in Y1 and Y2 to explain the reasons. The new finish times of 3.30pm for children in Y1 and Y2 will start from the first day back in September. Please let the school office know if you have any questions.

Staff awards finish the year on a high!

We held our annual staff awards event on Wednesday awarding trophies to everyone and extra special wishes to our staff leavers this week. We wish them all well and will miss them greatly. We really enjoyed hearing so many positive and encouraging stories of the staff team’s individual achievements. It was wonderful to be able to finish this reflective and celebratory event with the feedback from all our families which were taken from the parent survey sent out last term.

Thank you so much for those comments – with an overwhelmingly positive feedback from everyone who replied,

we were greatly encouraged. Some of us were even moved to tears with some of the gratitude and positivity making many of the challenges we’ve faced this year, pale into comparison when you’ve fed back how valuable and successful the impact of the teaching teams have been. Our team is hugely committed to your children, and this was recognised, alongside the many successes the children made being partly attributed to the support and nurturing approaches we have had at CVPS.

Summer Camp

Angela Hall has planned a fantastic summer camp programme and has some places available still from Week 2 to Week 4. These will continue to provide the same activities and games and ideas alongside a breakfast and lunch. We currently have around 50 children booked in to attend.

Stay Safe in the holidays

We have worked on reminders to the children about staying safe in and around :

• • water
• • sun
• • strangers
• • traffic

We hope you all enjoy a wonderful time in the summer – but please remember to stay safe when out and about!

School uniform reminders

I have spoken to a few older children to give them a bit of advance notice about the uniform requirements, as I explained in last week’s newsletter.

The only branded uniform we expect families to provide for their children is the blazer with the school logo in Y5/6 and the purple school sweatshirts/cardigans across the rest of school. This is particularly important when we take part in the many school trips that we do. The school is proud of its standing in the community and we work hard to provide clarity about the common uniform. Government guidance has asked that we return to our usual expectations from September next year so if you have any questions please let us know.

Copies of the uniform policy are all listed on the school website for those who have not been able to read last week’s newsletter. We also have a large number of clean, ironed second hand uniforms that are available for those who need them, and we also donate uniform to the clothing bank. We do appreciate that the branded clothing does cost more than non branded and while school funds receive commission from the branded clothing, we also appreciate that some families like to buy enough polo shirts to have a new one every day and that it can be costly. So plain white polo shirts, typical grey school trousers, black school shoes not trainers and the plain PE kit as stipulated last week does not have to be with the school logo. The school coat is also optional.

We have allocated uniform voucher payments to parents of pupils entitled to free school meals to support new uniform costs and we try to be really clear to the children about colours and not logos when reminders are given for uniform. Please send any questions to the info@villageprimary.org email address as administration staff will be monitoring this email throughout August.

Start and finish times in the autumn

Apologies for the error in the last newsletter about start/finish times and thank you to those of you who sought clarification. School returns on Thursday the 2nd September after teacher training days. During transition weeks we have been trialling the start and finish times to monitor the impact on social distancing and ongoing parking issues which we have. It’s now been confirmed that the start and finish times throughout the week for each year group are as follows:

As a team we have decided to continue with the current arrival and collection procedures. We appreciate the timeliness that this has brought to school start and finish times, and as a result of the continued Covid risks we feel more confident restricting unnecessary access to school grounds. Many thanks for your cooperation with this. The school gates will continue to open at 8.20am and will be closed at 8.30am when lessons begin. Please try to be punctual to ensure that your children access the start of our first lesson which is reading.

We hope that you will all enjoy a wonderful summer break and that the weather stays fine. We look forward to hearing all the children’s news and plans when we return on Thursday the 2nd September.

Ashleigh’s last outdoor activity!

The summer is finally here! I would like you to create a bucket list of 10 activities you would like to complete these summer holidays and tick them off once you have done each one.

Achievement Awards

Kindness Champion – Lacey Fyfe

Dates for your Diary

Welcome everyone to the new academic year!

The children were all very excited and a little bit nervous about starting in their new classes this week. Monday was a bit of an experiment for them and their class teachers, but by Wednesday there was definitely a routine and they started to get to know one another. It’s been lovely hearing the quizzes and games they’ve been playing as they have become engaged in the transition week theme of sporting activities.

Already this week the children have voted for new school council leaders and have devised new class rules with their class teachers. They have continued with lots of their usual routines such as phonics groups and morning timetable and they’ve already started to charm the new staff they are working with.

Y1 were wowed by rugby coaches from Newcastle Falcons on Monday afternoon as they were taught the key components of Tag Rugby. And we are delighted to have booked Newcastle Eagles who are visiting Y6 to coach them for Basketball.

Covid Update

Our new risk assessment has been completed in consultation with the staff team. Key aspects for families to be aware of are as follows:

• – Children are expected to return to full uniform including black school shoes not trainers (see guidance later in the newsletter)
• – PE kit is needed for Y1-Y6
• – Current drop off and collection arrangements will continue as they are currently – please try to be respectful about where and how you park
• – Children will be able to mix with one other class at playtimes – to improve socialisation opportunities
• – Children will be able to continue to work in other classes – but socially distanced within their usual class as much as possible, for phonics input for example
• – Lunchtimes will continue to be in the hall
• – Virtual parent consultations will continue into next academic year

We will continue to exclude any child who presents with Covid symptoms but bubble closures will cease after 16th August in line with new government guidance – thank you to those who have been so mindful of doing everything possible to keep our bubbles open. We really appreciate your support.

Robinwood adventures

Y5 had a really successful time at Robinwood this week as they enjoyed an adventure-packed three days. They were all hugely courageous at trying out the activities on offer. They were rightly proud of themselves today as they shared verbally with the whole class what they felt they had achieved that they hadn’t expected.

We are so grateful to all the families for releasing the children to attend as these events and activities really create life long memories as a class that really help to cement their friendships. A special thank you to the staff who accompanied them for taking time away from home too and for all the organisation that goes into these things. With Covid on top of the normal it’s no mean feat being ‘in loco parentis’ for all the class.

Music next term

As a whole school ‘What’s our musical story?’ is being planned this week and next. We plan to ask the children to share some of their interests and to research their family skills and interests about music during the summer break. At the moment we are talking about a music festival launching in September so we’ll update you a bit more about the ‘shape’ of this next week.

News Post Leader story

Well done once again to Angela, our Marketing and Administration Manager who has once again secured some publicity in the News Post Leader for our innovative curriculum visit to Turner’s Fairground. Check out this link if you want to see the story and wonderful photos. Thank you

We were really grateful for the children’s many cards and gifts that were given to us at the end of their time in last year’s classes last week. The kind words and thoughtful gifts are never expected, but we are really grateful. We love our role in school as teachers and support staff for your children, and love the difference we make. It’s an absolute privilege. But it’s made extra special when recognised by those we seek to serve. As I shared with the Y6 leavers – we are really proud to work as a team with all our families – to get the happiest children with the best results it really is teamwork between home, school and the children!

September 2021 school timings

Training day Weds 1st September 2021.

Please note that the first day of term (Weds 1st September this year) is always used as a training day to review our child protection policy and procedures. This year staff are also receiving some top up fire training for forest school!
The children return to school on Thursday the 2nd September at 8.30 for year 1 to 6 and 8.45am for reception.

Uniform guidance

Copies of the school uniform were shared a few weeks ago by email is also available from the school website on www.villageprimary.org

I’ve pasted an excerpt with the key aspects highlighted below. Those entitled to free school meals have been offered vouchers this summer to support uniform purchases. We will be reinstating a focus on the usual high standards of expectation for uniform that existed prior to lockdown so please support this as an important part of the school approach to the sense of community we encourage. PE kits for all children with named items have been welcomed as a next step for us moving back to ‘normal’.

Footwear

The shoes children wear should be sensible for learning and playtimes, so strapless shoes, flip flops, enclosed at the toes or heels, sandals and shoes with high heels are not allowed. Children should be able to fasten their own shoes. Boots should be plain black, without motifs, tassels, characters or different coloured piping. They should be able to put them on and take them off independently! (so no laces unless they can do them or learn to do them at home – teaching 30 young children to do laces when getting changed for PE is impossible!)

PE

Achievement Awards

Kindness Champion – Lyla Ives

Ashleigh’s outdoor idea

I would like you to go on a walk with your family. This could be in the woods, at the beach or around your local area. I would like you to use a grown ups phone or watch (with permission) to track your distance in metres and work out how many steps you have taken. It would be lovely to hear all about it.

And finally…

We are delighted to be able to share a lovely photo of the latest addition to the CVPS extended family! A very warm welcome to Jacob, a new brother for Joseph, now in Y4 and a great reminder that there is still lots to be pleased about in the world!

Dates for your Diary