As you know, Greenfield Primary School has an open-door policy. This means that you can call, email or drop-in to school to ask or tell us anything at any time. It’s best to get your information ‘straight from the horses mouth’ to avoid any confusion, and Fran and Clare in the office are more than happy to answer any queries. You can use the info@greenfield.dudley.sch.uk email address if it’s an out of hours query, or you can email me directly on sremmers@greenfield.dudley.sch.uk. Thank you.
December is a really exciting time to be in a primary school. There are so many things for us all to look forward to before we break up for the Christmas Holidays!
Here is a list of all of the upcoming events for the rest of the Autumn Term:
Thursday 5 December: KS1 Christmas Production, 2pm & 6.30pm
Friday 6 December: Christmas Tree Festival at St Thomas’s Church
Friday 6 December: Christmas Fayre
Monday 9 December: Christmas Choir at St James’s Church
Tuesday 10 December: Music Mark Celebration Assembly
Wednesday 11 December: Reception Christmas Production, 10am
Thursday 12 December: Rec & KS1 Theatre Trip – Kipper’s Snowy Day
Friday 13 December: Y3 & Y4 Theatre Trip – Peter Pan
Friday 13 December: Winter Wonderland After School Club
Monday 16 December: Carols by Candlelight
Tuesday 17 December: Carol Service at St Thomas’s Church, 10am
Wednesday 18 December: Christmas Jumper Day & Christmas Dinner Day
Thursday 19 December: Talent Show & Party Day
Big Book Boost is The Book People’s brand new fundraising scheme. Every time you place an order with The Book People over £10, they’ll donate £1 to a school of your choice to spend on books!
Click on the link below and add Greenfield Primary School as your school (searching for the postcode may be easier, DY8 1AL). You can then start shopping and we will receive £1 for every order you place over £10.
https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/bigbookboost
The excitement in school is mounting as the final round of preparations for next week’s Christmas Fayre take place. I have seen a lot of fayres during my time at Greenfield, but I think this one is going to be the biggest and the best so far! Thank you to everyone who has got involved in organising the fayre, and for all of your donations. Keep them coming please! We are particularly short of men’s gifts for the ‘Secret Santa’ room, and a big reminder to keep selling those raffle tickets! There are plenty more in the carousel in the foyer should you sell out! We have some fantastic raffle prizes this year – have a look inside for a full list. We received some brilliant Jolly Bags today but don’t worry if you forgot to bring yours, they can be dropped in to the school office early next week.
I was really excited to hear from Lisa, manager of Hays Travel Agents in the Ryemarket, this week. Hays are also running a raffle with all of the proceeds going to Greenfield. And the prize is pretty amazing too….. six tickets plus a VIP booth for the pantomime, Dick Whittington, at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre! Tickets will be on sale at our Christmas Fayre for £2 each, so please look out for Lisa at the Hays stand and buy a ticket or two to be in with a chance of winning this great prize!
If anyone is available to help with setting up the fayre on Friday 6th December, from either 1.00 until 3.30pm, or 3.30 until 5.30pm then please let Emma Kilbride know, or just turn up. All welcome. If anyone is able to come and vacuum at the end of the evening, that would be really helpful too. Please let Emma or the school office know.
Thank you.
Thank you to parents and grandparents that were able to attend our Year 1 and 2 Maths open sessions this week. We received some fabulous feedback about how the children were being taught and their levels of engagement. We are so lucky to have such a brilliant team of teachers and teaching assistants at Greenfield, and I feel proud that this is also recognised by visiting adults.
Next week, Year 3 and 4 are opening their ‘Mathematical doors’ to give a glimpse into the world of number further up our school. Year 3’s open session is Tuesday 26th November @ 9.15am, and Year 4’s is Wednesday 27th November at the same time. We look forward to seeing you there!
We’ve had a busy week of sport and activity at Greenfield, which kicked off on Monday with our first ‘Reading and Rugby’ day. Alex and Chad from Stourbridge Rugby Club joined us for our whole-school assembly. During the morning, Alex listened to children from Year 3 and 4 read. At lunchtime he organised some rugby skills for Year 3 on the playground, and during the afternoon, Anne Fine class were with him working on their passing and catching skills. There’s a great action shot on the back page!
Thursday saw the children taking part in an inter-house hockey competition. They had a great time and Miss Batham, our PE subject leader, was particularly impressed with Year 1. I think we may have a couple of children asking Santa for a hockey stick this year!
This month’s Fit Friday has been classroom based with an emphasis on relaxing exercise. Year 3 and 4 have done some yoga which is proven to have both physical and mental benefits, including:
We are very excited to announce that the Book Fair will be at our Christmas Fayre this year! We are even more excited to announce that all the books will be half price!!
The Book Fair will be in the foyer for the duration of the Fayre so come and grab some bargains. Books make fantastic gifts.
Reading is so important to a child’s academic achievement. Reading for pleasure helps to broaden a child’s vocabulary, stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world.
Did you know that there is an Icelandic tradition called ‘Jolabokaflod’ or the ‘Christmas Book Flood’? Books are exchanged on Christmas Eve and then the family curl up and read them until they fall asleep. We think this sounds wonderful! So why not stock up on books from our Fair and start your own Christmas Book Flood?
The school will also receive commission on the books we sell so you will be helping us buy fantastic new books for our school library too!
Our Greenfield teachers are always thinking about reading. What are our children’s favourite stories and books? Who are their favourite authors? Do we have ‘new’ and ‘in demand’ titles in our library? Do our children enjoy the special time during the week when their teacher reads to them?
Please ask your children these questions. It is vital that all of our Greenfield pupils become confident, fluent readers by the time they leave us. National data says that 1 in 4 children leave primary school unable to read. We do not want any of our pupils to become part of that awful statistic!
We are excited to tell you about a reading initiative that starts next week at Greenfield. Stourbridge Rugby Club are sending their coaches into primary schools to promote a great sport, but also to support our efforts in ensuring that every child in our school becomes a reader for life.
From Monday, we will have a rugby coach in school for the whole day. He will hear children from our Year 3 and 4 classes read during the morning, organise some lunchtime sports for a different year group each week and then he will work with our Year 3 and 4 classes during the afternoon on rugby skills.
We think this is a brilliant opportunity to show our pupils that you CAN do it all! Sport, reading, being a lovely human being…..it’s all possible if you set your mind to it!
Our programme of Maths open sessions is commencing next week, with our Year 1 open session on Tuesday and Year 2 on Wednesday. These are invaluable opportunities to see how Maths is taught at Greenfield, and to enjoy a chance to work alongside your child.
The sessions are more formal than the Design and Technology workshops that have taken place over the past two weeks, and we would respectfully request that only one adult attends per child and that arrangements are made for pre-school children, babies and toddlers to be cared for at home to ensure that distractions are kept to a minimum for our learners. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
Please do your best to complete an evaluation form when you attend a Maths open session – your feedback is really important to us.
Over the next few weeks, I would like to share some of the really positive comments that were written on the parent questionnaire at the end of the Summer Term. It is really heartening to hear what we are doing well, but equally, we will aim to improve in areas where parents feel less satisfied.
“We have seen our child grow hugely during his time at Greenfield not just academically – he has had the opportunity to develop his whole self, his personal and social skills have been recognised and valued as much as his academic achievements. A huge thank you to all the staff who have shaped my boy and made him ready and able to move onto his next journey.”
Thank you to everyone that completed a questionnaire.