Headteacher's Message! 

Good afternoon,

Another fortnight has flown by and Christmas seems to be rapidly approaching. Thank you to everyone who has already kindly donated an item for the Fair and the Christmas Fair team who are working hard to prepare for the fair tomorrow.  I am looking forward to seeing you at this fantastic event from 12pm to 3pm. I would like to say a huge thank you to all who have volunteered to help. I really appreciate it because events like the fair cannot take place without parents/carers and staff giving up their time to help in any way they can.

It is lovely to see the school looking so festive with the Christmas doors and decorations, seeing the preparations for the nativity performances and hearing the carols being sung. I was really impressed by the Nativity models made by the children for Guildford Cathedral which will be displayed during Advent. The excitement is building!

Guildford Diocese have  developed an online Advent calendar which we will be sharing with the children every day in school. At the weekends, there is a picture/video that families may enjoy watching together, and some questions to wonder about at home. The videos are a mixture of thought provoking and fun! This link will take you to the advent calendar. Advent and Christmas - Diocese of Guildford (cofeguildford.org.uk)

I am pleased to announce that the School Christmas Postboxes open on Monday 4th December, for the children to post their cards. PLEASE address the envelopes with the child’s name AND class. 

Please can parents ensure that their children bring a named coat to school each day now that the weather is getting colder. The children will be outside unless the weather is severely cold. If there should be snow, please make sure that you check our website for information. We always plan to keep the school open, even in the event of snow. 

Have a good weekend. 

 Mrs J Ratcliff

Safeguarding Reminder 

If you have a concern about a child, please contact a DSL via: dsl@ashley.surrey.sch.uk. This inbox is monitored regularly. If your concern is about an adult working or volunteering in the school, you should contact the Headteacher via: head@ashley.surrey.sch.uk. If your concern is about the Headteacher, you should contact the Trust Board Chair, James Friend. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is: Miss N Clifford.

Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are:

Mrs J Ratcliff

Mrs S Sawyer

Ms K Frost

Mrs H Garrick

Mrs L Athersuch

Mrs K Kent

More information can be found on our website: Ashley C of E Primary School - Safeguarding (ashleyschool.org.uk) 

Curriculum Presentation

Below is a short presentation from the leadership team about the refinements we have made to our curriculum, but also our future plans. 

After watching, if you have any further questions or feedback, please share your ideas here: https://forms.office.com/e/TDBaH5qXqd?origin=lprLink

 

 

Online School Meal Ordering 

We hope you have had an opportunity to read the email sent to all parents on 28^th November providing more information about our move to online ordering of school meals.

This will begin from 4^th January 2024. You will need to book and pay for your child’s meal in advance (paid meals for Year 3 - 6). Please note that children’s meals in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 must also be booked online.  It is important that you read this information so that you are ready for when your child returns to school in January 2024. Scopay has been populated up to the end of term, 20^th December, so you can see the final amount due on your school meal account. 

From January 2024 you will need to have a credit balance on your Scopay account to enable you to book your child’s meal in advance. If you do not have a Scopay account, please ensure you contact the school office as soon as possible to receive a letter on how to create an account. 

- School Administration Team 

ELSA

As we have said a sad farewell to Mrs Bradford who performed an invaluable role as one of our school ELSA'S (emotional literacy support assistant). We are conscious we have a vital gap to fill to support pupils. Please be assured we already have two established members of staff booked onto the next training course in February.

-Mrs Sawyer

The Past Fortnight 

Year: 5- 6 Girls Football 

The year 5 & 6 girls played their first league match of the season against Stepgates on Friday 17^th of November with Ashley enjoying a 5-0 win. We maintained our shape both with, and without the ball. Our energy and enthusiasm levels were high throughout. It was exciting to see the year 5 girls making their Ashley debuts. They conducted themselves brilliantly and I was really proud of the team

- Mr Attenborough

 

Year 4: Walton Festival of Light

On Saturday 25^th November, a group of very well behaved but excited Year 4 children led the Walton Light Parade at the Festival of Light. It was a fabulous way to start the festive season. All of Year 4 had worked in our new Art & Design space, The Hive, with their teachers and Miss Hood (one of our Art & Design Subject Leads) to create the fantastic willow lanterns. Earlier in the day, Mrs Boyd led the infant choir as they sang on stage in front of a cheering crowd. Thank you for representing Ashley School in this wonderful community event.

-Mrs Athersuch 

Year 3 : Nativity Workshop

Year 3 were very lucky to be invited to Cardinal Newman School to take part in a Nativity Workshop. They went on a very interesting journey through time and met Zachariah, Mary, a wise man, a shepherd and his sheep and the inn keeper with her donkey. They got a feel of what live was like for these people by listening to their story and engaging in questions. This helped the children reflect on how special Christmas time is and the precious gift we were given.

“My favourite part was stroking the donkey and this was special as Mary rode on it.” Alice M

“We got gifts from all the people and these were special because it helped me understand what they had in those days.” Maddy H

Year 2 : Guildford School's Christmas Art Exhibition 2023: God's Gift

Since Year 2 have been learning all about 'Why is giving important to Christians?' this half term, they were well-equipped to come up with some wonderful and varied artistic responses to the notion of 'God's Gift' - the theme for the annual 'School's Christmas Art Exhibition' at Guildford Cathedral this year. Their differing interpretations included: pictures of baby Jesus, Jesus on the Cross, our solar system, our beautiful green and blue planet Earth, candles burning brightly, doves of peace, the word 'love' and kind people giving colourful gifts to each other... amongst many other independent ideas. The brief was to create a large piece of collaborative 3D artwork depicting 'God's Gift' so we have mounted a wide selection of the children's fantastic pictures onto three large, stacked gift boxes. Their artwork will be exhibited at Guildford Cathedral - along with other art pieces on the theme of God's Gift created by church schools from around the Diocese of Guildford - from 1st December 2023 to 3rd February 2024, so don't forget to pop along and enjoy the exhibition if you're in the Guildford area!

-Mrs Kent  

 Christmas Bazaar 

We can't wait to open the gate to this year's Christmas Bazaar tomorrow!

The Christmas Bazaar is fundraising for three reading pods, quiet areas where children can retreat to. We want to help the school raise £7,500 to fund these, so every raffle ticket you buy, hamper you win, hot chocolate or biscuit you decorate or simply choose to donate - helps Ashley children thrive. 

 Last minute requests: 

🎄The Cafe is still in need of bake treats, biscuits - homemade or shop bought (but please check the ingredients!). You can drop these off at the main reception up until Friday, or to the cafe on Saturday morning. 

🎄The raffle and hampers are now live at https://www.thefriendsofashley.org/ 

🎄Get your baking competition entries in by Friday PM or Saturday 12.15pm 

🎄Tokens are being sold at pick up/drop off Friday.

Thank you again to every single parent, carer, teacher who is helping to pull the bazaar together, the hampers look amazing, and the stalls are coming together. If you haven't signed up to a 30 min slot for your class/year group stall, offering your help on the day goes a long way .See you all tomorrow !

-Friends of Ashley  

Competition Time

It's time to get snuggly with a book now the weather has turned colder and what better way to spend the month of December (and the holidays) curled up with a good book. ☕️🥰 We are running a 🎄📚Christmas Reading Challenge📚🎄 for the whole school with rewards to be won! If you complete the whole challenge (with pictures on Seesaw) then you can earn a badge and 2 dojos. You will also be put into a draw to win some new books for your classroom book corner! Take a look at the 12 challenges and post your pictures on Seesaw before the 4th January. More details can be found on Seesaw Activities!

christmas reading challenge 1.pdf

We'd like to share the details of a writing competition where we could be in a chance to win £150 vouchers to spend on books! We can't wait to see your entries! Click for more information.

 Rethink Waste 

Ashley has been successful in signing up for Surrey Environmental partnership's waste reduction scheme Rethink Waste.  This is an initiative for us all to give more thought to our waste - be that energy or food and to consider our impact on the planet by our actions and what we can do to help. Please take time to sign up, as by taking part we can (so easily!) earn rewards that we can donate to school. By doing this, we can be in the running for up to £6,000 - the more points we receive the higher the share we will get! Please share with friends/family. A real community effort will help increase our funding.

Join Rethink Waste Today | Greenredeem and SEP

Join Rethink Waste Today | Greenredeem and SEP Rethink Waste You’re invited to join Surrey Environment Partnership’s new waste reduction scheme Rethink Waste. By taking part, you can donate to charities, earn rewards or win prizes whilst making Surrey a greener place to live. Register Today Join thousands of residents in your local area 4 reasons to register Climate change Do your bit […] www.greenredeem.co.uk

 Gardening Diaries 

the gardening diaries november23.pdf

Panto Time.....

PANTO - St Mary’s and St John’s Youth Fellowship.  It's panto time again... oh yes, it is!

This year's amazing St Mary's and St John's Youth Fellowship pantomime is Jack and the Beanstalk and is full of Ashley School alumni. It's a fantastic way to occupy those long days between Christmas and New Year and is fun for the whole family. For November only, there is an Earlybird discount meaning tickets, including a free hot or soft drink at the interval, are just £4 per person. To book please email yfpanto23@gmail.com or contact Zoe Byrne on 07950 932623. Performances will be at St Mary's Church Hall in Walton on: Thursday 28th December 2023 at 4pm Friday 29th December 2023 at 6pm Saturday 30th December 2023 at 2pm Saturday 30th December 2023 at 7pm

Massive THANK - YOU 

Ashley School would like say a massive thank-you to the Luxury Christmas Tree company for their donation of the beautiful school Christmas tree. www.luxury-christmas-trees.co.uk.