Winter 2018
Welcome FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Dear Parents and Carers,
What a busy half term we have had! There has been so much going on at school. The children have been working hard in their lessons and have been completing some excellent work. It has also been a pleasure to see the PTFA reforming and organising an excellent Christmas Fair. Our Christmas production went really well even if it was a little bit cold! Finally I would like to wish all parents, children and staff a restful and enjoyable Christmas. We look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Monday 7th January.
James Spicer Head of School
Vision: ‘Achievement through caring’
Mission: We believe: Successful, creative, lifelong learners participate in a journey of self-discovery. They know how to learn, and acquire skills to be happy and thrive in a changing world with confidence and courage.
Values: Excellence - striving always for mastery and personal success Integrity - consistently acting with honesty, compassion and respect Empathy - embracing and supporting the uniqueness of every individual Creativity - inspiring and challenging through invention, experimentation and exploration Equality - ensuring fair opportunity for all
Tilstock C of E Primary School and Nursery T. 01948 880347
Tilstock Lane, Tilstock, Whitchurch, Shropshire, SY13 3JL
E. tilstockadmin@mmat.co.uk
W. www.tilstockprimaryschool.co.uk
Winter 2018 | 1
News Literacy Morning Recently, Year 5 pupils visited Sir John Talbot's School for a Literacy morning with Lower Heath Primary School. The pupils came up with some amazing ideas and really enjoyed themselves. They used lots of different skills and raised themselves as a team to the challenge they chose which was the most difficult Gold Challenge!
Remembrance Pictures
DARWIN CLASS Darwin Class planted some daffodils at the front of the school. By Spring, we should have some lovely flowers for all to see.
Baking Trench Cakes
Talbot Class were busy sketching and using water paints to create some excellent World War I remembrance pictures.
The children spent time making and baking World War I 'trench cakes' made with vinegar as a replacement for eggs.
They practised how to blend colours and take time to add detail. We have also done a lot of work on descriptive writing this week and the children have created some fantastic pieces of work.
We had a great time making them, and later we discussed rationing and how soldiers had limited supplies during the war.
www.tilstockprimaryschool.co.uk
2 | Winter 2018
More News
Maths Visitor
We were treated recently as Mr Metcalfe shared his maths experience across the whole school. The children were very focused and enjoyed his lessons. Thank you Mr Metcalfe!
Darwin Class have enjoyed wrapping wool around pine cones for their finger gym activity. Finger gym helps develop the children's fine motor skills, developing strong flexible fingers to aid them with their writing.
8 The children were painting rocks for Remembrance day, which were put around Whitchurch, before starting work on making poppies. Well done to them all.
Multi-Cultural Day Year 4 pupils visited the Marches School in Oswestry to take part in a variety of multi-cultural workshops. This included: drumming, dancing and drama. The children who took part all had a great time.
www.tilstockprimaryschool.co.uk
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Remembrance Sunday The community in Tilstock joined together to commemorate Remembrance Sunday. The children worked hard to create over 100 poppies, which were seen at the service. After the service many members of the Tilstock community came back to the school hall to enjoy refreshments.
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Pantomime All of the children at Tilstock C of E Primary School went to see the Pantomime, 'Mother Goose' at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury... Oh no we didn't.... Oh yes we did. It was amazing to watch as well as to see the faces of the children, especially with some seeing a panto for the first time. The children were a real credit to the school and their behaviour was impeccable. The ice cream was a great hit in the interval too! One of our children even had his birthday mentioned and was sung to by the whole theatre.
www.tilstockprimaryschool.co.uk
4 | Winter 2018
Christmas Fair On Friday 7th December, we hosted a Christmas Fair. It was a wonderful event and it was fantastic to welcome several local members of the community to the school. There was a welcoming and pleasant Christmas feel to the afternoon and we would like to wish everybody associated with Tilstock C of E Primary School and Nursery a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
www.tilstockprimaryschool.co.uk
Winter 2018 | 5
Brilly Tilly This term we have continued our focus on being cooperative and concentrating. The children have been working hard to not be distracted or to distract others. We will be looking at how we can break tasks into smaller pieces and plan how we are going to tackle a challenge. We are also pleased to announce that Abigail Weir has won a prize for her Brilly Tilly Superhero design. Well done Abigail!
Sir John Talbot’s School, another member of the Marches Academy Trust, currently operates four dedicated mini buses, which are driven by school employees. Payment for the mini bus fare is collected by direct debit, with the cost for the thirty-nine week academic year, collected over ten equal direct debit payments commencing in October each year. There is a standard fee to travel on the mini bus irrespective of where your child catches the bus. The cost is £350.00 for the academic year which is collected in ten equal monthly installments of £35.00 and which equates to approximately £9.00 per week.
Nursery Places Tilstock C of E Primary School have been offering free, full time nursery places to children aged 3 years of age since January 2018. The new arrangements form part of the government’s agenda to provide hard-working parents with greater choice and flexibility over their childcare which is estimated to save families around £5,000 per year on childcare. We are committed to offering free, full time nursery places to eligible children from across Tilstock and Whitchurch. We appreciate the difficulties parents face in juggling work commitments and affordable childcare. Listening to the needs of our local parents we have also made the decision to extend our after school club provision, in the new year, to complement our early breakfast club, and provide wrap-around care throughout the working day. Tilstock C of E Primary School’s after school club will now operate from 3pm until 5:45pm on most days where children will have a greater opportunity to take part in a wide variety of activities from football and yoga to developing their IT skills, further enriching the typical school day.
At Tilstock we offer before and after school care from 8:00am until 8:45am and then 3pm until 5:45pm. Daily Breakfast Club: 8:00am until 8:45am – £2.50 (this includes breakfast if required). After School Club: 3pm until 4:30pm – £2.50 Extra After School Club: 4:30pm until 5:45pm – £2.50
Should you have more than one child utilising the school transport, fees will be charged on the following basis: First child - 100% of fee (£350.00 per academic year) Second child – 75% of fee (£262.50 per academic year) Subsequent children – 50% of fee (£175.00 per academic year) A Transport Safety Statement is available on the website, which details the minimum behaviour expectations of children whilst travelling on the school-provided transport. It is important that you and your child understand that should we have concerns about your child’s behaviour whilst travelling on the school mini bus, we may at our discretion withdraw permission to use the transport.
www.tilstockprimaryschool.co.uk
Winter 2018