Atwood’s weekly news for week ending Friday 21st April

Mr Veale’s welcome

Welcome back to the Summer Term here at Atwood.  Isn’t it great to have those lighter mornings and evenings.  The air has certainly been cold, but let’s hope for warmer weather very soon.  Indeed, in the words of TS Eliot, ‘April is the cruelest month.’  The poem The Wasteland suggests that April is the month in which we dare to hope, after the long and darker winter months.  With the lighter morning and evening, we dare to dream of a more relaxed and fun filled time, yet April often has changeable, cold and unpredictable weather.  April is very much living up to TS Eliot’s maxim.  Roll on May!

As this is the first week back, it’s going to be a shorter edition.  Now that we are already two terms in being part of Pegasus and that you as parents have got used to how to navigate the Trust’s website including the calendar function, I will no longer be placing the key dates at the end of my weekly newsletter.  Please use the calendar function to see what is coming up so that you don’t miss out.

Coronation News

On Friday 5th, Atwood will be celebrating the forthcoming coronation.  The children will be invited to design a stamp today and have some time to do this at home and send in entries for the FOAP to judge.  We are all encouraged to wear red, white and blue on Friday; the children will be doing a range of coronation themed activities in the morning.  Harrison’s are offering a special lunch menu and so please to take a look at the flyer.  In the afternoon, we are inviting parents and carers to come to Atwood from 1.45pm so that they can join in with the Street Party, which will be held on the junior playground from 2.00pm until 3.00pm.  The children will then return to their classroom and will be dismissed as usual at the end of the day.

Please could you provide a small paper plate with suitable party food, covered in clingfilm or foil, that has no foodstuffs that contain nuts?  The children will bring these in with them in the morning and they will be kept in the classrooms until the afternoon.  You may wish to consider this in terms of refrigeration.  Just a polite reminder that the Office Staff will NOT be able to deliver forgotten plates of food as I know that they will be rushed off their feet dealing with everything else.

Pegasus Encourages Walking to School Week Monday 22nd May to Friday 26th May

Mrs Mitchell is leading on encouraging as many children (and staff) to travel to Atwood sustainably, either by walking, scooter or bicycle.  I have dusted of my bike once more as I felt that my fitness was fading away, and I am really enjoying my bike ride there and back to Atwood from Bromley South station.  The hill up from Forestdale and into Selsdon to Sanderstead never gets any easier though.  In terms of fitness, walking is amazing for us all.  I did some research on the NHS website and found out all about the benefits of regular walking.

Taking at look at the opening paragraph, it states:

‘Walking is simple, free and one of the easiest ways to get more active, lose weight and become healthier.

Sometimes overlooked as a form of exercise, walking briskly can help you build stamina, burn excess calories and make your heart healthier.
You do not have to walk for hours. A brisk 10-minute daily walk has lots of health benefits and counts towards your 150 minutes of weekly exercise, as recommended in the physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64.’  Why not take a look at the Atwood news stories from this week?

Stick Insects:  https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/year-5/atw-in-a-sticky-situation 

Word of the Week 

CORONATION

It had to be, didn’t it?  The word coronation is a descendent from the Latin word corona meaning ‘crown’ or ‘wreath’.  Corona actually comes from a Greek word, korone, meaning ‘something bent’.  This is because early crown were circles of flowers bent around the head of a public figure!

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.  I will be taking a look at the leaderboard 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 the SPRING TERM.  This means that the children in AIR may wear YELLOW on Friday 21st April. 

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 of 94.8% so far, we are doing better than many other schools, but we just need a concerted effort in the remaining part of this year to rise above 95%.  I know we can do it.

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: