Headteacher Message!
Good Afternoon,
Welcome back to school and a happy new year! I hope you had a wonderful festive season, filled with rest, relaxation, and quality time with loved ones.
Along with other local church schools, we were invited to produce a display for the Cathedral’s School’s Christmas art exhibition on the theme of Light in the Darkness. Year 4 created lanterns which are part of the display. If you have time to visit the exhibition at Guildford Cathedral, it is there until the 3rd February.
Since September, we have introduced 'Time in' throughout the school. ‘Time In’ takes place immediately after lunch for 10 minutes and it is designed to give children time to reflect and for mindfulness as well as give time for pupils to be able to share a worry or concern directly or adding a note in the class communication box. If needed, the time can be used by classteachers to resolve a lunchtime issue quickly. During the 10 minutes of 'Time In', children will self-select the activity they undertake quietly and calmly. The activities include accessing the prayer space, reading, listening to relaxing music, completing a puzzle, yoga activities, complete a journal or mindful colouring.
Our Year 6 children are eagerly looking forward to the residential visit next week, where they’ll have opportunities to experience new activities, develop teamwork skills and make lasting memories with their peers. It will be one of their highlights from this year! My heartfelt thanks to the staff who have generously volunteered their time to accompany the children on this experience. Their dedication and support help make these opportunities possible. Here’s to an exciting and rewarding trip.
This may be the shortest term of the year, but it is another busy one. As always the school diary on our website contains the things we have planned.
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs Ratcliff
Punctuality -
Frequent lateness can negatively affect your child’s mental health, learning ability, concentration and friendships. Children who frequently arrive late are at a significant disadvantage compared to those who arrive on time, every day. Children who arrive on time are able to settle quickly into class and apply themselves more successfully to their learning.
Absence -
Attendance
Regular attendance is essential if children are going to make progress at school. If your child is absent please let us know via the absence line or if your child is unwell via Studybugs by 8.30am. We need to be informed of the reason for every absence.
It is our responsibility to ensure that all children are accounted for and any children who are missing from school, we need to ensure that they are safe and well. Failure to inform us may result in the school calling you to check on your child. In line with our policy, if we do not receive a response back from you this may result in a member of Senior Leadership Team attending your home address to do a school visit to ensure the child is safe and well.
It is our safeguarding responsibility to ensure that all children that attend Ashley School are kept safe at all times. We would appreciate your cooperation and understanding when we may need to follow the procedure above.
Sickness Absence
Not every illness will require a child to stay away from school. During term time, your child should attend school regularly unless he or she is ill or the school has authorised their absence. If your child is too ill to come to school, you must let the school know before 8.30am on each day of absence.
If you are unsure if you should keep your child home from school due to illness, please look at this useful website "Is my child too ill for school? Click here.
If you child will be absent due to illness. Please contact the school either by:
- calling the office number: 01932 227695, selecting option 1 and leaving a message
- Study Bugs App - Get the app or register now (https://studybugs.com/about/parents)
Please ensure that you state the nature of your child's illness (e.g. headache, vomiting, etc.) If you state that that they are under the weather or unwell, we will call you to clarify.
If your child will be absent for a prolonged period of time, the check-in and absence reporting frequency will be agreed by a member of Ashley's Senior Leadership Team and communicated via the School Administration Team.
All absence is recorded and monitored by the attendance team and a strict procedure is followed.
REMINDERS-
PARKING - We have had quite a few complaints from our local residents regarding parking. Please can we take this opportunity to remind you to be considerate of our neighbours and the local community when parking to access the school site at the start and end of the school day.
For the safety of all of our children, please can we also request that you do not stop on the busy main road directly outside of the school to drop your children off.
ARBOR APP - Please can we remind all parents to log in and review all your child’s details to ensure we have the correct contact information on file such as correct mobile numbers and emergency contact details. If you have changed address or telephone numbers recently, please ensure that you amend these details via the app as soon as possible. Also, we ask that you also review the parental consents for your child. If you have any questions regarding the consents or use of the app, please email us at parents@ashley.surrey.sch.uk
First Aid - Bumps and bruises are a usual occurrence with children as part of their play and physical development. When this happens at school each incident is treated on a case by case basis. To safeguard the children, we aim to give them as much dignity and self regulation as possible. At times it may be appropriate to ask a child to go to the toilet to check their own body (e.g. Pull their tights down to look at their knee) and report back to a first aider. However, at other times it may also be appropriate for an adult to check a child over or for us to ask you to do this yourself as parents/cares, where appropriate.
Chinese New Year Lunch - A reminder that our Chinese New Year lunch will be on Wednesday 29th January. If you wish to book your child in for a Chinese lunch on this day, please book before Friday 24th January via scopay.
Term Dates 2025/2026
Please note there will be 3 additional INSET days to be confirmed.
Children do not attend school on INSET days
The Past Fortnight -
Year 5 -
Last week, Year 5 began our learning topic work on Anglo-Saxons by beginning our exploration of the epic poem Beowulf, (originally written in the Saxon dialect) in English. The children came up with some excellent figurative language to describe the monster, Grendel and the hero, Beowulf. During our History lesson, the pupils thoroughly enjoyed exploring a huge range of Anglo-Saxon artifacts - from ornate, bronze broaches and rings to a leather pouch of 'runes' - the alphabet used by Scandinavian people from the year 150CE to the Middle Ages. They were inspired by being able to actually handle the ancient objects and recorded detailed notes about how the artifacts looked and what they were used for in Anglo Saxon times.
-Mrs Kent 
Year 4 -
In art, Y4 will be looking at the work of Hunterwasser and his connection to the natural world. To start off this learning, Y4 experimented with and explored mark making by looking at words and creating marks to represent them. This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to be creative and explore different ideas with oil pastels and charcoal. We discussed how the different words could be represented and understood that there is no right or wrong with art, it's all down to the artist and their interpretation. This was a great start to looking at how to create different marks and will lead us into creating a piece of artwork inspired by the work of Hunterwasser.
Mrs Ready
Year 3 -
Year 3 enjoyed a visit from some Rainforest animals. They had a wonderful time listening to our amazing visitor whilst also having the time to touch and hold some awesome animals. We hope the children come home and share lots of interesting facts with you.
- Miss Williams
Reception -
In reception we are enjoying our new learning enquiry "zoom to the moon" we have been looking at Tim Peake and how he got involved in space. During our learning we made star projector torches and astronaut helmets
- Miss Key
PE -
Well done to the children who represented Ashley at the Sportshall Athletics. We are all very proud of you for your contribution to Ashley School Sports. Good Luck to all those children taking part in the cross-country event on Saturday!
- Miss Williams 
Last Friday the girls football team secured a 4-2 against Holy Family . Great team effort girls! 
Greenredreem -
We're excited to have been selected for the 'Greenredeem' scheme once again this term. Please spread the word to your friends and family so that we can get closer to purchasing that polytunnel.
Enter the prize draw to earn Ashley 50 points and a further 25 points can be found through their instagram.
☕️ Ashley SEND parents coffee catch-up ☕️
Friday 31st January from 1.30pm till pick up at the Walton Village on the High Street for an informal coffee catch-up. All welcome 🙂 Hope to see you then!
P.s we will be in the room towards the back on the left.