School Newsletter

The CVPS pace quickens as our Christmas plans come together! There has been a host of exceptional practice that I was able to see taking place during observation week, with examples of inspirational input into the teaching and learning across school.

From soap carving to great teaching about angles (who would have thought the YMCA song can get into angles!) Then there has been Handa’s Surprise across early years, and fairytales in Y3. Lots of practical activities too. We are really proud that the children continue to give their all in lessons. They really engage well with learning in class which reflects the strength of our staff team. However, despite this strength the long lockdown period has left the school with concerns about the standards of reading which have dipped for around a quarter of children in every class
across school compared to February last year. This is something we will be focussing very carefully on over coming weeks.

Covid secure practices continue too with lots of sanitising, 2 metre social distancing by staff when teaching to the whole class, and no mixing between children in each bubble. Constant hand washing has become the norm. The children manage this exceptionally well and it’s a credit to the staff team for supporting the children to follow the Covid rules so closely while also teaching inspirational sessions. Thank you everyone!

Trainee teachers

Just after half term we welcomed four trainee teachers across school to support the next generation entering the teaching profession. This brings immeasurable additionality to our team, and the strength of our practice ensures that trainees are given strong grounding not only in teaching but also pastoral care which is so distinctively delivered at CVPS. Host class teachers continue to take full responsibility for teaching and learning outcomes, but until Christmas they are given a great chance to increase their input into small group work and to undertake additional CPD themselves.

Please don’t hesitate to speak to your class teacher, or the trainee teacher, or your usual assistant teacher if you have any queries. Assistant teachers across school remain unchanged. The end of the school day is always preferable for informal chats, unless it’s urgent.

Christmas plans for CVPS Winter Wonderland …

And so our plans are fast coming together. We are so excited to be working to ensure that our children at CVPS get as much magic this Christmas as any other, if not more! So we have commissioned the following for the last two weeks of this term:

an ice rink, with professional tuition for Y3-Y6
the actors from Kielder’s Winter Wonderland (Mrs Christmas, The Beavers and Sugar Plum Wish Fairy) who were available as Kielder’s programme has not opened this year
The BIG MAN himself…..SANTA has promised to try and visit (I’m sure he will!)
a nativity act which will share the real meaning of Christmas.
The return of Santa’s grotto (if the elves have time to rebuild it!) in the yurt

We have these events planned from Monday the 7th December and the children’s visit to Santa will be timetabled in small groups. Due to Covid we will timetable small groups to enjoy the short sketches, time with Santa, and the ice rink. All activities will have to take place outside so that we can ensure social distancing so ensure that your child has warm clothes.

Lots of layers are better than one thick one (Plain T-shirts under school polo shirts, then school sweatshirt, leggings under trousers if you don’t have thermals). We will try to take as many photos as possible – with some being individual ones for our youngest children to capture the special day, so we are really hoping that everyone in school can stay healthy for the last two weeks.

We will be requesting a voluntary contribution to school funds for these special activities which have come at significant cost to the school budget. We usually subsidise the many school trips into the community and so have made some savings from not having those, but these savings won’t cover everything. We were disappointed that Cramlington Town Council declined a funding application towards the overall costs.

Zambezi Sunrise Trust

Pupils in Y3-Y6 will be able to join in with a fantastic online tribute to the development of a rail link with Zambia, involving the charity that the school has linked with from Linda Community School. This is a virtual link which will see our older pupils munching their lunch while watching the virtual link on Friday 27th November next week. Class teachers will send out more information about this – and we will share the excitement with you in the following week.

Ashleigh’s Outdoor Idea

Get your photography / modelling skills ready for a photo shoot! Now that nearly all of the leaves have fallen off the trees the most exciting activity is …. jumping in them!! You need to pick who is important to you (family member or a toy) and take a picture of him / her throwing leaves into the air or pouring leaves over the top of them. You can then edit your photograph by cropping it, changing the lighting and vibrancy. Share a picture with us on your class Facebook page.

Covid Risk assessment time

With the revisions to the national lockdown position we have taken time to fully revise our whole school risk assessment. We are currently undertaking the usual internal consultations and the completed version will be
uploaded to the school website over the next few days.

Leading the way with remote learning

We were delighted to hear that the management and implementation of our remote learning offer has been shared amongst the school improvement teams in Northumberland. As a result of the details and actions our staff team took during
lockdown over 61% of children completed their remote learning throughout school with the highest uptake in Y5 and Y6. Huge well done to everyone.

Well done one and all!

Thank you so much to you all for your continued support informing school about any symptoms of Covid – it’s been the whole school community which has helped us not to have to close any bubbles yet, despite Covid affecting some of the families whose children attend. Long may this continue!

Attendance and Punctuality

YN 97%(1)
YR 99%(9)
Y1 95%(5)
Y2 98%(6)
Y3 95%(2)
Y4 97%(0)
Y5 96%(3)
Y6 94%(3)

Well done to YR this week for excellent attendance.

Achievement Awards

Children who have reached Gold on the learning ladder:

Reception – Leigha Morgan, Jensen Atkinson, Matilda Charlton
Year 3 – Ryan Wells, Jessica Gorton, Lyla Ives, Joseph Clasper, Matteo Trevisan, Miya Rowlandson, Isobel Griffiths, Francesca Vivian, Aysha Kaur
Year 4 – Zara Wallace, Kevin Kilpatrick, Emily Morgan
Year 5 Louis Archbold, Peyton Gray, Ben Drake and Leonardo Trevisan