This week we have had a variety of different activities happening at school in addition to our usual learning. Year 6 completed some geography fieldwork as part of their rivers learning by looking at the River Chelt and the flood prevention measures at Cox’s meadows. Year 2F went to Cambray Church to take part in a Christmas workshop organised by volunteers of the Church. The other Y2 class and Y5 are looking forward to going next week. Today the whole school have taken part in a range of art activities related to art based around the theme of winter. Our christmas trees have been decorated and displays put up. 

REMINDER - Saturday 4th December – Open day and beach opening J 

You are invited to bring your children into school, at designated times, to enjoy a trail around the grounds and celebrate the opening of our beach.  In order to maintain our year group bubbles, and avoid overcrowding, different year groups (with their siblings) are invited to come in at different times of the day.  Reception to year 2 families have been allocated longer slots because more families have expressed an interest in this opportunity. 

We will welcome families via our main pedestrian gate and share a map of the one-way trail around the site.  This will take you through our wonderful forest school areas, outdoor classrooms, new mud café and beach.  You will be able to peer through windows and look into classrooms and get a feel for where your children enjoy their time at school.  Please wear wellies and dress warmly!  The weather forecast is good so refreshments will be available en route – please bring lidded cups/bottles, as we are not able to provide mugs. 

Please note that you will need to supervise your children for the duration of your visit. It is not appropriate for unaccompanied children to attend. 

In order to make this event as COVID-safe as possible, please -  

• Do not attend the event if you or your child has COVID-19 symptoms - please book a PCR test and stay at home 

• Take lateral flow tests before coming to make sure that you are not asymptomatic and unknowingly spreading COVID-19  
• Maintain social distancing as much as possible and put on a face covering if you find yourself in close proximity to other people (adults only) 
• Make use of our outdoor handwashing facilities and sanitiser stations 
• Stick to your allocated time slots so that we do not compromise our year group bubbles 

We will need to clean our buckets and spades between our year group slots so we will ask your children to bring them to our helpers before saying goodbye.   

We are looking forward to welcoming you tomorrow and enjoying lots of fun and smiles! 

Did you know that we have several of our mums and even a couple of grandparents working in our team here at school.

They value their roles here because of their family commitments.  There is no need to worry about child care on inset days or during the holidays. Plus, they can be involved in the school where their children spend so much time, they all get the chance to see their little ones at some point too.
Not only that the pay is split over 12 months, so you get paid every month, even in August!

Perhaps you are thinking about getting back into the workplace but are unsure if this would be right for you. Why not have a chat to our current staff to see what it is really like. Mrs Byrne would be happy to answer any questions too.

Our vacancies could be the perfect opportunity for you.  
Play Partners, support meaningful and productive child-initiated play during our lunchtimes to ensure that our children have the very best lunchtime opportunities possible.

Midday Supervisors rather be involved in serving the children their lunches, we have opportunities in this department too. 

Look at our website or telephone Sara Byrne on 01242 512391 for an informal chat if you'd rather.

This December Holiday, Gloucestershire County Council is providing vouchers to parents who have signed up to our Holiday Free School Meals (FSM) scheme. These vouchers are provided by Gloucestershire County Council as part of its commitment to ‘no child goes hungry’. Parents who have signed up to the scheme will receive a voucher of £30 for each child who is eligible for FSM, which will cover both weeks for the holiday period.

Applications for Holiday Free School Meal Vouchers for Christmas half term will open from Tuesday 30 November until midday on Monday 13 December.

Emails from selectcode will be sent out between 13 and 15 December.

If you have signed up previously you do not need to re-register, and we are encouraging any parents not already signed up to do so as soon as they can.

Apply for your Christmas holiday Vouchers here.

We wanted to remind you and re-share details of courses for our families for 2022.

Good news! Did you know that Schools and Families can still watch more than 30 events from  The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 2021 for FREE on the #CheltLitFest Player? Until the 31 December, you can stream an amazing variety of author events filmed live at this year’s festival. Go on a literary adventure with Michael Morpurgo, Onjali Rauf, Cressida Cowell, Ben Miller and many, many more. You don’t need to register, just head over to the Cheltenham Literature Festival Player and start watching for free today! 

A huge thank you to everyone who donated items to the Hamper Scamper Appeal we have an amazing pile of food to be made into parcels as you can see from the photograph.   It was all collected by Cheltenham Community Partnership’s van this morning.