On Wednesday we had a Celebration of learning. A chance for our parents to see what wonderful work their children have been doing this term and to join in with a lesson. It was lovely to see so many parents in school and enjoying the lessons that they were taking part in. Thank you to everyone who joined us, it was great to see so many of you. #SucceedTogether
Dear Parents / Carers,
Thank you to everyone who donated to Children in Need today. I know everyone is being careful with their money but there are some children who certainly do need some extra support. Together we have raised £129
Dear Parents / Carers,
Thank you so much to everyone for donating to our PTA ‘bring a bottle’ event. Next Friday is non uniform for donations of chocolate.
The big event is Thursday 8th December at 6pm. We hope you can join us for the bingo fun.
This week we have had a lockdown practice. This is when the children and staff make themselves safe under a table and lock the class door incase of any intruders in school. We practise this each term along with fire alarms. Once a year we practise an evacuation drill. Our safe location should there be an evacuation is The Coppice. The Coppice use Friarswood for their safe location.
The following link will take you to a site that has lots of tips for stress free (or less stress) home life, work life and wellbeing The Lily-Jo Project . It has tips for online wellbeing and escalation techniques. It also has pages specific for children.
This week we have been taking part in various activities and workshops in class to learn more about the value of money and how we use it in our daily lives. The junior children had money workshops led by a money expert. They were great and the children completed the tasks set with brilliant confidence. The younger children looked at the money we use and how we use it, starting to show an understanding of the value of some of our currency. We would like to say a big thank you to the Citizens Advice Bureau for coming along in their van and offering advice to anyone that may have needed it. #SucceedTogether
Our Eco-Warriors went to do a local litter pick in the Three Parks in their lunch break on Thursday. They did an amazing job, cleaning up a community space that is used by so many. Thank you NBC Green Team for helping us today. Well done Warriors! #DoWhatMattersMost
Welcome back to a very soggy start to the last half of the Autumn term.
Hopefully you will have all received the list of events that we have planned so far in the school calendar. We really do hope this helps you to organise your own diaries.
Next week is the start of Talk Money Week. Every class will be discussing money and the importance of what it is and how it helps us. Children will talk about pocket money, saving money and how to earn money when they’re older.
KS2 will take part in workshops run by The Citizens Advice Bureau. They will focus on age appropriate activities based on money.
Below are some web links which you may find useful for yourselves. Please feel free to pass onto family or friends
How to keep warm and healthy this Winter
Discount for teachers (for anybody who works in a school, college or university)
On Thursday 10th November, 2pm onwards, the Citizens Advice Bureau are coming to school to support you, the parents. They will be parked in front of the main entrance. Due to the cost of living crisis, they will support you in finding out if you’re entitled to any other benefits, including free prescriptions and free school meals. They will bring their specialist team and generalist teams to assist anyone further with any queries you may have. If you have any family members who would benefit from chatting to the team, bring them along too.
Year 4 had a fantastic afternoon questioning a scientist via Skype. They were finding out about what skills you need to have to be a psychologist.
The children had written lots of questions to ask and learnt a great deal.
On Tuesday,we had a video call with Dr Gwen Breklemans she was a psychologist.She told us that she did research on brains and how we learn new languages.She went to different universities she went from the Netherlands to London at Queen Mary university.She didn’t actually want to be a psychologist when she was in the Netherlands. In Fact she didn’t even know what it was at the time!
Emyllia and Jack (school council)
Yesterday, I took 11 children to Co-op Academy Stoke to take part in a gymnastics lesson. They were brilliant! The children practised vaulting skills. They had lots of opportunities to use springboards and practise their lands as well as adding forward roles into the mix too. Their focus and attitude was super. Well done to the year 5 group.
I will be arranging several more sessions for this group of gymnasts. Miss Coleman will let you know the dates.
On Friday 11th November, children from Reception to Year 6 will be given this. Please ensure you’ve completed the forms.
I hope you have a very safe and dry Bonfire Night. Here’s a link from the RSPCA about keeping pets safe during this weekend.
Thank you for your support.
Take care and stay safe.
Mrs Wilmer
We have now arrived at the end of the first half term of the year. Although it’s been quite a long half term, with a lot of very tired young people, these wonderful people have shone. They have worked so hard and tried their best with all of the activities set for them. We’ve had so many of our children going ‘above and beyond’ both inside of school and outside of school which is amazing.
They thoroughly deserve a breather over half term, ready for the exciting half term and the run up to Christmas.
Our website has lots of information about Friarswood. The updated Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy is on the website along with our Careers Related Learning Policy and Programme.
If you require any further information, please just ask.
This year we would like to ask for donations of food, baby and hygiene items for Alice Charity. For those of you who may not know, Alice supports families in our area who are struggling. They also support these families with trying to find a job and with getting qualifications – which is amazing.
Alice Charity helps to move families in crisis forward from a dark place to a brighter future.
The items can be brought in at any time next week up to Thursday after school.
On Friday, we would like to ask children to come in their own Autumnal clothes to say a thank you for their donations.
If you would like to know more about Alice Charity, please click here.
We had lots of visitors in school on Wednesday who had a lovely day with the children and staff. They were Headteachers from other Co-op Academy schools as well as two regional directors and the CEO of the Trust.
They spoke to children about their learning, looked through books and went into our phonics lessons.
The feedback was very positive. They were all very impressed with the children’s behaviour and how well they took part in their learning activities. They spoke about how articulate the children are and how confident and positive they spoke about Friarswood. It was lovely to hear that the children told the visitors how safe they felt and how the staff help them to learn and that they enjoy being challenged.
The CEO was very positive with his feedback and he left with a big smile on his face.
Small & Tall is open on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of half term. If you would like to book your child in, please send an email to fria.smallandtall@coopacademies.co.uk
Your child may be able to receive free school meals if you receive certain benefits. As well as your child being entitled to the meals, the school will also receive extra funding which we use to support your child’s learning.
All you need to do is to click here to check whether you are eligible for this and to apply. If you need any help, please get in touch with Mrs Dean.
A reminder that Monday 10th is School Photograhs. If your child has PE on that day they will need to come to school in their school uniform and bring PE kits to school.
The School age Immunisation team will be coming into school on Friday 11th November to deliver the Nasal Flu spray to children in Reception – Year 6. More information will follow closer to the date.
Yesterday we had our annual PTA meeting. Thank you to everyone who came along and offered their support. There were lots of ideas by some very enthusiastic parents. At the meeting the following parents were elected
Chair – Camilla Forrester
Vice chairs – Natalie Darlington and Eloise Bowen
Secretaries – Joanne Rathbone and Katie Archer
Treasurer – Katrin Tierney
They have organised a Halloween Fancy Dress Disco. A reminder that Monday 10th is also the date to bring the IQ Christmas card orders back.
What a wet and cold week it’s been!
We’ve had the Year 3 classroom painted and the boiler work is still ongoing. The next area of painting will be the KS2 corridor during half term.
Thursday 6th October 3:30 in the School Hall
Welcome to the new school year and welcome to the hub of our school social and fundraising life – the PTA.
As family members of children at our school you are all automatically members of the PTA. If you would like to be more involved in planning, organising and running exciting events for our children please come along to our meeting next Thursday – we’d love to meet you and hear your ideas.
At the meeting we will be electing new officials to the committee who runs the PTA – a chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer. We also need lots of enthusiastic helpers!
Please complete the attached form to let me know if you will be coming to the meeting, if you are interested in any of the officer posts and how many children you’ll have with you (we will be offering a creche)
You will be under no pressure to commit to anything more than you feel able and many hands make light work so please come along and see what it’s all about and hear how you can help make a difference!
Please can I remind you that holidays during term time are unauthorised unless there are exceptional circumstances. This is statutory guidance and not a school decision.
The forms to request a leave of absence are in the main entrance or you can email Mrs Dean to let her know and then she can send a form electronically to you.
You can still be issued a penalty notice if you don’t go through this system. Please do not ask children to lie as this puts them in a very awkward position.
On Tuesday our Eco Warriors were invited to an Eco conference based at Angel Square, Manchester. They had some wonderful ideas and will be working on projects over the coming months. Watch this space!
We had a fantastic opportunity from The Co-op Academies Trust to attend an Eco conference to help get a better understanding on how to be more eco-friendly and how they can start to improve some areas in our school and our local community. The children who attended have all shown a huge enthusiasm in looking after our planet better and are willing to give up their own time to see their big plans become a reality! There were some really great ideas shared through the other academies and the guest speakers. In the afternoon the children had the chance to plan one or two of their own ideas that will improve our planet but also help the local community. Then the children presented this with amazing confidence. Well done to our Eco Warriors of Friarswood! #SucceedTogether #DoWhatMattersMost
