Dear Parents & Carers,

A huge thank you to all the parents who attended the ‘Early Reading Workshop’ led by Miss Decouto.  We hope you found it both useful and inspiring.  As always, if you have any questions about supporting your child with reading, please don’t hesitate to speak to a member of staff.  Our aim is for every child to become a confident reader who develops a lifelong love of reading for pleasure.

Next week, we will be celebrating Harvest Festival together as a school community on Tuesday 30 September at 2pm in the Church. We would be delighted if you could join us for this special service - our first of the new school year. As part of our celebration, we warmly welcome donations of tinned or packaged produce, which will be shared alongside donations from the Church and given to the local branch of Hope.

Our thanks extend to those who generously donated cakes in readiness for this afternoon’s Macmillan Coffee Afternoon – we have our fingers crossed that we can raise a substantial amount of money to donate to such a worthwhile cause.

Education Explained – The Importance of Practice

Learning something new takes time, effort, and repetition.  It isn’t enough for children to simply hear their teacher explain a concept once; they need to practise it actively, in different ways and over time.  This process builds fluency and confidence, allowing children to apply their knowledge successfully when it matters most.
For example, Times Tables Rock Stars is a fantastic tool for children to practise and strengthen their recall of multiplication facts – an essential skill that underpins so much of their mathematical learning.

Thank you for your continued support in helping your child to learn, practise, and thrive.

Secondary School Admissions (Year 6 Families)

Time is running out; please ensure you have applied for your child’s secondary place for September 2026 - https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/education/school-admissions/hub

Y5 Hathersage Residential Parent Meeting

Thank you to those who attended the final meeting for the forthcoming trip.  Behind the scenes a lot of preparation has taken place and the team accompanying the children are looking forward to the trip with the ‘Centre Manager’ ready to welcome St Anne’s children once again.  It really is a beautiful part of the world, and we hope the sun will shine on their walks and during their range of outdoor activities.

Friends of St Anne’s School (FOSAS)

The group are looking forward to the year ahead. The first meeting will be held on Monday 29^th September at ‘The Shireoaks’ at 7.30 pm. New members are welcome, and it is an opportunity to join a small group of dedicated parents who plan a variety of social activities for the children.  Money raised supports transport on school trips as well as the purchasing of equipment/ experiences that further enhance your children’s experiences in school, DaARt etc.

Snacks and Meal Bookings

It has come to our attention that some parents are struggling to book snacks and dinners on Arbor.  We have investigated this, and it is due to there being items in the basket that have not been checked out.  To resolve this issue:

Please clear your ‘basket’ then……

Re-add and check out the items you are booking or check out and pay for the items in the basket. 

This is resolving the issues that people are experiencing. Please contact the office with any questions or queries.

Sporting News

A big well done to the 12 representatives from Classes 5 and 6 who took part in the cross-country event this week.  A special mention to our fastest girl Ava who came 7^th out of 69 girls, and qualified for the next round and to our fasted boy Jacob who finished 18^th out of 70 boys.  A fabulous achievement.

Representatives from the football squad made up a ‘7 aside’ team for our first match of the season against Clarborough Primary School.  It was a ‘nail-biting’ game with every player playing well!  We came away with a 4:3 win with goals from Ollie (2), James and Oliver.

News from the Classes

Class Reception

This week, the children in Reception have been learning all about families and the special people who are important to them. They enjoyed sharing stories, photos, and talking about what makes their families unique. As part of their learning, the class read ‘Monkey Puzzle, by Julia Donaldson’ and ‘Once There Were Giants, by Martin Waddell’. These stories helped the children understand that families come in all shapes and sizes, and that everyone is cared for in different ways. They also began to explore how we grow and change over time, from babies, to children, to adults, and talked about what each stage looks like.

 

Class One

This week, Class 1 have been working hard in English, focusing on how to use adjectives to make their writing more exciting.  They are beginning to understand that adjectives make nouns more interesting and help the reader build a picture in their mind.  They used their learning to create their very own ‘Wanted’ posters for the famous outlaw, ‘Robin Hood’. They carefully chose adjectives to describe what he might look like and what he carries with him. Some of the descriptions included a “green hat,” a “sharp arrow,” and a “long cloak.” The children had great fun making their posters, and it was wonderful to see them using their new writing skills with enthusiasm.  Keep your eyes peeled—Robin Hood might be hiding nearby!

Class Two

In Class 2 children have started to study ‘Andy Warhol’ in art and look at his 'pop art' style to create their own. This week they created observational drawings with different sized pencils, working hard to copy the hot air balloon. During this week’s learning they have also learned all about where their food comes from and couldn't believe a strawberry yogurt was both plant and animal.  In maths, Class 2 have been counting in 1's and 10s on number lines and recognising the difference.  During English, children came up with spectacular words for 'blue' and 'green' to help describe the ‘Bathing Machine’ from the class story.  Computing sessions have seen the children make objects on a screen spin, become bigger, smaller, wider and longer, working on becoming confident with their mouse/trackpad skills.  In history, the children have looked at what life was like for a Victorian child, seeing what kind of jobs they had to do growing up.

Class Three

In English this week, Class 3 have been writing their own narrative based on their class book ‘Stone Age Boy’. The children were tasked with including adverbs and conjunctions in their writing. In whole class reading Class 3 have been enjoying their book ‘Terrible True Tales:  The Stone Age’ and have been busy making predications and inferences about the characters. In Science, the children celebrated farm to fork week by learning about the journey food takes from being planted in the field to being sold in the shop. In art, the children developed their cross-hatching skills before applying this to a sketch of a stone age animal. They thought carefully about where the cross hatching would be needed to add texture.

Class Four

This week in science, the children have set up a fair test to find out which liquid is most likely to cause tooth decay.  They have used hard boiled eggs in the test as eggshells and the enamel of teeth share similarities. They placed eggs in orange juice, apple juice, water, milk and coca cola and will observe the effects on the eggs shell over the following week to help them understand which liquid causes the most damage.  

Class Five

This week the class welcomed local artist Gail Stafford into Class 5, Gail is from the Worksop Society of Artists, and she was kind enough to come into school and share her experience, knowledge and skills with the children. She brought with her, some of her works which she has exhibited, and the children were amazed with her talent.  She talked about her love of creating images using a range of different media, her experience of landscape artistry and she gifted all the children a viewfinder with which they could find a view to draw.  They all went out into the school grounds and, using their viewfinders, created some of their own masterpieces.  Gail was on hand to provide guidance on views, pencil variation and suggestions on how to improve their creations.  The class will be using some of her suggestions to continue with their landscape topic over the rest of the term.

Class Six

Class 6 this week have been editing and improving pieces of writing and starting the next unit which is narrative. The children are enjoying the book ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ and its links with WW2 for topic. All the children are becoming more confident in suggesting ideas and being creative with words. In maths, the children are consolidating their learning using the four operations. In other lessons such as Science, children set up an investigation using different electrical components to create complete circuits. In topic, the children have been learning about evacuation in WW2 and how this changed lives.

Congratulations to our Stars of the Week this week

Class Reception – Clara & Toby

Class One – Kiki & Jack

Class Two – Kaydence & George S

Class Three – Iris

Class Four – Joseph & Lilianna

Class Five – Elsa

Class Six – Oliver W

Tidy Classroom Award: Class 5

Out of School Achievements:

A big well done to Harri (5) who took part in her first national ‘open meet’ with her swimming club Nova Centurian’s last weekend.  She smashed her PB’s in 5 races which were 100m and 50m freestyle, 100m and 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke. She knocked a whopping 10 seconds off 100m freestyle and 5/6 seconds in the other.  Overall, she gained a Gold in 100m Breaststroke, Silver in 100m Freestyle and Bronze in the others, coming out third in her age group 9-10.  A great achievement and we know it comes with a lot of hard work, training 10 hours a week after school. Well done, Harri.

Super Swimmer – Teddy (3)

Stage 3 Swimming – Lilly H (1)

Stage 8 Swimming – Laurel (4)

Level 2 Ariel Hoop – Eliza (4)

Trainer of the Week Football – Jack (2)

SJR U7 Match – Florence (2)

Cross Country Qualifier at Retford Oaks

Class 6 - James, Jacob P, Adam, Alfred, Alice, Lailah, Harriet R, Ava.

Class 5 - George B, Casper, Natalia, Lily.

Football Match on Monday – 4-3

Class 6 – Ava, Jacob, James, Georgiano, Jensen, Ollie-Tom, Oliver

Class 5 – Casper, Alexander, Sam, Flynn, Oscar

Well done everyone.

Church Services

10:00 am StA@10 St Anne’s Together, led by Rev Dave

1:00 pm Baptism

6:00 pm StA@6, led by Rev Dave

Don’t forget Wednesdays at 3.20pm St Anne’s Connect – a service for all the family in the school hall. Sandwiches, crisps and a sweet treat for everyone, with juice and hot drinks. We then join for a 30-minute service of worship and fun together.

2025-2026 Attendance

Class	Attendance
R	95.67%
1	98.62%
2	100%
3	98.28%
4	98.99%
5	99.03%
6	100%
ALL:        98.64%

Well done Class 2 and 6!

Prayers for the week from – Kyla and Nicole (6)

Dear God,

Thank you for accepting us even when we are in the wrong and are not always accepting ourselves. Amen

Dear God,

Let us accept our flaws and weaknesses and to understand we are all equal people. Give us the strength, perseverance and resilience to grow with love in our hearts and believe everything happens for a reason. Amen

With my best wishes to you all for a restful weekend,

Mrs Middleton & the St Anne’s Team

Diary Dates

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.