Newsletter
Friday 4th October 2024
DIARY DATES
AUTUMN TERM
Monday 7th October
Nasal Flu Immunisation
Tuesday 8th and Thursday 10th October
New to reception open morning at 9.15 am
Wednesday 9th October
Year 6 Junior Roadwatch
Friday 11th October
Year 4 DT Day
Monday 14th October
Individual and Sibling Photos
Thursday 17th October
Year 2 Historic Kingston Walk
Friday 18th October
Year 6 Class Assembly
Year 5 DT day
FOE Spooky Disco
Tuesday 22nd October - 3.30 pm to 6 pm
Thursday 24th October - 3.30 pm to 7 pm
Autumn Term SEN Review and Parent Carer Consultation
Thursday 24th October
Year 5 Viking Day (dressing up)
Friday 25th October
Last day of half-term
Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November
Half-term break
Monday 4th November
Inset day
Tuesday 5th November
Children return to school
Monday 18th November to Friday 22nd November
Scholastic book fair
Friday 29th November
Year 5 Class Assembly
Friday 20th December
Last day of term (early finish)
Monday 23rd December to Friday 3rd January
Christmas break
Monday 6th January
Inset Day
Tuesday 7th January
Children return to school
Please Note
School Video
Please take a look at our new school video, which shows our lovely school and amazing children.
Save the dates
Tuesday 22nd October - 3.30 pm to 6 pm &
Thursday 24th October - 3.30 pm to 7 pm
Autumn Term SEN Review and Parent Carer Consultation
ELLINGHAM SCHOOL NEWS
A Fine Harvest
Thank you so much for your generosity for our Harvest Festival. Our value this week was friendship and you have certainly shown friendship to our local community who will be so grateful for your donations.
Mrs Pakes ran a fun assembly this week with some support from Imogen and Ellie, who acted out the importance of sharing our food. They were given excessively long spoons and the only way of being fed (Angel Delight) was by feeding each other!
Year 6 performed a harvest song to the whole school and the reception children, who had joined us for their first assembly, swayed along mesmerised by the performance.
Welly Boot Donations
We're aiming to make our nursery fence a bit more jolly with some flowers planted in welly boots. If you have any spare, bright and colourful children's wellington boots that you can donate for this, please bring them into the office.
Last week's value was inspiration and our Friday assembly coincided with National Teaching Assistants' Day. It was a great opportunity to thank each and every one of them for their hard work and dedication to improving the school life of Ellingham children. They are so inspiring!
Meet the Teacher Presentations
It was lovely to see so many families at our Meet the Teacher event this week. The weather was not very welcoming as the heavens opened at the same time as the gates creating a somewhat soggy event! If you didn't manage to get to see the welcome presentation, which details information about what your child is learning this year, please see the year group curriculum page. The presentation has been added to the page: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year5, and Year 6.
Please Label School Uniforms
We are starting to build our lost property mountain after just four weeks back. All un-named jumpers, cardigans, trousers, coats and even shoes, are adding to the pile. We cannot reunite items of clothing with their owner unless the item is labelled. Please dig out the permanent marker or a printed label to help us reduce this mountain.
Book Your Parent and Carer Meeting
Parent and carer consultations will be held on Tuesday 22nd October - 3.30 pm to 6 pm & Thursday 24th October - 3.30 pm to 7 pm. Book your slot on-line on the Arbor app. If you need help with this, please contact the office.
Come and Join the Friends of Ellingham AGM
Please come along to the school next Monday, 7th October at 2pm to see how you can help enhance our children's school experience as a Friend of Ellingham. Every parent or carer automatically becomes a Friend of Ellingham as their child joins the school.
We know that all parents and carers are busy people, so, in order to ensure that the Spooky disco, Christmas and Summer Fair and other seasonal events can run successfully, it works best if lots of people can play a part, no matter how small.
While there are three official committee places to fill, Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, there are lots of other fun events to get involved in. Who wouldn't want to organise the hand drawn Christmas cards and tea towels or don a freaky costume for Spooky dancing? Please have a think about how you might be able to help. It doesn’t have to be a huge commitment if everyone pulls together. If you are unable to attend the meeting, but are able to help, please contact our FoE link teacher, Mrs Pakes, either in person, or via the email: foeschoollink@elp.rbksch.org
Ellingham Children Need You!
LEARNING TOGETHER
Nursery
The Nursery children have all settled back in really well and have really enjoyed exploring the new garden. They have been singing songs in the gazebo and making lots of mud pies in the mud kitchen. They have also enjoyed using the climbing equipment and riding bikes.
Reception
Exciting new sheds have arrived in the Reception outdoor area. The children have jumped straight in and love being able to independently choose and play as part of their learning.
Mini-Beast Hunters - Year 2
Year 2 have been learning about habitats in science, and we went on a walk around the school grounds looking at microhabitats. We spotted lots of minibeasts, including worms, spiders, flies and ants.
Year 3 Geologists
This week, Year 3 worked like real scientists to investigate the properties of rocks. They made predictions and devised comparative tests to explore the hardness, permeability and density of a variety of different samples.
Weaving their Way in Year 5
Year 5 have been practising our weaving technique using paper. At the end of this half term we will be weaving a Viking sail and we really enjoyed learning the technique today using paper. Take a look at our colourful designs.
A Day in the Life of a Year 6 Victorian
Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed their immersive Victorian school experience on Monday - even being told off by their very strict teachers!
Throughout the day they experienced what life was like for poor Victorian children including: arithmetic and handwriting lessons only using their right hands, making Victorian toys and baking Victorian sponge cakes (Queen Victoria's favourite!). Boys completed technical drawings whilst the girls practised their sewing skills.
The children had a brilliant day and we loved all their outfits! Take a look at their Victorian school photos.
SAFEGUARDING, HEALTH AND SUPPORT
LOCAL EVENTS & COMMUNITY NEWS
If you have some free time, and you are a parent or grandparent (or have similar experience), you could help other families with pre-school children. Local charity Home-Start is offering a free course to train you to be a home-visiting volunteer, supporting families with difficulties such as post-natal illness, bereavement or disability. The course will run at Whitton Library 9.45am-2.30pm, on Tuesdays from 1st October-12th November (not half-term 29th October) After the course, you would visit and support a family for 2-3 hours a week. For more information, please contact erin at erin@homestart-rkh.org.uk or 07884 536161. Registered charity no: 1108975.