Friday 16^th October 2026

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we reach the end of another busy and successful half term, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for your continued support.  In particular, thank you for supporting our recent Book Fair.  Your enthusiasm and generosity help us to foster a love of reading across the school and ensure that children have access to high-quality books.

Reading remains at the heart of all that we do. As Queen Camilla, a passionate advocate for literacy, has often highlighted, reading has the power to open doors, ignite imaginations and create opportunities for lifelong learning.  As we move into the holiday, I would encourage all children to continue reading regularly and to practise those key skills that make such a difference: reading fluency, spelling, number facts and times tables. Small amounts of daily practice can have a significant impact on children's confidence and progress - it really does matter!

Our football team showed tremendous courage and determination this week.  Although they were defeated by the opposition at Sparken Hill, the team represented the school with pride, resilience and excellent sportsmanship.  Competing in a higher division this season will undoubtedly provide valuable experiences and help the children continue to develop both as players and as young people of character.

At St Anne's, we firmly believe that education should extend well beyond the National Curriculum.  It has been wonderful to see this in action over the past few weeks.  Class 6 have thoroughly enjoyed their residential visit, creating memories and developing independence, teamwork and resilience.  See all the photos under Class 6 News below.

Meanwhile, Class 2 and Class 4 have benefitted from engaging educational visits, bringing their learning to life beyond the classroom.  These experiences enrich our curriculum and help develop the whole child.  My sincere thanks go to all staff who have given their time to accompany these visits and provide such valuable opportunities for our pupils.

As we approach the holiday period, I would also like to remind families about the Local Authority's Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.  The programme offers a range of activities and support during the school holiday and provides excellent opportunities for children to stay active, socialise and enjoy new experiences. Further details can be found via the Local Authority website. https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/education/holiday-activities-and-food

Finally, as we break for half term, we send our very best wishes to Mrs Brightman as she begins her maternity leave.  With just a few weeks to go until the arrival of her new baby, we know the whole school community will join us in wishing her a healthy and happy final stage of pregnancy.  We look forward to sharing further updates in due course.

We also extend our warmest congratulations and best wishes to Miss Burgoyne, who will celebrate her wedding during the holiday.  This is a very special time, and we know families will join us in wishing her every happiness for the future.

Harvest Festival Donations

Thank you for the donations made to our Harvest Festival service in Church a couple of weeks ago.  These have all been collected today to take over to Hope.  Hope are a Community Service - a homelessness charity based in Worksop. They support homeless people locally who are in crisis and have nowhere else to turn.  They work with people to get their lives back on track and end their cycle of homelessness for good.

After-School Club

We have taken an informed decision going forward to cancel After-School Clubs on the last day of half-terms and terms.  This is due to these days having such low numbers.

Class 4 Swimming

You may be aware that Worksop Leisure Centre will be closed for refurbishment for 2-weeks after half-term. 

• Monday 2^nd November - there will be no swimming
• Monday 16 November - the Swimming Team will come into school to do a water safety talk.
• Monday 23 November - children will need to bring their pyjamas or similar to do water safety in the swimming pool.

News from the Classes

Class Reception

This week, Class Reception have been learning all about autumn and have thoroughly enjoyed sharing the story Leaf Man. They have been exploring the signs of the changing season and carefully observing how the environment around them is beginning to transform.  In Maths, the children have been investigating repeating patterns, creating their own patterns and spotting mistakes within sequences, developing their reasoning and problem-solving skills.

Class One

This week, Class 1 enjoyed spending some time outdoors exploring the wonderful changes happening in autumn.  The children looked carefully at the leaves, noticing how their colours, shapes and textures are beginning to change. They collected different leaves and thought of exciting describing words, using fantastic vocabulary such as crunchy, curly, golden, pointy and smooth.  The children also became tree detectives, searching for particular trees, including oak trees, and using the shape and features of their leaves to help identify them.

Class Two

What a busy and exciting week the children have had in Class 2!  In Maths, they have been exploring fact families and using the Topmarks Fact Families game to help them understand how numbers are connected through addition and subtraction.  In English, the children have worked incredibly hard on their biographies of Mary Seacole, taking time to improve, edit and polish their writing to produce a piece of work they can be truly proud of!  One of the highlights of their week was their fantastic trip to Newstead Abbey, where they stepped back in time to experience life as Victorians.  The children thoroughly enjoyed dressing up, experiencing a Victorian classroom and discovering what toys children would have played with in the past. They even brought their Victorian learning into PE, where they took part in a traditional Victorian-style drill lesson, complete with lots of marching, running and stretching! It has been a wonderful week filled with exciting experiences, fantastic learning and lots of smiling faces!

Class Three

Class 3 have had a busy final week of the half term, bringing together their skills and knowledge from across the curriculum. In Maths, the children have been practising column addition and subtraction, focusing on setting out their calculations accurately and using their place value knowledge to help them add and subtract. In English, the children have been writing their own newspaper reports about the discovery of Skara Brae. They have been applying their knowledge of newspaper features, including headlines, factual information and reporter vocabulary, to create exciting and informative reports. In Science, the children have been using their knowledge from this half-term's learning about nutrition to design a balanced meal. They have carefully considered the different food groups and the nutrients our bodies need to stay healthy, ensuring their meals include a variety of foods. In Art, the children have completed their final pieces inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo.  Working independently, they created woven fruit bowls decorated with collaged fruit, using a range of materials and techniques to produce colourful and imaginative artwork.

Class Four

The children have continued their physical Geography learning with an exciting hands-on river study at Perlethorpe!  The morning was spent in the river itself, measuring its depth and flow before river dipping to investigate the water quality.  Needless to say, everyone ended up with wet feet, but this only added to the fun! There were plenty of smiles and laughter as the children immersed themselves in their learning, applying their geographical knowledge and consolidating their understanding of rivers.

In the afternoon, the children took part in an orienteering activity, following clues to deepen their understanding of river features and processes. They then headed into the woods, where they used natural materials to demonstrate their growing knowledge of rivers and how they change the landscape. It was a fantastic day filled with practical learning, teamwork and enthusiasm, and the children should be very proud of how brilliantly they engaged with every activity. A huge thank you to our parent helper, Mr Drew, for giving up his time to help make the day such a success!

Class Five

Class 5 have had a fantastic couple of weeks, and we are particularly proud of how well they have adapted to having different teachers in the classroom. They have shown maturity, flexibility and a really positive attitude towards their learning. Well done, everyone!

In Science, we have enjoyed investigating how the Earth rotates and how this affects day and night, using globes and torches to bring our learning to life.  We have also continued to enjoy our whole-class reading book, Cosmic, and have been developing our discussion writing skills.  Over the next two days, we will be completing our Big Write and carefully editing our work to make it even better.

Class 6

A special mention to the Class 6 children who have remained in school – they have been a delight and worked hard on their progress.  Meanwhile the rest of the class ......

 

 

Congratulations to our ‘Special Mentions’ this week

Class Reception – Harry D and Beatrice

Class One – Ollie

Class Two – Penny

Class Three – Amilia-May

Class Four – Lilly E

Class Five – Lilianna

Class Six – On their residential at PGL Caythorpe

Lunchtime Special Mention: Oscar (3)

A prayer for the week ahead from Tobias and Annie (6):

Dear God,

Please let us always persevere, even when we want to give up.

Amen

Dear God,

Let us have perseverance in the hard things we have this week.

Amen

Out of School Achievements:

Swimming Award 10 meters - Amelia So (1)

Swimming Award 100 meters and a badge for swimming 4x per week and Scout Chief Bronze Award – George (3)

Caretaker Award: Class 4 get the ‘Feather Duster Award’

Well done to all!

Church Services

10:00am StA@10 St Anne’s Together led by Selina

6.00pm no service

2026-2027 Attendance

Please use your Arbor App to check your child's current attendance. You can find this by scrolling up on your home page to see this year’s attendance.

Class	Attendance
R	97.5%
1	86.33%
2	98.14%
3	95.85%
4	95.63%
5	87.66%
6	94.04%
ALL: 94.32%

Well done Class 2!  Whole school attendance is somewhat below that of expected standard of 97%.

Finally…

Thank you once again for your continued support throughout what has been a busy and productive half term.  We are incredibly proud of all our pupils and grateful for the strong partnership between school and home. We wish all of our families a safe, restful and enjoyable half-term break and look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for an exciting second half of the autumn term.

With best wishes,

Mrs Middleton & the St Anne’s Team

🌈 Wraparound Care - Week Commencing: Monday 12^th October 2026

Contact: 01909 473 223 Option 2

💌 Welcome to another lovely week at wraparound care!  Our team are so happy to be spending time with your children. Here’s a peek at all the fun, food, and special activities that we have planned.

🍎 Food & Tasty Treats

🥣 Breakfast Options

Day	Cereals (Low Sugar Options)	Toast Options	Drinks	Fruit Option	Optional Extra	Allergens
Monday	Weetabix Cornflakes Shredded Wheat Rice Krispies Oats (porridge)	50/50 toast with flora buttery and jam	Milk / Water / Apple juice / Orange juice	Banana	Low sugar yogurt or fromage frais	Milk, Gluten
Tuesday				Tinned peaches in fruit juice		Milk, Gluten
Wednesday				Tinned pears in fruit juice		Milk, Gluten
Thursday				Frozen mango		Milk, Gluten
Friday				Tinned oranges in fruit juice		Milk, Gluten

Breakfast is either cereal or toast with yoghurt and fruit as optional extras.

🍌 After School Snacks

Day	Snack	Allergens
Monday	Cheese toastie, apple, cucumber Bourbon biscuit or custard cream	Gluten, Milk, Sesame
Tuesday	Spaghetti on Toast, orange Bourbon biscuit or custard cream	Gluten, Sesame
Wednesday	Cheese Wrap, raisins, banana Bourbon biscuit or custard cream	Gluten, Milk, Sesame
Thursday	Pizza Pittas, raisins, pear Bourbon biscuit or custard cream	Gluten, Milk, Sesame
Friday	Egg mayo sandwich, veg sticks, fruit salad Bourbon biscuit or custard cream	Gluten, Egg, Sesame

🎨 Next Week’s Afterschool Activities – Outdoor Adventures

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3:20–3:40	Snack & Social	Snack & Social	Snack & Social	Snack & Social	Snack & Social
3:40–4:00	Reading	Reading	Reading	Reading	Reading
4:00–4:30	Den Building	Scavenger Trail	Chalk Art	Mini Gardening	Outdoor Team Games

KEY DATES 2026-2027

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

Class 6 SATS – Monday 10th May 2027 – Thursday 13th May 2027

Class 4 Multiplication Test W/c 7th June 2027 – 2 weeks

Class 2 in school assessments May 2027 and w/c 7th June 2027

Class 1 Phonics Screening 14th June 2027 -2 weeks

Inset Days Monday 4th January 2027 Friday 12th February 2027 Monday 26th July 2027 Tuesday 27th July 2027 Wednesday 28th July 2027

19-30

All

Half Term

 

			November
2	AM	4	Swimming	Valley Leisure Centre
2-3	All day	Reception	Balance Bikes	School
9	AM	All	School Photos Individuals (siblings in the morning)	School
10	15:20-17:00		Open Event for New Parents for Sept 27	School
11	10:30	All	School Remembrance Day Service	Church
12	14:45	6	Class Assembly	School Hall
13	All day	All 1	Children in Need Class trip Emergency Services Museum
17	14:30	All Welcome	Maths Parent Workshop	School Hall
19	All day	6	Trip Holocaust Centre
23	All day	All	Flu Jabs	School
24	All day	Reception and 1	Perlethorpe Nativity Trail	Perlethorpe
25	All day	3	Class Trip to Creswell Crags	Creswell Crags
26	14:30	2	Class Assembly	School Hall
27	All day	All	Non-Uniform Day & Rainbow Raffle	School

 

			December
3	15:30- 16:45 17:00-18:15	KS1     KS2	Christmas Disco – KS1     Christmas Disco – KS2	School Hall
7			Nativity Week – days TBC
10		All	Christmas Fair – Provisional date	School
11		All	Christmas Craft Afternoon	School
15		Choir	Portland Carols	St Anne’s Church
16		All	Christmas Dinner Day	School
18	14:30	All	Christingle	St Anne’s Church