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Christ Church C of E VC Infant School
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Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Crisp Packet Donations
Tue 08 Dec 2020Please keep the crisp packets coming in. We are well on the way to finishing our 3rd insulated blanket for the homeless.
In addition, if anyone has any clear soft plastic they could also donate, that would be amazing. Either large clear plastic bags or large sheets of clear plastic wrappings (from multipack toilet rolls for example). We will then iron this onto each blanket to give it longevity. Please leave all crisp packets and plastic in the box by reception. THANK YOU
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Message from Christ Church…. Messy Christingle Service
Tue 08 Dec 2020Wed 9 Dec 4.30 pm in church
Families are invited to share in this service together which celebrates Jesus' birth and also spotlights the valuable work of The Children's Society. Christingles are a well loved tradition with a 2020 twist: families will sit at tables and make their own orange "Christingle" craft together. We provide the materials, you have the fun making and God breathes joy into our hearts!
Booking is essential. COVID measures in place. Book here: Messy Christingle
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Carols by Candlelight is on!
Tue 08 Dec 2020We are able to hold some of our traditional events for Christmas, within restrictions. Carols by Candlelight 5pm and 7.30 pm services on Sun 20th Dec Bookings open on 6 Dec. Booking is essential as seating capacity is limited due to spacing.
5pm service: 5pm Carols by Candlelight
7.30 pm service: 7.30pm Carols by Candlelight
COVID measures in place.
The 7.30 pm event will be streamed live on our YouTube channel Christ Church Downend.
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Chirstmas cards in school
Tue 01 Dec 2020Christmas Cards
A good few years ago we asked children to just write one Christmas card to their class rather than 30 cards for everyone in their class. This may seem mean but we did it to try and reduce waste and be more environmentally friendly and we were also noticing that not every child was receiving one and this was causing a bit pf upset. This year it would be even more tricky due to COVID so please can we ask that if your child wants to send cards they just write one to their class and this can be displayed in school for everyone to enjoy. If staff receive them this is fine as they can leave them in school to clean for 72 hours just to be safe.
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Exploding heart at Christ Church as part of our Hub joint project!
Tue 01 Dec 2020It felt so joyous to take some Y2 children to the Church and made us realise how much we and the children have missed going there. We took over the hearts that our children had made out of clay and painting in the colours of the rainbow to display them with a heart from every child in our 6 Hub schools. Mr Jones design signified the children’s love (hearts) exploding into the community to show that we can be together even though we are all apart.
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Admissions 2021- Deadline for applications are 15th January 2021
Mon 30 Nov 2020Admissions 2021
As we move into the Christmas period of excitement, just a little reminder that if your child is due to start school in September 2021, you must apply for a school place by the 15th January 2021. This can be done via the South Glos admissions pages.
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Christmas activities in school this week
Fri 27 Nov 2020Each class also made their class Christmas paper chains so that we can create a giant whole school paper chain to again show togetherness even when we can’t physically be together. The school is now covered in glitter – exactly as any infant school should be at this time of year!
Next week our ‘Moment of Joy’ is to decorate each classroom ready for Christmas and for every child to make their own Christmas tree decoration to put on their class tree. Our whole school advent calendar, lights and whole school paper chain will also be going up ready for December 1st.
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Children showing compassion, collective worship and Living the values
Thu 26 Nov 2020This week Mr Jones taught the children about the word ‘Compassion’ highlighting the ‘passion’ part of the word encouraging us to think about showing with passion how much we care. We also learnt about the Unicef rights of a child and St. Andrew’s Day as that is on Sunday.
Children showing compassion to others
I would love to hear about how your children are showing compassion to others outside of school so if your child is doing something special for other people, whether in the wider community or in their family, I’d love to hear about this and celebrate it. One of the most valuable things I think parents can teach their children is about how to show kindness and compassion to others and to think of others before themselves and I genuinely believe it will help them to turn into kind and compassionate adults who make our society a better place. Covid does restrict this slightly but some nice ideas that I have tried with my own children or seen others do could include; making up packed lunches and delivering them to the homeless shelters or directly to homeless people in the centre of Bristol, writing letters and making cards for elderly neighbours or residential homes, doing a litter pick, donating some of their own money or raising some money for a charity.
“Teaching children compassion is a vital part of their childhood learning journey – a skill that will help them throughout their life. Through learning the importance of compassion, children will learn how to be kind to themselves, others and help those in need. As part of a broader skill se, compassion will help them to think creatively in situations, make decisions that inspire their personal journey, and pursue life with purpose.” Taken from Wild Kind Play School
This week the staff values award goes to Mrs Courtney for showing compassion to Britannia Court, our neighbouring retirement village, and a local Food Bank by donating produce and organising cards for people who may be lonely. The children’s awards go to 2 Cheetahs – Emilia and Nicholas. Both children show compassion for others all of the time and have been caring for each other this week alongside other people.
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Catch-Up Funding
Mon 23 Nov 2020Catch-Up Funding
We have been delighted to introduce two new teachers to our school who have been employed using Catch-Up Funding provided by the Government. Miss Appleby and Mrs Davies have now joined the teaching team in Y1 and 2 and will be working in the afternoons to either teach classes so that teachers can pop out of class to teach small groups from their class or to teach the small groups themselves. This funding has been provided to help any children who were previously working at the expected standard in English and Maths before lockdown but who now need a bit of extra support to catch up. This is no reflection of how much home learning they did when they couldn’t attend school as it has inevitably affected all children but some have coped better than others. It is likely that any children getting this extra support daily will make rapid progress and then we will be able to identify new areas of focus or support different children. You should have received a letter about this if your child has been identified as someone who would benefit from this additional teaching – please ask us if you have any questions. We have also appointed Mrs Newby, who already works in the school, to work as a Reading Assistant and she reads with Y1 and 2 children across the school to help them to learn to read more fluently.
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Parent Council 23.11.20
Mon 23 Nov 2020Parent Council 23.11.20
Attended: Anna Martin, Jo Dyer, Jenna Lovegrove, Stacey Hunt
Having teacher email addresses is super helpful - prevents them being bombarded on the door. Parents fed back that responses from staff were timely.
Parents Evening – feedback about Zoom meetings is great. Lots preferred these over coming into the school. Less stressful for the kids and adults. Hopefully it was for the teachers. If we are back to normal by the next one we will offer Zoom, phone call or face to face in school.
Some class doors have been opening late in the morning and at the end of the day. A reminder about junior siblings to be near the front for those who need to rush off to the junior. The doors opening late in the morning have created overcrowding whilst waiting and people are getting late for work.
Communication about Giraffe class was really good – well managed by the school.
Parents have really appreciated all the fun things recently for the kids.
The Panto, Andy and the odd socks have gone down really well.
They will LOVE the snow machine.
Can we do more performances like the Panto rather than trips.
Quality of lunches – lack of healthy options and variety. The restricted menu is due to COVID and having to provide table service due to children having to stay in bubbles. We have fed this back to Integra and they will make some tweaks.
Remote learning for locked down classes – we discussed whether the infants should move towards Google Classroom or not. AM to take feedback from parents at CCJ and Giraffe Class to see what they thought. So far the video lessons we have done have gone down really well.
Website – AM asked the parents to think about the website before the next meeting to gain feedback for GJ. The thing they said they felt people used it most for was before selecting school. May be useful if all home learning and Apps were on there.
Flu Vaccine – please could the office staff write names and classes on the envelope so that we can contact anyone who hasn’t returned it to check they haven’t forgotten.
What other moments of joy could we provide?
Forest schools
More pantos
Silent discos
Swimming
Parents are smoking right outside the school gates – please can they be asked to move away slightly so children don’t have to walk past that, see that.