Newsletters

February 2024

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February 2024

Welcome!

We have plenty of news to share as usual!

Please read on to find out about our learning journeys across school and the future events we have planned.

Early Years Update

The Reception children have really enjoyed our topic ‘Starry Night’ this half term.

They have explored the differences in the world at night compared to during the day. We looked at the Hubble Space Telescope and created our own space patterns.

We have been role playing our own bedtime stories in our sleepy area.

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Attendance

Our approach to attendance and punctuality is one we hope that we share with our families. Good attendance is the foundation stone of learning - being in the classroom everyday, learning alongside others is our ideal - something that we strive hard to achieve.

Alongside weekly rewards, we have a half termly reward for the best attending class.

Congratulations to our Y4 Penguins who have collectively had the highest rate of attendance this half term. They will enjoy a film afternoon, with popcorn, after the break.

We will continue to moinitor attendance and punctuality and reach out to parents and carers if we feel that there are concerns.

EYFS Open Evenings

If you are looking for an EYFS place in Nursery or Reception 2025, please see below for information on our next Open Evening.

Come and look around our wonderful school and have the chance to find out more about what we could offer your child as they journey through to Y6.

Bookings can be made by phone. 

Please share with any other families who may be searching for the perfect place to learn.

Don't miss out!

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New Parent Governors

We would like to officially welcome our two new parents governors. Lee Parkes and Jodie Blackburn, both who have children in Reception, have attended their first governors' meeting and are great additions to the team. Welcome on board!

Y5 BIKEABILITY

Bikeability training will take place for Y5 Tigers after the half term break, starting on Thurs 22nd February. Group dates will be sent home soon.

Please ensure your child has a bike in good working order and a helmet. You should also think about how your child will travel to and from school on the days that they have their bike. 

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PE & Sport Update

Year 5 and 6 teams recently competed in a local dodgeball tournament 

Dodge, duck and dive are the basic principles of dodgeball; that is exactly what a few of our year 5 and 6 children did. Headshots were allowed! A change to the rules played in school, but it did not throw our children off. They got off to a slow start but quickly got their aim adjusted to win the majority of their games. This was a fun afternoon which was enjoyed by all involved. Well done!

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Monarch Mondays!

Monday 19th February will see our second 'Monarch Monday' across school. The them for this second focus day will be 'Family Trees'. The children will build on knowledge and skills acquired last year to explore the life of their current key monarch. It was be great preparation for them if you could talk your children through their own family tree. Understanding the concepts of 'ancestor', 'generation' and the line of succession will be a key learning point as the children become more skilled historians.

PCP Pilots

Our Spring term Pilots have taken flight and are accomplishing many new learning challenges. One of our new clubs in school is Drama Club, led by Miss Ellen - here is her update:

Drama Club 2024 has begun! We have been working on a few key drama skills, such as: giving backstories to characters; working in silence with new people to create a scene and singing with our chest voice. Here are some comments from our acting mega-stars:

I love Drama Club because it is fun - jamming out to music is fun and I love it. We are doing a Back to the Future performance in July. - Frankie, Y6

My favourite thing about drama club is doing loads of acting. I like it when we do fun drama games because they make me feel energetic and confident. I really want to come back to Drama Club again! - Ethan, Y3.

I swell up with pride every time I see these children throw themselves into a drama task, and watching their confidence grow week by week is an absolute pleasure. Drama Club is open to book a slot at the end of every half term - places usually fill up really fast so keep your eyes peeled on Arbor!

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SEND Update

Many of our children look forward to the half term holidays as a chance to relax and have some free time out of school. However, for some children the change in routine can be difficult. In school we use many strategies to support routine and one is the use of visual support systems. In the same way we may rely on our diaries or calendars in order to stay on task and organised, children find having a visual timetable of their day a useful resource. Below are some examples of visual timetables that you may wish to replicate for your child at home. Websites such as www.twinkl.co.uk have many resources to create your own visuals.

We have also found that the use of a countdown calendar for counting down the days until we are back to school is useful. If you would like more information about using visual resources at home please speak to Mrs Blackburn or Mrs George.

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Therapeutic Thursdays

We love finding new and fun ways to decompress in the Hive This Thursday we chose a wonderful sensory walk. We stomped through crunchy cereal, soft flour and soggy water beads! It was great to explore different textures and wake up our touch receptors. 

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Online Safety

This week we have promoted Safer Internet Day with all of the children. We hope to work together with parents and carers to develop awareness of digital safety. To this end, we produce monthly Online Safety Newsletters which are stored in a library on our website. Please click here to access all copies: https://www.prescotprimary.org.uk/information/online-safety

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Little Lifesavers

Y5 and Y6 recently took part in a workshop led by the 'Little Lifesavers'. They were taught some CPR skills and also how to treat someone who is choking. They all took part really well and were welcoming and polite to the volunteers from the charity. Please ask your children to demonstrate their new skills (on a pillow or cushion!) We hope to train more staff in order to refresh these skills on a regular basis.

Thanks to the Little Lifesaver Team who came to present.

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NEW! WhatsApp Channel for Prescot Primary!

We have launched a WhatsApp channel. The link is below to follow or scan the qr code with a phone. You also need to have/use WhatsApp.

Channels are a 1-way broadcast system. You cannot comment or reply, only use a limited set of emojis and forward. We intend on using this channel for key updates and news only. 

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNcBZD0wajzbjTLKL3C

We will continue to use X (Twitter) to share our daily classroom news.

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Reading Update

We are halfway through our school year, and all is certainly not quiet on the reading front.  The library is busier than ever, and the chatter about reaching reading targets can be heard throughout the school.  We love to have another chance to celebrate our successes, our efforts and our love of reading.  So, here goes!

There are now five more Word Millionaires in school: Logan and Joseph from our Y6 Kangaroos; and Zoe, Ore and Kavien from our Y5 Tigers.  We also have a Double Word Millionaire: Kanishka achieved this with ease and is on her way to 3 Million as we speak.  Added to these are 12 more half millionaires who are all aiming to reach the dizzy heights of Millionaireship! 

We, as always, want to say a huge thank-you to the amazing local companies who contribute to our reading reward fund: M&Y Maintenance and Construction, and Sarah Benyon, our Governor.  They help us to make sure our children receive the best reading experience possible.

Our readers take full advantage of everything we offer them.  They have read a total of 49,513,892 words this year, quizzing on 7,570 books. We are on target to smash last year’s total again!  Library loans are more popular than ever with 3,000 books borrowed so far this year.  Again, thank you for all of the book donations our generous families give to us.  

This is looking like a record-breaking year for reading at PCP and we are enjoying every minute!

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School Uniform Recycle

Message from the Town Council's Uniform initiative:

We realise that children have growth spurts, rendering their uniform purchased a few months earlier, no longer fit for purpose and so will be opening our School Uniform Recycle Shop’s as detailed below. We encourage parents to bring any excellent condition uniform items they no longer need (if they have any)and to take what they need from our shops which have been set up to resemble school uniform shops. Recycling makes financial sense, prevents landfill and helps protect our environment, join the recycle movement!

Prescot Town Council Tuesday 13th February, 11am-3pm

(Evelyn County Primary, Prescot Primary, Our Lady’s Primary, St Lukes Primary, St Mary & St Pauls Primary, St Edmund Arrowsmith High School, Prescot School).

Whiston Town Council Thursday 15th February, 12.30pm-3pm & 5pm-6.30pm

(Whiston Willis Primary, Halsnead Primary, St Leo’s & South Mead Primary, St Edmund Arrowsmith High School, Prescot School).

Both shops offer generic uniform items such as shirts, polo tops, skirts and trousers and families can access either or both.

 

Please note, our own school office also has an exchange shop for good quality uniform.

From all of us at Prescot Primary  and Nursery School, have a safe and happy half term break.

See you on Monday 19th February!

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