Atwood News for Week Ending 3rd February

Mr Veale’s welcome

We have made it through January.  At the time of writing, the intensity of the sunlight is getting brighter and stronger, as the Sun appears to climb higher in the sky.  Where has time gone?  This time next week, we will be preparing for our February half term holiday and that marks the halfway point through the academic year.

Here’s something for the children that I wanted to pass on- all about the month of February.  Parents, why don’t you encourage them to read this section?

February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The month has 28 days in common years or 29 in leap years, with the 29th day being called the leap day. It is the first of five months not to have 31 days (the other four being April, June, September, and November) and the only one to have fewer than 30 days. February is the third and last month of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

Symbols of February:

• Birthstone: Amethyst
• Flower: Primrose
• Zodiac signs: Aquarius and Pisces

History:
February was added to the Roman calendar in 713 BC. The length of the month changed over time and, at one time, it had as few as 23 days. When Julius Caesar remade the Roman calendar, the month was assigned 28 days during normal years and 29 days during leap years which occurred every four years.

Historical Names:
Roman: Februarius
Saxon: Sol-monath
Germanic: Hornung

Interesting Facts about February

• It is the shortest month of the year.
• The Welsh call February “y mis bach” which means “little month”.
• It is the third month of winter.
• In the Southern Hemisphere February is a summer month the equivalent of August.
• The month is named for the Latin word februum which means purification.
• Together with January, it was the last of the months added to the Roman calendar.
• The largest American sporting event of the year, the Super Bowl, is held in February.
• The Saxon term for the month, Sol-monath, means “cake month”. This is because they offered cakes to the gods during this month.

Strike Action

Wednesday 1st February saw the first day of industrial action involving teachers from the NEU.  As I have said before, teachers do not traditionally have a propensity to strike- a teacher should be teaching children, however, many teachers feel that industrial action is the only way in which pay and conditions will be improved.  My thanks to parents, carers and children for being so understanding.  Please note that the next planned strike day is on Thursday 2nd March.  After that, it will be both Wednesday and Thursday 15th and 16th March.  As a reminder to parents, it may not necessarily be the same teachers and the same classes striking and being affected.

Precious Items and Toys in School

I was delighted to resolve the issue around the missing Pokemon cards.

Netball News

What a super couple of matches against Forestdale.  I managed to catch one of them and I have added a selection of my photos into the gallery below.  Once again the girls played really well against a strong side.

Young Voices write-up

I am delighted to include in this edition, a write up penned by Owen and Nadir in Year 6.  Here is their unedited version:

‘Young Voices was the best concert. It’s not just a casual concert, it’s the largest children’s concert with it covering from 5,000-8,000 with famous celebrities performing on stage such as Heather Small from the m people. In addition, this choir is held in the O2, one of the biggest stadiums in Europe. In my opinion, the colourful light dazzled my eyes, in particular it engulfed the concert and tiny lights were handed out to everyone, which I also enjoyed.

Firstly, we entered our coach, where we sat with our friends for 45 minutes, then we sat next to our seating area to eat our lunch, but this is the exciting part. We sat in our seats and auditioned for our rehearsal. Then we got 2 hours to settle in, talk to our friends and play equipment. When the show started, everyone became hyper. We waved our lights like a swaying tree. Out of nowhere, a display beamed on the wall and everyone took pictures. After the event, we headed back to the coach at around half past nine. It was a great night, and an experience we will never forget!’

Well done, Owain and Nadir- you transported me to the O2!

Word of the Week:  Imminent

The word imminent means ‘to happen very shortly’.  I did some research and I noted that this word probably came from Latin in its original form and I was right!  The word imminent entered common parlance in the late middle-ages from the Latin.  It means to ‘overhang’.

Team Points (Pupil Reward Points)

Remember that everyone at Atwood believe in the Terrific Trio- Kind Words, Kind Thoughts, Kind Actions and for that, the children are rewarded.  The first key milestone for a pupil is to reach 50 Pupil Reward Points because they will be awarded a £5 Book Token in Celebration Assembly, as we also wish to promote the love of reading at Atwood.  Each pupil has been assigned to a Team or House.  These are Air, Earth, Fire and Water.  All Pupil Reward Points also contribute to the Team Points each week.

Here are the all important totals for the term so far:

Congratulations to AIR who have won the Team Points Competition for the fifth week of the Spring Term- can they be stopped?  Indeed, the competition is hotting up as the gap is not that great anymore.

Why not head over to the Pupil Reward Points website?  https://www.pupilrewardpoints.co.uk

Attendance

With those holiday adverts all over the TV at the moment, just a polite notice to families- we do not authorise holidays in term time.  Children are expected to attend school for 190 days per year leaving plenty of holiday time for those summer vacays!

Attendance is important.  After all, children only have one opportunity to go to school, don’t they?  As a rule of thumb, we expect children to attend school at least 95% of the time.  Here are the Attendance figures for this week:

Forthcoming dates with newly added items in BOLD

Monday 5th February to Sunday 12th February- Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
Tuesday 7th February- Year 2- Superhero Day
Tuesday 7th February- Netball match vs Gresham (away)
Tuesday 7th February- Safer Internet Day
Thursday 9th February- Netball match vs Selsdon (home)
Friday 10th February- International Day of Women and Girls in Science 
Friday 10th February- Last day before the half term holiday
Monday 20th February- Pupil and staff return after the half term holiday
Wednesday 22nd February- Year 6 Dental Screening
Week commencing 27th February- Book Week
Monday 27th February- Author Visit- Dan Freedman  author of Unstoppable
Week commencing 6th March- Whitgift Primary Project for Year 5
Thursday 2nd March- Planned industrial action- London Area 
Saturday 11th March- Farthing Downs Cross Country Race
Week commencing 13th March- Science Week- Our Theme is CONNECTIONS
Tuesday 14th March- KS1 Science Wizards Workshop
Tuesday 14th March- The Missing Body workshop at All Saints Church (KS2- details to follow)
Wednesday 15th March- Planned industrial action
Thursday 16th March- Planned industrial action 
Friday 17th March- KS2 Science Wizards Workshop
Saturday 18th March- SLH Cross Country Races
Monday 29th March- Year 6 to visit Wimbledon Temple
Monday 20th to Wednesday 22nd March- Year 5 Residential to Carroty Wood
Tuesday 28th March- Red Class to visit Sanderstead Methodist Church- 12.30-1.15pm
Thursday 30th March- Yellow Class to visit Sanderstead Methodist Church- 12.30-1.15pm
Friday 31st March- Last day of the Spring Term- School finishes and 1.30pm
Monday 17th April- Children return from the Easter holidays
Saturday 22nd April- Happy’s Circus- Gates open at 12 noon.  FOAP Event- Please do support this Atwood community event
Thursday 13th July- Museum Day for Year 2 and 3.  Details to be confirmed
Thursday 20th July- 6.00pm to 8.30pm- Year 6 Leavers’ Party
Friday 21st July- 9.30am- Year 6 Leavers’ Service
Friday 21st July- Last day of Summer Term closing at 1.30pm

To note, all of the ATW dates are on the calendar and so please click on this link to find them: https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/events-calendar?school=ATW