Ashley C of E Primary School

Headteacher's Message!

 Good afternoon,

Welcome to our latest newsletter! It has been lovely to see the children enjoying the better weather and making the most of their lunchtimes outside. 

I am pleased to share that our STEM Week was a resounding success! Thank you to Mrs Whitby for organising the week. The children enjoyed taking part in a wide range of STEM activities and scientific investigations designed to promote curiosity, creativity, and a love of learning. The activities provided valuable learning experiences and inspired a deeper interest in science helping to develop the skills and knowledge of the next generation of scientists. A huge thank you to the STEM volunteers who joined us during the week, we were inspired by your talks.

Last week, Susan Costa (SIAMS Officer for Guildford Diocese) visited Ashley to review the progress we have made since her last visit. The Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) is likely to be next academic year.  The SIAMS inspector will evaluate how effectively our school's Christian vision drives our work and enables the children, parents and staff to flourish. I am also pleased to report that the visit was extremely positive. Once I have received Susan’s report, I will share the key findings.

Our children have represented Ashley really well as two local sporting events. Inspire Her Festival  at Three Rivers. Well done to a group of Year 5 children who attended the hockey afternoon at SWIPS. They had the opportunity to learn hockey skills, complete training exercises and then competed in some matches. Well done for winning their two matches. 

Finally, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Mrs Amponsah, who is stepping down as the co-chair of our FOA. She has been an invaluable part of our school community, tirelessly working to support our children, staff, and parents. I wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

Kind Regards 

Mrs Ratcliff 

Communication- 

In accordance with the Ashley values please be can we ask that all parents communicate with all staff in a respectful manner, whether that is in person or communicating via email or phone calls. 

We are a busy school that caters for almost 590 children therefore we receive a vast about of emails, calls and requests. Please be reminded that the school has a 48-hour response time to reply to any emails or requests.  Thank you for your support and understanding.

Spring 2 Dates - 

You can subscribe to our calendar by clicking the link here  - Ashley C of E Primary School - Term Dates & Calendar 

 Reminders - 

SCHOOL LUNCHES-The school lunch menu will continue for the following term. If your child/ren normally has a school meal, please can we remind you to order a school meal in advance. Ordering closes on the Friday before and meals cannot be ordered after this time.TheAutumn/Winter 2024/25 menu, is here: Menu

Should you forget to book a meal for your child/ren, we will call you and you will be required to bring in a packed lunch for your child going forward. You will not be able to book a meal on the day. The current cost of a school meal is £2.75 for those children in KS2. Please ensure that payments are kept up to date at all times.  

Payment should be made on-line via www.scopay.com/ashley  We do not accept cash or cheques. Our registration code for Scopay will have been sent home with your child.  This can also be obtained from the

REPORTING ABSENCE-   Ashley are solely moving to Studybugs as its a more efficient and secure system for reporting your child’s absence due to illness. If you haven’t already, please get the free Studybugs app, or register on the Studybugs website, and use it to tell us whenever your child’s ill and unable to attend school.

If your child is unwell, please report their absence via study bugs or call before 8.30am

UPDATED ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICINE POLICY  - 

administration of medicines policy feb 25.pdf

 Surrey County Council - WRAP AROUND CARE 

We welcomed two members of the Surrey Wraparound Care team to our After School Club on Tuesday afternoon.  Following their visit, the feedback received was extremely positive and we will be able to share more information with you when we receive their report.  They were impressed with the running of the club, policies and procedures and commented on the positive relationship between the children and staff.  

 - Mrs Rudman 

The Past Fortnight - 

  Eco Day - 

Six of the KS1 World Caretakers enjoyed a trip to Guildford Cathedral to participate in their Eco Day. The children had fun learning about CO2 and how we can make changes to reduce our carbon footprint, writing hopes for the world and making bags out of newspaper! 

-Mrs Whitby  

Inspire Her Festival -

Miss Porter took some of the Y5/6 girls along to their first Inspire Her Festival this week! They were an absolute joy to have, and Chelsea football club loved their energy and enthusiasm throughout the activities. The girls had a great afternoon!

YEAR 6 - 

 At the end of STEM WEEK last Friday, Year 6 were treated to a presentation by one of our parents. Bryan spoke to the children about software developing and how important it is not only to be able to code but also to wear a hoodie and eat lots of pizza! Thank you for showing Year 6 how data can be collected, processed and used to create change. Most of all, thank you for showing us where the 'Big Brain' stuff is behind all those games we play. 

- Miss Bardel 

YEAR 5 - 

Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed a whole host of exciting STEM activities and events last week. Some learning highlights included using 'Lego We Do' equipment to create robotic inventions ranging from light up snails to moving vehicles. The children were lucky enough to listen to an extremely interesting presentation on how pharmaceutical drugs are researched and developed by Dr Athersuch and he, in turn, was extremely impressed with the thoughtful, intelligent questions posed by the children to him. Our fun finale to STEM week on Friday consisted of a learning pairs challenge to build a structurally stable and tall tower using only spaghetti and mini marshmallows. This resulted in some very interesting architectural creations and a lot of fun along the way! The children all looked amazing in their extremely varied and creative 'Scientist' outfits and STEM week, in its entirety, was a great success. 

 - Mrs Kent 

YEAR 4 - 

Year 4 have begun a mini history topic about ancient civilisations, a precursor of learning before studying the Ancient Egyptians in summer 1. We began by exploring which ancient civilisations there were and learnt when in history they happened. We then ordered these on a timeline and leant that some civilisations happened at different times  but in different parts of the world. We're looking forward to looking at and learning more about the Ancient Egypt!

- Mrs Ready 

YEAR 2 - 

Today year 2 had the opportunity to meet and stroke a variety of animals. A few of them were native to Australia. Everyone had an incredible time and even managed to face their fear when coming face to face with the likes of a tarantula, lizard, scorpion and snakes. Well done Year 2, you have been extremely courageous!

-Mrs Van Der Schaff 

STEM - 

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to all the children who came to school last week dressed at scientists, you all looked amazing. Thank you so much to our parent volunteers who came in to speak to our children about their STEM career, the children found it really interesting and enjoyed your talks. We hope that it has influenced our children to think about STEM careers in the future. The children had great fun doing different science experiments throughout the week, from exploding volcanoes to finding out what not to flush down a toilet! 

Thank you once again for your support

 - Mrs Whitby

Motivate Mrs Morgan's (Year 6 Hawk class teacher) marathon dream! - 

On the 27^th April, I will be running the London Marathon! I have been training hard and am proud to be supporting the NSPCC through sponsorship. Last week, I did a training run of 30km running to Richmond and back. If you would like to donate to a cause that is close to all our hearts - and motivate me to keep training and ticking off those miles - please click on the link below. Thank you for your support, Mrs Morgan 

https://www.justgiving.com/page/natasha-morgan-4?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=EM

Chelsea Foundation - 

kicks flyer digital a5 cobham fc.pdf

 WELL DONE - 

Congratulation to Annabelle (3) on achieving a Merit in her piano exam!. Your hard work, dedication and passion for music have truly paid off. Well done!