Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary School Newsletter

Hardwick and Cambourne Community Primary
School Newsletter
March 27th 2015
Dear Parents and Guardians
We hope you all have a very happy Easter Holidays. This has only been a short half term but we seem to have
packed just as much as ever into it, this week the Y5/6 children have been enjoying recycling workshops, we
seem to have small superheroes popping up everywhere, and Y3/4 are still glowing (orange!) after their wonderful production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Some of you have noticed that out school website is now completely transformed, we are still working on it, and
do let us know if you have any suggestions, or find a link that doesn’t work. We’d like to thank the governors,
parents and children who have all been part of the planning process and helped in its re-design. Our Its Learning
pages are still where you will find even more information about the school, do contact either school office if you
do not know the parent logon details.
The summer term starts back on Monday 13th April,. We have now planned our training days for the next
academic year, so please see the term dates later in this newsletter. We hope you all have a very happy Easter
holidays and the children come back refreshed for the many exciting activities and challenges ahead of them next
term.
Andy Matthews & Ruth French (Co-Headteachers)
Reception news
Reception started this half term exploring the rainforest. We read Julia Donaldson’s ‘Monkey Puzzle’ and wrote our
very own ‘Monkey Puzzle’ stories using our fantastic phonic skills. Then we dived into our ‘Under the Sea’ topic.
We certainly have some budding marine biologists in reception! Did you know that sharks have 50 teeth? It was
lovely to see so many Mums and Grandmas join us for our Mother’s day afternoon. We hope you enjoyed the activities and being pampered. We felt particularly envious of your beautiful finger nails and soft hands! So after a
busy half term jam-packed with lots of exciting learning the children are ready for a well- earned Easter break.
On their return we shall be launching into our new topic ‘Growing’. We all wish Mrs Hoban well as she starts her
maternity leave, and are looking forward to welcoming Mrs Rand to our team!
Thank you for your ongoing support.
The Reception Team
Year 1/2 news
First and foremost, we would like to wish everyone a very happy
Easter, and hope they get a well-earned break! The children have
worked incredibly hard during the last half term, but we are sure
their new found super powers have helped them out! ‘Super Heroes’
has been a hugely enjoyable topic. The children have been truly engaged and this is clearly evident in their work, especially their stories
which are a heady mix of thrills, spills and daring missions- each of
them a great read! The children on both sites were really excited and
proud to share some of their work with you yesterday at Hardwick
and today in Camboure. Our next topic will be ‘Be Wild’ which is largely based around the Bewilderwood books,
and we’ll be asking the children to create their own fantasy lands full of creative creatures! There will also be a
trip to the real Bewilderwood so the children will be able to fully immerse themselves into this hidden world!
We'd also like to welcome Miss Emma Sayers to the Year 1/2 team. Emma is completing her final placement as
part of the PGCE at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, and will be working at our Hardwick site
for the next 9 weeks. She will be working mostly in Miss Cameron's class but will of course be involved in the
teaching of children across the year group. If you see her, please do say hello and welcome her to Hardwick.
The Year 1/2 team
Year 3/4 news
This term has ended on a real high, with the performance of ‘Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory’. We would like to say a huge well done to all the
children for producing such an entertaining play with especially lively
singing. The children have really enjoyed themselves and we feel they
have done exceptionally well to pull this off in only four weeks. Again,
we would like to reiterate our thanks for your support with costumes,
songs and helping the children learn their lines. We are extremely
grateful.
Our next topic will be Rivers and Mountains, which will include a strong
geography focus, poetry about nature, landscape painting, musical compositions and learning about rocks in science. We are also very excited
about the up-and-coming Year 4 trip to Grafham Water (20th-22nd April)
and the very special Wind in the Willows project that the Year 3s and other children who are
not going to Grafham will be doing.
After Easter, we will be welcoming Mr Gordon Williams, a PGCE student from Homerton College, who will be joining the Year 3/4 team until mid-June and working mostly in Miss
Swann’s class.
We hope that you have a restful and fantastic holiday.
The Year 3/4 Year
Year 5/6 news
We have all been thoroughly enjoying our current theme of Tomorrow’s World, including the activities and talks given by some visitors to further enrich our learning.
Dr Vanessa Bowman from the British Antarctic Survey came in to tell us all about her work and
the extreme conditions experienced by the scientists there. All of us tried on some of the clothing she has to wear whilst at the Antarctic and a few of us snuggled down in the sleeping bags.
The Time Truck from the University of Cambridge visited Year 5 to teach us about history and
geology. One of the things we learned was that the United Kingdom used to be on the Equator!
In connection with our work on taking care of our planet Amey Cespa (formerly Donarbon) in
Waterbeach, led a day of activities based on recycling. Nick showed us how to put our cereal
boxes to good use by creating moving animals. We plan to paint them soon.
Each class has adopted an endangered animal (Miss Haji’s – a snow leopard, Mrs Garland’s – an
orang-utan and Mrs Creamer’s – an Asian elephant) as part of our topic learning and we will continue to follow their progress in the months to come.
Our football team recently won their match against Jeavons Wood, 3:0 with goals from Thomas Milton and
Hathayfa. Jeavons Wood was a veritable opponent, sitting second in the league so our win was warmly celebrated.
Holiday homework: No specific homework is being set for the holidays but we would encourage Year 6s to spend
some time on BBC Skillswise, keeping their knowledge and skills fresh.
Wishing you a Happy Easter from the Year 5/6 Team.
Dinner Money
The cost of school dinners for next half term is as follows:
If your child is in Y4 and going to Grafham, and you usually pay half- termly, remember to take £2.15 off for
each day they are away.
Daily
£2.15
Weekly
£10.75
Half Term
£62.35
Diary Dates for next term
April
Monday 13th
20th—22nd
Term starts
Y4 to Grafham Water
May
Monday 4th
11th—14th
May Day
Y6 SATs week
Half Term
June
16th—19th
July
Friday 3rd
Saturday 4th
9th and 10th
End of Term
25th—29th May
Y6 to Hilltop
Reports
Carnival
Y6 transition days
Tuesday 21st July
Somewhere in here we will also fit a Y1/2 trip, A Reception trip, Sports Day, a Y3/4 trip, a Y5/6 production, reports, class lists, new intake evenings for next
year’s Reception, and a lot more! Oh and making
sure we have a new school site finished and ready to
move into over the summer holidays! Please look out
for more dates being added as the term progresses.
Term Dates 2015-16
Here are the dates for next academic year, so the dates
below are when your children should be at school, and
for your reference to ensure you do not book family holidays during term time. We are taking three of our five
training days for the academic year in one block in September so we have the maximum time possible to set
up the new school site and cover training and induction
for the start of the new school year We also hope this
gives families the opportunity to make the most of the
bank holiday week!
Autumn Term 2015
Training Days: Weds 2nd, Thurs 3rd, Fri 4th
September (School closed)
Begins
Monday 7th September
Half Term:
26h -30th October
Training day:
Monday 2nd November (School closed)
Ends:
Friday 18th December
Spring Term 2016
Begins:
Monday 4h January
Training Day: Monday 25th January (School closed)
Half Term:
15th- 19th February
Ends:
Thurs 24th March
Summer Term
Begins:
May Day:
Half Term:
Ends:
2016
Monday 11th April
Monday 2nd May
30th May—3rd June
Thurs 21st July
Bus Passes!
The coach company have asked for parents to please ensure that the children using the Cambourne bus always
have their bus pass with them as they travel. If their bus pass has been mislaid or lost you will need to contact
Education Transport for a replacement.