Weekly News - Friday 21st May 2021

World Meditation Day

Today is World Meditation Day, and in Upper School assembly this morning, we considered this quote from the actor Dick Van Dyke: "When you’re a kid, you lay in the grass and watch the clouds going over, and you don’t have a thought in your mind. It’s purely meditation, and we lose that". We then participated in this beautiful three minute meditation together, enjoying the images and sensations. Why not take part in this with your children again over the weekend?

There are events running throughout the day for World Meditation Day until 8 p.m. this evening - you can find more details here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/world-meditation-day-free-tickets-151332817531

Residential Days

On Wednesday, our Year 3 classes enjoyed their outdoor-based residential day and on Thursday, the Year 6 children immersed themselves in France and all things French for their residential day. You can read more about these days and their value in Mrs. Drummond's Head's Blog today and you can see photographs of the days on our Galleries page.

Thames Water Assembly

Many thanks indeed to James from Thames Water, who delivered an informative and thought-provoking assembly to our Upper School classes on Monday. James told us all about the importance of being 'water-wise', which means being considerate about our water use. The children engaged enthusiastically with the quiz questions and clearly have a good understanding now of how to use less water and why it is so important to consider and limit our use of this precious resource. As discussed, if each person can make one change to their water use, we can together make a real difference. Hopefully, your children will want to spread the word, encouraging their family and friends to be more 'water-wise' too.

There is a fantastic e-book available to download regarding water saving, with a related competition! Please do take a look and encourage your child to enter this competition too.
https://www.waterwise.org.uk/drycompetition/

Well done to Charlee G and Pavan S (Year 3), who were so inspired by the assembly that they are creating their own presentation to share with their peers to further highlight the importance of saving water.

Singing Competition Finalists

Congratulations to these children, who have been selected as finalists for this year's Singing Competition!

Year 2
Zinnia M
Mia O
Innaya S
Diya B

Year 3
Samara P
Hana H
Amaya L

Year 4
Advik S
Anaiya B
Eshanvi A
Minaya W
Inaya S

Year 5

Aanya B
Rivan K
Anjka G
Shruthi T

Year 6
Maya T
Jessica L
Riya C

The final will take place next Friday and we are all looking forward to watching the children perform before our guest judge Gemma Cross picks her winners! Gemma is the vocal and choral lead for Slough Music Services.

Royal Mail 'Design a Stamp' Competition

We would like to encourage children (aged 4-14) to enter a very special competition being run by the Royal Mail.

For more than 50 years Royal Mail’s Special Stamp programme has commemorated British history and achievement. Stamps have also been issued to honour the achievements of many British people. Often, the people who appear on stamps are already famous. They include scientists and explorers, writers, artists, musicians, athletes, and Prime Ministers.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, there have been many people who have done great things. Many of them are not famous, but they have done extraordinary work. These are the people who have helped us all through a really difficult time. Some are frontline workers in healthcare, others look after elderly or vulnerable people. Millions of key workers have kept the country going when most of us were told to stay home for our own safety. And there have been many people who volunteered to help people in their communities who needed help or support. Royal Mail wants to honour these heroes by producing a set of eight stamps.

The stamps will feature designs created by eight school-aged children. Pupils should think about who their hero or heroes are, and then design a stamp in their honour. A special panel of judges will pick the winning designs. The final eight stamps will be sent to Her Majesty The Queen before they can be printed and issued.

You can find out further information, including how to submit your entries, here:
https://www.stampcompetition.ichild.co.uk/

The closing date for entries is 5 p.m. on Friday 28th May 2021. Please do let us know if your child enters and how they get on!

Teddy Talks

Thank you so very much to all of the parents who have sent such positive feedback and heartfelt thanks for the Teddy Talks which we shared last week. The talks are a part of our new Pre-School Parenting Programme, through which we aim to support parents of babies and toddlers in the local community and beyond. Please do continue to watch and share the talks, and to let us know if you have ideas for topics for our next set of talks, which will be filmed later this year.

We plan to launch our first free in-person pre-school classes, our Mother and Baby Mindfulness Classes, in September. If you are interested in taking part in these, then please telephone the school office on 01895 234371 to register your interest.

Virtual Open Morning

We held our summer term Virtual Open Morning for prospective parents today and it was both enjoyable and successful! As well as talking to those who joined us about our school aims, values and provision, we were able to play them a Teddy Talk and answer their questions about joining us. Don't forget that we are now running a Virtual Open Morning once per term, as well as our in-person school tours, so if you have any friends or family who might be interested in attending these, please tell them to visit the school website for more information and to register their interest.

Wraparound Care Bookings

We would like to remind parents that, while it is usually possible to book wraparound care at the last minute via your SchoolsBuddy account, it is enormously helpful for the organisation of our staffing and catering if parents could book required sessions in advance as much as possible. Many thanks for your support with this.

Library Books

Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Emanuel, our school librarians, ask that pupils and parents check school bags and return any stray library books ahead of the half term break.

Uniform4Kids Summer Plans

Our uniform supplies, Uniform4Kids (Pullens) have asked us to share their plans for summer opening with parents, so that you can plan your uniform shopping for the new academic year. The headline news is that they will once again be opening the shop by appointment only from June to mid-August. There will also be extended opening hours in the final week of August just before the new term starts. You can find out more information on their plans here and you can book your appointments online at www.uniform4kids.com.

Weekend and Half Term Classes

Hotshots Football Academy

Hotshots Football Academy are offering a free first class for boys and girls aged 4-12. Classes take place in Uxbridge from 9.00 to 10.15 a.m. on Saturdays. If you are interested in signing your child up, you can find out more information here. 

Computer Xplorers

Computer Xplorers have fun and exciting Half Term Holiday classes open to children age 6+ from Monday 31st May to Friday 4th June, as follows.

Video Game Animation (Age 6-8)

9 a.m. - 10 a.m., Monday 31st May to Friday 4th June

The perfect introduction to programming for primary school children. Children aged 6-8 will make progress as they learn how to program an animation in this class using Scratch - an easy-to-understand drag-and-drop programming method.

Click on the link below to register:
https://middlesex.computerxplorers.co.uk/classes/videogameanimation-coding-tech-class

Kodu Game Design (Age 8+)

10.15 a.m. - 11.15 a.m., Monday 31st May to Friday 4th June

Children will use Kodu, a graphical programming environment, to design and build games. They will then create a range of terrains, worlds and characters, controlling the characters' movement, sound and vision using an intuitive, icon-based programming language.

This is a great class for budding game designers and tech enthusiasts. Are your children up for a new challenge? Now is your child's chance to develop coding and programming skills in our online Game Design classes! 

Click on the link below to register:
https://middlesex.computerxplorers.co.uk/classes/kodu-3d-game-design-class

JavaScript Game Design (Age 11+)

11.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m., Monday 31st May to Friday 4th June

Students will learn to design, code and build their very own arcade games to keep using JavaScript. This is a great class for budding game designers and tech enthusiasts. Are your children up for a new challenge? Now is your child's chance to develop coding and programming skills in these online Game Design classes!  

Click on the link below to register :
https://middlesex.computerxplorers.co.uk/classes/javascript-game-design-class