Dear Parents and Carers

I wanted to start this message by saying thank you to everyone who has stopped to speak to me since I told you that I am leaving. I hadn't realised that my news would come as such a surprise but can see why people would think that I was a permanent fixture at the school. Hopefully, the Trust will be able to write to you soon to let you know who will be taking over from me in September. For now, I am cracking on with a long To-Do list to make sure that I leave the school in tip-top shape.

Summer Fayre

We are all looking forward to next Friday's Summer Fayre. It feels such a long time since we have had a fayre of any description and I would like to ask as many of you as possible to pop along. I have seen the list of stalls and all the old favourites are back as well as some great new ones. As always, FOWS have done an amazing job of organising this event and staff are giving up their time to run as many stalls as possible. There is something for everyone. 

Open Day

Parents of children in Years 1- 6 have received an email today inviting them to sign up for our Open Day on Monday 27 June. This is a brand-new event for us and if it is a success, it is something that we would look to do each year. As I explained in the email, we are using a new automated booking system and places are on a first-come, first-served basis. I am sure that the children will be smiling from ear to ear with pride as they get to show a family member their books and favourite places in the school.

Transition Evening

I don't know of any other school that offers all parents the chance to come in for a Transition Evening when their child is about to move up from one year group to the next. We introduced this years ago when we realised that all transition points are important, not just the move into the FS and then onto secondary school. Although our remote events were better than nothing in the last two years, we are delighted that our event on Wednesday 6 July will be a live event in school. For those of you who have not experienced this before, the evening is made up of three slots. You will have the opportunity to visit two-year groups on the night to see the teachers in that year group. You will hear about what the children will do next year and what we expect of them. (For parents of children moving into Year 6 there is the chance to experience some of the SATs that the children will face next May.) If you have three children in school, I am afraid that you will have to decide which two year groups to visit. We will make the PowerPoint available afterwards but know that hearing from the staff in person is better.

In between these two slots, you will meet in the hall to hear about a whole school initiative for next year. Sadly, it won't be me leading this session any more, but you will get to hear from whoever is Head in September. We will contact you in due course with details of how to book your place.

I hope that this sunny spell sticks around this weekend and that anyone marking Father's Day has a lovely time.

Kind regards,

Simon Eardley

^{Photo by Andy Holmes on Unsplash}

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

Year 4 Family Learning

Mrs Granville, Giraffes Class Teacher

It was fantastic to welcome Year 4 families back into school for our 2CanLearn. Year 4 have been investigating textile designs and techniques for joining, decorating and embellishing fabrics. 

Linked to our topic of 'Pirates,' children designed a new flag for a pirate ship.  This was to represent the facts, rather than the myths, we have learnt about pirates, and some children also designed a flag for a specific pirate they had researched. 

In our 2CanLearn, we created our final pieces, using felt, needles and thread and a selection of buttons and beads.  The hall was packed, and as the saying goes, 'many hands make light work!' We are very grateful that so many adults were able to join us, as sewing with 60 children is quite a big task!  The children are just putting the finishing touches on their flags, and we will tweet their finished work.  

FOWS Update 17.06.22

By Mrs Francis, FOWS

The Summer Fayre

The FOWS team are busy getting everything ready for the summer fayre next week - we hope you are all looking forward to coming along. For those who haven't been before (or just need a reminder!) we wanted to tell you a little about what to expect! 

Location

The fayre will be positioned on the main playground, the one that is used at breaktimes by FS up to Year 4. There will also be a few stalls on the field - be sure to head over and see these stalls too! A cafe will be running outside, between the Year 2 and Year 3 classrooms. We will be selling hotdogs, cakes, ice creams, and various drinks (including Pimms!) 

Start Time

The fayre doesn't officially start until 3.30pm - this is because the majority of our stalls are run by staff, who have to send their classes out at the end of the day, then come onto the playground and get their stalls ready. So once you've collected your child(ren), please give staff 15 minutes before you approach their stalls! Some people use this time to pop home and return, but many like to stay and be there from the start! 

Raffle Tickets

Please return your raffle ticket stubs and money to school as soon as possible, the top three prizes for the raffle are:

• £100 cash
• £50 M&S voucher
• Google Nest mini

There are many other prizes to win - see our Facebook or Twitter page for the full list. Why not try selling some tickets to friends and family? More tickets are available from the school office. 

The raffle will be drawn by Mr Eardley at 5.15pm, where we will also announce other winners, such as Guess the Name of the Teddy, and How Many Sweets in the Jar? 

The School Choir Performance

The school choir will be performing at 4.30pm in the playground - this is their first performance, and it would be wonderful for them to have a supportive audience, so even if your child isn't involved, please pause at that time and listen to their singing. 

Silent Disco

We are also running, for the first time, a Silent Disco! This will be in the Flamingoes classroom. See the posters at the fayre for the timings on the different sessions for this. 

Other Stalls

Lots of the old favourite stalls will be back - we're especially looking forward to the return of the Human Fruit Machine and of course Mr Eardley's Pound in a Bucket, but we also have some new stalls this year - try your hand at the Wheel of Fortune or see whether you are able to Splat the Rat! 

Thank you!

A huge thank you in advance to all the staff for their help in running the stalls at the fayre, and a huge thank you to our volunteers who've been busy getting things organised for weeks, the summer fayre wouldn't be able to happen without this support. 

Finally, we hope you enjoy the return of the summer fayre - it feels great to be back, keep your fingers crossed for sunshine!

^{Photo by Marco Bianchetti on Unsplash}

Celebrating Success 17.06.22

Here at Orton Wistow Primary School, we recognise that success comes in all different shapes and sizes! We celebrate the children's achievements in school in the Achievements section of the newsletter and website.

Many of the children, however, are also achieving things outside of school.  We would like to recognise these successes too.

It might be that your child has passed a music or dance exam, gained a karate belt, starred in a show, volunteered, taken part in a sporting event, or done something that they didn't think was possible!

If you would like to share your child's achievements with us so that we can celebrate their success, please complete the Celebrating Success form which can also be found below.  Contributions will be considered for inclusion in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

We look forward to hearing about your children's extracurricular achievements!

Celebrating Success this week!

Congratulations to this child in Year One for her swimming achievements.  She has worked hard and persevered as she was adamant she wanted to move up stages before we went on holiday in half-term. She also got a second certificate for her distance badge. Well done!

Congratulations to these brothers in Foundation Stage and Year Three for a double achievement this week. Class Star and a new belt. Well done!

This child in Year 2 has passed his 6-month training period in Muay Thai (the art of eight limbs). Tommy attends Immortal 365 family martial arts and fitness academy twice a week and receives instruction from expert trainer Harry. Tommy is looking forward to the next 6 months of hard physical training ahead. Well done!

Over half-term, this child in Year 2 went with his football club, YDP, to compete in a tournament in Germany where they played against professional, semi-professional and grassroots teams from countries across Europe. They played their hearts out, and we are all very proud of them.

OWN Trust Charity Day Update

Thank you to everyone who joined in the OWN Trust Charity Non-Uniform Day to raise money for the Cavernoma Alliance UK.  Orton Wistow Primary School raised £378.60 and overall the three schools in the Trust raised a grand total of £1,118.36.

Thank you for all your contributions!

Join Your Child For Lunch!

Just a reminder that there are still places available if you wish to join your child for lunch at OWPS.

You can book in for a lunch Monday to Friday in the weeks commencing:

• 27th June 2022
• 4th July 2022
• 11th July 2022

Simply email the school office at office@owps.org.uk or ring us on 01733 370646 to book your place. The cost of an OWPS adult lunch is £4.  When you ring in to book we will create a payment item in the payment shop on Parentmail to enable you to pay in advance and confirm your place.

Discover what is coming up in the OWPS Dining Car.

Read about what is happening locally, 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}