Newsletter – 09-Feb-24

Dear Parents and Carers, 

It has been a very busy and thoroughly enjoyable week at The Priory.  There has been a cross-country competition, a safer internet morning, pupils attending 2 different maths challenges, a Y6 trip to see a show at The Hurst, and over it all, international week culminating in round the world trips on Friday afternoon! We have had so many events happening that I think everyone will be glad of the rest next week for half term!

Careful driving and parking…

The drop-off and pick up times are busy outside of school.  Please be mindful of drivers and pedestrians outside the school gates, look out for one another, and drive/walk safely.   We all have our part to play in keeping ourselves and others safe.  We would much rather children were a couple of minutes late, but safe.

The focus of international week is to develop the pupils’ international mindedness by recognising and celebrating the differences and similarities between countries across the world.  The week culminated in a Round-the-world trip organised by Mrs Austin, our Geography Lead.  The children had to visit different countries in different classrooms and answer questions to get their passports stamped.

A big thank you to all that contributed to the international food tasting on Friday:- it brought a real sense of celebration and holidays to the classroom and was thoroughly enjoyed by all, on the last day of term.

Year R have had a fantastic week learning about China. We looked closely at the Chinese flag, found out the population of China and also learnt some Chinese phrases too.  We also looked specifically at the upcoming event of Chinese New Year.  The children explored the traditions when celebrating Chinese New Year and also enjoyed making their own Chinese lanterns, dragon puppets and completing some Chinese writing.

Year 1 had lots of fun this week learning about Australia.  We have been looking at the history of Australia and the aboriginal stories that were created.  We spent an afternoon creating some beautiful aboriginal dotted paintings on paper plates inspired by Australian artists.  We have also been exploring different Australian animals, finding out what they look like and where they live (linking to our Science topic: Animals, including humans).  They loved learning about The Great Barrier Reef and the animals living underwater too.  We found where the country is on a world map and the children loved learning that it is 22 times bigger in size than the UK!

Year 2 had a great week learning about Japan.  On Monday, Year 2 discovered geographical  facts about the country and people.  Tuesday was spent learning about the cherry blossom festival and children’s day.  The class then chose to create a blossom collage or decorate a carp kite whilst listening to Japanese music. On Thursday, the children looked at images sent to us by a relative living in Japan.  They also spent some time singing a song celebrating the cherry blossom. The highlight of the week for the children, was the food tasting on Friday morning! Tasty treats were devoured from Finland, Greece, India and popular treats from Japan.

Year 3 had a super week learning about our closest neighbours – France.  We used atlases and the internet to complete fact files about the country.  We also tried to discover some fascinating facts to wow our peers in other classes.  Did you know that the average French person eats about 500 snails every year?  Did you know that the most popular sport in France is football?  We spent an afternoon thinking about typically French foods and had fun drawing some of our favourites.  I wonder if you can spot them from the picture?  This worked really well in year 3 as we are looking at healthy eating and cooking in D&T this term.

We explored Brazil. We looked at the location, the importance and meaning of the flag and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.  We created posters, mixed colours to make flags and used atlases to locate Brazil and neighbouring South American countries.

Y5 explored Poland: the country, the location, the landscape and the people.

We created posters, information cards and maps to present the information and games and quizzes for the other classes to test their knowledge.

In year 6 we studied Canada. We used atlases to enable us to find and plot provinces, territories, major cities, lakes and mountain ranges on our own maps.

We learnt about some traditional Canadian food. We learnt about the population of Canada and also its native animals. We also found out about Mounties (Mounted Police Force) and also what school is like for children in Canada.  We also enjoyed finding out about traditional Canadian sports.

We studied  the indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau and went on to create our own paintings in his traditional x-ray style.

Here are some questions that the children had to find the answers to:

Each Chinese year is named after an animal. On the 10th February 2024 it will be the year of the…?  Draw the animal.

Can you name two famous landmarks in Australia?

What is the highest point in Japan?

Who is the president of France?

What colours are on the Brazilian flag?

What is the national animal of Poland?

What kind of leaf is on the Canadian flag?

Congratulations to… The Cross Country team!

On a cold and blustery day, Mr Walsh, Mrs Adams, Mrs Selwood and Mrs Brown took 39 children to Downe Grange Athletics Track in Basingstoke to take part in a multi-schools Cross Country Event. After the bus trip there, the children all filed to the main field to participate in four races – Year 3/4  Girls, Year 3/4 Boys, Year 5/6 Girls and Year 5/6 Boys.  We had a large group of parent helpers and supporters to cheer on the team as they ran around a demanding course. Each race had a minimum of 100 runners from a range of schools and every one of our team worked incredibly hard to do their best and complete the course.

In some of the races we had children come in as part of the top 20 finishers and a special mention has to go to one of our amazing Y5 athletes (pictured below), who achieved third place in the Year 5/6 Girls race!  She ran a fantastic race and now qualifies for the District round. A massive well done to all of our children who took on the challenge and absolutely shone on the day! It took real fitness, resilience and determination to finish in  a very competitive sport!

KELLY SIMM’S VISIT..

We were very excited to welcome GB gymnast and commonwealth gold medal winner Kelly Simm to The Priory through the Sports for Schools initiative.  Kelly put all of the children through their paces in an intensive and fun circuit training.  She also led an assembly, talking to the pupils about how she came to be a top gymnast and the importance of learning from failures and working hard to achieve your goals. 

Thank you very much for all of your generous sponsorship – the Priory will benefit from over £1000 worth of school sports resources as a result of this event. 

The children will all receive gift packs for their sponsorship donations after half term. 

Star of Wonder Awards

YEAR R: Ottilie, Hannah, Georgia and Freddie

YEAR 1: Sophia, Sabella and Lottie

YEAR 2: Otega, Layla and Freddie

YEAR 3: Nicholas, Alexander, Cohen and Heidi

YEAR 4: Alannah, Riley and Austin

YEAR 5: Cassidy, Evelyn and Henri

YEAR 6: Isla, Erys, James and Clemmie

Congratulations to one of our Y5 pupils, who last weekend, swam at the Hampshire County Swimming Championships.  She was the youngest girl in Hampshire to qualify for the Championships.  She had an amazing time and is very proud of her results.  (All in the 10/11 age category).

4th in 100m butterfly,

6th in 50m butterfly,

6th in 200m freestyle and

12th in 200m IM

On Tuesday this week… 11 of the schools budding mathematicians from years 5 and 6, attended an A.I.M. High Maths Workshop.  The A.I.M. High programme is tailored for children to be able to – Achieve, Inspire and Master.  Providing them with an in-depth learning experience.  The event took place at South View Federation School, in Basingstoke.  It was hosted by an inspiring Teacher and freelance primary mathematics consultant, Mrs Jean Knapp.  Initially the children were given a few ’10 minute’ teasers, to get their brains warmed up.  This included exercises such as the quickest way of calculating numbers 1 to 100, and identifying hidden amounts.  During the day the children were given 4 different challenges to investigate.  These challenges involved different elements of maths, from investigating the changing volume of a box, to probability when throwing 2 dice.  These activities allowed the groups to discuss their findings whilst trying to calculate the answers.  It was enjoyable to see the children working together, truly focused and learning new skills.

Thank you from Mrs Clitheroe…

To the Priory Community, 

What a lovely surprise to be asked on Monday morning to join the assembly , for a presentation of your very generous gifts.  They are most appropriate, I will enjoy the luxury  chocolates and definitely be in need of a cuppa made in the pretty T-pot and matching cup, I am quite fussy  about my tea and always use a pot.  I am looking forward to using the generous voucher for my stay at Petworth Old Railway Station.  I also enjoyed the beautiful flowers I received at the start of term. I can’t believe I have been cooking for the Children for 30yrs. It’s lovely to see them grow and develop their tastes in food as they go through the school.

Best wishes, Fiona Clitheroe.

Safeguarding and Wellbeing

February 5th – 11th is this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week. As we have had a jam-packed week of activities at school with International Week, a range of offsite activities including Sports and Maths challenges, along with Safer Internet Day and the visiting Gymnast event we have not formally celebrated this week with activities in school as we normally would. However, there are a range of activities and resources available to children and parents if support or ideas around mental health are needed. This year’s theme is ‘My Voice Matters’ and n there are a range of resources for families at Place2Be –

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/families/

My Voice Matters is about empowering children and young people by providing them with the tools they need to express themselves.

Please remember ….

Mental Health – Workshop Opportunities from CAMHS 2024

Across this coming year CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) are offering their FREE health and wellbeing events for parents, carers and professionals at a range of locations across Hampshire.  Having attended a previous event this opportunity is highly recommended. Mrs Adams and Mrs Selwood will be attending the day in Basingstoke on Thursday 22^nd February. The information included lists the dates, times and venues as well as the itinerary for the days. The workshops on offer range from supporting children with eating disorders, managing ADHD, understanding and managing anxiety, supporting your autistic child to thrive and looking after yourself to support your child amongst some of the sessions on offer. If you are interested in attending, or would like to find out more, go online at hampshirecamhs.nhs.uk/events to book your workshops.

Reporting concerns

Key actions to take if you have a concern that a child is in danger, may suffer harm and maltreatment…

MAKE A REPORT IF…

• If you fear that a child is in immediate danger CALL 999 and report the concern
• IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS AND YOU ARE NOT SURE WHAT YOU SHOULD DO – report your concerns to the DSL and team at school

Alternative options – as a member of the public you can report a concern to Hampshire’s Child Protection Services directly – information about the services is available here – this site provides useful information and learning about a range of abuse as well as what will happen when concerns are reported –

https://www.hants.gov.uk/socialcareandhealth/childrenandfamilies/safeguardingchildren/childprotection

If you are a member of the public and wish to report any welfare/safeguarding concerns DIRECTLY TO CHILDREN’S SERVICES:- you can complete Hampshire’s online form here: online enquiry form

You can report a concern over the telephone and via email –

Phone 0300 555 1384   
Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 5pm
Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm

Email childrens.services@hants.gov.uk     Please note: Emails are dealt with during normal office hours Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. At other times phone our out of hours number.      

Out of hours – Out of hours contact telephone number for Children’s Services Phone 0300 555 1373 

REMEMBER – SAFEGUARDING IS  EVERYONE’S RESPONSIBILITY