Half Term Update for families 29.10.20

Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that you are enjoying your half term holiday and have managed to stay dry !
Looking forward to our return on Monday 2nd November, I just wanted to send a reminder about our Welcome Back ‘Week of Hope’.
Please remember to save as many plastic bottles as possible this week so that they can come into school on Monday ready to begin our Remembrance Garden.
 
OUTDOOR CLASSROOM DAY: 5th NOVEMBER 2020
On Thursday 5th November, we will be taking part in Outdoor Classroom Day. Each teacher has pledged to take at least one of their lessons outside of the classroom. PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT THE CHILDREN COME TO SCHOOL WEARING SUITABLE CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR FOR OUTDOOR LEARNING. You may want to send in a pair of wellies in a bag. If it is your child’s Forest School day, it will continue as normal.
Take Care
Kim Huggett

Weekly News for Families 23.10.2020

Weekly News for Families

Dear Parents and Carers,
 
HAPPY HALF TERM TO EVERYONE ! 
Thank you to everyone for their support and understanding as we have journeyed through this half term. Enjoy your week at home. The children have coped extremely well and we are very proud of them. They are tired and would really appreciate a rest and a gentler pace of life next week ! Enjoy your family time together. We return to school on Monday 2nd November.
Please see the attached information about our first week back after half term: Our Welcome back ‘Week of Hope’.
 
OUTDOOR CLASSROOM DAY: 5th NOVEMBER 2020
On Thursday 5th November, we will be taking part in Outdoor Classroom Day. Each teacher has pledged to take at least one of their lessons outside of the classroom. PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT THE CHILDREN COME TO SCHOOL WEARING SUITABLE CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR FOR OUTDOOR LEARNING. You may want to send in a pair of wellies in a bag. If it is your child’s Forest School day, it will continue as normal.
 
YEAR 6 TO YEAR 7 TRANSFER FORMS
Please make sure that these forms are completed by 31st October 2020. The school office has sent a reminder this week to those families who have not completed this process yet.
 
PREPARATION FOR REMOTE LEARNING 
We are going to be using ‘Google Classroom’ to facilitate any remote learning that may be required by lock-downs or isolation if we need to close a class bubble. We will send you further information after half term.
Have a great week! See you all on Monday 2nd November.
Take Care
Kim Huggett

HALF TERM FOOD VOUCHERS 22.10.2020

Dear Parents and Carers, 
you will be aware that the Government voted against providing meal vouchers during half term for families who have children receiving free school meals.
If you are a family who are concerned about how you will manage in half term, please contact us using the office2@yaptonschool.org email address if you think you are going to require a voucher for a local Foodbank. We can then issue you with one.
Please let us know by lunchtime tomorrow so that we can arrange this and make sure that you have the voucher ready for half term next week.
Kind regards
Kim Huggett

Friday News for Families 16.10.20

Friday News for Families 16.10.20

Dear Parents and Carers ,
our first week of Narrative Fortnight has been really successful. Our Key Stage 2 children have been working with the book ‘The Tunnel’ by Anthony Browne. Our Key Stage 1 children received a letter from the Fairy Godmother who needed help to design a pumpkin carriage for Cinderella: unfortunately she had lost her ‘spell’ for this and was in a terrible muddle! Perhaps over the next week you could share some Anthony Browne texts at home or any traditional tales.
 
SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS ON MONDAY 19TH OCTOBER 2020
There will be NO P.E lessons on this day. Full school uniform needs to be worn by everyone.
 
SUPPORTING EACH OTHER
Once again the media coverage of the current situation is heightening people’s anxieties. In school we continue to follow the guidance that is necessary at the moment. We would ask that information that parents may share with each other is true, not hear-say as this can cause unnecessary worry and confusion.
 
HALF TERM
We finish school on Friday 23rd October for half term. We return to school on Monday 2nd November.
 
Have a lovely weekend. We look forward to seeing you on Monday.
 
Kim Huggett

Weekly News for Families 9.10.20

Dear Parents and Carers,
we have had a very busy week here in school. Each class has visited the Pumpkin Prayer Patch and taken time to reflect on what they are thankful for. They have made their own paper prayer pumpkins, Some have come home to you and some are displayed in school. Thank you to the families who helped us with the straw bales and donating pumpkins. Our ‘Poetry Week’ has been a great success. The children have enjoyed the opportunity to write creatively and be responsible for publishing their own poem.
 
NARRATIVE FORTNIGHT
We now look ahead to our ‘Narrative Fortnight’. This will give the children the opportunity to explore an exciting picture book. The illustrations will form the basis of their work.
 
THE PLAYGROUND BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL
Please remember
  • all adults should be wearing a mask when on the school premises, unless they have an exemption lanyard
  • only one adult per family to be on the school site at any one time
  • siblings in Year 7 or above may only come onto the school site if they are collecting a younger sibling and they must be wearing a mask unless they are exempt
  • only arrive at the school at the allocated time for your child’s class
We need to continue to work together and support each other to keep as safe as possible.
 
COLDER WEATHER
As the weather begins to change, please remember to ensure that your child has a coat in school each day. We continue to keep as many doors and windows open as possible in order to ventilate the classrooms. Your child may need to wear an extra T-shirt underneath their school shirt as the weather turns colder.
 
CHARITY CHRISTMAS CARDS
Unfortunately we will be unable to take part in this activity this year as we do not have a FOYS or anyone to coordinate this. We would like to look at re-starting our fundraising meetings that we began before lock-down. This would have to be socially-distanced or via zoom.
 
SCHOOL PHOTOS
MONDAY 19th OCTOBER : These will be individual photos this year. We are unable to group siblings together as it would mean breaking bubbles. We have been sent the COVID related organisational arrangements from Yellow photography and will be able to go ahead with school photos but only for individual pupils.
 
YEAR 5 AND YEAR 6
As I explained in my parent mail to Y5 and Y6 parents yesterday, I spoke to each class today about why we are moving to one Y6 class and two Y5 classes after half term. The children have identified their two best friends for their learning. We will look at these carefully over the next week and let the parents of the Y5 children moving from Arundel class know their classes on Friday 16th October.
Have a restful weekend.
Take care
Kim Huggett

Friday News for Families 2.10.20

Dear Parents and Carers, 
 
We have completed the second week of our ‘Exploration Fortnight’. The children have coped really well with the re-introduction of the core subjects. It was great to see some really strong progress being made. Well done to our amazing children. I would as that they have a chance to relax this weekend and rest so that they are fresh and ready for our Poetry Week next week.
 
POETRY WEEK
The Poetry Week will give the children an opportunity to apply the knowledge that they have acquired over the last two weeks to a different focus. At this stage in our return to school as a whole school family we need to keep the learning fresh and engaging. The opportunity to discover, create and perform poetry will give the children a fresh focus.
 
PUMPKIN PRAYER PATCH
We begin our Prayer Patch next week and warmly welcome parents and parishioners to visit. See the invitation attached.
 
OPEN MORNING FOR NEW EYFS SEPTEMBER 2021
We are holding another Open Morning on Saturday 21st November 2020 for new EYFS children who are due to start school in September. Please see the invite attached.
 
READING JOURNALS
We have new reading journals for our children in Key Stage 2. The children are proud of their new journals and have told me that because they are a hard back book with the school emblem on them, that they feel more ‘special’ and ‘important’. We have inserted a guide for parents in them this week that gives you ideas for sharing reading books with your children. We hope that you enjoy them.
 
Parents in EYFS and KS1 have received a separate letter today from Miss Emery explaining their
‘reading at home’ arrangements.
 
You may find the above link below helpful when reading with your children.
 
 
HARVEST DONATIONS
Thank you to everyone who has donated to the FoodBank collection this week. We will arrange with the staff of Bognor Foodbank to come and collect our donations.
 
HARVEST MESSY CHURCH
Please find below the link from Rev Richard to take part in the Harvest Messy Church. What an exciting way to learn about and explore the celebration of the Harvest.
 
Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.
 
Take care
 
Kim Huggett