Autumn 13: Friday 12 December 2025
Dear Parents and Carers,
The Christmas spirit has well and truly arrived in school. This week it has been the turn of our Reception and Class 1 and 2 children to perform their nativities.
Reception delighted us with ‘The Twinkly Nativity’. Their singing was beautiful, and it was a wonderful achievement for such young children to stand on stage and perform to a hall filled to the brim.
Our KS1 children showed just how much they have grown over the past year with their performance of ‘Knock, Knock!’ in the Church Hall. Once again, we were treated to confident singing and clear speaking parts. The children worked incredibly hard to learn their lines, and it truly paid off - memories were certainly made! My thanks extend to the teaching team in enabling this to happen.
Today, our younger pupils also performed for members of our community at the Luncheon Club, which was greatly appreciated. It is an annual event in our calendar and all those who attend talk about the joy the children bring.
A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the ‘Gift Bag Initiative’ for the residents of the Old Vicarage. The School Council will be delivering the gifts next week to help bring some Christmas sparkle to the residents.
Next week, we have ‘Christmas Dinner’ to look forward to, as well as a festive afternoon of party games. Children are welcome to come in their own party clothes or Christmas jumpers on Wednesday—but please don’t feel any need to go out and buy something for the day.
Movie Mob was a big hit this week, with nearly 50% of pupils staying for the film night!
As we approach the final week of term, battling the winter bugs and embracing the Christmas excitement, let us take a moment to reflect on the true messages of Christmas - kindness, community, and gratitude.
Fund Raising Results
Over recent months we have had a number of fundraising events. We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our parent/ carer community!
- MacMillan Coffee Morning and bake sale - £525.00
- Children In Need - £134.00
- Poppy Appeal - £317.19
FOSAS have raised a much needed £75.00 for school funds with a whopping 260kg of clothes, shoes and bags from the ‘Bags to School’ initiative this week! Thank you for all the contributions.
Holiday Activities and Food (HAF)
The HAF programme is open to children and young people aged between 5 and 16 years (age 4 if in reception class full-time) and receiving benefits-related free school meals. This is different from the universal infant free school meals that children receive in reception, year 1 and year 2.
If you think you are eligible for free school meals but you have not applied, you can apply for free school meals online: www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals
The HAF scheme can fund a small number of those who are not eligible for benefits-related free school meals. These places should be discussed on a one-to-one basis with a member of the HAF team. To be eligible for a discretionary place, families will need a professional referral from a support worker, social care or school team.
More information on this scheme can be found on the the school website.
Hot Chocolate and Doughnuts - TODAY
After school TODAY and next Friday, we will be serving hot chocolate and doughnuts in the KS1 playground (bring your pennies) – to help raise funds. Hot chocolate £1.50, doughnuts £1.00.
School fund is mostly made up of voluntary donations, and it supplements the public money to pay for enriching activities, better facilities, and extra resources beyond the core curriculum, covering things like contributing to school trips, sports equipment, playground enhancements. These things are essential to enriching children’s time at school but sadly not funded by the state.
After School Club
There are lots of lovely festive activities planned at After School Club for next week. Take the opportunity for some Christmas shopping, whilst the children have some fun! Please remember that there is NO AFTERSCHOOL CLUB next Friday.
School Dinners
‘Christmas dinner week’ next week -Christmas dinner itself is on Wednesday and that is also Christmas Jumper Day. Please book dinners on Arbor. The menu is available on the website.
News from the Classes
Reception
This week Class Reception have performed two wonderful Nativities for their family and friends. They sang songs and acted to tell the story through the ‘Twinkly Nativity’. They have also been learning the story through the book 'The Grumpy Owl and the ‘Joy of Christmas'. The children have then been thinking about how their birthday compares to that of Jesus.
Class One
This week, Class 1 have been learning about Christian celebrations in RE. They learnt all about Christmas and made connections between this celebration and celebrations they have learnt about in other religions. They noticed a common theme of light between Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas. They painted pictures of light to represent Christmas and spent time discussing why we have Christmas, and that the lights they see at Christmas remind them that Jesus is the light of the world.
Class Two
In Class 2, children have continued their work on addition and subtraction in maths looking at comparing answers, to help them understand which number is greater. In RE children have been learning about the importance of the shepherd in the nativity story and created a lovely piece of art work to represent this. During their English lessons, the children have been enjoying the Grinch story and thinking about 'how he stole Christmas,' so they can write their own instructions. In Geography, we’ve looked at Victorian houses and modern houses, their features and where we can still see them in Worksop.
Class Three
Class 3 have had a busy week showing their learning from the Autumn term in their end of term assessments. It has been pleasing to see the knowledge that they have retained and their next steps for learning ready to get stuck in in the spring term. Class 3 have enjoyed design and technology, where they have been tasting and designing their super salads ready for making. The Class 3 team have never seen children devour the test bowls of salad so quickly. In music, Class 3 composed their own Raga (traditional Indian music) composing their own Tal rhythm and raag melody before combining this with a provided tanpura drone. It was fantastic to see the children combining their knowledge from the half term and enjoying their music lessons.
Class Four
This week, they have begun a new Design and Technology Project. The children have a design brief to produce a hand-sewn Christmas decoration. This week, they have researched design ideas for their product. They will be revisiting sewing skills from Class 2, whilst learning new stitches to join materials together and add decoration.
Class Five
This week, Class 5 have taken on a delicious (and slightly adventurous!) project as we made our own Great Green Soup. The children practised their cutting skills and combined DT with science by choosing the most suitable materials for a chopping board before preparing their ingredients. Everyone took their soup home to try - and while reviews were mixed, we decided there might have been just a little too much cabbage in the recipe!
In maths, we continued to deepen our understanding of fractions, exploring different ways to represent and compare them with increasing confidence.
In writing, the children have been planning their own stories inspired by ‘The Promise’, drawing on the themes and language of the book to develop imaginative and thoughtful ideas for their narratives.
We have also been battling through seasonal colds, coughs and high temperatures, so we are reminding everyone to follow our “catch it, bin it, kill it” message to help keep our classroom healthy as we head towards the Christmas holidays.
Class Six
Class 6 have been very creative this week when composing their independent write letters. This has been based around a British WW2 soldier writing home to a loved one or a response letter. All the children have been amazing at generating ideas and they are seeing how their grammar knowledge will be used within writing. In maths, the children have been finding fractions of amounts, lots of tricky concepts so lots of practice on times tables is needed. For science, lots of different investigations around light have taken place and the children exploring their eyes in detail to understand how we see.
Congratulations to our Stars of the Week this week
Class Reception – Amelia S and Amelie
Class One – Lily P
Class Two – Hansel
Class Three – Isla
Class Four – Emily S
Class Five – Harriet R and Victoria
Class Six – Harriet B
Next week the Star Assembly will take place on Thursday morning due to the Church Service on Friday.
Tidy Classroom Award - Caretaker Adele has awarded the award to Class 4.
Out of School Achievements:
Gymnastics
Dominic F (3) - Explore Apparatus Level 1
Lilly E (3) and Leo (3) - Explore Apparatus Level 2
Daisy P (4) – Gymnastics competition 3rd
Lily H (1) – Gymnastics competition 3rd
Lucas (3) – Gymnastics competition – floor and gym
Jack (2) SJR U7 Man of the Match
Leo (3) - Welbeck Tennis – Most Improved Player
Sophie P (6), Harriet R (6), Emily (5), Georgiana (5) and Eliza (4) - BSS Jingle Bells Swimming Meet - Representing Worksop Dolphins
Harriet R (5) – BSS Jingle Bells Swimming Meet - Representing BSS
Harri (5) – Stage 1 Gala - Team event 2nd
Church Services
10am StA@10 St Anne’s Together Holy Communion and Sunday School led by Revd Nigel
6:30pm Carols by Candlelight
Next Week
St Anne’s Nativity 10am
6.30pm ST@6 Christmas Reflection, led by Rev Dave
Don’t forget Wednesdays at 3.20pm St Anne’s Connect in school – It’s the last one of 2025 – come and gather together. Don’t forget sandwiches, drinks and snacks will be on offer.
2025-2026 Attendance
|
Class |
Attendance |
|
R |
97.7% |
|
1 |
89.29% |
|
2 |
85.82% |
|
3 |
94.44% |
|
4 |
86.38% |
|
5 |
91.25% |
|
6 |
94.44% |
|
ALL: 91.23% |
|
Prayers from Alfred and Liam Y6
Dear God,
Please give us the strength to keep trying, even when things are hard. Help us to not give up.
Amen
Dear God,
Please give us the courage and hope to persevere in all that we do and say. Help us to keep trying, even when things get hard.
Amen
Mrs Middleton & the St Anne’s Team
Diary Dates
|
ADVANCE DATES TO AVOID BOOKING ANYTHING |
|
Inset Days |
Key Statutory Weeks (Assessment) |
||
|
Friday 13 February Monday 27 July |
Year 6 SATS Week – Monday 11 May to Thursday 14 May 2026 Year 1 Phonics Screening – Monday 8 June 2026 (2 weeks) Year 4 Multiplication Check – Monday 1 June 2026 (2 weeks) |
||
|
Please ensure your children are in school during these times as their data will count even when absent. |
|||
|
Looking Ahead |
|||
|
|
|||
|
December |
16 |
Portland Schools Carol Service – 6.30pm St Annes Church |
|
|
17 |
Christmas Dinner Day/ Party Day – Christmas Jumper |
||
|
19 |
End of term Service 2:00 pm in the church |
||
|
January
|
5 |
Return to school – Term 2 |
|
|
12 |
Class Reception – Forest School |
||
|
19 |
Class Reception – Forest School |
||
|
26 |
Class Reception – Forest School |
||
|
29 |
Y6 Mayan Workshop in school |
||