Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome back!

I hope that you all had a great break over the Easter holidays and that the changeable weather did not get in the way of your plans. I met Mrs Harries for a walk around Ferry Meadows in the first week and was delighted to bump into many Wistow families, past and present. I think we were all a bit excited to be venturing out after what has felt like a period of hibernation. The lifting of further restrictions this week has also been very welcome and I had to smile at the number of mums, dads and children who were already sporting smart new haircuts on Tuesday morning.

Once again, Mr Marks and I have swapped gates and I am back on the Wistow Way gate. I soon realised that there were some families who I have not seen since December and it was lovely to have a quick catch-up with them. In this strange segregated time with so many restrictions, it can feel as though you only see a sliver of the school at any one time. I may have been imagining it, but I have genuinely felt that the children have gone out of their way this week to say ‘hello’, ‘good morning’ or ‘goodbye’. I hope that our recent conversations with them about manners and the Polite part of the PRIDE Code has played a part in this. It really does make a massive difference when people acknowledge you at the school gate and exchange pleasantries. Thanks also to all of the parents, grandparents and childminders who are sticking to our requests. There are very few parents on the playground each morning and those who do collect at the end of the day are leaving the site promptly. My only request and gentle reminder would be that we do not want to see children running around the playground or on the mound or tyre play system. Younger children need to stand with their parents if you are waiting to collect another child.

When we launched our new menu choices this week we reflected on the fact that lots of you would have jumped at the chance to join us for one of the new meals. This then made us feel a little sad that it has been so long since we have been able to welcome you into the school. I hope that after the 21^st June, the school might receive some new advice on how we can have parents back for events and that you might get the chance to join us for lunch again. You will see in this newsletter that we are closely monitoring the new menus and which dishes are the most popular. We will regularly tweak the amounts that we cook of each dish but will never be able to cook enough of everything so that everyone gets a full choice of each dish. If we did, we would have a lot of food left over at the end of each day and the price of school meals would have to increase to cover this waste.

Just as I sat down to start this welcome, Mr Marks let me know that we now have 95% of parents who have signed up for next week’s parent consultations. This is a fantastic achievement and on par with what we would see at normal, face-to-face meetings. I know some schools that never have as high a take-up as we do. As this is one of the formal occasions that you are able to speak to your child’s teacher, I hope that we could reach 100%. Staff are always flexible and will go out of their way to speak to parents outside of the two evenings, but we would prefer for all appointments to happen at the same time, unless there are exceptional reasons why they cannot.

As you can see, despite everything, life is continuing as normal in school and we continue to have things in the pipeline. For the last year, we have investigated how we could add a proper track around the edge of the field so that we can have a Golden Mile track which we can use all year round. It looks as though this is something that we can do later this year using money that has to be spent on projects like this. It will be great to see the children running regularly and I can only begin to imagine what ambitious targets Mr Cowles would set us once we had a permanent track!

Although I won’t see you at parents evening (I know that you must miss me playing a musical instrument to keep the appointments on track!) and I may not see you at the gate, but I hope that you know that, along with all of the staff, we are thinking about all of the families in school and hope that you remain safe, happy and well.

Kind regards,

Mr Eardley

Head Teacher

^{Photo by Hakan Tas on Unsplash}

Each week, we publish the latest achievements of the children at Orton Wistow Primary School.  You can find out the weekly results for:

• Attendance
• Class Dojos
• Dojo Masters
• House Points
• Reading Champions
• Shining Stars
• Times Table Rock Stars

Eco Update

By Ms Porter, Eco Lead

OWPS Eco Code

The children have been involved in Assemblies and class activities to continue to promote caring for our environment. If your child is an ‘Eco Warrior’, they have responsibilities to carry out to ensure we are following our Eco code.  Our school mascots, Eric and Eddie are given to the class who uphold this each week.

Eat Healthily

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Ignore the car, use green power

Care for our school grounds and community

Save water and electricity.

Eat healthily

Last year we asked for your support in promoting a healthy lifestyle for us all.  The results of our lunch questionnaires were positive, the majority of parents were more than happy with school meals.  Some parents stated cost as a reason to bring in a packed lunch, others felt that they knew what their child was eating with a meal from home. 

As you know, we are always looking for ways to encourage children to try something new.  Perhaps you could have a look with your child at our Summer Menu and see if they would like to try a school meal.  We have made changes to our school lunches, for example, we no longer offer juice due to the natural sugar content, we have 25% less sugar in our desserts and we add vegetables to our main meals, such as bolognese.

You may also find the table below of interest. It shows the nutritional value of a school meal and a packed lunch.  We know lots of children come into school with a very healthy packed lunch.  This isn’t one of our school meals or packed lunches but the general information may surprise you! 

In previous years, when children start school they have medical checks including height and weight.  In the past, parents have been offered further support, for example with mealtime difficulties or portion control.  The checks have not been carried out this year, due to Government restrictions.  If you are concerned about your child’s weight or diet, the school nurse team suggests Change4Life and NHS Live Well websites.  Here you will find information about a healthy weight and reducing the amount of fat and sugar.  There are also lots of tips about healthy packed lunches.

During Lockdown, we continued to promote keeping healthy, by fitness challenges, led by Mr Cowles.  It was great to see so many children finding new ways to be active.  Alongside this, we continue to promote eating healthily. 

This term we are encouraging children to make a ‘sugar swap.’  Staff in school have made a short video exercising and/or swapping their usual snack for something more healthy.  We would really like to see your children trying to do this and hope you will support them.  You can upload tweets to the school or class Twitter pages.  @OWPSchool#Swapsies.  Staff ‘swapsies’ will be available to have a look at to give you an idea. If you would rather send a photo, this can be sent to the school office's email address, office@owps.org.uk.  Please state if you are happy for us to publish the picture on the school website and in the newsletter.

Mrs McIntosh shows her yoga skills while swapping chocolate for an apple.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

We are working with the other OWN trust schools to find a way of recycling our waste even further.  The Eco Warriors carry out weekly checks to make sure classes are recycling correctly.  Please continue to support us by not sending packaged snacks into school for your children.  If you are in the playground with your own waste please use the bins correctly.

Ignore the car, use green power

You will receive an email about taking part in The Big Pedal again this year.  We hope as many of you can join us as possible.  This year’s theme is ‘Amazing journeys.’  It would be great to see photographs of you and your child travelling a little farther on your bikes over a weekend! 

We will also be having a visit from Dr. Bike and Dr Scooter on Tuesday 20th April. Eric Schneider and Gemma Hughes, your Sustrans Bike It+ officers will be offering FREE bike checks; carrying out minor adjustments, pumping tyres and possibly replacing brake cables where necessary. The checks will take place throughout the day and advice on further work will be given if needed; helping to ensure your bikes are roadworthy. Please leave bikes unlocked we can lock them after the check if a lock is left with them. Leave a note if you DO NOT WANT YOUR BIKE CHECKED. For more details, you can view the Dr Bike and Dr Scooter Poster.

The Big Pedal has lots of competitions and offers that parents can take advantage of.  If you take a photograph of your child on their journey to school tweet @Sustrans#BigPedalWin.

A child from the Magpies learning to ride her bike.

Care for our school grounds and community

We were pleased to hear that many of you took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, and despite not all of you seeing lots of birds, we hope this activity helped your children to notice and recognise the importance of caring for our natural world.

A child from the Nightingales made bird feeders.

Save water and electricity

Earlier in the year, we showed the children the amount of electricity we used as a school and made a comparison to the money spent versus how much it costs a family to send a child to school in Africa.  As this was around Christmas time we suggested that instead of teachers buying a small gift for their classes, they would make a donation to SOS Africa.  We did this and raised £266 to allow Charisna a place at school. 

We have received updates and photographs that we have shown the children. We paid for Charisna to go to school.

And finally...

We look forward to seeing your child’s ‘swapsies’ and lots of you cycling to school, especially during 19^th-30^th April as part of The Big Pedal.

Thank you for your support!

^{Photo by Ashes Sitoula on Unsplash}

National Pet Month at OWPS

National Pet Month at OWPS

National Pet Month is from 01.04.21 - 10.05.21 and is an opportunity to celebrate our pets!

Before Easter, we invited children, parents and staff at OWPS to send in a photo and tell us about their pets. 

We were delighted to receive lots of responses, so many in fact that we will be featuring photos of OWPS pets over the next few weeks.

It's been wonderful to see the wide variety of pets from snakes to hens, guinea pigs to dogs.  Many are rescue pets and some are living with a disability such as being blind or deaf.

This Week's Pets

Here is this week's selection of adorable, interesting, and wonderful pets!

I have several platy fish. They are called Eeny, Meany, Miny & Mo. They live for about 2-3 years and are one of a few types of fish that give birth to live young. Unfortunately, they aren't great at being parents as they will often eat their young! I feed my fish brine shrimp, daphnia, bloodworms and temperate fish flakes (their favourite). I love seeing them swim under the rainbow ornament and that they often watch me eat my breakfast. They are hard to photograph too!

Amy in the Jaguars

This is Teddy and Dougal our rescue guinea pigs. We think they are aged 2 and 3 years old and we have had them in our family for a whole year. Ted is a Sheltie and Dougie is a Peruvian piggle and both need regular brushing abs the occasional haircut.

Millicent in the Elephants

Our pet is a corn snake called Conan. He is almost 10 years old and around 5ft in length. Every 6 months he sheds his skin to allow his body to grow.

Oliver and Arthur in the Giraffes and Flamingoes

The brown hen is Rosie who is a Rutland Ranger and the white hen is Holly and she is a Rutland White. They are one year old. Our hens like to have dust baths in the soil together.

A child from the Nightingales

This is our tabby cat Percy. He is 9 months old. He’s so popular where we live due to his gorgeous colours! All the children love stroking him. His loves eating, getting his paws in paints when we do crafts and also loves chasing the red laser in the dark!

Harry in the Elephants

Here is our French Bulldog Lulu. She was born deaf so we’ve developed a series of sign language gestures to help train her. Despite her disability, she can still come, sit and give you her paw!

Mrs Fidgett, Flamingoes

This is Parker the Cockapoo and this was him on his second walk out and about.

Mrs Morris, Macaws

 There's still time to get involved...

Just complete our National Pet Month Form or email digital@owps.org.uk.  If you decide to email, please don't forget to state in the email that you give us permission to publish your photo in the newsletter and on the website.

We hope you get involved and tell us all about your pets!

_{Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash}

The Big Pedal

By Ms Porter, Eco Lead

Big Pedal 2021

Get set… we’re taking part in Sustrans Big Pedal 2021, the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge. The challenge runs from 19 April to 30 April. It’s free and we would love everyone to be involved.

For those of you who have been in school for a while, you will know we have always had a great success rate and have won the Peterborough schools competition three times!

In 2019 it was particularly tough as walking was counted so lots of local schools were able to record more walks than us.  However, we won the cycling challenge as so many parents and children took the time and trouble to get the bikes out of the shed and garage and have a go at cycling! 

The children will be having an Assembly to explain the competition and will be encouraged to cycle.  We are so glad that many of you already travel to school sustainably, learning to ride a bike is a life skill.  Having to balance, negotiate obstacles and be aware of the rules of the road is a great way to keep our minds active!  We would therefore like to see as many children as possible on their bikes and scooters.  Parents on bikes count too!

What do you need to do?

Encourage your child(ren) to take active journeys to school on as many days as possible during the event, and join them on their way.

Your child will be asked during registration how they travelled to school and if any of their family members (including parents and siblings not at the school) have joined in as supporter activity counts in the competition too.

Tweet or send a photograph into the school office email (office@owps.org.uk) of your child cycling to school.

This year’s theme is ‘Amazing Journeys.’  If you enjoy a longer bike ride, maybe after school or at the weekend please send us a photo of the journey/route (from an app if you have one or your child could draw where their journey took them!).

Why we are taking part

Sustrans Big Pedal is a great way to get children active, which is important for physical health and mental wellbeing. Part of our Eco code is ‘Ignore the car, use green power.’  We are also promoting healthy lifestyles at school and children have been encouraged to make a swap, maybe they will swap coming to school by car for pedal power!  Further details will be in the newsletter about ‘Swapsies.’

Active school runs also help to reduce congestion and air pollution outside the school gate.

Covid-19 has made active travel to school is even more important. The Department for Education has said encouraging active travel to school helps “to enable pupils to be physically active while encouraging physical distancing.”

Plus there are some great prizes to be won every day if we get enough children taking part!

Cycle, walk, scoot and snap to win family prizes

You and your family can also win prizes during Sustrans Big Pedal. Simply post a photo of you and your child(ren) cycling, walking, wheeling or scooting to school on social media during the challenge using #BigPedalWin.

To be in with a chance of winning, you’ll need to follow Sustrans on Instagram instagram.com/sustrans, Twitter twitter.com/sustrans or Facebook facebook.com/Sustrans.

Be sure to check the terms and conditions found on the Big Pedal website prior to entering the competition.

The Big Pedal is For Everyone

We want to make sure that everyone can get involved Sustrans Big Pedal.

We know there may be reasons which make it more difficult for some pupils to take part.

If you live too far for your child to bike to school, maybe you could put their bike or scooter in the car and allow them to cycle a little way in.  If you have a few children and can’t transport all the bikes, maybe they could take it in turns?  Every little helps!

Useful resources

To help you prepare, Sustrans has developed a handy free guide packed with advice, games and challenges to help you have hassle-free cycle, walk or scoot to school. 

Download your free family guide using this link:

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/sign-up-to-receive-your-free-family-guide/

Please use the below link for tips on staying safe on the school run during lockdown: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/get-active/2020/everyday-walking-and-cycling/how-to-stay-safe-on-the-school-run-during-lockdown/.

For more information about the event go to www.bigpedal.org.uk. Enjoy the challenge!

<sup>The Big Pedal is a Sustrans project. Sustrans is the charity making it easier for people to walk and cycle. 

We connect people and places, create liveable neighbourhoods, transform the school run and deliver a happier, healthier commute. Join us on our journey. www.sustrans.org.uk</sup>

^{Sustrans is a registered charity in England and Wales (number 326550) and Scotland (SC039263). © Sustrans 2021}

^{Photo by Carl Nenzen Loven on Unsplash}

A weekly section on how to maintain good mental health and well-being.

New Summer Menu

We have been really pleased with the launch of the new menu this week.  It has been great to see the children trying something new and to hear how they are enjoying the selection of dishes.

We are keeping an eye on how this first cycle of meals is going.  We have identified that pizza is very popular on Mondays. To ensure we have enough pizza for all the children, from next week onwards we will be making more pizza, adding a carbohydrate accompaniment and ensuring that bread is available daily.

Find out what is happening in the community, nationally and internationally.

^{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. Given the current circumstances, we would recommend all parents check with any providers regarding the status of these services, activities and clubs}