Newsletter Issue 1
Ferncumbe Friday
Friday 11th September
welcome back everyone!
It has been an absolute pleasure to see school return to some kind of normality over the past two weeks. The children and staff have certainly been pleased to see each other, and all are settling in to the different arrangements, procedures and our ‘new normal’. Thank you for bearing with us last week while we made tweaks to some of the new arrangements.
This week we have welcomed our Reception class and some new parents to the Ferncumbe Family - it is really encouraging to see all of the children making such a positive start.
Playing beautifully and making new friends!
events for the term
It is with great sadness that we are, unfortunately, unable to stage live performances this term, including our annual Christmas productions. We will be looking for other ways to celebrate, so do watch this space!
celebrating children’s achievements
We are also searching for new ways to share our Friday Achievement Assembly with you, as we know how much your children value having you watch them receive a congratulatory certificate from Miss Morris, and the all important tea and cake which follows! We are planning on inviting you to ‘Zoom’ in virtually to watch your child if they have been selected to share their achievements with their extended ‘bubble’ on a Friday. You will be notified by your class teacher in advance if it’s their assembly, and will be given an invite to enable you to to view the assembly virtually.
class pages on our school website
Please do refer to the website for all the information you need on the learning taking place in classrooms this term. Your child’s class page can be found under the ‘Curriculum’ tab on the school website.
virtual parent meetings via zoom
This term we will be conducting Parents’ Evening virtually, on Monday 28th September (3.30 - 7.30 pm) and Wednesday 30th September (3.30 - 5.30 pm). This will give you the chance to catch up with your child’s teacher/s and find out how your child is settling back in to school. Do look out for meeting invites which will be emailed to you directly.
All parents of children on the SEND register will have a review meeting this half-term with Mrs Twemlow and their child’s class teacher, so there will be no need on this occasion to double up with an additional parents’ evening appointment.
The children at Ferncumbe are about to embark on an exciting new adventure, one that aims to improve the physical, social, emotional and mental health and well-being of our children. The Daily Mile is an initiative that encourages all children to jog or run for 15 minutes everyday at their own pace. The children will record how many laps of the track they complete each day so they can watch how their stamina and fitness improve. It is proven to have many benefits for the children’s cognition and learning and of course showing them the importance of being fit and healthy. Year 5 have begun the challenge and are already challenging their personal best score. Year 4 have ran over 190km in just 3 days! The children will change into their trainers so please ensure they have trainers in their PE bag every day. If you would like further information about The Daily Mile then visit the link below:
Mrs Eaves
inset day reminder
A reminder that Friday 2nd October 2020 is an INSET day.
message from our chair of governors
In contributing to the first newsletter of the term, I wanted to welcome all of your children back to Ferncumbe and in some cases, welcome for the first time. I and my colleague Governors have been so impressed with the efforts that the staff and leadership have put in to a safe return and a safe ongoing environment; also to restoring the educational pattern and challenges to our pupils. Unprecedented times, yet much of what Ms Morris and Mrs Webb are seeking to achieve is to be as close to our standard “normal” as is possible.
I know you will all be aware that the teaching staff are quietly and quickly assessing where every child is in their learning curve, so we can maintain progress or speed up progress where we need to do so. This will be a key element of the early part of this term, so we maximise the effect we can have. This assessment is not formalised, but is creating our new baseline for each pupil after the lockdown and summer holidays.
The Governors are next due to meet in mid October. We do not plan to meet physically for the rest of this year, but will do so across the Zoom video-conferencing app. We are now able to run an election for our new Parent Governor from the four strong candidates who applied just before lock-down. Please look out for your ballot paper via SIMs Pay early next week.
On Wednesday morning this week we held the first Programme Board meeting with Arden Forest MAT CEO and a Trustee to agree the work and timings for the due diligence work needed to take the possible joining of Ferncumbe to the Arden Forest MAT forward. Ferncumbe is represented by Ms Morris, the Deputy Chair, Mrs Donna Bothamley and myself. The current assumption is that, subject to approvals etc, we would join the Arden Forest team in April 2021, the start of the financial year. Not all of the timing decisions are in the hands of the MAT or Ferncumbe, but that is our aim and I will ensure you are kept up-to-date on progress.
Let me finish by paying a huge compliment to you as parents for the assistance you have given in following and sticking to the drop-off and collection plans we are operating. I cannot over-emphasise how helpful this has been and will continue to be.
David Lane, Chair of Governors
celebrating birthdays
We completely understand that it is important and exciting for the children to mark birthdays with classmates, if they wish to. Thank you to those parents who have celebrated their child’s birthday over the past couple of years by purchasing a book for their class to share together. A book or even a playtime game is so much more impactful and long lasting than sweets or treats, and definitely something we as a school would prefer.
With very best wishes for a lovely, sunny weekend!
Tracey Webb, Deputy Headteacher