EMMER GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL

‘The EGsPress ‘- JANUARY 2018

Year 5 have set up a project to help ARK (Action
for the River Kennet). Members of the trust
visited the Year 5 classes and brought all the
equipment that Year 5 will need over the next few
Class Dojo
weeks to hatch and bring on baby brown trout! 100 eggs were delivered and kept in
the tank and we are excited to report that these are now hatchlings. Year 5 are
We are delighted that we now
meticulously cleaning the tank, changing the water and feeding the fish daily and
have all the Junior classes using over the next week they will become fingerlings. By Easter the brown trout will be
the class dojo facility. Please canfully formed and will be released into the river Kennet. Great work Year 5!
we remind parents that the
Arts Council
system is used for general
messaging and communication and
for keeping you up to date with
your child’s rewards and
achievements. Any concerns
regarding friendships or
incidents in school are best dealt
with by making an appointment
with the class teacher rather
than through dojo. Thank You.

Thank you to all who completed

the School Meals survey during With over 50 excellent entries to choose from, last year's Arts Council gathered
National School Meals week. The and discussed, debated and finally decided Emmer Green's 10 new councillors for
results can be found at this academic year; Faye, Iris, Sophie, Eleanor, Harry, Jenna, Juliette, Martha,
Isla and Beth! It was such a hard task; a huge well done and thank you to everyone
www.loveschoolmeals.co.uk/reading
for their truly creative and enthusiastic entries! Our new council are incredibly
keen to get going; in fact, we have a competition coming your way within the
next few weeks! Watch this space!
Please see the back page of
This week in cookery lessons, children from different year groups have been
this Newsletter for Term
making pizza with Sandy. They have learned the involved process of dough
Dates for the NEXT
making, the art of patience as no dough can be hurried and how to carefully
academic year
apply the toppings and bake their creations. A particular well done to Aryan and
(2018/2019) and for the
Cameron in Year 5 who were so inspired that they prepared pizzas at home for
results of this year’s
their families. Well done boys, those pizzas look SO tasty!
Parent Questionnaire. We
had a very good response
rate and staff and
Governors were very
pleased with the very
positive feedback.
Thank You
 EMMER GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL
‘The EGsPress ‘- JANUARY 2018
Party Lunch

Christmas is becoming a distant dream now but I wanted to share

Dates for your diary
this lovely picture of the whole school coming together for a party
Mon 22nd Jan lunch the day before the school term ended.
Parents Evening Sign-Up Sheets
So, welcome to Term 3! As we are a third of the way into the school
RNLI visitor to Year 2
year I am pleased to report that with the drastic cuts made to
Wed 31st Jan funding we are managing and it is largely thanks to the generosity of
Yr 3 trip to Matilda
all the parents, the support of our Governors and the hard work and
Thurs 1st Feb after school flexibility of the school staff who have shown that they will go the
Yr 2 Cake Sale extra mile and turn their hand to anything when an unexpected need
Fri 2nd Feb arises. I am mindful that we are asking for more (donations, time,
Year 4 Egyptian Dress Up Day goodwill etc) and can’t thank everyone enough for helping us to carry
Chartwells Chinese Menu on being the school we are so proud of.
Friday Club 3-5pm
Year 3 have a very exciting trip to see Matilda coming up this term,
Mon 5th- Thurs 8th Feb
Year 4 have learned all about stamps and Year 5 have had a fish-
Parents Evenings (Please see sign-up
keeping demonstration. The School Council are busy sharing their
sheets for your class’s dates)
ideas and planning events and the new Arts Council have been
Wed 7th Feb
formed. Year 2 are off to visit the local church and Foundation are
F, Yr1 & Yr2 Perform Workshops
planning their trip to the farm in March.
Thurs 8th Feb
Year 2 Church Visits We have Parents Evenings coming up from Monday 5th February to
Term ends for children Thursday 8th February 3.15-6pm. Don’t forget to look out for the
Fri 9th Feb sign-up sheets that will be outside the school office from Monday
Staff In-Service Day 22nd January.
Mon 19th Feb
Mrs Crossman
Term 4 starts
 EMMER GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL
‘The EGsPress ‘- JANUARY 2018
Clubs
Last term along with the usual music, choir and French clubs, there were football,
hockey, crafting and drumming clubs and we have a host of new clubs that have
As always please drive
started this term. The crafting club for Years 3-6 is continuing and Year 5 netball
and park with care on the
roads around the school. club has started with Miss Fenner with our keen netballers practising for a
We often have reports of tournament later in the term. Year 5 and 6 have the opportunity to learn Mandarin
near misses and we can’t
emphasise enough the with Miss Chen from Highdown School. Year 3 and 4 have a Spy Club on
importance of driving Wednesdays and Year 2 are trying a new Lego Club which we have not done at the
and parking safely. We school before. Year 5 have also been offered a Laser Quest club which starts
have also been asked to
remind parents and today on the playground. Watch out for letters home about more extra-curricular
carers not to stop on the or staff run clubs for your child’s year group.
yellow zigzags even just
briefly to drop off Lateness
children and not to leave
More and more children are arriving late for school in the morning. This can be
cars idling. Thank you.
upsetting for the child – it is difficult to walk into an already focused class who
have already started their school day and may even have been given instructions
for the first task of the day. Lateness means that registers must be amended by
the office and often requires a member of staff to escort the child to class.
Children who arrive on time have a happy interaction with their class mates on the
RBC’s latest Local Plan is playground before the routine of the school day starts – please make the extra
available for reading and effort required at home to give children an uncomplicated start to the day.
comments on
www.reading.gov.uk/newlocalplan
Of particular interest If parents or carers are bringing children into school any time during school hours
may be the proposal for they should sign them in at the school office and children should make their own
development of the golf
way to class or a member of staff will accompany them. If for any reason parents
course adjacent to the
school. or carers come into school after the bell has gone at 8.50am and before 3pm they
must report to the office and not walk around the school. It is important that only
Another plea to keep an staff and authorised visitors have access to classrooms during the school day.
eye out for head lice and
worms. Please email the Year 4 Stamps Workshop
school nursing team on Mrs Grieve from ‘Stamps in Schools’ came in to do a workshop with Year 4. What a
[email protected]
fascinating time they had! Mrs Grieve told children about the history of stamps
and the Royal Mail, she showed them a very rare Penny Black stamp and stamps
from around the world and even scratch and sniff stamps! Year 4 thoroughly
enjoyed handling the stamps and were each given a number of stamps to take home.
Acorns
Here are some comments from the children:
Extra
Easter! "I really liked getting the stamps to take home and I enjoyed looking at all the
26th-29th March different stamps that were brought in which we looked at." Martha
3rd-6th April "I liked it when we were looking at the different stamps. I enjoyed seeing
Please ask at
school office or stamps I wouldn't normally see." Aaron
look at school
"I liked looking at the collection of stamps. I really liked the Harry Potter ones!"
website for more
details and how to Joseph
book places.

Foundation need bags of bark chippings for their play area. Please can we ask
that if anyone has any left over from a project or can donate us a bag to
bring them to school - we would be very grateful. Thank You
 Emmer Green Primary School
Parents Questionnaire 2017
Strongly Tend to Tend to Strongly Don’t
agree agree disagree disagree know
My child enjoys coming to 165 47 5
school
76% 22% 2%
= = Last year 1% Last year 0.4%
My child is making good 148 67 1 1
progress in school
68% 31% 0.4% 0.4%
+1% = Last year 1% Last year 0.4% Last year 0.8%
The teaching is good 160 55 2

74% 25% 0.9%

= +1% Last year 2%
I am kept well informed about 88 115 11 1 2
how my child is progressing
41% 53% 5% 0.4% 0.9%
+1% +1% Last year 6% Last year 0% Last year 0.4%
I am happy to support my child 211 6
in achieving a high standard of
behaviour
97% 3%
+1% = Last year 0.4%

The school is helping my child to 149 60 1 7

develop self-responsibility
69% 28% 0.4% 3%
+3% -3% Last year 0.8% Last year 0.4% Last year 2%
I am happy to support my child 204 13
with reading, spelling and
numeracy tasks at home
94% 6%
-1% +1%
I feel able to approach the 178 38 1
school if I have a question or a
82% 18% 0.4%
problem
= +1% Last year 0.8%
The school expects my child to 177 37 3
work hard and to achieve
82% 17% 1%
his/her best
+7% -6% Last year 2% Last year 0.4%
The school works closely with 108 97 10 2
parents
50% 45% 5% 0.9%
= -1% Last year 3% Last year 0.4% Last year 0.4%
The school is well led and 175 40 2
managed
81% 18% 0.9%
= +1% Last year 0.8% =

217 questionnaires were returned

KEY

xxx Number of responses

XXX% Expressed as a percentage
=, + or - Compared to last year
TERM DATES FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2018/2019

Term 1
Tuesday 4th September 2018 Staff In-Service Day
Wednesday 5th September 2018 Term starts for children
Friday 19th October 2018 End of Term

Monday 22nd Oct – Friday 26th Oct Holiday

Term 2
Monday 29th October 2018 Term starts for children
Friday 21st December 2018 End of Term

Wednesday 24th Dec – Tuesday 4th Jan Holiday

Term 3
Monday 7th January 2019 Staff In-Service Day
Tuesday 8th January 2019 Term starts for children
Friday 15th February 2019 End of Term

Monday 18th Feb – Friday 22nd Feb Holiday

Term 4
Monday 25th February 2019 Term starts for children
Friday 5th April 2019 End of Term

Monday 8th April – Friday 19th April Holiday

Term 5
Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Staff In-Service Day
Wednesday 24th April 2019 Term starts for children
Friday 24th May 2019 End of Term

Bank holiday – Monday 6th May

Monday 27th May – Friday 31st May Holiday

Term 6
Monday 3rd June 2019 Term starts for children
Wednesday 24th July 2019 End of Term

Please note two further Staff In Service Days will added as soon as these dates are set. All
dates are subject to minor change where staff training is compulsory