School Newsletter

The pace quickens as we plan for the summer! School has been really busy this week! It’s no surprise that we have completed Maths assessments this week, but we’ve also ordered new reading books for each child – that’s just under 200 new individual book orders (thank you to Gertie and Sophie!) and all teachers have been released to spend time planning our new topic for next term too.

With Easter Club plans, donations from Asda for our prize reader competition, for the most improved reading which will be issue next week, and reviewing our Covid risk assessments for the summer term, we have all been enthused, excited and inspired by the quickened pace.

Are we fairground experts?

(Not yet but we will be soon!)

The children’s responses were joyous to say the least when they heard that our next topic’s key question is: ‘Are we all fairground experts?’ There was even more excitement when the younger children from Y1 to Y6 discovered their launch to the topic involves a trip to South Shield’s pleasure beach fun park where
we will have the park just available to our school.

Y1 to Y6 to visit South Shields Ocean Beach Pleasure Park

CVPS will have exclusive access to the park on Wednesday the 21st April, and we are excited that we can experience something to inspire their engagement with our key question, getting them out and about once more. The park was chosen carefully for its outdoor location, proximity to school and opportunity to allow us exclusive use. Younger children will have plenty of extra adult support and we are looking forward to possibly a picnic on the beach next to the park (weather permitting). Letters to parents with more details and risk assessments and Covid control measures will be shared next week. We will be hiring coaches for this learning expedition and steering away from public transport for the near future and we hope our recently recruited parent volunteers can support us on our visit.

CVPS Book Day

We now have all 200 new books in and have spent £1000 on purchasing new books for the children to read and take home. If you can contribute something towards their book, please process that on parent pay as soon as you can. We have received £200 from families so far by way of contributions so far.

Reflecting on the loss of loved ones

On Tuesday this week we took part in Marie Curie’s National Day of Reflection and we thought about the many people who have lost loved ones, what it’s like to lose a loved one and how to deal with bereavement. The children were able to reflect on the past year. We lit a candle of remembrance during assembly
and the children held a minute’s silence. Everyone was respectful, thoughtful and support was in place for those who wanted to talk afterwards about any emotions the reflection brought about. Year 5 pupils took this even further and planted sunflowers, and wrote their own remembrance messaged – which you can see from the photos.

Easter Club

We are offering a free Easter Club to selected pupils at CVPS during the second week of our holiday. Angela Hall, our marketing and admin manager, once again successfully bid for funds that we are using to offer an Easter Club. Places are available by invite only during the Easter holiday from 12th to the 15th April. More details of this will be shared with those families on the invitation list. Well done Angela!

Risk Assessment review for the summer term

Following a detailed review of the recent guidance documents and in preparation for the summer term programme of learning, we have chosen to reinstate the school hall and implement lunches and indoor PE again. Some schools have continued their use of hall spaces throughout the past year when we chose to restrict access to it. Reinstating the hall allows us to support our old practices to happen again, which we feel will benefit the children. Indoor PE such as gymnastics and dance which work better inside, table manners and positive eating habits promoted by family style dining have been noticeably impacted by not having lunch in the hall. Children will continue to be restricted to their bubbles, with slightly staggered start and finish times for each bubble. We will implement this from the start of the summer term on 19th April. Year 4 will sadly say goodbye to the hall space, and have the remainder of the summer term in their usual Y4 classroom and we will continue to ensure that systems are in place to keep the bubble separate from Y3, replicating what has worked
so well in Y5 and Y6 throughout the past year. Thank you for your support for this. The children have been very excited about getting the hall back again!

Thanks ASDA

A huge thanks to Jackie at ASDA who has contributed to our children’s Easter Egg gifts this year which we are handing out to our most improved readers in each class on Thursday next week. Keep up the great reading everyone!

Reading rocks!

A huge well done to everyone throughout school as you have all made extra efforts with reading this year! Well done for remembering your reading folders, but also more importantly for reading at home a lot more and getting back into the routine of reading. It’s been especially important for our youngest children who are still developing the earliest reading skills. We hope you will all continue to read during the Easter break – celebrating with your new World Book Day reading books. Remember that if any families can contribute to the cost of your new book, our school budget would really appreciate that!

And a warm CVPS welcome to …

Lockie in Y1, Delilah in Y3 and Fearne in Y5, they will be joined by two more new children after Easter. We know there will be a warm welcome from each class and we look forward to getting to know the children from these three families over coming weeks.

Ashleigh’s outdoor idea

Do you know that frogs and toads are a gardener’s best friend? They eat slugs, snails and other creatures that like to feast in your plants. They’re also the most amazing creatures to watch. So why not make your very own frog and toad house to encourage them into your garden? First find a shady spot and gather some moist leaves. Then find a flower pot and make a little door so they can get inside. Finally decorate it with pens or paints. You could even give it a name … perhaps toad tower or ribbet resthouse!

Covid Update

We are aware that there has been a local outbreak of Covid in the south west of Cramlington, having regularly reviewed Northumberland’s Covid Dashboard. I have approached Northumberland’s education team to confirm if there are any lessons learned we can take from this mini outbreak, and what additional control measures we can take should they be necessary. We hope that the Easter break will help slow down any spread, but we would encourage you to be mindful of continuing to socially distance.

Despite sharing the letter from the Local Authority last week, I am aware of children having play dates outside with friends from other families, and schools. While outdoor play dates will be legal from Monday next week, going into other people’s houses is not and neither are sleepovers. We are keen to keep school bubbles open without having to isolate anyone. Please stick to the rules so we can get to a more normal as quickly as possible.

Family Lateral Flow Device Tests available

Parents of pupils in a primary school who don’t access LFDs from any other route are able to order a lateral flow device test from this web link which delivers directly to your home. https://www.gov.uk/ordercoronavirus-rapid-lateral-flowtests

Attendance and Punctuality

YN 95%(0)
YR 98%(0)
Y1 95%(0)
Y2 95%(0)
Y3 95%(0)
Y4 96%(0)
Y5 93%(0)
Y6 96%(0)

Well done to YR this week for excellent attendance.

Achievement Awards

Gold celebration children

Reception – Matilda Charlton, Sofia Atzeni, Fletcher Gorham, Francesca Page, Lacey Fyfe

Year 1 – Avie Morrow Year 3 – Joseph Clasper and Megan Finlay Year 4 – Rosie Gillespie, Jack

Rowell and AJ Jefferson Year 5 – The whole class!