Ashley C of E Primary School

Headteacher Message! 

Dear Parents/Carers,

Is it too late to wish you all a Happy New Year? I don't think so! I hope you all managed to find some time over the break to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. It is always hard to settle back into normal routines after an exciting Christmas break but the children have returned in high spirits, and it has been lovely to hear about their festive break.

On our training day (INSET) last Wednesday time was spent focusing on our approach to writing which was facilitated by Lindsay Pickton, a Primary English Education Consultant, as this is one of the priorities in our school development plan. We specifically looked at the cycle of writing - how we immerse the children in quality texts to develop their compositional skills as well as the power of collaborate composition to empower children when writing independently.  We considered how to maximise children's motivation to write and how best to develop editing skills in our youngest learners.  The team were so inspired and have already started embedding the suggested strategies in their classroom practise. Along with other local church schools, we were invited to produce a display for the Cathedral’s Schools’ Christmas art exhibition on the theme of “God’s Gift”. The artwork is incredible and you still have time to see it so if you have time to visit the exhibition at the Cathedral until 3rd February and it’s free to enter! 

Reminder: the closing date for Reception applications for September 2024 entry is 15 January 2024. Please remember that you still need to apply if your child has a sibling of a child already in the school.

Coming back to school can be tiring, and we have lots of children and staff who have had a very busy fortnight.

I hope that you all do something lovely and restful at the weekend.

 Mrs Ratcliff 

School Meal Ordering- 

We are really pleased with the launch of the online ordering of school meals, it went really well with just one slight hiccup with the menu choice but this has now been rectified. We would like to thank you for your cooperation in booking your child’s meals in advance. This is a kind reminder that if you have not already done so, please ensure that you have pre-ordered your child’s school lunch on scopay until the end of this half term.  

 - School Office

New School Prayer- 

We are excited to launch a new start of day prayer across the school this term. All children are invited to join in with the new prayer and say Amen at the end if they agree with the words. The prayer is “Dear God. Let the light of your love shine in our new day at Ashley. Help us to show care, courage and curiosity. Amen. “ Our work continues through collective worship, classroom discussion and through play to embed our new school values. This term we are focusing on Courage but all three values are part of everything we do. Thank you for supporting us and asking your children at home about how they have shown and experienced our new values in their school day.

- The RE Team.  

The Past Fortnight -  

Inter-house Football- 

During the autumn term, children in KS2 participated in an inter-house football tournament.  A total of 48 matches were played.  The winning house overall was Portland who won an impressive 22 of their 24 matches!  Well done to all of our children for both their skill on the pitch as well as demonstrating our school values.  Pictured are Niamh and Louie from Y6 who collected the trophy on behalf of their house in an assembly.  

- Miss Frost.

Year 3 Rain Forest Workshop- 

Year 3 welcomed some interesting characters to Ashley on Tuesday – rainforest animals! The children were very excited to hold and learn about the exotic creatures that inhabit our planet from noisy kookaburras, long slithery snakes, a shy genet and a hairy tarantula to name but a few. All the children were very brave and had a go at holding an animal even though they were initially a little apprehensive – what great display of living out our value of courage. Even Mrs Nawaz challenged herself to overcome her fears of spiders by holding the tarantula!

-Mrs Nawaz.

Writing at Ashley School 

Year 5 were inspired by Cogheart by Peter Bunzl to write their own adventure stories. They edited and then typed them up and even created some amazing covers for them. Well done Year 5, they are fantastic! We'd love if any authors would like to read them. 

The cold snap came at the ideal time for Year 1 who have been writing winter poetry this week. After a walk in our school grounds and forest school area they were treated to a light sprinkling of snow which inspired their writing. 

At Ashley School, we want to develop accurate and fluent readers and confident and passionate writers who can read for pleasure and purpose across the curriculum. This means we give our children a purpose to write to and take pride in the whole writing process. Many of our INSETs have been around reading and writing because we believe that every child is a reader and every child is a writer. 

- Mrs Rayner.

Reading Dens - A big THANK YOU to the FOA

A big "Thank-You" to the FOA (Friends of Ashley)  who funded our lovely new reading dens, which arrived last week. The children have already been enjoying using them during play times. 

 Gardening News!

RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival - Schools competition 2024 - RHS School Bug Barrels

We are inviting our children to design a Bug Barrel to be entered into the 2024 RHS School Gardening Competition. The winning Ashley design, will be submitted to the RHS. Should we be successful, our barrel will be displayed at the festival from Tuesday 2^nd July – Sunday 7^th July. The bonus is we also get to visit the Festival on Press day, Monday 1^st July to see our and all the other school barrels! Notes from the RHS - Over the past 50 years, over two thirds of the UK's insect, bird, mammal and amphibian population has been lost. We need your help to educate our visitors on the importance of developing and sustaining healthy ecosystems in our gardens and outdoor spaces in order to protect the UK's biodiversity. Involvement presents children with hands-on experience learning about gardening and biodiversity in the face of climate change.  

Designs should be creative, fun, support and encourage biodiversity.  Entries are encouraged to be horticulturally correct too. (E.g., if you design your barrel for pollinators, think about type/s of wildlife you want to support as will help you choose the right plants) think of food, shelter? What is their natural environment? Do they like it sunny or shady? For more information schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk

Your design will need to be submitted no later than THURSDAY 8^TH FEBRUARY to the office 

It will need to be on an A3/A4 sheet of paper with your name and class on the back. Ensure you label your design to identify the pollinator/s your designing it for and the different elements of the design-including plants. Most importantly, make it colourful! Please see the attached PDF that will give you all the extra information you will need.

Good Luck, were excited to see your designs.  Mrs Winstanley Fisher 

rhs hc24 bug barrels factsheet .pdf

 Woodland Trust - Bronze Award for Ashley 

We are very happy to inform you that we have just been awarded our first 'Woodland Trust Green Tree School award'.  This is due to our children working hard planting new trees, wildlife hedges, recycling and showing care for the environment. Silver next!             

RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch 

From 26^th January - 28^th January Ashley will be taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. Every year, hundreds of thousands people take part, helping to build a picture of how our garden birds are doing. Why not sign up via the link shown and take part at home too!