Fulbourn Primary School
Dare to Discover
Friday 28th May 2021
Happy Half Term
We would like to wish you all a lovely half-term break. The children have all worked really hard and many of them seem extremely tired. We know that lots of you will be taking this opportunity to see family and friends for the first time in a while. Do also try to ensure that the children get a good rest. Thank you again for your sustained support for the school. Without the amazing good-will of the community the school would not be the thriving, positive environment that we all love and enjoy!
Citizenship Day
Last Friday, the school held our annual citizenship day.
The children in lower school had a fantastic day learning to be responsible environmental citizens. The children went on a scavenger hunt where they had a great time exploring the amazing things in our local natural environment. They also did a great job of thinking of creative ideas for humans to protect the environment for the future. We had lots of amazing and creative ways to re-use yoghurt pots to prevent them being thrown into the bin.
Thank you to Dr Elsa Lee who helped children think about what it means to be an environmental citizen. The children thought really carefully about looking after our Earth and even wrote letters in role from Mr World to his citizens to persuade them to take better care of them!
Swimming
We had hoped to be able to begin swimming after the half term break. Unfortunately, due to damage sustained to critical parts of the pool over the weekend, we are unable to go ahead with swimming as planned. In short, when we tried to fill the pool with water it burst!
We are seeking urgent support and are reaching out to other providers to see if we can secure swimming sessions at least for our year six pupils.
We will keep you up to date with progress. The loss of the pool is an enormous blow and if any members of the community can support in raising funds for its replacement, we would love to hear from you.
For now, children will continue with their normal PE lessons after the half term break. Please continue to send your child to school dressed in their PE uniform on these days.
Class PE days are:
Lapland: Monday and Tuesday | Pacific: Tuesday and Friday |
| Greenland: Monday and Tuesday | Caribbean: Tuesday and Wednesday |
| Atlantic: Monday and Friday | Adriatic: Monday and Wednesday |
| Mediterranean: Tuesday and Thursday | Year 5: Thursday and Friday |
| Baltic: Monday and Thursday | Year 6: Tuesday and Friday |
Uniform for PE days
- Trainers (of any kind)
- School PE T-shirt (or a plain white or plain jade green t-shirt)
- Plain dark (black or navy blue) shorts, or plain dark tracksuit bottoms
- School jumper or a plain dark sweatshirt (no hoodies)
Staying safe online
One thing we have certainly learnt through lockdown is the value of technology and in particular the connectivity it can provide. We know however that keeping young people safe online can be a constant challenge. To help, we would like to draw your attention to two very helpful websites.
Think U Know has a useful article to support parents and carers who are considering whether young people are ready to begin using social media, as well as ways for families to navigate this as safely as possible.
Net Aware is also a brilliant website for helping parents and carers to understand the particular features and risks of specific games or platforms. You simply search the name of the app, game or social media site and the website identifies age ratings, safety ratings, tools for maximising safety and ways to discuss the safe use with children. It has an extremely informative, balanced and sensible approach to supporting better understanding of the different ways young people use the internet.
We hope you find these helpful but as always, if you have any concerns at all, please contact your child’s class teacher.
Parent Forums
We are really pleased that our two new Parent Forums will be holding their first meetings on Wednesday 16th June and look forward to working collaboratively with the groups.
Parent Governor Election
If you are interested in joining the governing body as a parent governor don’t forget to complete and return a nomination form by Tuesday 8th June.
Notifying us of a positive case over Half Term and Covid-19 symptoms
If your child tests positive for Covid during half term, please email the School Office immediately, regardless of the time of the day/night or the day of the week/weekend. Please tell us your child’s name, the date that symptoms began, the date of the test and the date you received the result.
Can we remind families that if anyone in your immediate family (including any support bubble) shows one of the three Covid symptoms (loss/change to taste or smell; new, continuous cough or a high temperature), everyone is required to self-isolate and the symptomatic person must get an in-person PCR test (drive-in and walk-in centres give the quickest results). You must not use a rapid test (Lateral Flow Device) on anyone who is displaying symptoms. It would be most helpful if you could send us confirmation of the test result to the school office so we can update our records.
Community Covid Testing
We would like to strongly encourage all of our families (anyone 11 or older) to do regular rapid testing to monitor asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19. Test kits can be ordered online for free home delivery or can be picked up for free from a number of locations including the Village Pharmacy and Fulbourn Tesco. Community testing in Fulbourn is currently very low. Please remember that if you (or anyone in your household) has a new & continuous cough, loss/change to taste and/or smell or a high temperature, you must get an in person COVID test – rapid tests are only for those people not showing any symptoms.
Volunteers
We are incredibly grateful to the volunteers who have given up their time to support the school during this challenging period. Over the next half-term, we continue to need this support and if you, or anyone you know, might be able to offer some time to us then we would love to hear from you! Even half a day a week could make a real difference to one of our bubbles. Please contact the School Office if you think you may be able to help!
Piano Tuition
One of our piano teachers has some spaces in her school timetable:
Michèle Bentley DipABRSM is an experienced piano teacher providing lessons during school hours to children in Year 1 and above. Individual lessons: £16 for 30mins; £13 for 20 mins-plus a small fee towards hire of school room.
For more details please call 07725 139590 or email Michèle directly.
Staffing
We were so pleased to welcome back Julie Lacey to school this week. We are also delighted to announce that Nichola Grove has been appointed as Aspiration and Achievement Lead and will start her new role after half term.
School Uniform
Just a reminder that our school uniform supplier Big Fish is now offering free delivery of uniform to school on a fortnightly basis.
Last Order Date Delivery to school (approx)
6th June 9th June
20th June 23rd June
11th July 14th July
Year 6 Production – Technical Help needed
This year we are putting on a Year 6 production with a difference. We are going to make a movie of our chosen musical (soon to be revealed). We have some recording equipment in school, but if any parents or carers (or generous people who they know) have any recording equipment they think might be useful, please do get in touch with Mr Beeston via the School Office.
School Streets – Urgent request for volunteers
Thanks to the parents who have offered availability for one or two sessions a week. Unfortunately, despite advertising for volunteers outside of the school e.g. The Mill, Parish Council, we have been unable to secure sufficient numbers of people to safely man the road closures. The road closure order is in place until July 2022 so we may be able to relaunch the request for volunteers and start the scheme running some time in the future.
Keep us updated
If any of the contact details we hold for you or your child changes (address, telephone numbers, emergency contacts), please update them using MyChildAtSchool or by emailing the School Office.
Free School Meals
The Cambridgeshire County Council has redesigned their online form for families wishing to check their free school meal (FSM) and Pupil Premium eligibility. Significant improvements made to the online application process enable parents/carers (in most cases) to get an instant result of the outcome of their application.
It is not necessary for parents of children who currently receive FSM to reapply; this entitlement is protected until the end of March 2022. However, applications do need to be made for younger siblings who are starting school.
The form is quick and simple to complete. Once an application has been submitted for a child, if the family do not qualify at that point, we will continue to check for future entitlement throughout that child’s school life, informing parents if they become eligible. It is vital, therefore, that schools/families inform us of any changes to their name or address.
Families can access the online application here. The Education Welfare Benefits Team are happy to answer any queries and can be contacted on 01223 703200 or ewb.fsm@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
Fulbourn Community Aid
Fulbourn Community Aid are continuing to offer support during the pandemic. They can:
- Help with shopping
- Collect prescriptions
- Lend a friendly ear if you just need a chat
- Put you in contact with support organisations who can provide a hot meal or financial assistance
- Assist with other needs where they can
Contact them via:
- Phone: 01223 665 051
- Email: fulbourncommunityaid@gmail.com
- Facebook: Fulbourn Community Aid
- Or, find out more at their website:
PTfA Update
This is the last update from the current PTfA and we would like to thank all of you for your continued support during our time ‘in office’.
We had a very successful AGM on Wednesday with 12 attendees and there were some very enthusiastic discussions around the future plans for the PTfA and possible events which would really help reenergise the community after such a difficult 15 months. Laura Boxall, Fran Parris, Tamsin Fry and John Beresford officially stepped down from the named roles.
Although we were very fortunate to have a volunteer come forward for the Treasurer role, we are still in need of a Chair and Secretary (co-roles are possible and work very well). If you have 1-2 hours per week to spare and have a passion for organising community events, please contact the PTfA e-mail address for more information on the Chair and Secretary roles.
Upcoming events:
19th - 20th June: Open Gardens:
A handful of gardens will be opened (following Government guidelines) as part of this wonderful community event. Visitors are welcome to explore and enjoy some of the wonderful village.
Ways to support fundraising:
- The Fulbourn School Lottery is now up and running. To be in with a chance of winning a local prize, a £100 B&Q gift card or even the £25,000 jackpot, please visit: www.yourschoollottery.co.uk and search for ‘Fulbourn Primary’ to take part.
- Please select Fulbourn Primary PTfA as your charity when shopping online with EasyFundraising or Amazon Smile. A percentage of your spend comes directly to the PTfA and it can make a huge difference:
Direct donations to the PTfA Justgiving Page