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22nd September 2023

Messages from the Principal, Miss Jarrett

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Dear All,

I hope this newsletter finds you well and full of excitement as we embark on a new academic year filled with promise, growth, and endless possibilities. It is with immense pleasure and pride that I welcome you to the first edition of the Phoenix Infant Academy Newsletter for the 2023-24 Academic Year!

As your Principal, I am honoured to lead this remarkable community of children, parents, teachers, and staff, and I am thrilled to kick off our first newsletter of the year to keep you informed about all the exciting developments, achievements, and opportunities happening within our school.

Our school is more than just a place of learning; it is a vibrant hub of curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. It is a place where young minds come together to explore, discover, and build a foundation for lifelong success. With each passing day, I am continually inspired by the dedication, enthusiasm, and passion of our students, staff, and parents.

I encourage you to read through each section carefully, as this newsletter is designed to keep you connected with the heart of our school and provide you with information about upcoming events.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for your continued support and commitment to our school's mission. Together, we can nurture the potential of every child and create an environment where they can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

Thank you for entrusting us with the education and growth of your children. I am confident that this academic year will be filled with achievements, joy, and memorable experiences.  

I look forward to seeing many of you next Friday at our Macmillan Coffee Morning! A chance to enjoy some cake and raise money for a valuable charity at the same time.  

Warm regards,

Miss Jarrett

SAFEGUARDING

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Road Safety Awareness in the UK

In this week's newsletter, we are focusing on a topic of paramount importance - road safety. As responsible citizens, it is our duty to ensure the safety of ourselves and others when on the roads. With this in mind, we bring you valuable insights and updates on road safety in the UK.

Road Safety Statistics:

Understanding the current road safety landscape in the UK is crucial. Here are some statistics to highlight the importance of this issue:

  • In the UK, approximately 1,500 people are killed and over 25,000 are seriously injured in road traffic accidents each year.

  • Young adults and children are amongst the most vulnerable road users, which is why our school places a strong emphasis on educating our children about road safety.

Community Involvement:

We believe that road safety is a community effort. To that end, we encourage parents to actively participate in teaching their children about road safety. Here are some ways you can get involved:

  • Practice road safety rules when walking or cycling with your child.

  • Discuss road safety concepts during family outings, emphasizing the importance of looking both ways before crossing, obeying traffic signals, and wearing appropriate safety gear when cycling.

  • Ensure that when travelling in a car, children are in an appropriate car seat (a legal requirement in the UK) and have their seat belts on, before you drive away.

  • Supervise children appropriately when crossing the road.

  • Park your car in an appropriate place.  Do not park on the yellow zig-zag lines outside the school, by the corner of a road or where there is a dropped kerb.  Think "is this a safe place to park?"

In conclusion, road safety is a topic that affects us all. By working together as a community, we can create a safer environment for our children and ourselves. We encourage open discussions about road safety at home and hope to see active participation in our upcoming events.

Remember, safety on the roads begins with each one of us. Let's pledge to make our streets safer and protect the well-being of our community.

Stay safe, stay informed, and let's make a positive change together.

ONLINE SAFETY TIPS:

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Celebrating our Children!

Education is a journey filled with discovery, growth, and countless moments of inspiration. At Phoenix Infants, we firmly believe in celebrating the unique learning journeys of each and every child within our community. In this edition of our newsletter, we are excited to highlight the remarkable accomplishments and the joyous process of learning that our students have experienced in recent weeks.

Reception have all settled brilliantly and have now all completed a full week at school! Mehar and Haifa (pictured below) have been building friendships together as they built a unicorn house! New beginnings in Reception! 

Year 1 have been reading 5 Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy and have been writing about the story! We love these 2 fabulous recounts from Alizah and Jack. 

Year 2 were lucky enough to have a visit from Fur and Feathers (see below) and wrote some lovely thank you letters.  

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Student Leadership

The excitement has been palpable, the campaigns have been spirited, and the votes have been counted! We are thrilled to announce the results of the recent School Council elections, where our students exercised their democratic rights to select their representatives for this year.

Class Representatives:

After a highly competitive and inspiring election process, we are pleased to introduce your newly elected Class Representatives:

  • Kingfisher - Class Representative: Hayyan
  • Heron - Class Representative: Hadi
  • Swan - Class Representative: Hadiya
  • Falcon - Class Representative: Jamal
  • Eagle - Class Representative: Ubaid
  • Buzzard - Class Representative: Zara

These dedicated individuals have demonstrated their commitment to making our school an even better place, and they are now ready to represent the interests and ideas of their classmates.

Key Responsibilities of Our School Council Representatives:

The School Council plays a vital role in our school community by providing a voice for students and actively participating in decision-making processes. Some of the responsibilities of our representatives include:

  • Advocating for student concerns and suggestions.
  • Collaborating with teachers and school administrators on initiatives and improvements.
  • Organizing and participating in school events and community service projects (for example, they will be helping run our Macmillan Coffee Morning next week).
  • Promoting a positive school environment and fostering a sense of unity among students.

Next Steps:

In the coming weeks, our newly elected Class Representatives will convene to set their agenda for the year and outline the projects and initiatives they wish to undertake. We encourage all students to share their ideas and concerns with their representatives to ensure that their voices are heard.

We also extend our heartfelt appreciation to all the candidates who ran for the School Council positions. Your willingness to serve and your dedication to making a positive impact on our school community are commendable.  

The School Council will play a crucial role in shaping our school's future, and we look forward to witnessing the positive changes they will bring about.  

In the coming weeks there will also be other opportunities for children to take leadership roles across the school, with librarian, eco council and sports leader roles still to be rolled out! 

Once again, congratulations to our newly elected Class Representatives, and thank you to all who participated in the election process. Together, we make Phoenix Infants an even better place for learning and growth.

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Sporting Updates

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Bursts is an app that helps to promote active lifestyles at home! There are different active challenges that children can complete at home to help stay active and healthy!

Please use this app to help keep your child moving at home! Even 5-10 minutes moving per day helps children stay fit and healthy. 

You should all have received an email inviting you to sign up (well done to those who already have!).  We will resend the invitations out over the coming weeks so watch out for these if you still need to join.  

National Fitness Day

The 21st September was National Fitness Day.  Children in Year 2 held a personal skipping challenge to see how many skips they could do in 1 minute! They are now all set to keep practicing to try to beat their score! Skipping is a great way to keep fit.  We purchase a skipping rope for all children at Phoenix Infants (that they get to keep when they leave us at the end of Year 2) as we want to promote heathy lifestyles and make skipping a regular and routine activity for our children. 

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Cycle (or Scoot) to School Week

Next week (25th to 29th September) is cycle to school week! It is so important to set healthy lifestyle habits early with children.  Cycling/scooting to school is a great way to get your children moving in the morning before they even get into school!

We all know that parking near the school is a nightmare.  Why not try leaving the car at home and walking/cycling/scooting the whole journey? If that is too tricky, try parking a little further away (on some of the quieter roads) and cycling/scootering in from there. 

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Home Learning

It was lovely to see many parents at our home learning workshop last week. At the start of the workshop I asked everyone to write down what they wanted their child to achieve this year.  The responses were all absolutely lovely and very personal.  We particularly loved "Find herself as a learner", "learn how to flip on the monkey bars", "grow in confidence" and "I want my child to be happy and comfortable towards taking new challenges." 

Please note the following expectations for homework in Years 1 and 2: 

  • Spelling Shed - children should practice their spellings for 10 minutes daily
  • Learning with Parents - complete English and Maths tasks set weekly 
  • Reading daily - log on online reading journal (via Learning with Parents)

All children, from Reception to Year 2, should also be reading stories with parents/siblings tec every day! Bedtime is a great time to share a story.  Research shows that children who listen to stories daily achieve better at school so please try to build this into your daily routines. 

Summer Reading Challenge

Well done Jamal, who completed the Library summer reading challenge! If your child completed the reading challenge this summer, please do share their certificate with your child's class teacher so we can give them a book prize too! 

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Birthday Celebrations

We understand completely that you want to celebrate your child's birthday with their friends.  However this year we are really looking to promote healthy lifestyles.  Please do not bring in cakes/sweets to share with classmates when it is your child's birthday.  You could share fruit, however we strongly encourage you to use our birthday book scheme - whereby you can purchase a book for your child's class/the school library.  You can either buy a book or send in a donation and your child can select one of our birthday books.  Well done to Heron Class parents, who have already been embracing this approach! 

Fur and Feathers

Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre would like to thank the Year 2 children at Phoenix Infant Academy for a wonderful visit this week. The children where an absolute pleasure to teach, all being totally focused and engaging with answers and questions about the 4 birds that we bought to visit. The children met a Kestrel called Bourneville, an European Eagle Owl called Norman and a Buzzard called Mouse and a Harris Hawk called Echo.

Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre is based at Moss End Garden Village in Bracknell with Birds of Prey such as a Peregrine, Owls and Hawks on display.  The centre is open Tuesday – Sunday, with no booking necessary to see the birds.

Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre also offers amazing Hands on Session , Experience Session Gift Vouchers and Birthday Parties at the centre and as a thank you for such a wonderful visit we would like to offer 10% off to all parents. Simply visit the website and when purchasing a session enter the discount code FFFC10

Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre, Moss End Garden Village, Maidenhead Road, Bracknell, RG42 6EJ  www.feathersandfur.co.uk   info@feathersandfur.co.uk

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ATTENDANCE

Well done to all parents/carers who continue to ensure their children attend  school regularly.  It is so important to come to school every day and on time.  Please remember that the gates close at 8.55am.  We are seeing an increasing number of children late for school - this impacts on their start to the day and is not acceptable.  We will be following up with families where there is persistent lateness. 

This week Year 1 has the highest attendance of any year group across the school. Well done!!

The class winners in each year group can be seen below.

All attendance expectations can be found on our website.

Please do get in touch if you would like any support getting your child to school and on time.

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RECEPTION CLASS WINNER

Well done to Robin class who won the attendance trophy this week.

Keep it up!

YEAR 1 CLASS WINNER

Well done to Heron class who won the attendance trophy this week with 96%.

Keep it up!

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YEAR 2 CLASS WINNER

Well done to Falcon class who won the attendance trophy this week with 94%.

Keep it up!

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Dates for your Diaries

Cycle to School Week
All Day
From 25 Sep until 29 Sep
25
September
Reception Curriculum Parent Meeting
9:00am – 10:00am
26
September
Y1 Phonics Parent Workshop
9:05am – 10:05am
28
September
Dot Day
All Day
29
September
Macmillan Coffee Morning
9:00am – 10:00am
29
September
National Poetry Day
All Day
05
October
World Teacher Day
All Day
05
October
Y2 Assessment Parent Workshop
9:05am – 10:05am
05
October
Wear Yellow for World Mental Health Day
All Day
10
October
KS1 Mathematics Parent Workshop
9:05am – 10:05am
12
October
KS1 Writing Parent Workshop
9:05am – 10:05am
19
October
United Nations Celebrations Day
All Day
20
October
Half-Term
All Day
From 23 Oct until 27 Oct
23
October

Community Notices:

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Wishing you all a lovely weekend. 

TOGETHER WE SOAR!