November 2020

17 Buckden Roundabout November 2020 School & Pre - School You can never be too sure of the weather and seasons these days, but through October there have been some definite signs of autumn, and the children had great fun exploring and mixing autumnal colours. We have provid- ed plenty of measuring and weighing activities this month, which are always popular, and these have been helping them develop their mathematical language by using words like ‘ less ’, ‘ more ’, ‘ fewer ’, ‘ taller ’ and ‘ shorter ’. The children have also been practising their pencil con- trol and thinking about following routines and staying within boundaries as they take turns to be helper of the day. Our next project will be to make colourful rain catchers and of course we have plenty of Halloween and autumn craft activities lined up. Sadly, we won ’ t be hosting our usual (and extremely popular!) Halloween party this year due to the pandem- ic, and currently we don ’ t have any other fundraising events planned for this year. We can only hope the New Year brings a vaccine and we can once again welcome the community to get involved and attend our events. BREAKFAST CLUB FOR AGES 2 - 11 YEARS: WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED? We are considering opening a breakfast club for ages 2 - 11 years (Yr 6) after the October half term and would like to gauge how much interest there might be in this first. If this is something you would be interested in, please email us at buckdenpreschool@yahoo.co.uk. Please mention how many children you would be considering sending and their ages. This isn ’ t a sign - up email and puts you under no obligation to send your children - it ’ s just our way of estimating the numbers we might expect so that we can assess staffing requirements etc. Committee enquiries: contact Jo Chillmaid (Chairperson) at buckdenpreschoolchairperson@gmail.com or on 07393650084. To enrol your child or arrange a visit, contact the Manag- er, Nicola Henge, at the Preschool on 01480 810600 . 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) October 2020 Hello Buckden – here we are back at school again. We will be resuming with our news column every month to let you know how we all are at the school. It was very strange coming back in September. Although the school was open right through the lockdown period some of us had been out of school for six months, although the teach- ers kept us busy with work that was set on - line. We also had Zoom meetings so we could all chat to our teachers and pupils in our class. Some of us were able to come into school for a week or two during the long summer months – which was lovely to see our teachers and catch up with our friends. It was very different in school with the new guidelines and a smaller number of children in our classes, but it was such fun to be here. Then along came the long summer holiday, so we were all ready to return to school in September. School is quiet as we are not having many visitors into school. We are carrying on with our normal lessons in our ‘ bubbles ’. Our lunchtimes have changed quite a lot, but we have new tables and chairs in the hall which are very bright and colour- ful and make lunchtimes very interesting. Our music teachers come into school to give lessons to those of us who are learn- ing the piano, violin, guitar and drums but we are missing our many parent helpers and readers. One of the highlights during the first few weeks of the term has always been our Harvest Service. This year the service was very different as we had a virtual Harvest Festival via Zoom with Rev Jes. The children brought gifts of non - perishable foods which have been donated to the Godman- chester Community Foodbank. Thank you to our parents for their generous donations. Can we please take the opportunity to remind our parents and visitors about safety and parking around the school area. As many of you may have noticed we are entering school in a completely different way. We are using entrances in School Lane and Mill Road. Please take care when driving near the school perimeter. We all need to be aware of the needs of the local residents as well as the traffic and parking regulations around the school. The area in front of the school marked with yellow lines is not a ‘ dropping off ’ area. As well as being very dangerous due to passing cars and the pedestrian walk- ways, this part of the road needs to be kept clear at all times as it is the access area for emergency vehicles. We also ask parents not to park on the grass verge by the school gates or use the school car park. The parking spaces in front of the school are for use by the staff and visitors. Please do not use them for dropping off and picking up your children. Extra parking spaces are available at the Village Hall, which is a short walk from the school. Thank you for adhering to these guide- lines. There have been put in place for the safety of everyone who comes to the school at the beginning and end of the day.