August 2021

20 Buckden Roundabout August 2021 School & Pre - School By the time you read this, the school year will be over and staff, children and their families will hopefully be relaxing and enjoying some sunny summer weather. But at present, every- one is still busy with activities and getting ready for our Leav- ers ’ events. Unfortunately, Miss Woodward ’ s visit had to be cancelled, but the children are looking forward to a Zoom call with her before the end of term. Preschool received both a generous money donation and a donation of traffic lights, zebra crossings and other exciting road - related things that will provide great scope for roleplay and road safety sessions. Thank you to our kind donors! The children also had a great week of activities based around the classic, ‘ The Very Hungry Caterpillar ’, including creating differ- ent insects from coloured playdough. This helped them strengthen their fine motor skills and develop their Knowledge and Understanding of the World, an important part of the Early Years curriculum. Outside, they ’ ve enjoyed playing with the mud kitchen, ‘ cooking ’ with utensils and serving their friends delicious meals! They ’ ve also been using tapes and rulers to help them recognise numbers, and understand measurement and com- parison, using mathematical language such as small, big, shorter, longer and taller. Inside, they ’ ve been using pinboards to create pictures from shapes, and the ice cream shop in the home corner has been very busy! The children have enjoyed choosing their own fla- vours and toppings and have been busy making lots of sweet treats for the staff and their friends. There are limited spaces available for September. In term - time, you can contact us on 01480 810600 to arrange a visit or apply for a place at Preschool. Over the holidays, the phone line is not manned, so please email Preschool at buckdenpre- school@yahoo.co. uk with any queries; emails will be checked periodically by staff. Enjoy the summer, and we look forward to seeing our re- turning children and our new starters in September! For committee enquiries, please contact our chairperson, Jo Chillmaid, at buckdenpreschoolchairperson@gmail. com or on 07393650084. For more information, visit www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk or see our Facebook updates at https://www.facebook.com/ www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk/. BUCKDEN CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL (Primary Academy Trust) July 2021 We have now reached the end of another school year, though it has to be said that it has been a very unusual one. We are very proud of all our students and staff who have faced various challenges throughout the academic year but we have got through it and very much looking forward to the summer holidays. These last few weeks have been very busy with exciting ac- tivities. Sports Day was able to take place on Friday 9 th July, unfortunately like last summer we were unable to invite parents to cheer their children along but all the same the children had a fun day taking part in all the sporting events, and a bonus that it didn ’ t rain! During transition week the children met, and spent 3 days with their teachers for next year, unfortunately due to COVID restrictions we have been unable to welcome new Reception children into school as yet, but we are very much looking forward to meeting them in September. It was the same situation for our Year 6’ s who were unable to visit their new secondary schools but we are sure they will be warmly welcomed in September when they begin the next chapter of their education. During the last week of term we had many activities taking place in school. The PTA arranged a Hawaiian garden party for the Year 6 leavers, which was enjoyed by everyone. The year 6’ s also got to put on a production called Mystery at Magpie Manor, the whole school were treated to watching it in their school bubbles outside and we were able to rec- ord the production so that parents got the chance to watch the budding performers. Year 6 were able to organise sponsored events for Enter- prise week, raising money for the charity Headway which has a personal link to children at Buckden Primary. A Just Giving page has been set up and details of this will be on the Buckden Residents Facebook page. The leavers ’ celebration assembly was a very fitting finale to a difficult school year and an emotional time for everyone who is leaving Buckden School. We would like to wish the Year 6 children, and all our leavers, good luck in their new schools. The Buckden School community would like to thank parents and members of the community who have supported the school during this difficult year. We wish you all a good summer and look forward to seeing you in September at the start of the next school year when hopefully things will be a bit more normal.