1. St Luke’s Church of England School Newsletter 10 June 2016
Message from Mrs Tyler
It seems incredible that our school is drawing to the end of its 5th year! So much has happened since July 2010 when Penny submitted St Luke’s Church’s application to convert the church halls to a new school for the local community. Building work started in May 2011, the doors to the first Reception class opened in September 2011 and the rest, as they say, is history! All of you and your children have been involved in making the school what it is today and as we complete this fifth year, it feels like a good time for the school and church communities to celebrate this milestone together. With this in mind, we have organised a celebration service – all the children will be involved and we do hope that all our families will attend in order to mark this special occasion. The short service will be held in the church at 11am on Sunday 10th July. We are hoping that past staff and others who have played their part in our journey will also be able to join us.
Each year we ask parents, children and staff for their opinions on our school. Your views do make a difference!
We use the Ofsted questions and your written suggestions to help us evaluate your experience of the school.
We report the result of the surveys to governors and include them in our School Evaluation and Development Report. In the attached Parents’ Survey 2016 you can read more about the four key areas you asked us to develop in last year’s survey. Please complete the survey (either on paper or online) by next Friday 17th June.
Thank you to Mr Stephenson for organising the Queen’s 90th Birthday Family Tea Party and to everyone who joined in the fun! Another busy week ahead with our Healthy School Day on Wednesday and the Art Afternoon on Thursday, when the children will be designing artwork for the hoarding outside the Kings College site.
Please remember our:
Parents’ Prayer Group – Tuesday 14th June, 7:30-8:30pm at the vicarage; all welcome.
Music Concert – Thursday 16th June, 9-10am for pianists and Y2-4 recorders and glockenspiel; parents welcome.
PFA Meeting – Monday 27th June, 9am; all parents welcome.
KS2 Certificate of Merit
Year 3
Max for always thinking of others.
Year 4
Giulia for asking sensible questions to improve her learning.
KS2 Maths Mascot
Joe B for using sensible methods in Maths.
Reception Class
Golden Book
Aleya for correctly using full stops and capital letters in her writing.
Tommy for knowing the names of 3D shapes.
Maths Monkey
Ella L for using mathematical language to describe 3D shapes.
KS1 Class
Golden Book
Callum for good knowledge of times tables.
Alex J for brilliant spellings throughout the year.
Maths Monkey
Kiana for working out number bonds to 20.
News from Reception
This week the children started this half-term’s topic of water by spending lots of time exploring in the outside area. This included building a 4 metre long ‘waterslide’ out of pipes and stands for cars to go down. They worked as a team to identify and fix any weak points or leaks. Our book for this week was “Barry the Fish with Fingers” and the children were able to re-write the story using some excellent adjectives and sentence starters. In Maths they have been continuing to learn the names of 3D shapes as well as describing them using mathematical language such as circular, triangular, top, bottom and middle. At the end of the week, the children learned facts about the Queen, took part in a carousel of activities and had a mini tea-party with their class, with a Victoria sponge cake and tea (decaf!).

2. 2015-16 and 2016-17 term dates are on the school website.
News from KS1
In English this week the children have been writing stories using a picture stimulus and a sentence starter.  We have asked them to write a story for homework.  We have been focusing on punctuation; capital letters and full stops are a must but we have been trying to incorporate question, speech and exclamation marks.  In Maths we have been rounding numbers to the nearest 10. The children enjoyed playing games to test their knowledge. We have also been learning about the Queen and participated in lots of fun activities. Ask the children what interesting facts they have learnt about Her Majesty this week.
News from KS2
This has been what can only be described as a frantically busy week! However, we have been impressed with how the children have adapted to the many changes. This is further proof that they have all grown in maturity and are meeting the high expectations we set in KS2. We started reading the book “Goggle-Eyes” by Anne Fine to the children this week and they are loving it. I can’t stress enough the importance of reading to your children as well as them reading alone for pleasure. Research shows time and time again the many benefits good reading has on children’s learning and development. This week the children also started choreographing their dances with Mrs Dolbear in preparation for our end of year concert. Finally, the Year 3s and 4s loved making the elderflower cordial and fruit kebabs for the Queen’s birthday tea. I have given the children a copy of the recipe should you want to make some cordial whilst elderflowers are still in season.
Dates for Diary (Summer term)
and term dates are on the school website.