Newsletter Issue 2
ferncumbe friday
friday 1st october 2021
A reminder that Mrs Grier is running a Marble Run competition this half term! Have a go at using all your engineering and creative skills to build a run that keeps a marble in motion for as long as possible. Any tools are allowed, any height, length - no limits! Video your run in real time so it can be timed and send it to Mrs Grier by 18th October, so the winners can be announced by Half Term. More details and advice were sent home in an e-mail recently.
Good luck!
sports leaders
Rowington Class had their first session with the sports leaders from Warwick School last week, and it was huge success. They worked in teams to practise their football skills and finished the lesson off with a match.
Miss Blackwell
yoga and relaxation
Members of Lowsonford Class helped each other to create relaxing lavender eye pillows during their Enrichment activity last week, for use when they do their relaxation at the end of the session. Our Yoga teacher said how lovely it was to was to see the children working together creating poses and then making their eye pillows. The children have been heard to say how they genuinely feel much calmer after each session.
Advance notice that we will be taking part in the national ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ on Friday 10th December 2021. Pupils are invited to wear a Christmas or Winter themed top to school, with their normal school skirt or trousers. Please don’t feel it necessary to go out and buy a new top - a home decorated one is absolutely fine!
Update from the Friends of Ferncumbe
The Friends of Ferncumbe held its annual general meeting (AGM) on 14 September. Thank you to everyone who attended. Your new committee members are:
Emma Lessard / Michelle Cresswell: Co-Chair and Co-Secretary
Malcolm Gardner: Treasurer
Jenny Deakin, Ellen Reid , Marsha Hughes, Lucy Lilley, Sarah Hoskin, Heather Reid and Tracey Webb.
We are delighted to welcome some new faces to the committee. If you were unable to attend the AGM, but would still like to be involved, it is not too late. Please do contact one of us. We would love you to join us or hear your ideas.
Our report 2020/2021 has been published below. Although our fundraising was curtailed substantially due to Covid19, we are delighted to have agreed to contribute £700 towards the school garden improvements and £4,280 towards the music enrichment provided for the children for this academic year.
If any new or existing parents work for companies which offer matched funding for charitable fundraising events, we would love to hear from you. Matched funding makes such a difference to our fundraising efforts.
We are busy planning fundraising events. The ‘Ferncumbe Bake Off’ will be run again over October half term. This year, it will be to celebrate Mrs Heather Reid’s birthday and the theme for your showstoppers will be ‘The Ferncumbe Family’. Further details about how to enter will be provided shortly. In addition, we are hosting another ‘Big Curry Night In’ with Taste Events. Food will be delivered on Thursday 18 November, with the ‘Big Night In’ on Friday 19 November. The menu and ordering instructions will be shared closer to the time.
Thank you for your support.
The Friends of Ferncumbe
friends of ferncumbe Chairs’ Report – 2020 / 2021
Despite another different and difficult year, the Friends of Ferncumbe are pleased to report on a successful range of fundraising events.
We would like to thank all of the trustees for their hardwork: Helen Bonnar, Jenny Deakin, Ellen Reid, Sarah Hoskin, Marsha Hughes, Sally Morris and all other parents who have supported us throughout the year by either volunteering or donating. All of the profits we raise go directly towards supporting the enrichment and benefit of the children and this would not be possible without your support.
Due to the ongoing Covid19 restrictions, we were prevented from holding some of our usual fundraising events. However, this made us think outside of the box and we ran some new creative alternatives, which were very successful
We helped celebrate Miss Morris’ birthday by arranging the first Ferncumbe ‘Bake Off’ over October half term. It was a huge success, with many entries across different year groups. The creativity and variety of your showstopping cakes and biscuits was truly impressive.
During the festive period, additional fundraising was obtained via a contribution from the Christmas card company and the DVD producer.
With the help of our fantastic quiz master, we took our annual quiz online. It was a brilliant evening and meant we could introduce a “fastest finger first” element, which added to the competitive atmosphere.
We ran two ‘Big Nights In’ supported by a local catering company, Taste Events. Delicious curries and Mexican dishes were on the menu. Some families used these as virtual dinner party opportunities.
As we were unable to run the traditional Easter bingo, we opted to trial a new event, a virtual balloon race. Families enjoyed designing and tracking their balloons over the holiday period.
A second hand uniform sale helped raise further funds and helped recycle good quality pre-loved clothing.
Thank you to those parents who have signed up to support us via Amazon, Easy Fundraising and PayPal, which has helped generate additional income.
We are extremely grateful to all those parents who have managed to secure match funding for our events. It makes a significant difference to our fundraising. We urge all parents to check with their employers to see whether this opportunity is available
Our first ‘Summer Fun Day’ saw the children entertained by Magic Russ, huge inflatables, outdoor games and a disco. Your generous donations were received gratefully and meant that all costs of the events were covered and a good profit was made. Most importantly, the children were treated to a memorable and fun end of year event after a difficult year.
We are pleased to have contributed towards the cost of the renovation of the garden area at school. Thank you to those staff and parents who worked tirelessly to create such a lovely space for our children to enjoy.
With the profit raised from this financial year, we have committed to fund the enrichment activities for the next academic year. We are sure that you will agree that this is one of the unique features of Ferncumbe life, which we are pleased to be able to provide.
We have lots of fundraising events planned for 2021 / 2022 (Covid19 permitting!) and hope to be able to raise a healthy profit to support the children and the school. Further details can be obtained from the Treasurer’s annual report. If you would like a copy, please email us: thefriendsofferncumbe@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Emma Lessard and Michelle Cresswell
parking
A respectful plea from some local residents has come in to ask that parents park considerately around school during pick-up times. Drivers pulling out of Starmer Place often have no view of oncoming traffic due to cars being parked on both sides of the road.
It also really does help the flow of traffic if everyone adopts the voluntary one-way system when driving to school, entering from the Hockley Road/Dark Lane end and exiting on to the Birmingham Road.
Thank you for your continuing support with this.
With very best wishes for a lovely weekend,
Tracey Webb, Head of School