GODSTONE VILLAGE SCHOOL. Dear Parents and Carers,

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1 GODSTONE VILLAGE SCHOOL Dear Parents and Carers, Welcome to the first newsletter of the school year! I hope that you and your families have had a restful holiday and have managed to enjoy some quality time together. We have been looking forward to having your children back with us! The holiday period was extremely busy at school. Parents who were able to attend my head teachers presentation followed by the class teacher presentations over the last three weeks will know and have seen for themselves the extent of the building refurbishments! I would like to thank Mr Stewart for project managing over the summer, all the staff and many external professionals who have made all the transformation change possible! In summary, four classrooms have been decorated (Nursery, Years 4, 5 and 6). In addition the staffroom has been refurbished. A wall now separates the staff room and the resources area (previously all open plan). Emergency lighting, a smoke detector, repositioning of a wall radiator and an upgrade of fire doors explains the level of work undertaken in just these two rooms! Thank you to Mrs Edwards and Ms Walker and their families who have transformed the medical room over the summer. All the children toured the school during the first week to see all the changes for themselves! All classes now use laptops. Last term the Infant children experienced slow machines in the IT suite meaning that valuable learning time was lost. I completed (with IT consultants) an audit of hardware within the school over the summer. Wireless has also been installed throughout the school. My head teacher office has now relocated to where the computing suite was and the library stays in situ.

2 Our wrap around provision Swans is now in the main building (known during the day as the practical bay ). These are much better facilities for the children and staff to enjoy. Thank you to all Swans parents and carers who have been so amenable during the start of term. We know it takes a little time to become familiar with any changes - for example noting with care the new doorbell for Swans not the office door bell! A big thank you to all of the Swan s team and many other staff who made the transition of our before and after school club happen! Our big news does not stop here! At the beginning of term we launched our new school website: This will be our main form of communication so it is really important you frequently check the website for messages and letters. And finally, thank you to all parents, carers and friends who joined our Harvest Service on Friday morning. The order of service ran exceptionally well and the children excelled! Thank you for your support, as explained during the service food items will be given to Welcare and the 70 raised from the collection will be given to the Send a Cow charity. Your children are a credit to you all; they have risen to our high expectations and worked hard during the first few weeks of our new school year. Well done to all! Candida Jarrott-Chase Head Teacher head@godstone.surrey.sch.uk

3 SECONDARY SCHOOL OPEN EVENINGS Warwick School Wednesday, 28th September 6pm to 9pm St Bede s Thursday, 29th and Friday, 30th September (Open Mornings) am to 11.30am Oxted School Wednesday, 6th October 6pm to 9pm (Further details can be found on the schools websites)

4 GODSTONE VILLAGE SCHOOL OPEN DAY and OPEN EVENING 2017 Wednesday 9 th November: 9:00am 11:00am 6:30pm 9:00pm

5 YEAR 1 FIRST FOREST SCHOOL FRIDAY 23 RD SEPTEMBER 2016 On Friday 23 rd September, 15 members of Kingfishers went on their first outing to Forest School. The children were very excited to visit Bay Pond and explore the forest and everything it has to offer. Mrs Lancashire talked the children through what they would be doing and the children were excited to experience all the different activities. They spent some time searching the Forest for things they could find for their Forest School name. Abby Acorn, Darcie Dirt and Sophie Stick were just some of the fantastic names that the children came up with! They did some leaf printing, where they used leaves from the surroundings and used a hammer to print them onto some fabric. The children got a chance to explore the Forest, climb some trees and built some amazing Dens! We finish our session with a fire circle, toasting yummy marshmallows as a special treat! The children talked about their favourite part of Forest Schools and what they would like to do in the future.

6 HARVEST SERVICE FRIDAY 23 RD SEPTEMBER 2016 Today was an exciting day for our infant and junior children. The children were filled with excitement as they walked past Bay Pond to St. Nicholas Church. Children in Years 1 and 2 performed harvest poems together. Years 3 and 4 shared factual information from their topic learning, describing harvest in the Stone and Iron Age. Year 5 presented From seed to harvest and Year 6 informed us about harvest festivals from around the world. The harvest service was interspersed with beautiful singing of; Harvest time has come, Harvest Samba, Everybody Praise him and Harvest song. Prayers were led by Rev Peter O Connell twice during the service.

7 DIARY DATES SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2016 Date Time Event Thursday 29 th September 9:00am Reception Phonics talk to parents in the hall Thursday 29 th September 10:00am 12:00pm Year 4 Bay Pond Trip x 15 Friday 30 th September Individual School Photos Monday 3 rd October 1:00pm 3:00pm Year 4 Bay Pond Trip x 15 Tuesday 4 th October 9:30am Cygnets AM/PM and Robins Harvest Festival Thursday 6 th October 9:00am 3:00pm Years 5&6 Trip to Cuckmere Haven Thursday 6 th October 3:45pm 5:00pm Cross Country Years St Marys Monday 10 th October 10:00am 12:00pm Year 4 Bay Pond Trip x 15 Monday 10 th October 1:00pm 3:00pm Year 4 Bay Pond Trip x 15 Wednesday 12 th October 9:00am 11:30am Years 5&6 Sports Crew Pupils to be confirmed Thursday 13 th October 3:45pm 5:00pm Quick Sticks Years Tatsfield Friday 14 th October 7:00pm Friends Quiz Night Monday 17 th Friday 21 st October Dates / times to be advised by Nursery AM - Cygnets Parents Appointments PM - Cygnets Parents Appointments Teachers Tuesday 18 th October 1:00pm 3:00pm Year 4 Bay Pond x 15 Wednesday 19 th October 4:40pm 7:30pm Parents Evening R Year 6 Thursday 20 th October 10:00am 12:00pm Year 4 Bay Pond x 15 Thursday 20 th October 3:30pm 5:40pm Parents Evening R Year 6 Friday 21 st October 3:20pm Last Day of 1 st Half of Autumn Term Monday 26 th Friday 30 th October Half Term Monday 31 st October All Day Inset Day Tuesday 1 st November Start of second half of Autumn Term