Dear Parents / Carers,
The weather for Thursday’s picnic on the field is looking good (fingers crossed!) and we are very much looking forward to celebrating our Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with a picnic together on the field with Oaklands Infants, Acorns Under Fives and our whole school community. This will be the first opportunity for us all to be together after such a long time of restrictions and we hope you will all enjoy this celebration together with your family, which will be a lovely end to the first half of the summer term.
Gates will be open from 11.45am for parents to enter and choose a picnic spot on the field. Members of staff will be at the gates to issue you with a visitor sticker on arrival. Please collect your children from their relevant external classroom doors to the playground at around 12 midday and if you cannot make it, please let the class teacher/teaching assistant know if someone else will be collecting – children will then be signed out for lunch; any remaining will sit together on the field, under adult supervision. At the end of lunch (around 1pm) a whistle will be blown and children will return to their classes to be checked on the register – at this point, please move your picnic to the edges of the field so that the centre can be used for any parades/shows during the afternoon. When our afternoon finishes, the children will again return to classrooms and if you would then like to leave school a little earlier with your child/children, please collect from external classroom doors, so that we know that they have been safely signed out. Children remaining will continue their day until the normal end of school with further Jubilee activities.
On Thursday morning, as a surprise part of our Jubilee celebrations, we will be celebrating with an ice-cream van visit to school at morning breaktime, as a well-earned treat for our children/staff – they have all been amazing in their achievements throughout some difficult times over the last few years and it now feels like we are heading for more normal times together as a school. Anyone not wanting an ice-cream, will be offered an ice-pop.
We cannot wait to share our Ofsted report with you when this is received, which we had hoped would be this week. As soon as we have this, we will of course share with you all.
Wishing you all a happy, relaxing and joyful half term.
Mrs H West, Headteacher
Diary Dates
Please visit our website to view the latest key dates for your diary.
Year 3 Visit to Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara
On Monday 16th May Year 3 had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Slough. As part of their RE lessons they have been learning about the Sikh religion. This trip really brought to life the different aspects from their lessons and they were able to relate it to their learning. The children were excellent ambassadors for our school and gave thoughtful answers, asked inquisitive questions and showed a real interest in finding out as much as they could. Particular highlights were being able to go into the prayer hall, go inside a walk in fridge and getting to eat some of the lovely food provided in the Langar Hall. It really was a special trip for the children to go on and if you see a year 3 child do ask them about their experience there.
Crowthorne Carnival Front Cover Competition
Thank you to all those children who took part in the competition to design the front cover of the Crowthorne Carnival programme. We are delighted to announce that Jamie C, Rufus D and Noah CR were all selected as winners. Jamie’s design was voted the overall winner of the competition and will appear on the front of the programme. Rufus and Noah were voted runners up and their designs will appear within the programme itself.
All of the entries submitted by our school will be displayed in shop windows throughout Crowthorne High Street during the week of the carnival. Well done to everyone who took part!
Horseshoe Lake Trips
We have been very excited about offering this trip to all pupils as something that they would not normally experience or take part in as part of a ‘normal’ curriculum.
Last year, we ran this trip only for our Y6 children, having had a very difficult year of not being able to take part in residential trips or even run the normal day trips. We were very pleased with how our Y6 parents were so keen to support us in making this happen, with many offering to take groups of children, to help with transport.
This year, we wanted to offer this to all year groups – cultural capital is so important in offering our children experiences that go beyond our curriculum. However, this, as with cross country, is a parental decision and not compulsory, nor is it part of normal PE lessons. We understand that working parents may not be able to take time out to ferry children to and from the venue but as with cross-country we have been very pleased how parents have managed to organise friends/family to take more than one child, to help with work and transport.
To hire 8 coaches for 8 classes would make this trip untenable and we are also aware that not all families will be able to afford the increased costs. As a school, we have suffered financially over the last couple of years with all the extra costs due to Covid and we cannot afford to pay for 8 coach trips to such a local venue. We have heavily subsidised the cost of this experience to make it more affordable to parents, only asking for £10, rather than the full cost of £29 per child, knowing that with rising energy costs and fuel, that many families are suffering increased living costs with many being affected also by loss of work during Covid times.
We hope that you agree that this is a worthwhile experience that we are offering as part of our extra-curricular activity but as already said, this is not compulsory and maybe not valued by all but just on offer for those families who would like their child to take part. Children who do not attend will of course be in school and will join their year group class that is not going on the allotted day.
Appointment of Culinera
We have recently concluded our tender process for the provision of school meals here at Oaklands Junior School and are pleased to inform you that the contract has been awarded to Culinera. Culinera will take over from our existing suppliers IFG from the beginning of September 2022 and further information on this change will be provided after the half-term break.
Please note, if you currently use IFG’s online ordering system you may wish to manage the amount of available credit on your account to ensure there are no surplus funds on your account at the end of the summer term.
Attendance Letters / Broken Weeks
Recent letters sent to some parents were to keep everyone up-to-date with any attendance falling below the government national standards of 95%. These were generically sent, not meaning to cause any upset and only to keep parents informed. Covid has most definitely played its part in affecting attendance as stated in these letters. However, every day a child is in school before the term ends, increases their overall attendance figure for the end of the year. Any that remain below 95% will be included on end of year reports, as is normally the case.
All schools have a census twice yearly with attendance highlighting those children that fall significantly below government figures, with our next government census due shortly. In the census, some children are also identified as ‘persistent absentees’ regardless of reasons for absences – this year the number will increase for obvious reasons.
Please could we reinforce that holidays in term time are not acceptable or authorised and ask that, as we return to what we hope will be a normal term/year, that children attend school regularly, as much as possible, even if they have normal ailments such as a cold or sore throat, so long as they are well enough to attend. Thank you.
Learning in your Sleep
Did you know that children aged between 6-12 years need 9-12 hours sleep per 24-hour period? During sleep, important memories are strengthened and our understanding of the world is updated. A good night’s sleep also helps us function better the following day. The charity Cerebra’s Sleep Guide gives detailed information on how you can tackle issues to improve your family’s sleep and their sleep cards offer advice on dealing with specific sleep problems. Adults may find Sleepio helpful. It’s a 6-week online program designed by sleep experts and based on cognitive and behavioural techniques.
Lindum Nurseries in Eversley
A huge thank you to Geoff at Lindum Nurseries in Eversley, who has donated and continues to donate surplus plants to Oaklands. These plants aid our gardening sessions and contribute to the display for the Crowthorne Carnival. If anyone in the Oaklands community is looking for quality plants, we highly recommend this as the place to go!
Dress-up Clothing
Prior to Covid, our children were given the opportunity to put on dressing-up clothing / outfits during lunch breaks. We would now like to re-introduce this activity and are asking for donations of any good quality fancy dress costumes, dressing up clothing including hats that you may have spare. Please bring all donations to the School Office.
Protection from the Sun
Now that the sun has started to shine, please could you ensure your child brings a sun hat / cap into school. The children will be able to wear these for all outside activities including break and lunchtimes.
Water and Window Safety Video 2022
We have been asked to provide parents with the following information on Water and Window Safety. Please follow the attached link NHS urges summer safety awareness to keep children out of danger (frimleyccg.nhs.uk) to view.