Message from the Headteacher,

Sadly, today is Miss Winterbourne’s last day with us before she moves on to her exciting new job. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for all she has done for the school. She has shown love and kindness in all her roles (breakfast club, class room assistant and staff governor) and has always gone above and beyond to ensure the school is a happy vibrant place.

Today we interviewed for a new teaching assistant and have appointed Miss Rogers. She has recently finished her degree in psychology and is looking forward to joining our school and becoming part of the team.

This week’s learning highlights:

• Owls Class have enjoyed the story of The Colour Monster and have been learning about feelings. They have also been learning different ways to count. In phonics they have now covered the following sounds: s, a, t, p, I, n, m, d.
• This weeks Parrots Class have been retelling the story of Cinderella through drama and have continued to explore place value in maths. In geography they have been leaning about physical and human features of landscapes and in art they have been exploring the use of natural materials.
• Eagles Class have been learning about story mapping in English and have been working in 1,000’s and 10,000’s in maths. In geography a they have been learning about which animals live in the different layers of the rain forest and I was very impressed by their knowledge.
• Penguins Class have been creating similes and metaphors to describe their book ‘Cosmic.’ In science they have been learning about the planets in our solar system. In maths they have been learning about the powers of 10 and they also had lots of fun in DT making rockets.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Other information: Whilst we are very proud of our fantastic attendance., It’s coming to that time of year where germs are spreading and it can be difficult to decide when to send children to school and when to keep them at home. The NHS has produced this handy guidance to consult if you are unsure. Is my child too ill for school? – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Year 6 Secondary school admissions have now opened. Please apply online at: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/secondaryadmissions 

Oxfordshire have produced a fantastic searchable directory of services and activities available to families in our area. Family Information Service (oxfordshire.gov.uk)

Thank you to all who supported the history event at New Barn Farm on Sunday. I hope you had fun learning about life in the local area during WWII.

Poppies Please

Remembrance Day is fast approaching and Claire Brown is busy planning the decorations for the village bus shelter. Please can you help by making some poppies she can use in one of her fabulous displays. They can be made of any material e.g. paper craft, knitted, sculpted etc. Please bring your poppies into school by 1st November so we can be sure to get them to her on time. Many thanks.

Update from Mr. Shaughnessy- RET Director of Primary Studies

On behalf of the team at Ridgeway Education Trust, I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable summer and that the new school year has started well. September is always a great time of year to be part of a school community – Rachael Warwick, Trust CEO, and I were lucky enough to experience the buzz of excitement amongst the Long Wittenham team when we visited as part of the September INSET days, and I know from my visits to school since then that school staff are bringing this enthusiasm into their day-to-day roles working alongside your children.

I am so excited to have taken up the newly created post of RET Director of Primary Education. Prior to joining the trust I was headteacher of Northbourne CE Primary School in Didcot for 13 years, and, within this role, also worked as an Ofsted inspector and School Improvement Advisor for another, large multi-academy trust. I am really looking forward to supporting Mrs. Fraser and her team on their ongoing journey of improvement at this really exciting stage of the school’s development.

The RET team and I will aim to provide regular updates about our ongoing work through Mrs. Fraser’s weekly newsletters so please look out for this as the process of Long Wittenham formally joining the trust continues. I hope to get chance to meet some of you when I am on-site through the coming weeks and months, and look forward to working within the wider Long Wittenham community.

Key dates

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