Uganda Class had a fantastic experience on Wednesday when they visited the renowned Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden.  They spent the morning in a workshop learning all about interdependence and adaptation to support their learning in Science.  They also learned about the impact of climate change and other factors causing animals to become extinct.

 

Then in the afternoon they had a guided tour of the Sanctuary and, thanks to the dryer weather, saw many of the 14 species that are cared for there.  They also got to see the Lion Rescue Centre that we as a school fundraised for 2 years ago to house the five lions that urgently needed rescuing from Ukraine. The children all reported having a fantastic time and hearing Kasanga the lion roar was such a fantastic experience for them.  I challenge you to ask the children what the difference between a ‘big cat’ and a ‘small cat’ is, and to ask them about the ‘black panther’.  Hopefully they will have remembered some of what they learned while they were there.

 

 

On Wednesday, the TSA held an EGM to elect a new Chair and agree the updated TSA constitution. We are happy to announce Steph, Oliver in Y2’s mum, was voted into the role as Chair, we are excited to have Steph on board and are grateful to her for stepping into the position. The new TSA Committee are busy working on this term's events and will be sending out information next week with everything you need to know! 

In addition to the meeting we have sold lots of second hand uniform this week. Just a reminder that Jenna runs the second-hand uniform shop. Please let Jenna know if you need any new uniform and we can organise this for you. She also takes donations of uniform that has been outgrown to keep the shop stocked!! 

We look forward to a fun packed term, hopefully raising more essential funds for our amazing little school. 

 

Thank you to all the parents that came along to the meeting on Wednesday, we look forward to continuing to working alongside our TSA who always do so much to support our school.

Well what a welcome back from the weather!  We have had all sorts this week from snow, wind, rain, floods and terrible ice.  Hopefully next week will be a bit calmer for everybody’s journeys to and from school.  We thank you all for ensuring your children made it in this week, even if a later start was needed for some of our remote locations.  It really showed how much you value your children’s time in school and we do appreciate this.  We fully understand that everyone has a different route to take and while we will always try to open the school if we feel we can, we appreciate some of our families may have more difficulty journeys travelling in than others. 

 

In case of further bad weather, if you are notifying us of your difficulties travelling to school, please do so by email to the school office as the phone line can get very busy at times like this.  If you need to know if the school is closed we communicate this information in as many ways as we can, as early as we can – usually by 7:30am.  These include the following:

• KCC School Closures website
• Announcement on our school website homepage
• School Private Facebook Community page
• Email
• Text message

   

What an amazingly busy Autumn this has been, and so much has been squeezed in – Kent Test, Book Fair, Geography trip to West Malling, trip to the West End to watch Hercules, Cerebal Palsy Day, Mental Health Day, Harvest Festival, Pumpkins, Parent Evenings, School Photos, Fireworks Night, Governor Monitoring  Morning, Open Morning, Vision Day, Children in Need, Writers Workshop, Netball matches, SIAMS Inspection, Gymnastics competition, Balanceability, Prayer Activity morning, Santa Dash, Elfridges gift grotto, iRock Concert, pantomime trip, Christmas Dinner, Christmas Jumper Day, two performances of Superstar! and our carol service.  As well as all their normal learning and playing in school and at clubs and activities. It’s hardly surprising that the children (and staff) are all rather tired right now. 

 

I hope you all enjoyed watching your little ‘stars’ on stage on Tuesday. We are so proud of how the children have represented the school already this year, the feedback from our SIAMs Inspection was testament to this and thank you to the parents who took time to congratulate the school on our inspection outcomes, it always means so much to have your support.

 

You can join the village at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Trottiscliffe at 3pm on Christmas Eve for the family Crib Service and at 11:30pm for Midnight Mass. On Christmas Day the Holy Communion service in Trottiscliffe is at 9:30am.

 

We hope all our families have a wonderful, restful break together and enjoy the Christmas festivities.  We will see you in the new year.

The whole school had a fantastic time on Wednesday when we set off en masse to enjoy Cinderella at Woodville Halls.  It is always delightful to see how the children of all ages enjoy this traditional theatre experience and, despite all the excitement, as always their behaviour was excellent and they were a credit to the school.  Huge thanks to our wonderful TSA for organising this every year and treating the school to interval ice creams too.

It is always lovely when our worship committee alongside Rev Helen and Rev Carol lead our activity mornings at the church and Monday’s Advent morning was no different.  Each of the committee led activities for the rest of the school to remind the children of why we celebrate Advent and what Christians are getting excited about at this time of year.

 

 

During our Inset day back in November, while the staff were at an education conference, Mrs Frame entered a prize draw to win some play equipment for our school. We were very lucky to discover that our school won first prize comprising of a set of outdoor play equipment for Early Years from Playtime by Fawns! The new equipment was delivered to the school this week and Kenya Class wasted no time in exploring it. It is always lovely to offer new resources to the children to enhance our provision.

We were proud to receive today a National School Attendance Award recognising our school as being in the top 10% for attendance across primary schools in England.

 

We thank all parents who support us by not taking their children out of school for days out or holidays and for ensuring their child attends school regularly.

Dear Parents and Carers of Congo, Uganda and Burundi Classes

 

As a school, we are continuing to work on providing regular opportunities for the children to edit and redraft their writing to be enjoyed by an audience, and what better audience to enjoy it than their own families!

 

As such, we are delighted to invite you into school for our very first Writing Showcase on Wednesday 18^th December.  You are welcome to visit your child/children in their classes from 3pm onwards for them to share their most recent writing with you.  If you or any other family members are unable to attend, please be assured that your child won't miss out - we plan on placing different teachers in different classes for the session, so that those children can still share their writing with someone new. 

 

We very much look forward to seeing you then!

 

Best wishes

 

Mrs Rebecca Fisher

Senior Teacher

Dear Parents and Carers

 

The Immunisation Team from Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust recently attended our school to administer the flu vaccinations.   

 

If your child was absent, unwell or otherwise unable to vaccinate on the day, they have not missed their opportunity to be immunised.  

 

The Immunisation Service would like to invite parents to book an appointment at one of their Community Clinics via the link below and clicking ‘Book a Clinic Appointment’:

https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/service/immunisation-team/

 

If your child was vaccinated during the Immunisation Team's visit to school, you are invited to complete the following survey:

Parent / Carer Survey