April News
MEET AND GREET
Need a slightly earlier drop off at school each morning?
Why not use our Meet and Greet option?
For just £2.00 per session, you can drop your child at school between
8.20 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. each day.
No need to book.
Drive into the car park or walk your child into school, Mrs Street or another member staff will be there to Meet and Greet your child and hand them over to the Drop & Stop team.
TOILET TWINNING
Today we launched our project to support the Toilet Twinning charity.
Our donations will be used to provide clean water, basic sanitation, and hygiene education. This vital combination works together to prevent the spread of disease. Every toilet twin celebrates a new toilet for a family living in a poorer country, and the average size of a household is six people, for every £60 donation represents help for one family, six people.
However, once a family has the knowledge about the link between sanitation and health, they will go on to tell other family members, or people in neighbouring villages, about the importance of building a toilet – so the multiplication effect of our donation will be far greater than help for a household. It will, over the years, represent transformation for many more people without a doubt.
Also, the impact over generations to come is immeasurable, as the sustainable programmes are aimed at behaviour change and cultural change that will last beyond our immediate lifetime as knowledge is passed down from generation to generation.
At The Queen Anne, each class will choose their own fund-raising activity to complete during the summer term. More information will be shared via Tapestry soon.
Emotion Coaching with the Emotional Wellbeing Champions
This term, our Year 4 Emotional Wellbeing Champions have been learning about Emotion Coaching, which links well to the learning about the Zones of Regulation that has been happening around the school.
As Wellbeing Champions, they have been finding out how best to support those who need help on the playground through these four steps:
Connect
Tune into the person’s feelings and your own.
Acknowledge
Label and validate feelings.
Assess
Separate emotion from the behaviour.
Make a plan
Problem solve and find solutions together.
March News
| MARCH NEWS |
| YEAR 4 ETON CHOCOLATE WORKSHOP In geography, the Year Four geography lessons were about Mexico. We wanted to know about the importance of the chocolate bean to this country. However, when we went to Eton College and spoke to the chocolatiers the children and I were surprised to hear that 70 percent of the world’s cocoa bean came from four West African countries- the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. With 50 percent of the worlds cocoa bean coming from two countries -the Ivory Coast and Ghana. While, South American countries like Brazil and Ecuador and still relevant produces of the chocolate bean, Mexico (central America) less so. We also, discovered that cocoa has long been considered a valuable and holy commodity since its discovery by ancient Mesoamerican civilizations. Cocoa beverages, for instance, were exclusively consumed by warriors, priests, and the nobility thought to give them strength. At Eton College we looked inside a cocoa pod and were surprised to see how moist and slimy it was inside. It also, smelt slightly like a pumpkin once open. The children got to sample; white, milk and dark chocolate and we sampled a dark chocolate mousse and chili hot chocolate drink and they were simply delicious. Mexico does produce and export many wonderful products including coffee, sugarcane, corn, wheat and avocadoes (we did make guacamole in class). It was a wonderful opportunity to find out more about the importance of the chocolate bean around the world. |
| GETTING EXCITED ABOUT BOOKS This term, we have fostered the children’s love of reading through visits from authors Sam Copeland and Petr Horacek. The children were thrilled to hear about the authors’ lives and the process of making books. I am certain that we have quite a few of our own budding authors and illustrators. Thanks to QAPAFA, each class enjoyed their termly Book Burst with Jeanette Kemp. A great selection of the latest children’s books for each year group was shared with all of the children, further inspiring the children to read. Year 3 had an extended opportunity to explore books with a visit to Windsor Library. There the children found out about the Dewey Decimal System and became familiar with the layout and range of resources available in the library. A visit to the library is a great way to spend time during the Easter holidays. |
| Y2 WINDSOR FIRE SERVICE The Year 2 children have been fire detectives this year. They studied the Great Fire of London, found out about the fire at Windsor Castle and this week they received a visit from the Windsor Fire Service. The Year 2 children found out how to stay safe, saw the wide range of equipment on the fire-engine and helped the fire-fighters use the very powerful hose. Thank you to Windsor Fire Service for helping to develop the children’s learning. |
| HISTORY ON OUR DOORSTEP Historical understanding of children in Y1- 4, and their walking skills, have been developed through visits to Windsor castle this year. Year 1: not only did the children find out about the castle as a home, but they were lucy enough to see King Charles III arrival at Windsor Castle. The children saw the Royal Standard being raised and waved to the King as he arrived.Year 2: Found out about the Great Fire at Windsor Castle, discovering how the fire started, how it was tackled, the damage and the repair.Year 3: explored St George’s Chapel and found out about the Knights of the Garter and chivalry.Year 4: heard about the changes to Windsor Castle over time. Discovering what the castle was like in 1066 and how the building and role of the castle has developed over time. |
| Y1 DANCE FESTIVAL We are very proud of our Year 1 children who participated in the Dance Festival on Tuesday. The children performed a dance to ‘Under the Sea’ based on the theme of sustainability. They thoroughly enjoyed performing to a large audience and seeing the range of performances from other school. Thanks go to the children and Year 1 team for all of their hard work. |
| BUNNY BINGO Great fun was had by all on Friday evening at the very first Queen Anne Bunny Bingo. Thank you to all of the QAPAFA team for putting on this event and congratulations to the Bunny Bingo winners. |
| EASTER SERVICE Thank to Reverend Sally for welcoming us to the church for our Easter Service. It was lovely to see so many of our families in attendance. The children had worked hard to learn their lines and songs. It was lovely to see their growing confidence when performing to a large audience. Each class wrote prayers for Easter and hung them on a special Easter tree in the church. You will be able to see the children’s Easter Prayers on the tree in the church during the Easter period. |
February Updates
Emotional Wellbeing Champions
This half term, the Emotional Wellbeing Champions have been thinking about how they can make themselves more well-known around the school. They have decided that a display somewhere in school would be a good idea and have looked at possible places so that all pupils can see it! They have also been thinking about the playground and are keen to improve this area. So far, they have thought about tidying it up by picking up litter, having more bins, and having some different playground equipment. There’s lots to organise next month!
Don’t forget to remind your children that the Emotional Wellbeing Champions are available to help them at break time and lunch time. They have been trained to look out for anyone that might need help and have some great strategies to use.
Well done for all your brilliant work so far!
SCHOOL TRAVEL PLAN
Thank you very much to everyone who was able to complete the school’s travel survey. All feedback has been shared with The School Travel Plan Working Party.
The School Travel Working Party consists of representatives from the school, parent body, Governing body and local residents. All parties agreed that the safety of the children is paramount and recognised the challenges faced by the whole community regarding safe travel and parking at the start and end of the school day.
We are in the process of reviewing the next steps that the school and local community could take to improve the situation for all concerned.
We will keep everyone updated as things progress.
LOOKING AHEAD TO MARCH….
February may have been a quieter month in school, but March looks set to be a very busy month indeed.
Details about the exciting events ahead can be found on the monthly update email and the school website in the EVENTS Section.
You may be interested in the Earth Hour Event organized by the World Wildlife Fund. Join in creating the Biggest Hour for Earth on Saturday 25th March – switch off your lights and spend 60 minutes doing something positive for our planet! More information can be found here…https://www.wwf.org.uk/earth-hour
Small actions can make a big difference.
JANUARY
Attachment Aware School
Over the past couple of years, The Queen Anne First School has proudly been awarded the bronze and silver awards for being an Attachment Aware School. This year we are going for gold!
As an Attachment Aware School, we have learnt about the emotional challenges our pupils can experience, in particular children with anxiety, attachment and trauma difficulties. We have been working with the Local Authority and Educational Psychologists to improve and embed our practices, which has included increased training and support for our staff and pupils. As part of the gold award, we have already implemented the Zones of Regulation and trained six of our Year 4 pupils to be Emotional Wellbeing Champions.
Please follow the link below to find out more about Attachment Aware schools and look out for more information to come over the next couple of terms.
Travel Survey
On Monday, we will launch our School Travel Survey. The survey gathers information about how children travel to school and views on how to make everyone’s journey to school easier and safer. All of the responses are anonymous and the feedback will be reviewed by the School Travel Plan Working Party. We hope to identify ways in which the school and families can work together for the benefit of all. You will receive an email on Monday with a link to the survey. Please do take this opportunity to share your views.
Eco Awareness
You may be interested to know that our new cleaning company use Tersano i Clean which turns tap water into an environmentally friendly cleaner, sanitiser and deodoriser.