School Email – Coton-in-the-Elms CofE Primary School

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARENTS

Over the next few weeks, both before and after half term, we have several opportunities for parents (and grandparents) to get involved and come in to school (subject to the local and national picture regards the pandemic):

THURSDAY, 21st October 2021, 2:30pm
Harvest Festival
harvest-festival Due to repairs having to take place at St. Mary’s Church, this term’s Harvest service will now be held in our school hall. The Ahlberg class will be leading this term’s service, and parents of children in Ahlberg (Year 2) are welcome to come along to support their child during these harvest celebrations, with a maximum of 2 guests per child. Unfortunately, in order to manage numbers, we are unable to accommodate parents from other year groups on this occasion. We would ask that attendees please wear a face mask.

MONDAY, 1st November 2021, 2:00pm
Back to School – Power Maths
powermathslogo Mrs Weston will be leading a session for parents on how we teach Power Maths. She will be looking at the structure of a typical Power Maths lesson, the vocabulary and resources used, as well as how we stretch, challenge and support all of our pupils during these lessons. Power Maths breaks down the work in an easily understandable way, which is very different from how it used to be taught. Therefore, if you are new to Power Maths or would like a refresher in order to support your child’s learning, please come along. In order to manage numbers, we would ask that there is only 1 adult representative per child and that attendees please wear a face mask. Please call or email the school office beforehand so we know how best to accommodate the numbers.

TUESDAY, 2nd November 2021, 2:45pm
The Great Exhibition
With a focus on Science and History, representatives from each year group will be showcasing typical examples of the learning which has taken place during the first half term of this academic year. Once again, in order to manage numbers, there will be a limit of 1 visitor per family. The exhibition will be set up with a one-way system and we will be limiting the number of adults in the exhibition at one time. Again, we would ask all visitors to please wear a face mask.
This is a new event we are trialing, so we would love to hear your feedback on this.

MONDAY, 8th November 2021, 9:00am
Year 1 Power Maths Lesson
powermathslogo As a result of the pandemic, parents of our Year 1 children will not have yet experienced a Power Maths session with their child. This is a great opportunity to come into school and share the learning experience with your child as part of a Power Maths session taught by Miss Dennis. These back-to-school sessions have previously been incredibly popular with parents, highlighting that Maths isn’t that scary after all!

WEDNESDAY, 17th & 24th November 2021
Grandparent’s Lunch
It will be so lovely to welcome grandparents into the school to join us for lunch. In order to manage numbers, the lunch will be split over two consecutive Wednesdays; 17th November will be for grandparents of families with multiple siblings in the school; and 24th November will be for grandparents of single children families. Further correspondence will be sent out after the half term.

IT’S DISCO TIME!

Tomorrow evening, we have our first school disco of the academic year. We know that the children have certainly missed this event over the last 20 months and are looking forward to getting their glad rags on!

The disco will cost £2.00 entry and there will be various sweet snacks and drinks available to purchase, ranging from 10p through to 50p. Glow sticks are also available to purchase at a cost of £1 – these are always popular.

KS1 DISCO runs from 3:15pm to 4:15pm

Children should bring their outfits to school, together with any spending money in an envelope or purse with their name clearly marked on it. Children will be dismissed via the school yard.

KS2 DISCO runs from 4:30pm to 5:30pm

Children should arrive via the main reception entrance, paying their entry fee when they arrive. At the end of the disco, the children will be dismissed from the school hall.

On previous occasions, parents have sometimes stayed with their child throughout the disco. We would politely ask that, on this occasion, parents just drop their children off and collect at the relative time for their child’s disco – Thank you.

WANT TO JOIN THE TEAM?

Here at Coton-in-the-Elms Primary School, our school community is growing and, as a result, we are looking for three midday supervisors to support pupils in the lunch hall as well as engaging with our pupils through play during this lunchtime period.

For more information, please contact the school office by telephoning 01283 761361.

SCHOOL PARLIAMENT

School Parliament2

Our School Parliament members met for the first time last Friday, where this years cabinet was formed. Roles and responsibilities have been allocated in the following areas:

Prime Minister from Year 6

Deputy Prime Minister from Year 6

Chancellor of the Exchequer from Year 6

Secretary of State for Reading from Year 6

– leading 3 further MP’s for Reading from Years 2, 4 and 5

Secretary of State for Collective Worship & Christian Life from Year 6

– leading 3 further MP’s for Collective Worship & Christian Life from Years 2, 3 and 3

Secretary of State for Sport, Health & Wellbeing from Year 6

– leading 3 further MP’s for Sport, Health & Wellbeing from Years 1, 4 and 5

Secretary of State for Environment from Year 6

– leading 3 further MP’s for Environment from Years 1, 3 and 4

All of the pupils are eager to get started in their respective roles and will be looking to enhance our school community through various activities.

HEADTEACHER UPDATE

Below is the latest correspondence from our Headteacher.

Headteacher Update – 8 October 2021

THE GRAND OPENING

Yesterday, we were honoured to welcome Andy Cope, best-selling author of the Spy-Pets range of books, to open our extended and refurbished school library. As he enthusiastically explained to the children, he has 3 top tips for having a great future:

TIP 1: Read at least 30 minutes each day;

TIP 2: Read at least 30 minutes each day; and

TIP 3: Read at least 30 minutes each day

The children definitely got the message and are excited about utilising the refurbished library to the full. They can even log on and search from home as to what book to read next, as well as being able to write their own book reviews.

With Reading being one of our focuses in school this year, I’m sure you’ll agree that we have a great foundation with our refurbished and extended library to support this.

There are more reading-based activities and improvements to come throughout the year, so watch this space!

BUDDING AUTHORS IN OUR MIDST

WOW! What a fantastic morning our KS2 children had yesterday. The best-selling author of the Spy-Pets series of books, Andy Cope, came to do a writing workshop with the children in the Fletcher, Dahl and Morpurgo classes.

Andy spoke with the children and discussed with them what makes a great story and how we can make our stories exciting, leaving the reader wanting more! He then gave the children different challenges to start them on their writing journey:

Years 3 and 4 were tasked with writing the first chapter of their story about a Gorilla. The Gorilla had to do something that was out of the ordinary, also leaving the end of the first chapter on a ‘cliff hanger’! Our children were so creative in their ideas, we never knew that Gorillas could have so much fun and also be so mischievous!

In Year 5, the challenge was to write a story not about sweets but to include the names of sweets within their text. For example, one pupil wrote about a character called Beige ‘Bounty’ who lived in a ‘galaxy’ far far away…… It really got them thinking.

I think Year 6 definitely had the most goriest topic to write about. Their story had to include the phrase “Oh my goodness Mrs Jones, your toenails are melting!” Their stories were amazing and incredibly funny.

The children were so enthused by the activities, they didn’t want to stop, which is great!

Thank you Andy for bringing the Excellence and Awe & Wonder to our classrooms.

EMBRACING THE VISION

Here at Coton-in-the-Elms Primary School, our school vision runs through everything we do and all we aim to achieve.

During the last academic year, we were determined to ensure that the children had the opportunity to perform in their KS2 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, despite lockdowns and remote learning.

Within a period of 7 weeks, over and above their normal learning, our KS2 children showed perseverance, gained great enjoyment through this awe and wonder experience, showing compassion in supporting their fellow pupils to learn, culminating in displaying excellence in their performance on the night.

We are so proud – Click HERE to view how amazing our children are!

School Photographs

photographer2crop Here is another date for your diary.

The date for individual school photographs and also photographs with siblings, is scheduled for Thursday 25th November 2021. Pre-school siblings are allowed to be a part of the photographs. Where this is the case, families should arrive in school for 8:30 a.m.

Any orders will be received in time for Christmas, in case you were thinking about photo gifts.

Thank you

CODE OF CONDUCT

Following a turbulent last 18 months, it is so lovely to feel that we are getting back to some sort of normality in school.

As we are back welcoming parents and visitors onto our school site, it is a timely opportunity to remind you all of our Code of Conduct and to also introduce this to our new families who may not be as familiar with this.

Code of Conduct

You can find our Code of Conduct on the school website, under the Parents section, alternatively please click HERE to take you straight to the page.

Thank you.