Smallthorne Primary Academy Weekly NewsletterFriday 24th April To our children, parents and community…

A warm, virtual welcome back after the Easter break and a welcome to this week’s newsletter. I hope that you all managed to find some way to celebrate Easter and enjoy the Easter bank holiday weekend. Children I hope you ate plenty of chocolate Easter eggs.

We find ourselves continuing to face a situation that none of us ever expected. The gorgeous, sunny weather is certainly helping to keep everyone’s spirits up and making it possible to get outside in back gardens or for a daily walk.

We don’t yet know when this crisis will end or when school will reopen for pupils. What we do know, is that through community strength and through supporting one another we will get through this. Everyone has a role to play, whether it is for example staying home to stay safe, helping out the community by volunteering to run errands or going to work as a vital key worker - thank you all for the part you are playing.

To help the children feel like they are working on something altogether, I have a musical singing challenge “STAY IN AND SING” for all the children from Nursery through to Year 6. SO children…get out your hairbrush microphones, learn the lines and practice singing and performing these two songs…

1. Lovely Day by Bill Withers - inspired by the lovely sunny weather and family time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBSW_MAmP1s

2. A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman - inspired by dreams of the future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg63dlwH0QE

A copy of the lyrics are at the end of this newsletter. We will be singing these two songs together once we are back in school in classrooms and altogether in assemblies. Your child might want to video their performance of one or both of these songs and share it with their family or class teacher, who would love to see and hear. These songs will be a great way of uniting all the children back together when we do return to school. So children, get learning the lyrics and enjoy singing!

As a staff team we have a few surprises in store for your children to show them that we are still here and that we can’t wait to see them again. So watch this space and look out for the surprise messages…Families, you will continue to receive phone calls from school staff to check in on how your child is coping, how home learning is going and to ask if there is anything extra school can do to support. When staff call you it is from a private number, so if you haven’t spoke to a member of staff yet this will be why. You are more than welcome to ring in to the school office - the best time to call the office is between 8:30am and 11am everyday when the office is staffed. Alternatively, if you ring at a later time and no one picks up do leave an answer phone message.

An extra note to our children who are coming into school…

Your brilliance, attitude to school, resilience and support for one another is wonderful to see. You enter school with a smile and leave with a smile too.

If I can leave the children with one message this week, borrowed from Dr. Seuss it is…

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is YOUER than YOU.” Children remember just how wonderfully unique, brilliant and fantastic you are.

Stay home, stay safe and take care, Miss McCaffery

Scan here for a special message

SPECIAL ANNOUCEMENT…

Miss Stanford would like to share her happy news with you.  Sophie Brooke Guest arrived 5.58am on Monday 6th April. She was in such a big hurry to arrive that she didn't even wait to get to hospital and was born in Miss Stanford's bathroom! She went to hospital afterwards to be weighed and she is a Whopping 9lbs! Miss Stanford and Sophie are all safe and happy 😀 and Miss Stanford can't wait for all

this to be over and show Sophie off to you. For now here’s a photo😀

Baby photos

We thought we would have some fun each week and share with you one or two photos of our staff members as babies each week to see if families can guess who it is…Who is this?

Home Learning

As the Easter holiday has finished, we are encouraging children to be getting involved in home learning activities. The best place to start with this is our school website home learning page, which has a fresh new look…

https://www.smallthorneprimary.org.uk/home-learning/ You can select your child’s year group home learning page from here. Each year group has a message from the class teacher and a grid of activities for children to complete. There is also a page of suggested websites split between different stages. You will also notice our new home learning WALL OF WONDER…which shows photographs sent in of children learning at home. These photos will change regularly. Have a look here…https://www.smallthorneprimary.org.uk/home-learning/our-wall-of-wonder/ Over Easter there has been the launch of a virtual school called ‘Oak National Academy.’ The Oak National Academy are providing work and learning including video tutorials for children across the country. Ask your child’s class teacher more about this when they call you or email to find out more. Or, check out what’s on offer using this link…

https://www.thenational.academy

If you aren’t able to access the online resources or your child does not learn best online, do email your child’s class teacher or call the school to ask for a paper learning pack.

So, yes, we are encouraging your child to do some learning at home and providing the resources to support this. However, we do also realise that home lives are a balancing act especially right now when trying to juggle home learning for children of different ages or home learning while working from home etc.

Do remember, that you know what your child’s needs right now better than anyone. Do also remember that it is more than okay for your child to be dipping in and out of their home learning and to be spending time playing too or doing activities as a family.

And most importantly remember, that children will remember how they felt during this time…lets create some good memories in this time, so when the children are all grown they look back and remember the good times.

Free School Meals (FSM) A separate email will be sent out to families in receipt of FSM to tell you more information about the voucher scheme. School leaders will also be ringing home next week to check in that vouchers have been received and to try to support if they haven’t.

A message from Miss Bailey and Mrs Roper… I hope you have all had a lovely Easter break and eaten lots and lots of chocolate, I know I have! (I ate 8 Malteaser chocolate bunnies in one evening.) It was so lovely to speak to some of you over the phone this Easter holiday. It was lovely to hear all your voices and to know that you are safe and well at home. You should be receiving a phone call from Mrs Roper in the next couple of weeks too! Remember I have set out a daily timetable on our home learning page on the website for you to follow if you wish - this is just an idea of what your day might look like. It’s okay if your day or timetable is different. There is a grid towards the bottom of our page with activities on if you are struggling for things to do. Also remember to keep using the online learning platforms that have been set up for you, TT Rockstars and Education City get updated every Monday.

Year 2 SHOUT OUTS for the week: TT Rockstars: Nicole, Jenna, Lucy, Riley, Noah and Jennifer Education City: Frankie, Freddie, Daisy, Riley, Scarlett, Noah, Ruben, Hari, Jenna, Lucy, Lily-Mae, Tyler and Ollie Teach Your Monster to Read: Lucy and Ollie – completed fun with words. Epic Reading: Jennifer, Daisy, Ollie, Riley, Hari, Jenna, Elina, Scarlett, Faith, Lily-Mae, Nicole and Noor-Ul-Sahar

A MASSIVE shout out to all the children who have sent me pictures of the work they have been doing at home, it is so lovely to see what busy bees you have been. WELL DONE!

A message from Mrs Bryant and Mrs Sutherland… It has been lovely to catch up with a lot of you this week even though it probably felt a bit weird talking to teachers this way! We will try to catch all of you by the end of next week. We are impressed by the number of you who are working really hard at the moment and we have noticed those who are working on education city and reading on Epic. We now know that some of you have also been working on your Revision books and others have looked at bbc bitesize and other online activities. Well done everyone for being so focused – you make us feel very proud.

One thing you could do this week is write a poem for Captain Tom – the lovely old gentleman who raised millions of pounds for the NHS- who is celebrating his 100th birthday next week. Check out the home learning page to get the details. Thank you to those of you who have sent in photos of what you’ve been up to. It looks like a lot of you have been having a great time. Having fun is important so make sure that you enjoy fun and play at home. Also do stay in touch with each other – keep your friends happy. Stay safe.

Year 6 SHOUT OUTS…Marley, Emily, Martha, Nikolas and Hani who have sent in photos of their lovely Easter activities. You can see them on the website – how good do Marley’s cakes look? Please send in your photos- we can put up to 12 photos on the Wall of Wonder page and we want to see you!

Reception SHOUT OUTS…

Well done to Kasper for his brilliant Easter bonnet, when Mrs Barlow spoke to him he told her she would love it and he wasn't wrong, we do love it Kasper!  Well done.  And a great big well done to Sienna, Liliana and Joshua that also entered our Easter competition, it was so hard to pick an overall winner, every entry was totally brilliant in lots of different ways.

Teach Your Monster to Read • Cory and Joshua have both earned their Monster Letter 1, Cory and Kasper have earned their First Steps certificates

and Charlie-James has earned his Monster Letter 3!  Well done all of you, Mrs Barlow will email them out to your parents soon and well done Charlie J and Sienna for working hard on it, keep going and you will receive your next certificates before you know it!

EPIC Reading • Well done to Cory, Skyla-Evie, M'caide, Charlie-James, Ashton and Miller for accessing the reading books on here • Well done to Cory for finishing a whole book and to Skyla for finishing 3 books this week!

Nessy • Massive congratulations to Charlie-James, Liliana, Charlie J, Joshua and Brooke for working on Nessy this week • And a HUGE well done to Charlie-James for making outstanding progress, you have worked so hard to do that!! Well

done young man Numbots • Lots of you have been on Numbots this week, very well done to Eli, Riley, Brooke, Cory, Clay, Joshua, Miller, George,

Charlie-James and Skyla for doing lots of number work on Numbots. • Great big well done to George who has got the most coins this week, he has got 4881 gold coins and is on Iron-37

level!!!  When I spoke to you this week George you said you were enjoying playing on Numbots didn't you, and you weren't wrong!! well done young man, I'm very proud of you - Mrs Barlow

Education City • Miller, Liliana, Sienna, Charlie-James, Josh, George and Charlie J. Keep up the great work.

And well done to all of you that either Miss Bashir or Mrs Barlow have spoke to this week that may not have been on any of these packages but have still been working hard and putting work in their green books, learning new skills and most importantly being total super stars for your mummies and daddies, we are so so proud of you and can't wait to chat to you all again. We are loving all the pictures you are sending us across on email! Fantastic work!

A message from Mr Daniel and Mrs Jeffries-Willis… Hi Year 4! I hope you’ve had a lovely Easter break! I certainly tucked into a few Easter eggs! It was great to speak to so many of you during our phone call home. You have definitely been working hard and have done a lot of learning. Keep it up! Don’t forget to check our ‘Year 4 Home Learning’ page on our school website for you to find more activities to do and more things to discover. On there is a suggested daily timetable, as well as a grid of activities located at the bottom of the webpage. Education City has been updated too.

As always, do not hesitate to contact me if you need assistance with anything. Also, send in your photos so it can be put on our school website so we can celebrate your amazing work! Stay well, Mr Daniel and Mrs Jeffries-Willis

Year 4 SHOUT OUTS! • Harry has won a competition where his drawing of a tanker and a rainbow telling people to stay safe will be placed on

the back of tankers for a logistic company. Congratulations on this, Harry! • Well done to Kaelynn who sung the ‘Baked Potato’ song and decorated a potato! It made my day! She also sent me a

beautiful poem all about our time in lockdown. • Poppy W also made a hilarious potato inspired from the ‘Baked Potato’ song! Your potato was great! • Louie has been working hard on Education City! He is really enjoying it! • Lucas has been working hard once again! He has invented characters for a book, designed a front cover, created a

diary entry and more. • Macie and her family have participated in an Easter bonnet parade at home. You looked fab, Macie! She’s also been

making lovely Easter cakes.

A message from Mrs Lewis and Miss Davies… How lovely to see so many pictures over Easter of all the activities you’ve been doing. Take a look at the Year 3 page if you haven’t already seen them ~

· Liam using Lego for maths. I bet when they invented Lego, which means ‘play well’, they never thought it could be adapted to help with maths. So many ways to use it! Thanks for the reminder Liam. · Chris and his revolting investigations! Yuk! But you look like a scientist in the making Chris. · Oliver, Mr Green Fingers, and his amazing veg and herb growing. Not easy but I bet it will all taste delicious. · Lucy and her giant snails – rather you than me Lucy, but so well looked after. She’s a baker too you know.

Let me see more of your amazing ideas please.

Now, Captain Tom – what a guy and all the money he has raised. Let us all show how proud and amazed we are as he reaches his 100th Birthday, by completing an acrostic poem for him. Some lovely decorations to accompany it too to make it stand out. How many will I receive? Let’s try to get everyone on board with this please. Missing you all, take care.

Year 3 SHOUT OUTS…

o TT Rockstar: Rylan, Chioma, Dominik, Sam o EPIC reading: Annabel Liam Oliver Delilah Noah Olivia Chioma Holly Poppy Romany Rylan o Nessy: Lucy and Poppy

An extra shout out to Chioma who has read the most books so far on Epic - a big well-done Chioma and keep up the fabulous reading!

A message from Miss Harrison, Mrs Cooke and Mrs Williamson… Hello my darlings how are you all? Just wanted to say a HUGE well done to all of you who have had a go at some of the online activities that have been provided for you. You are working super hard. I am very proud of you and cannot wait to see you.  Year 1 have reached Epic Reader status which means you amazing readers have read more than 50 books so far....go Year 1 (Noah in particular 🙌 ) Christel, Jakob, Audra, Laylan and Vinnie you are smashing the activities on Education City! 👍

Thank you so much to those of you who have sent in photos of what you have been up to. I love seeing them as I miss you dearly. If you've not had a look at our year1 home learning page go and check it out to see what your friends have been doing. 

I have been lucky enough to speak to most of you. I have tried to contact you all. Anyone who I have not yet managed to get in touch with, please drop me an email to let me know how the family is getting on at Year1@smallthorneprimary.org.uk  

As promised I have chosen a winner of the Easter Competition and that is...…...Laylan 🙂 WELLDONE your Easter bonnet was fab and I loved the preparation that went into it. Thanks to all who took part. Anyway, best be off. I hope you are staying safe and enjoying the sunshine. Much love as always, Mrs Harrison, Mrs Williamson and Mrs Cooke xx

A message from Miss Peake… Hi Everyone, It’s Miss Peake here. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  I’ve been very impressed by Captain Tom Moore who has been raising lots of money for NHS Charities. He is 100 years old soon. You could make a Birthday card for him.  Hold your pencil properly in your ‘birdie beaks’ when you write your name in his card.  I’ve already posted him a card from me.    I know lots of you enjoyed my story time on the school website.  To make story time more fun I’m going to do live story time using Zoom.  Your parents have been sent an invitation on their emails.  They will need the Zoom app on their computer or phone.  Then you can not only see me at story-time but also all your friends, EXCITING!    What have you all been doing at home?  I’ve been busy painting.      I’d love to see what you are doing and learning at home.  You can email me your pictures or photographs  nursery1@smallthorneprimary.org.uk   Don’t forget you can upload pictures of what you are doing at home to your LearningBook too.      Keep being good for your grown-ups. Take care, love Miss Peake

Education City EPIC TT rockstars/Numbots Teach Your monster to Read

Christel  Jakob  Audra Laylan Vinnie Ashvigan Billy Liana Ava Mya Noah Lily Lucas Carter Ellla

Noah Myla Lucas Audra Liana Harry

Carter Liana Audra Ella Laylan Harley Noah Billy Lucas Ava Mya

Ashvigan Audra Ella Kian Layla Liana Lucas Mason Noah Vinnie Billy

A special thank you from our children to all key workers…

On the next two pages there are the song lyric sheets for your child to enjoy having a go learning and singing…

Stay In and Sing - Song 1 Lyrics Lovely Day by Bill Withers When I wake up in the morning, love And the sunlight hurts my eyes And something without warning, love Bears heavy on my mind Then I look at you And the world's alright with me Just one look at you And I know it's gonna be A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) When the day that lies ahead of me Seems impossible to face When someone else instead of me Always seems to know the way Then I look at you And the world's alright with me Just one look at you And I know it's gonna be A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) When the day that lies ahead of me Seems impossible to face And when someone else instead of me Always seems to know the way Then I look at you And the world's alright with me Just one look at you And I know it's gonna be A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) A lovely day (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day) (Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)

Stay In and Sing - Song 2 Lyrics A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rxgAh1bnHU

I close my eyes and I can see The world that's waiting up for me That I call my own Through the dark, through the door Through where no one's been before But it feels like home They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy They can say, they can say I've lost my mind I don't care, I don't care, so call me crazy We can live in a world that we design 'Cause every night I lie in bed The brightest colors fill my head A million dreams are keeping me awake I think of what the world could be A vision of the one I see A million dreams is all it's gonna take A million dreams for the world we're gonna make There's a house we can build Every room inside is filled With things from far away The special things I compile Each one there to make you smile On a rainy day They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy They can say, they can say we've lost our minds I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy Runaway to a world that we design Every night I lie in bed The brightest colors fill my head A million dreams are keeping me awake I think of what the world could be A vision of the one I see A million dreams is all it's gonna take A million dreams for the world we're gonna make However big, however small Let me be part of it all Share your dreams with me You may be right, you may be wrong But say that you'll bring me along To the world you see To the world I close my eyes to see I close my eyes to see Every night I lie in bed The brightest colors fill my head A million dreams are keeping me awake A million dreams, a million dreams I think of what the world could be A vision of the one I see A million dreams is all it's gonna take A million dreams for the world we're gonna make For the world we're gonna make