Newsletters

Friday 16th January, 2025

Dear Parents & Carers

It certainly helped with the post-Christmas blues to return to snow last week. It was fantastic to be outside enjoying the snow – there aren't too many school days in a child's schooling when this happens, so it was a nice surprise!

Hopefully you've all received the year group newsletters telling you all about your child's term ahead. The next parents' evening will be held after half-term and we will let you know the dates for this soon. 

The new 'SHIP' build continues to develop, and we hope the whole project will be finished by the end of March. We are looking forward to seeing the final outcome and to start planning and sorting the new garden area. 

As mentioned below, the excitement this week from the building works was finding buried walls in the playground and researching what had been uncovered. In that research, we also found out that in the time just before the war, children had bikes given to them to ride to school, but those bikes were kept under the stage in the hall during the summer holidays so they could be repaired! 

On the subject of bikes and travel, we were pleased to secure an active travel grant to work on ideas and projects linked to healthier and greener ways to travel. Thank you to Mr Ingham for securing the grant and we look forward to sharing plans with you in due course. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards

Matt Walton, Headteacher 

Fun in the Snow!

It was a lovely sight to see so much snow in the school grounds when we returned last week. The children had a fantastic time at break and lunch time enjoying the snow and making the most of the conditions. We had all sorts of activities going on, from a designated snow ball zone to snow man building and snow angels. 

Historical find!

We were very excited this week when the builders unearthed some evidence of walls buried in the playground, near Dixon Road. Mrs Phillips did some investigative work and found out that this was where the school's World War 2 air-raid shelters were built. We believe from research, that there are 4 shelters underneath the ground along that side of the playground and that the children at the time in the school helped to build them. 

We have historical information to tell us that when the war started, the school had around 240 children in it, similar to the numbers the school has had in very recent times. We have seen records of the regularity in which the children had to use the shelters in what must have been a very difficult period for the school. Have a look at the record below from the start of term in 1940. 

Year 6 will soon be studying World War 2 in history and they were excited by this week's find. If anyone in your family has stories and interesting facts they know about war time, including war time Sprowston, they would love to hear about them. Please get in touch with the Year 6 team or the school office. 

Uniform & Jewellery

Please can we remind all families about our uniform and jewellery rules. 

Whilst most uniform worn is correct, we do get many examples of the wrong uniform and would ask for your help to ensure children are coming to school in the appropriate clothing at all times. Uniform rules can be found in the children's home school diaries and on the school website. 

We have seen an increase in jewellery being worn and would ask for help in ensuring your child is not wearing jewellery in school. We accept flat-earrings but children should not wear necklaces, bracelets, or have any make-up on in school and this includes painted nails.  

Year 3/4

Year 3/4 have made a fantastic start to the new term! We have begun exploring Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', enjoying lots of the drama activities to bring the story and characters to life. 

In maths have continued to build our confidence with multiplication and division this week, and we've seen lots of good successes in their work.

In reading,  we've started our new 'Ready, Steady, Read' lessons and the feedback from the children has been really positive. The lessons are very interactice and include lots of reading together. 

We were also delighted to welcome back Mrs Smith, our Musician in Residence and the children really enjoyed the first lesson this week.

Salhouse and STEM Racing

Salhouse have been busy getting ready for the STEM Racing Regional finals later this month. Each team has been preparing presentations, building up their portfolios and creating their racing cars.

Before Christmas, they spent the morning at Sprowston Community Academy meeting with Mrs Bryant. During the visit, they spent time making badges, talking about their plans for the competition and testing their cars in the wind tunnel.

Over the next couple of weeks they will be fine-tuning their designs, rehearsing their presentations, polishing off their portfolios and creating their pit display.

If you are able to help, Salhouse would love to hear from you.

NPSAA cross-country - race 4 (Taverham at Langley Prep)

Yesterday, our intrepid cross-country runners braved the wind and rain to compete in the fourth cross-country race of the season. It's always a good event – especially as we enter and pass 'Hogwarts'.

Well done to Wanye, Julian, Jacob, Nicholas, Sam, Jack, Toby, Addy, Ariel and Riley.

Thanks to the parents/carers who came to support.

The next race is at Old Catton next month.

Accelerated Reader 

Due to us using a new whole class reading scheme, we have less time in the school day for the children to read their accelerated reader books independently. The children will have a couple of sessions to read and change their books and we also hope they are reading regularly at home as well. It is vitally important for their academic progress that they do read as often as possible. 

Due to the reduced time in school for Accelerated Reader quizzes, we are also going to be allowing the children to quiz at home too, if they would like to. We are happy for parents & carers to be involved in that process and discuss the book and content with the child as they are doing the quiz. Any book talk is a rich conversation and will support the child's understanding. 

The website address for children to access accelerated reader is: https://login.renaissance.com/12d2c5a7-6241-4312-aff6-954f6d3fac6d/student?state=15f812cc-274e-46ca-a8ef-5ec0a642f522

They will need their username and password which can be found in their home school diaries. 

The website address can also be found by going to our school website and finding Accelerated Reader in the Parent Information section. 

Year 5 Engineer visit 

Year 5 enjoyed having an engineer in school this morning talking to them about his career in aviation engineering and railway engineering. He talked to them about their upcoming challenge, the 'If I Were An Engineer' competition. They will be challenged to invent a new product which will be entered into a national competition.