December 2021

16 Buckden Roundabout December 2021 School & Pre - School The children have been continuing to enjoy watching the work at the Valley and can ’ t wait to walk around when it ’ s completed. They ’ ve also been enjoying our outdoor art resources, sensory tray, and re- vamped mud kitchen. Pinecones, sheets, log slices, corks, sand and compost, plus utensils, crockery and scales, have encouraged them to explore textures, measuring and weighing. To mark Bonfire Night, the children drew letters in a glitter tray using paintbrushes, and Fireman Fergus was our Book of the Week. Our home corner became a fire station with helmets, dress up costumes and small world fire engines and a fire house, while outside, the chil- dren extinguished a painted fire with squeezy spray bottles. These resources were a starting point for discussing fire safety and the role of the emergency services with the children. At present, we ’ re focusing on Remembrance Day. We ’ ve been selling poppies on behalf of the British Legion and the children have been potato stamping card with red paint. The stamped card will be used to create poppies for our Preschool wreath, which will be laid at the war memorial. The children will also have the chance to watch a CBeebies video about Remembrance Day. Looking forward, Christmas is coming! We hope the children will wear a festive jumper to Preschool for Christmas Jumper Day on December 13 th , and we ’ re busy planning our Christmas Party on the 16 th . Acting Manager We ’ re pleased to announce that Miss Jasmine has been appointed Acting Manager. The committee plan to appoint a permanent manag- er in the near future. Committee Members Urgently Needed The Committee urgently requires new members. As a committee - run charity pre - school, it ’ s compulsory for us to have a certain number of committee members, including a set number of parents—otherwise, we may have to close. If you have any time to spare, please get in touch. For more information, contact Debby buckdenpreschooltreas- ury@gmail.com or Jo buckdenpreschoolchairperson@gmail.com Thank You Nisa! As 2021 draws to a close, we would like to say a big thank you to Nisa at Hunt ’ s End. They generously donate food for the children ’ s snack and hold a loose change collection pot for us too. Finally, our staff, committee and children wish you all a wonderful winter holiday, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! To arrange a visit or apply for a place, please call 01480 810600 or email us at buckdenpreschool@yahoo.co.uk . For more information, visit www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk or our Facebook page https:// www.facebook.com/www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk/ BUCKDEN CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY ACADEMY November 2021 We returned to school on the 1 st November after the half term break to chillier weather. We continue to ventilate the school by having doors and windows open where possible, so wearing thermals and layers is proving to be necessary for both children and staff. You may have read in the media that Cambridgeshire and Peterbor- ough have been successful in their application to become an En- hanced Response Area (ERA) as a result of the high number of COVID - 19 cases within local education establishments. As a school we con- tinue to follow the guidelines as set out by the Local Authority and Public Health, to ensure we are keeping our school community as safe as we can. During the first half of November, for the second year running we held a virtual parent ’ s information evening for prospective Reception parents whose children are due to start school in September 2022. The session was informative and parents were able to ask questions. It was lovely to see lots of new faces. Keeping with the virtual con- cept we also held our termly Parent Consultations between teachers and parents via TEAMs, which ran smoothly as we all adjust to new ways of communicating with our parents. As we were again unable to visit St Marys, Father David led our Re- membrance Service at school. Throughout the week of 11 th Novem- ber children were able to purchase poppies which they all enjoyed wearing. To mark anti - bullying week (15 th – 19 th November) children were giv- en the opportunity to wear odd socks, we got to see a wide variety of patterns and colours on children ’ s feet amongst the school. Everyone made a great effort. Many of you will have seen our Year 6 children riding their bicycles around the village. They were working towards their Bikeabillity award, level 1 and 2. Well done to everyone who took part – you are now well prepared to ride your bikes on the road safely. Our fundraising event this term was taking part in Children in Need. On Friday 19 th November, children came to school dressed in their favourite fancy dress costume, there was lots of variety and the chil- dren made a great effort and looked fabulous. We encouraged par- ents to re - use a costume they already had rather than purchasing a new one to support our sustainable living ethos. After nearly 20 months we have been able to attend our first sporting tournament with other local Primary Schools. A group of our Year 6’ s took part in a Tag Rugby Tournament at St Ives Rugby Club. We played 4 matches initially, winning all, and then played a final match which we also won, coming home with an amazing trophy for our school trophy display. Huge congratulations to our Year 6s. During the past year, we have been busy working with our wonderful PTA to help fund our Peace Pod space, this is a sensory and calming room for children and staff. The project is almost complete and we are finding it a huge benefit to our children. Our lovely staff have giv- en their own time to create a beautiful under sea mural in the Peace Pod to help the room come alive. Various textures, shapes and patterns have been added to the walls to create our own sensory wall. The generous funding from the PTA has secured a range of sen- sory resources, including the hugely popular bubble tube with a mechanism for the children to change and select colours, fibre optic tassels, a light and sound projector, lots of soft and squidgy toys, weighted blankets, sensory tents and much more. As we enter December we are looking forward to putting our Christ- mas decorations up and all the forthcoming Christmas activities we have planned for the children.