Welcome back everyone!

Although it has been a short week, it has felt long and there has been so much going on in school!

The Summer term is always my favourite.

The days are becoming longer and with nicer weather, it is great to see the children learning more outside.

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A huge WELCOME to Mrs Ayres who has started in the office this week. She will be filling the big shoes of Mrs Hickmott from next Friday when she retires. Welcome to the mad house, Mrs Ayres!

Another WELCOME... or should I say WELCOME BACK to Miss Rimmer. She has returned from maternity leave to teach in Missenden. Everyone is happy to see you and have you back in school!

You should have received your child's curriculum newsletter by now. This outlines the additional homework activities and the content your child will be learning over the next half-term. These newsletters can be found on our school website in the 'Our Learning section'.

Foundation have already made a great start on their topic 'To The Rescue!'

They have been learning about firefighters, police, rescue vehicles and dentists. The children particularly enjoyed looking at their different teeth, and pretending to be dentists by cleaning playdough plaque.

In Ks2 the children have started to learn about poetry again. In English they have been writing their own tongue twisters. This is Ayden’s tongue twister. I cannot say this 3 times fast! Well done Ayden!

In Year 3/4 they have enjoyed an all- American hook day this week. Each class was an American state (Texas, New York & Hawaii) and they had a range of activities in each. The children took a passport to each state, got a stamp & wrote some information that they had learnt. They also learnt some facts about America in general, as there were bits of information along their “journey to the next state”.

The children enjoyed tasting bagels and even paid with real American Dollars!

I am a firm believer in the saying 'if you have nothing kind to say, say nothing at all.

Sadly, at the end of the Spring Term, as a school we have had to revisit our value of kindness because not all of the children were being as kind as they could be. Kindness is one of the most important Abbeys' values. It is a quality that will take you far in life and it takes nothing to be kind.

It is important to model this to our children at all times, so they learn how to manage situations with kindness and humility!

The children in Missenden and Mrs Migliazza, did a mini-kindness lesson and said positive things about everyone's personality.

This lesson was to show that we can give people compliments based on what's inside and not focus on appearance. They really enjoyed it!

The Big School Sleepover is £30 per pupil. It is available to book on Parentpay for Years 1-6. If your child is in Foundation and you think that they would like to attend, please email me. There are also options to stay just until 9pm and not over night.

Email- Jfellowes@abbeysprimary.org for more information.

Trips and visits

Over the next few weeks we have some lovely trips and visits planned. However, this may not be able to continue if families are unable to contribute towards the cost of the trips.

When we plan trips, we give the option to pay in instalments, we book the trips early and pre-warn families far in advance.

If you keep your children off school on the day of the trip, the school has to pay for the space- we will have already paid in advance, and children miss out unnecessarily as well as their school attendance being impacted.

Trips are always linked to learning. We charge as little as we possibly can, seeking additional funding streams. For example: the staff at Abbeys volunteered to serve tea and coffee at the Marc Christmas fair. In return, they donated £250 to the school. This money has gone towards the year 1/2 Warwick Castle trip.

The amount of planning that goes into a phase trip is immense. There are travel group lists, location group lists, first aid packs, lunches to arrange, contact lists, risk assessments, medical conditions etc. If a child doesn't attend on the day, all our plans have to be changed. Communicating with us is vital.

If you opt for your child not to attend any trips, they miss out, in my view every child should go, regardless of their circumstances. Contributions for trips are necessary but we understand that circumstances change and times are hard at present. Please just email me if you are having difficulty making a contribution towards your child's trips- jfellowes@abbeysprimary.org if we know we may be able to help.

Well done to Tristan and his Mum who are busy training for the Race for life. What lovely weather we have had for a run!

I can see your training is going well.

Good Job!

Shoutout to Charlie who learnt to ride a bike without stabilisers during the Easter holidays. He learnt this in one day! Charlie and Dad are now looking forward to many cycling adventures throughout Spring and Summer.

Well done Charlie!

Miss Gregory our wonderful Site Manager, would like a SHOUTOUT for Kayden in year 5! He was very helpful yesterday and used his choosing time to help Miss Gregory.

This was very kind! Just what we want at Abbeys.

Thank you Kayden!

I would like to personally thank Mrs and Mr Holhos [Ianis' Parents], who have been able to source a large shed for us for the playground. It is here at school ready to go and will store lots of new play equipment for the playground.

Thanks so much

SUN CREAM TIME

My children are very, very fair skinned and they have sensitive skin too. I have always used 'Once a day' sun cream and applied it before school. This has served us well over the years.

If it is very hot, we will not take the children outside for prolonged periods. If you apply sun cream in the morning this will be adequate for the school day.
We are more than happy for you to pop a little sun cream in your child's bag. However, this MUST be additional to that of which you have applied at home and we will decide if it is necessary- depending on the length of time being spent outside- for them to apply more.

It is our experience that children like to apply their sun cream an awful lot and this is disruptive and unnecessary. The class teachers will guide the children but they cannot put sun cream on them everyday. This is a parent/ carer job and teachers have 30 children to manage.

Please make sure your child has a sun hat in school and that they have appropriate footwear. Flip flops and Crocs are not permitted in school, trainers are best for active learning.

Thanks for your support.