Atwood News for Week ending Friday 7th July

Mr Veale’s welcome

‘Another busy week’.  This week has been busy to say the least.  Strikes have yet again affected Atwood – let’s hope that a resolution can be found very soon.  On Tuesday, Year 2 went to Eastbourne to learn about a seaside locality.  It was great to learn all about the lifeboats and the work of the RNLI.  The children also skimmed stones in the sea and produced some natural beach art.  The ice-cream was much needed as it was hot and did you know that a seagull ate one of the children’s sandwiches?  Why not read Rai’s recount?

My trip to Eastbourne
I loved Eastbourne. Let me tell you all about it!
I was very excited but things didn’t go to plan. The seats were
uncomfortable and the seat padding was really bad. I wrote an
adventure story about football. The coach went very quickly over the
bumps.
We sketched the pier and answered questions about human and
physical features. After that we had lunch and we were attacked by
a slightly annoying army of seagulls!
We went to the Lifeboat Museum and learned about how famous
actor William Terris had saved a fishermen. But a man grew jealous
of him and murdered William Terris that same day. We also did beach art
but sadly it was destroyed.
I gave Ms Daley my flake and gave it to her because she is ‘’ the best
teacher in the world’’. I hated the ice cream. It tasted like mouldy cheese.
I really hope I can go there again because I want to breathe in the
refreshing sea air. You can’t get fresh air like that anywhere else.
I passed my notebook around and everyone got a turn to draw.
Bernard drew a picture of a man with long, swinging arms. How funny!
Joshua’s picture was so funny that I can’t describe it!

Camp Atwood

Thursday night saw Camp Atwood in full swing.  Why not take a look at the news story to find out more?

Transitions

We welcomed the new to Reception children to Atwood on Thursday whilst the new to be Year 7s visited their secondary schools.  Where has time gone?

Wizard of Oz

Rehearsals have notched up a gear, with the stage going up and the scenery being painted.  I really enjoyed popping in this week to take a look at the dress rehearsal.  Break a leg for next week, Year 6.

Café Atwood seeking parent volunteers

As you will be aware, we are seeking reliable parent volunteers to be trained up to open the café and serve the children and their families.

We are looking to open the Café at the following times, certainly from the beginning of the Autumn Term:

Tuesday mornings 8:15-9:15 and

Thursday after school 2:45-3:45

Remember that ALL profits made at the café will go directly back in to supporting the children at Atwood.

If you feel that you can give up your time to help run the café please do contact the office and we will return to you with more details.

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.  I will be taking a look at the leader board after half term.

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 this week.  

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

Attendance

The DfE continue to be concerned about attendance in the post covid world.  Indeed, governments across the world have noticed a worrying trend of children attending school less than before covid.  Atwood works on the 95% expectation and each year, we endeavour to hit our whole school community target of attending at least 95% of the time.  Most years, Atwood nearly reaches 97% which is higher than the national average.  Looking at the Year to Date percentage we have crept to the 95% mark and this is excellent news – let’s keep it up, Atwood.

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.  This allows for a child to be absent for a couple of days per year due to coughs, colds and medical appointments that cannot be made in holiday times.  Remember that we never authorise holidays in term time.  Often I am asked to authorise a family wedding abroad, or to visit a poorly relative abroad.  None of these are valid reasons for absence in term time.  Please bear this in mind.

Here are the attendance figures for this week:

From us all at Team Atwood, enjoy the continued fair weather this weekend. 

Stay safe and see you all on Monday 10th July. 

Mr. Veale