Issue 420: 31st March 2023

Dear parents and carers,

We have reached the end of the Spring term! This year continues to fly by and I feel we are all ready for a well-deserved break. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support for the school and for working with us to help provide the best care and education we can for all the pupils at Orton Wistow. It has been lovely seeing so many of you in the building for different events over the past twelve weeks and I am looking forward to the exciting things we have lined up for the final term of the year. 

Time to say goodbye

We all said a sad goodbye to two children and two members of staff in school today. The children received a special OWPS badge, which we hope will help them to remember us all and we had a special assembly to say goodbye to Mrs. McIntosh and Mrs. Schneider. Both have worked in the school for many years and have been wonderful to work alongside. They are moving on to exciting new chapters in their lives and we wish them both the very best of luck. I'm sure they will come back to see us. 

Reading Millionaires

Two more children received their millionaire badges in assembly today. Harley in Year Six passed one million words read (calculated through our Accelerated Reader program and the quizzes completed) and we now have our first multi-millionaire in school! Abi, also in Year Six, has now read over two million words this year! Both should be very proud of these achievements. 

Break The Rules Day

What a fun way to end the term! It has been great to see so many children join in with this event and it is yet another way the FOWS work together to raise money for the school. I know we had a good number of parents pop in for the FOWS coffee and cake morning recently and they are hopeful that many of you will be able to join the team or support them with future events. 

I hope you all have a great Easter and make the most of the break. I will see you all on Monday 17^th April.

Mr. Marks

Headteacher 

^{Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash}

Each week, we publish the latest achievements of the children at Orton Wistow Primary School.

Fields of Colour Whole School Art Project

By Miss Ellis, Drama Lead

Nene Park Trust will be hosting the Peterborough Celebrates festival at Ferry Meadows from 19^th May-21^st May this year. The theme of the festival is colour and well-being. Nene Park Trust have invited OWPS to be a part of the ‘Field of Colour’ project which will be displayed at Ferry Meadows during the festival. Every child across the school will make a decorate a flower using recycled plastic bottles.

 Thank you to everyone who has already donated the tops of recycled plastic bottles from home. For every child to be involved in this project, we still need a lot more. We would now like to collect the bases of recycled bottles, as well as the top, in the hope that every child will be able to create a flower. Please continue to bring your recycled bottle tops and bases into school. The deadline for collection is Monday 24^th April 2023.

We are also very lucky because Nene Park Trust will be hosting workshops for each class on Tuesday 25^th April to paint their flower. We would be very grateful for some parent helper support during the morning or afternoon workshops. Please contact Miss Ellis if you are available to help.

Year 4 2 Can Learn

By Mrs Morris, Year 4 Class Teacher

On Thursday 30th March, Year 4 adults were invited to create a balanced and healthy Mexican quesadilla as part of our DT project.  Previous to this, Year 4 had:

• Researched Mexican food and ingredients.
• Considered where our food comes from and which foods are healthy choices in a balanced diet.
• Investigated possible ingredients.
• Designed our quesadillas, to use at least two of the key skills.

The skills they were learning were: how to grate, peel and chop (using the claw and bridge methods).  A big thank you to the adults for supporting their creations and to Mrs Anderson for cooking them for our afternoon evaluation!

Year 3 Family Learning

By Mr Newton, Nightingales Class Teacher

Last Thursday we really enjoyed welcoming the Year Three parents in for our family learning session. We focussed on Times Tables; learning about why knowing them is so important, as well as how we approach teaching these facts at OWPS. We looked at how to make the most of ‘Timetables Rockstars and also had a go at a variety of other fun ways of learning and practising our times tables, including making fortune-tellers and chanting multiplication facts in silly voices.  We also tested the parents' ability to answer multiplication questions.  We had a great morning, and it was brilliant to see so many parents take the time to come and find out about this vital part of our curriculum. 

Discover what is coming up in the OWPS Dining Car, and don't forget, parents and carers are welcome to Join Your Child for Lunch at any time, just call the office on 01733 370646 to book.

^{Disclaimer: Orton Wistow Primary School does not endorse any products, services or activities that appear in the Community section of this newsletter, and is not responsible for any contract entered into by either party. We would recommend all parents check with any providers regarding the status of these services, activities and clubs}