Dear Parents and Carers,

This week has seen three positive Covid cases in school. Due to the measures we have had in place since the start of the epidemic, we were able to limit the number of children and staff needing to self-isolate. This morning's update from Jonathan Lewis said that cases within schools across the region have increased over the past two weeks.  It has been a harsh reminder of the importance of adhering to our risk assessment and social distancing guidance. 

It was an amazing team effort on Tuesday, making over 260 packed lunches for children across the school and I know the staff having to isolate had work ready for the children on class Dojo early that same morning. I'd like to say thank you to all the staff for their flexibility and positivity once again.

This week has seen over two-thirds of the Year Five cohort take part in Bikability training (cycling proficiency). The bike racks have been full, and it is great that so many have taken part. We have always encouraged children to ride to school if they can. It is great exercise, good for the environment and helps with the car parking issues.

Unfortunately, in a separate incident, I was informed of a group of older children cycling very quickly down the bus lane, towards Oundle Road causing two cars to brake suddenly. The children did stop in time but past the line. Thankfully, no accident occurred. If your child does cycle to school, please remind them of the importance to be safe on the road and if they have a helmet, it is always wise to wear it. 

We are looking forward to our sports days next week. It is disappointing that we can't invite parents in for these events but we are glad the children still get to take part. We are looking at how we can rearrange our times to allow the Elephant's class to take part on Monday 5th July 2021 when they return.  

Thank you all for your support this week, being understanding if your child has needed to self-isolate and providing packed lunches. It feels like we are all going to need to use the learning tools (perseverance, resilience, responsibility, teamwork, concentration) throughout these last few weeks of the year!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mr Marks

Deputy Head Teacher

^{Photo by John Mccann 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
• Golden Mile

Introducing the OWPS Parent Portal

At Orton Wistow Primary School, we are always striving to find new ways to strengthen the links between school and parents.  As a result, we are delighted to introduce you to a new digital initiative, the Parent Portal...

What is the Parent Portal?

The Parent Portal is a one-stop digital hub created by our website providers, E4 Education, where parents can access relevant information about their child/ren.

A simple login will bring parents to a dashboard that contains the following information:

• your child's attendance
• emails from the school that are relevant to your child
• copies of all newsletters
• school news articles
• school calendar
• link to ParentMail

We are also hoping to be able to upload the student reports directly to the Parent Portal this year.

What are the benefits of the Parent Portal?

We think that the Parent Portal offers a range of benefits that will make it easier for parents to see all the relevant information about school in one location.  Some advantages of the Parent Portal include:

• When we send out an email to parents, the Parent Portal automatically generates a copy in your Parent Portal account.  Instead of having to search through emails in your inbox, you will have all the school's emails in one place.
   
• If you'd like to check your child's attendance statistics, you can do so on the Parent Portal in one glance.
   
• A copy of all the school e-newsletters that are published on the website are also stored on the Parent Portal, making it easy to find and read useful information.
   
• The school news feed that contains articles about the latest news from OWPS is also published on the Parent Portal.
   
• If you want to check the details of upcoming events, you can open up the Parent Portal and gain access to the school calendar from there.
   
• There will also be quick links to useful items such as ParentMail, the school's contact details and a form for you to update your address or contact details.

What happens next?

In order to set up your Parent Portal account, all we need is your current email address.  We should have all of those on our ScholarPack system, but if your email address has changed or if you have not submitted it to us, you can let us know on the Email Update Form.

Here are the steps towards launching the OWPS Parent Portal:

Virtual Honours Awards

Congratulations to the children who received an honours award this week.

Transition Day Arrangements

On Wednesday 7th July, it is Transition Day at OWPS when children from Foundation Stage to Year 5 find out their new classes for next year.  There will also be zoom Transition Evenings for parents to attend.

Transition Day – Wednesday 7th July

This year, all children from Foundation Stage, up to Year Five, will spend this day with their new class and teacher. All children will arrive at school as per normal and head to their current classes. At 9.00am we will hold some special assemblies outside and Mr Eardley or I will tell the children which class they will be in next year. The children will then go with their new teacher and they will be in their new classroom for the day. At 2.45pm they will all head back to their current classes and will finish the day as normal.

On Wednesday 7th July, parents will need to drop their child/ren off at and collect them from their CURRENT classrooms under the current staggered arrangements.

This is a great chance for the children to get to know their new teacher (and other adults they will work with) and become familiar with their new classroom.

Sadly, due to Covid, Year Six will not get a transition day at their new schools. They will spend the day in the hall, train station and outside with members of teaching staff who will not have a class responsibility in September.

Transition Evenings – Wednesday 7th July

This year’s transition evening events (for parents of children going into years 1-6) will also take place on Wednesday 7th July.

The two teachers in each year group are putting together presentations with key information for you all about the experiences and changes that come with that particular stage in primary school at Orton Wistow.

Each session will be presented twice and one of the sessions will be recorded and made available on the school website. These will be virtual sessions using Zoom. The recent new FS parents transition evening, attended by around 55 families, used the same format and it worked very well.

The first session will be at 5.30pm. The presentation will be about thirty minutes long and there will be a chance to ask questions using the chat facility on Zoom. The second session will begin at 6.15pm.

The meeting details for both sessions for each year group were sent out to parents by email on Monday. Please join five minutes before it is due to begin and keep your microphone and camera turned off.

We look forward to parents and carers joining us on Wednesday 7th July.

Please contact office@owps.org.uk if you

Celebrating Success!

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 those 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 even 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.  Contributions will be considered for inclusion in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

We look forward to hearing about your children's extra-curricular achievements!

Celebrating Success this week!

Maddie from the Toucans successfully auditioned in the May half-term to play a principal role as Katie, Buddy the elf's younger sister, for Peterborough Operatic and Dramatic Society's (PODS) upcoming show at The Cresset in November. The audition involved singing solo and performing scene work with an American accent. Well done Maddie!

Congratulations to Felix in the Cobras who achieved a merit in his piano Grade One exam. Congratulations also goes to Chloe from the Macaws who passed her Piano Prep Test.

Nut Free School 

Just a quick reminder that we are a  NUT FREE SCHOOL when making your packed lunches over the next few days.

We have pupils in school with severe nut allergies. 

These allergies are such that the slightest contact with nuts could be life threatening. We therefore respectfully ask that no nuts are knowingly brought onto the premises by adults or children. This includes peanut butter and Nutella spread which I know is popular in lunch boxes. 

The school encourages parents and carers to provide children with packed lunches that complement the National Nutritional Standards for Healthy School Lunches.  We would be grateful if parents could make the effort to provide their children with healthy choices in their packed lunch box.  You can read more about this in this week's Dining Car News article.

Please do not hesitate to contact the School Office if you have any further questions. 

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Amended Sports Day 2021 Arrangements

Due to the situation with Covid 19, we have decided to hold the Sports Days in separate year groups, which will be held on the following days:

Monday 28th June - Year 2 Sports Day

Tuesday 29th June – Year 3 Sports Day and Year 4 Sports Day

Wednesday 30th June – Year 5 Sports Day and Year 6 Sports Day

Thursday 1st July – Foundation Stage Sports Day

Monday 5th July – Year 1 Sports Day

Please can you send your child in a PE Kit for their Sports Day.  Thank you.

Sweets in School

A reminder to parents and carers that if your child would like to bring sweets in for their class, the sweets need to be quarantined in school for 72 hours before they can be distributed.  If your child would like to hand out sweets, please remember to bring them in 3 days before the date they are due to be handed out. Thank you!

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

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^{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}