All posts by Judith street

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.

The Autumn term brings lots of new things: new classrooms, teachers, friends, uniform and new, shiny school schools.

Over the past few  weeks, the children have settled well into their new classrooms  and I am sure that they are already wearing out their new school shoes. I hope that all of our new families are beginning to feel part of The Queen Anne community too. There’s a wonderful feeling of learning across the school and we are all looking forward to a great year ahead.

We are fortunate to have support in our pond area this year from Sam Gesell and  & Debby Batchelor, who have already worked hard to transform the pond area. Our school grounds provide habitats for a wide variety of trees, plants and animals. The children will have an opportunity to explore  the pond area over the coming year. So far, newts, larvae and pond slaters ( not skaters) have been spotted in our pond.

It’s been another great year here at The Queen Anne!

This year, we have enjoyed exciting learning in the classroom, visits, visitors and wonderful QAPAFA events. The end -of-year class assemblies and Year 4 Performance showcased our vision in action and the range of learning and experiences enjoyed by our children this year.

Thank you to staff, QAPFA committee, the Governong Body and The Royal Free Trustees for continuing to support our school.

We are now preparing to say farewell to those who are moving on to their new schools and preparing to welcome pupils to new classrooms within The Queen Anne in September.

Change can bring a whole range of feelings from excitement to apprehension. However, we know that the children are ready for their next step in life and will be very well supported next year.

We hope that the children take with them fond memories of their time at The Queen Anne.

Last week, the Year 1 class visited Windsor Parish Church to explore a very special sculpture of The Last Supper by artist Peter Barnes.

The children spent time studying the sculpture and finding some of the messages and quotes from the Bible threaded throughout the mosaic.

The children also explored the features of the church with Reverend Sally who said that ‘ the children were a delight, they listened well, showed respect and asked interesting questions.’

Thanks go to Reverend Sally for welcoming the children to the church for this exciting opportunity.

Throughout the year , we hold regular Whole School Forums to enable every child to share their thoughts about our school.

In May 23 , we asked the children to think about which fruit of the Spirit the school shows easily and which fruit of the Spirit needs more focus.

The children shared their views and listened to the views of others. They felt that faithfulness, joy, patience, love and kindness were in abundance across the school and that demonstrating self-control and peace can be challenging.

We will now think about ways to help children to continue to develop self-control and peace.

Following the children’s campaign to help hedgehogs, and the generosity of David Herbert Architects, any passing hedgehogs are now able to stay in 5-star accommodation.

Two beautiful hedgehog hotels, donated by David Herbert Architects, are now in place in the Lost Garden.

Sam Gesell, Extended Schools, who supported the children’s campaign said ‘When you are passionate about something, it is infectious.’

We are all proud of our children’s advocacy on behalf of the hedgehog community and we are all looking forward to hosting our first hedgehog visitors.

Thank you to the children, Sam and David Herbert Architects for making a difference to our world.

Although we were not able to hold our Coronation Maypole, Morris and Country Dancing Gala due to wet weather, we were still able to mark this special event.

As with all moments of national significance, the school gathered around the flagpole for a whole school assembly this morning.

The school reflected on the promises, which will be made by King Charles in the Coronation Services, and on the Christian belief that the rainbow in the story of Noah is a promise from God that he would never flood the earth again.

Quite a fitting thought with today’s rainbow-filled weather.

The lunch hall was transformed into a riot of red, white and blue for the Coronation lunch. Thank you to the QAPAFA team who decorated the hall as it added to the celebratory feel of our special lunch.

Shouts of ‘God save the King!’ could be heard throughout the school today.

We hope that everyone has a terrific weekend and joyous memories are made.

The children are delighted to see that ‘the Queen’s hats’ planted in September in memory of Queen Elizabeth II are now in full bloom. It has been lovely to hear the children reminisce about planting the bulbs for Queen Elizabeth II and delight in spotting their own bloom.

We were touched to receive a thank you card from King Charles this week, thanking the children for the cards and messages sent in sympathy.

It feels fitting to take a moment to reflect on the life of Queen Elizabeth II, as we look forward to our school celebrations to mark the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

Easter Jubilation filled our hearts this week! We all thoroughly enjoyed being together as a school family in church. The children reflected on the Easter story and, on a central table, laid symbols of Easter which included a palm leaf, a jug, some coins, a cloth and a cross.

Thank you to all at All Saints Church for welcoming us for this special service.

We wish everyone a peaceful and joyous Easter.