How to make a sand castle

The children were challenged to make the best sandcastle for our STEM challenge today. We firstly talked about what we needed and then what order we made it in. We tried dry sand initially and the children decided that it fell down and made a very poor castle. They then suggested that we added water to make the sand stick together. We mixed some water into the sand and the children thought it looked brown and sticky. They decided that wet sand worked much better to make a sandcastle. One child decided that it would be even better if we added more water to the mix, we tried this and we found that really wet sand worked well too. We then added our flags that we made using scissors, glue and sticky tape.

STEM week

We have lots of daily science, technology, engineering and maths activities. Children learn about forces all around them by playing on swings, trikes and cars on ramps. They find out about seasonal changes, growth, life cycles and changes in materials by playing in the mud kitchen and garden. In addition we learn the basics of engineering by building and using construction materials and tools.

Exciting news

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have some exciting news to share with you. Towards the end of term and over the Summer holiday, work will be completed at school to significantly improve our outside areas. Currently, the field is unusable for most of the year as it remains waterlogged, and we really want our children to be able to use it more frequently. An artificial surface (astroturf) is being laid on a section of the field to enable our children to use it all year around. We are also re-surfacing one side of the top playground and putting in another artificial surface in the fenced part of the top playground.  This will make our playground area second to none when looking at sporting fixtures and will also mean it can be used all year round by more children. In addition, we will be opening up a big chunk of our Forest School area for general playtime usage, so that children can spread out more freely.

With work of this kind, there will be a significant amount of disruption. No one will be allowed outside near the building works throughout the entire summer.  Unfortunately this does mean that we are unable to offer any holiday club provision. We have explored the possibility of our own staff running some indoor provision, but as we need a minimum of two staff on site at any time, we cannot make this work: staff have other commitments and are looking forward to their own break after a very difficult year. We are still exploring alternative indoor sports provision. I know it is difficult for parents who work all year round to manage child care and so we will do our best to signpost you to other options.

Kind regards, Miss Cook

Defibrillator at school

Dear Parents/Carers

Following the recent events involving Christian Erikson at the Euros we wanted to remind everyone that there is a defibrillator on the school site, situated in the office. It is available to be used by anyone in an emergency during school opening times and has been registered with the ambulance service to this effect.

Thank you

John Griffiths

School Business Manager

Mighty Oaks meet the chicks

Last week we had the pleasure of meeting the chicks 🐣 we remembered to handle them correctly and stroke them nicely. The children had lots of interesting questions to ask. We’re very excited to watch them grow.

Sports Day

Parental attendance

We have made enquiries with the Health Protection Hub regarding the possibility of having parents attend our sports day events. Everyone is waiting to see what the Government decide to do with the June 21st possible easing announcement. The figures across the country are rising slightly and this is reflected in Telford.

We do not want parents to book time off work, only to find parents are not permitted to attend. We also understand that it would be unfair for both children and parents if we make a last minute announcement. Some parents would then be unable to rearrange work to suit at short notice, and then children would feel upset that other parents were there but not their own.

As a result of the uncertainty with lockdown, the complexities around parents getting time off work and the rising virus figures we have made the difficult decision to say that for this year, parents will not be permitted on site to watch.  What we can guarantee is that the children will partake in sports day and have a lovely time and we will of course be posting lots of photos of them enjoying themselves. I know a lot of parents will be disappointed in this decision, but ultimately we need to go with what is safe.

Say ‘No’ to bullying

 

At Newdale we take great pride in the behaviour of our pupils. Very often we get comments from visitors to the school, or from people out of school, saying how impressed they are with the behaviour and attitude of our pupils.

Please click on the link below to view the full leaflet.

Bullying leaflet to parents 2021

Parking outside school

Dear Parents/Carers

We have received complaints from local residents concerning parking by parents/carers whilst dropping off and picking up children from school. Please be considerate to our neighbours as they have advised us of instances where they have been late for work due to their cars being blocked in. We understand space is at a premium for parking but if you are able to find an alternative mode of transport, such as walking or cycling that would have benefits for all.

Thank you for your ongoing co-operation in this matter.

Goodbye to Sharon Adkins

Nursery would like to send Mrs Sharon Adkins all the best wishes as she moves on to pastures new.  She will be greatly missed in nursery at lunch time and at After school club.  Her last day with us will be Friday 11th June after 17 years of service.  We have successfully appointed a super new keyworker Rebecca Preston who will be joining our team in nursery.

Mrs Lisa Curnow

Update 7.6.21

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you all managed to enjoy the glorious weather over half term.

I am sure it won’t have escaped your attention in the national news that the Delta variant (previously known as the Indian variant) is becoming the dominant strain across the West Midlands and the UK.

We are seeing this reflected locally across Telford and Wrekin too, with the latest figures showing that Coronavirus cases have risen slightly.

It is important to remember that while the Delta variant is more transmissible, the illness it causes is not more severe, and the vaccines continue to provide protection.

As always, the Public Health and Health Protection Teams are doing all they can to reduce the spread of the virus. We continue to follow our school procedures and monitor the situation very closely.

We are not reinstating the need for parents to wear masks on site at the moment, but of course if you choose to do so, that is up to you.

If you feel your child is ill and beginning to show symptoms, please do not risk it and keep them at home to monitor. The impact of a positive case in school is huge.

Staff continue to get tested twice a week and as you know there is significant availability to get tests across Telford should you need to.

Thank you for your ongoing support, we will of course let you know if anything changes, but fingers crossed we will see this slight increase reduce again very quickly.

MIss Cook

Headteacher