Friday 04 July 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

We would like to say a huge thank you for being part of last week’s centenary celebrations.  Many of you joined us for the centenary church service in which there were reflections on the past, present and future from children and adults.

  

  

We were astounded by the number of families that joined us on the field for the family picnic, the collection of the time capsules and the cutting of the celebratory cake (thank you Mrs Crich). We also had many positive comments about the work on display in the hall.

 

The fayre was a resounding success on Saturday, although sweltering, lots of people came to support it. There were a number of ex pupils, families who attended the old St Anne’s junior school who wanted tours around school and loved looking for themselves on the old photographs.

  

  

  

My thanks extend to the parent planning group in supporting me in planning the range of centenary events (Mr Condon, Mrs Fletcher, Mrs Archer, Miss Scholes, Rev Dave, Claire Bishop). Thank you to the staff and volunteers who gave up their time on Saturday to ‘create’ our fayre and to all those who made donations of cakes, prizes etc.

The winner of the ‘Wheelbarrow of Delight’ was Mrs Mackinder.

The winner of the football shoot out was Jude M in Class 3.

The raffle tickets remain on sale and will be drawn soon.

The Friends of St Anne’s have been counting up and it is estimated, as there are still some costings to come off, to be around £1,600 (excluding the raffle).

Centenary Gift for the Children

Members of the Centenary Planning Group, some of whom attended St Anne’s a number of years ago, shared that they had been presented with a mug which they still had to this day!

This got us thinking! Each child in school will be bringing home a special centenary mug to treasure. We have been able to do this for each child, with the support of Julie A Leigh (Leader of the Council) and other local councillors. We thank them for their support.

Further mugs (if you too are an ex-pupil) are available at £4 from the school shop on Arbor.

Transition

The children had a fantastic time on Wednesday in their new classes. As part of their transition, they were tasked with solving a crime- ‘Who had stolen the biscuits from the staffroom’? Each class was set a scientific investigation to identify the culprit from fingerprinting to using PH testing to match drink samples. As a school they identified the culprit as Miss Robinson.

  

   

Menu Changes

Reminder: There have been a couple of changes to the menu.  Roast dinner days will always include a Quorn option, alongside the meat option.  Children will be able to request this at point of service. 

Week 3 Wednesday is now a BBQ Chicken Wrap and a fruit yoghurt for dessert.

Please make sure that you book your children’s dinners on the Arbor app.

Friends of St Anne’s

Have you ordered your centenary tea – towel with your child’s image on it? These are available to order at a cost of £5.00, available on the School Shop on Arbor (scroll to the bottom of your Arbor home screen).

 

Governor Information

I would like to inform you that our Chair of Governors has recently stepped down from the role. On behalf of the school community, I want to extend our sincere thanks for his significant contribution and dedicated service over the years. During this interim period, our Vice Chair, Mrs. Bradford, will be stepping in to support the school. The matter of appointing a new Chair will be discussed at the full governing body meeting on Wednesday.

In App Messages

We are moving to ‘in app messages’ for communicating short messages to parents – look out for these on your Arbor app. Longer messages will be on email and of course we will phone you if we need to talk to you.

After School Club

Advance warning: On the last Friday of term – Friday 25 July there will be no Afterschool Club. 

News from the Classrooms

Reception

This week, Reception Class enjoyed two exciting transition visits with Miss Decouto. During their time together, they shared the story The Colour Monster and revisited their learning about feelings, reflecting thoughtfully on times when they had experienced different emotions. In phonics, the children have been learning about vowels and practising how to read longer words with increasing confidence. They have also shown fantastic focus in their handwriting sessions, carefully thinking about the size, shape, and overall formation of their letters.

Class 1

Class 1 have started reading a new story in English, 'The Night Pirates' by Peter Harris. They are enjoying using descriptive language to set the scene, using repetition and expanded noun phrases. They are developing their descriptive vocabulary using a thesaurus, and are using adverbs to improve their sentences.

They thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Class 2 with Miss McDonald and Mrs Stocks this week, and they are looking forward to all that Class 2 brings. They really enjoyed investigating the biscuit thief, looking closely at all the biscuit crumbs the teachers had left behind.

Class 2

This week in geography, the children learnt all about the Great Barrier Reef as part of their Australia topic. They found out that it is located off the east coast of Australia in the Coral Sea. Class two noted that it was in the ‘Tropical Zone’ and was close to the ‘Coastal Plains’.  They were amazed to find out that it is bigger than the United Kingdom and that it can be seen from space!      

Class 3

This week has been a busy one for Class 3 including their transition day into Class 4! The children have been completing their end of year assessments and proving what they can do. It is great to see the children show off their knowledge. In science this week, the children investigated reflection on a variety of surfaces and objects. For this investigation, the children had to set up, record and conclude their findings within a small group. In Topic, the children have been gathering research on natural disasters in the local area ready to produce a report next week to answer their field work question ‘Are Natural Disasters are problem in the local area?’  In DT, the children have been designing their structure to withstand a natural disaster, this will then be constructed over the next few weeks ready for testing!

Class 4

Class 4 have had a busy week working on their persuasive letter to Henry VIII. The children were tasked with persuading Henry VIII to not execute Anne Boleyn, they needed use persuasive devices and Class 4 grammatical features to add impact to their writing. Then, as part of their independent writing, the glue sticks quit and the children had to persuade them to come back. In maths, Class 4 have been recapping methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to ensure they are fully fluent in the methods. In French, year 4 have been learning how to order food using Je voudrais.

Class 5

It’s been another week packed full of activity in Class 5. Rehearsals for the upcoming upper key stage 2 production continue, with children busy adding actions to songs and tweaking tone or facial expression to portray their character. In math’s, the focus has been on subtracting decimals with different numbers of decimal places- including some tricky calculations. In history, internet research into the Ancient Greek Gods led to discussions on why the civilisation might have felt the need for so many deities, as well as what the modern-day equivalents might be. The children have also continued to work through their text in reading, they have thought carefully about how to infer the characters’ opinions of each other, with some pupils even discussing how their relationship is changing through the book. It was wonderful to see the engagement of the current Class 5 as well as next year’s Class 5 on transition day, when faced with investigating the identity of the ‘biscuit thief’ as part of the whole school science focus.

Whilst the current Class 6 have been out of school, there has been the opportunity to fulfil the responsibilities which will fall on their shoulders in September. Well done, children for carrying them out with maturity.

Class 6

Class 6 have had two-days this week visiting their new schools and I know they will have had a fantastic time and impressed all their new teachers, and I'm sure made lots of new friends. They have completed more writing in poetry and enjoyed some Geography where they learned about the states in the USA and what famous landmarks can be found there. Mrs Archer also came into talk to the children about their move to secondary school and share their thoughts and ideas. This week they have started to reflect on their time at primary school and what it has meant to them. 

Stars of the Week

Reception - Malee

Class One - Felicity H, Imade

Class Two - Jasper, Riva

Class Three – Joseph

Class Four – Edie

Class Five - Harriet R

Class Six - Dayna

Class Tidiness Award

Caretaker Adele has awarded it to Class 6.

Out of School Achievements

Florence (1) has been selected to join SJR’s girls football team for under 7’s (aka ‘The Wildcats’). She was also awarded ‘Player of the Match’ last week.

Georgiana (4) was asked to support in the yellow cast performances (as well as her own) at short notice!

George (4) - SJR most improved player

Penny (R) - Most consistent dancer, and drawing prevention certificates

Ava (5) - Worksop boys and girls tournament winner trophy

Christina (4) - Most consistent dancer trophy

Jacob (5) - Participation trophy SJR

Nicole (5) - Poem for the time capsule

Jacob (5) - Most Assist Trophy and Coach’s Player Trophy

Adam (5) - Participation trophy and highest goal scorer

Oscar (1) - 5m swimming award

Anika (1) - Learn to Swim award

Lily (1) - Stage 1 swimming

Ramos (1) - Stage 2 Swimming

Adam (5) - Zebra Studios Dance Medal

Gymnastics Awards

Isla (2) - Apparatus 1

Alessia (4) - Core Skills 2

Georgiana (4) and Christina (4) - Core Skills 3 Gymnastics

Amelia (6) - Portland Rewards Cards

Eliza (3) - Aerialist of the month

Alfred (5) - Literacy Volunteer Certificate

Church Services

9:00am StA@9 Holy Communion, led by Revd Dave

10:30am StA@10ish Service for All Ages - led by

Revd Dave

6:00pm StA@6, Led by Revd Edith

Class	Attendance this week
R	87.5%
1	93.71%
2	91.38%
3	98.91%
4	98.57%
5	96.3%
6	97.4%
Total: 94.62%

ADVANCE DATES TO AVOID BOOKING ANYTHING

 

Year 6 SATS Week – Monday May 11^th 2026 to Thursday 14^th 2026

Year 1 Phonic Screening – Monday June 1^st 2026 (2 weeks)

Year 4 Multiplication Test – Monday 8^th June (2 weeks)

 

Please ensure your children are in school during these times as their data will count even when absent.

Prayers from Frankie (6) and Darcie (6)

Dear God

Help us through our next chapter of our life and pray for us overnight as we embark on a journey. Let us not worry and have fear.

Amen

Dear God

Help us in our biggest challenges. Thank you for all you support through growing up and trying new things.

Amen

With my very best wishes

Mrs Middleton & the St Anne’s Team 

INSET DAYS 2024-2025	Key Statutory Weeks (Assessment)
2nd September 2024 27th September 2024 20th January 2025 28th July 2025 29th July 2025   2025-2026 INSET DAYS Monday 1st September and Tuesday 2nd September ALL CHILDREN RETURN ON THE WEDNESDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER. Monday 3rd November 2025 Friday 13th February 2026 Monday 27th July 2026	ADVANCE DATES TO AVOID BOOKING ANYTHING Year 6 SATS Week – Monday May 11th 2026 to Thursday 14th 2026 Year 1 Phonic Screening – Monday June 1st 2026 (2 weeks) Year 4 Multiplication Test – Monday 8th June (2 weeks) Please ensure your children are in school during these times as their data will count even when absent.

Looking Ahead
	28	Centenary Summer Fayre 11-2pm
	30	Portland / Valley transition – details to be sent by secondary school
July	1	Class Photographs and Y6 Leavers Photos
	2	Whole School Transition Day Music ‘Have a Go’ – 08:40am in the Hall – accompanied children
	2/3	Class 6 Portland and Valley Transition
	8	Class 6 to London
	9	Full Governing Body Meeting 5.30pm
	11	International Day
	14	YR & Y1 trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park
	17	Class 6 – Moving on Up – Southwell Minster Open Afternoon 2.15pm
	18	KS2 Only ‘Leavers Festival – 6pm-7.30pm (collection at Church Gate only)
	25	Leaver’s Service 2pm