Weekly Message from Mrs Wilcox

It has been wonderful to see the children back in school this week and to hear about their Christmas celebrations. There has been much talk about special time with family, food and of course presents too! I hope you all enjoyed the magic of the season and weren’t woken up too early on Christmas morning!

With the Christmas festivities many of our normal routines understandably take second place. Now that we are back in school, please can I encourage you to re-ignite regular reading habits.  It really is essential if your children are to become fluent readers that they read regularly to an adult at home.

The school expectation is that all children read four times a week. This week 72% of our children achieved this target. It would be wonderful to see that number at 100%! Snuggling up on the sofa and hearing my children read was always a highlight of my day. I know life is busy but, especially on these cold wintery days, what a better way than to warm your heart than sharing a book with your child. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Christmas is the best time to be a primary school teacher! December is bursting with excitement and activity and what a busy and wonderful week we have had celebrating Christmas in school. Our KS2 carol services, held in the Baptist church, on Tuesday have to be a personal highlight. To hear the children singing so beautifully in the atmospheric candlelit surroundings always fills me heart with joy. I was so proud of all of the children and especially the Year 6 readers – well done children.

This week KS1 have attended All Saints church for a Christingle service, Year 5 and Foundation Stage have enjoyed buddy sessions to make Christmas hats and most year groups have ‘show cased’ their learning in some way. The Year 4 Christmas tree decorations which they have designed and made in DT lessons are an excellent product of the sewing skills they have learnt.

Our finale today has been with class parties and Christmas lunch. We had a momentary panic when Santa who was scheduled to visit at 10:30am didn’t arrive! He must have been very busy ‘checking his list’ but thankfully he arrived later in the morning delivering presents to all classes. I had even started ringing local radio stations to see if one of Santa’s ‘helpers’ could possibly come to the rescue!

In assembly this morning, we reflected on the Christmas story being a story of love to the world. We took time to think about how we can show love to the important people in our lives. So, do keep a look out for extra help this holiday and perhaps extra hugs and ‘thank yous’.

On behalf of everyone at school may I wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you have an extra special time with your wonderful children. See you back in school on January 7^th.

The children in KS1 made their teachers and parents proud this week when they performed their nativity . Well done children – I was impressed that you managed to introduce me to some new Christmas tunes. Your rendition of ‘Oh we have to go’ certainly resonated with me as I feel like I do have to ‘rush’ and ‘dash’ to get everything on my list done by the 25^th!

On Thursday of this week Mrs Thorp (SENDCo) and I visited the Houses of Parliament to watch a debate on the provision for children with Autism and ADHD in mainstream schools, led by Pippa Haylings, the MP for South Cambs.  Pippa is eager to see the failings in the system in delayed diagnoses addressed and schools funded adequately to ensure we can support the children in our settings.

Cambridgeshire has seen a 51% increase in EHCPs in the last five years and a 270% in the number of children presenting with autism. Headteachers have been campaigning for adequate funding for Cambridgeshire  schools for many years – I do hope that this message is heard and addressed. Please do consider contacting Pippa to support our call for adequate funding.

If last week in school was busy then this week has been bursting with excitement and beaming smiles! What a joy it was on Wednesday to take our KS2 children to London to see the musical Matilda.

After months of planning to take 270 children and adults to London, Matilda did not disappoint! The show was incredible and inspiring for Melbourn pupils to see children in the leading parts.  I was fortunate to sit in the back row of our seats in the stalls with a clear view of our year 5 / 6 children. I could see how they were captivated by the singing and dancing and also how they jumped at some of the louder parts! I must admit to slightly ‘leaky eyes’ as I watched how they applauded with such gusto.

I was incredibly proud of the Melbourn team on Wednesday. The children were impeccably behaved which was noted by members of the public who stopped to tell us. The theatre staff were equally impressed by our organisation telling me we were in fact their favourite school! How lovely and what a very proud headteacher day it was!

This week we have also enjoyed our wonderful Early Years nativities when the children sang and performed for their families. I am always in awe of how such young children can learn so many songs in such a few weeks and stand on the stage in front of such a big audience! Well done children you were amazing.

As I write this the children are enjoying their ‘Santa dash’ – what a brilliant week! 😊

We have had a busy busy week in school! Our year 6 children visited the Cambridge mosque, EYFA children have been visited by doctors, nurses and midwives talking about their jobs, Year 4 got to trail a new maths game, we held an Open Morning for September prospective parents and the children had fun at the PTFA discos ... phew, it’s exhausting just writing it all down!

As a Local Authority (LA) school we have regular visits from LA officers to review our provision and support us in ensuring our teaching and learning is as effective as it can be. Two visits fell into our very busy week too! On Tuesday our School Improvement Partner visited to see how the children are progressing with their writing and on Wednesday the EYFS officer spent time with us.

Both officers were full of praise for the school. In terms of writing the officer was impressed with how well our children were doing.   They highlighted the children’s handwriting and the classroom learning walls for particular praise. Our EYFS learning environment was considered to be of such a high standard that the LA have asked if they can send teachers from other schools to see it as part of their professional development. What proud moments these both were!

Well done team Melbourn 😊 I appreciate how hard you all work to make learning irresistible for our children. 

This is a message of gratitude! It was lovely to see so many of you at the PTFA firework event last weekend. We were blessed with perfect weather for fireworks, the burgers were yummy and the firework display impressive! A huge thank you to the PTFA for organising and running the event, to all of the volunteers who helped in anyway from setting up and clearing away, to marshalling and running stalls – your support is very much appreciated and meant the evening was a huge success.

It is always so lovely to come together as a community. Your collected efforts and support meant that the evening has raised approximately £8,500 which is fantastic and will be going towards our new playground equipment– thank you 😊.

As well as raising money for ourselves, it is good to remember that there are others in greater need. Today we enjoyed going spotty for Children in Need and have raised £303.40 towards this worthwhile charity – thank you!

On Monday, please remember that school is closed whilst the teaching staff have a full day of training. Enjoy your extra-long weekend. See you on Tuesday!

We have been busy busy busy in school this week! We had our inflatables day on Tuesday which was a huge success and lots of fun with three different inflatables for the children to enjoy – a bouncy castle, obstacle course and even a giant slide! There were lots of smiles.

Throughout the week children in Year 5 have enjoyed Bikeability lessons; you may have seen them cycling through the streets around the school practicing their cycling proficiency skills. Yesterday, Mr Chin spent the morning in school taking photos for our website. Then today we had Hedgehog Class assembly and our Reception intake had their photo taken by a representative from the local newspaper for the ‘starting school’ special edition.

All of this has been on top of the normal teaching and learning that takes place every day! And it’s not over yet; the weekend brings more fun with the PTFA annual fireworks event tomorrow evening! I look forward to seeing those of you who have already purchased tickets at this popular and sold out event.

Running is a big part of school life here at Melbourn, we want our children to enjoy exercise and running in particular. We are very fortunate to have our ‘golden mile’ track which the children enjoy as a class activity three times per week (on their non-PE days) and during playtimes and of course we also have our very own running coach, Mr. Chapman!

Children are encouraged to challenge and improve their own fitness levels during their golden mile sessions. This morning in assembly we awarded our first running medals of the year. A medal for the most improved runner in each class and one for the runner who could run the most laps in one ‘golden mile’ session this half-term. We also celebrated yellow team winning the KS2 cross county competition this half-term. Well done children – brilliant! I look forward to seeing who wins the medals in December.

I hope that you all have a lovely half-term break with your children – see you back in school on Monday 4^th November. 

We are so proud of your children! This September we have introduced a behaviour curriculum for each year group to support our behaviour policy and school rules of ‘Ready Respectful and Safe’. The purpose of this is to explicitly teach the children what the embodiment of these rules looks like in their day to day interactions with others and in their attitude to learning.

As part of this we have been practising stopping in corridors, letting adults through doors first and offering a greeting! Now when I say good morning / afternoon to the children as well as a responding ‘good morning’ I am often asked how I am and or how my morning / afternoon has been. They really are a joy 😊.

The PTFA have been busy planning the school’s annual fireworks events. The posters are up, the burgers and sausages ordered and tickets sales have begun! The fireworks evening is a real highlight of the PTFA year and raises a significant amount of money for the school. Last year it raised an incredible £5,925 which made a significant contribution to school life for your children.

So far this year, the PTFA have committed to paying the coach costs for our KS2 Matilda trip so that families only have to pay for the theatre ticket.  They are covering the cost of new phonic reading books for EYFS and KS1 and they are saving up to pay towards a replacement tropical play area as the current one is coming to the end of its life.

The PTFA are in desperate need of volunteers to help set up, clear away, marshal and runs stalls at the fireworks event. Without more volunteers it may be that we can’t offer the usual selection of stalls. If you could spare an hour or two you’ll be surprised how much fun helping at this event can be and we would all be very grateful.  Please email mpsptfavolunteers@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance for your support 😊

It is good to take time to stop and recognise the good things we have in life; being thankful can help lift our mood and change our focus. Harvest Festival this week was a good opportunity for the children to take time to reflect on what they are thankful for and especially for the food they eat.

As a school we appreciate the generosity of our local community in welcoming us to church for Harvest – thank you Reverend Sue at the URC for hosting us! We were incredibly proud of the children as they walked the route and the respect they showed in church. We have been teaching what it means to be respectful this term so to see this is action on Monday was an ‘aww’ moment for the staff. Reverend Sue also commented on how respectful the children were and how many thank yous she received from them. Well done children 😊

Thank you to all who donated food for Jimmy’s Night Shelter and the Melbourn Foodbank – the charities were hugely appreciative.

As someone who loves reading and sharing the joy of books with children, I have been saddened by the findings of the most recent Annual Literacy Survey. Of the 71,351 children and young people (aged 5-18) who completed the survey only two in five (43.4%) said they enjoyed reading in their free time. This is the lowest level since the survey began in 2005. Fewer than three in ten (28.0%) said that they read daily.

Reading has many benefits for children. As well as opening up magical places to explore and adventures to be shared, reading has educational and emotional gains. The more stories our children hear and read the greater their language acquisition and the greater their understanding of the structure of writing. The report also found that children and young people who are the most engaged with literacy have better mental wellbeing than their peers who are the least engaged.

So, a huge plea from me …. please spend time this weekend (and every day!), snuggled up on the sofa, sharing a book with your children. The more you read with and to them (even KS2 children) the more they will learn to love reading for themselves and be able to benefit from all that it offers. These are some of the most precious moments and the ones you will miss when they are all grown up!

The start of the school year always brings much hope for the year ahead – a new chapter of a book to be written. It is with eager anticipation that we wait to see what the children will achieve and to enjoy many fun and enriching activities together.

One of the September highlights is always the election of our house captains. After their short presentations of their suitability for the role, the children and staff in each house have voted. We are really impressed by all of our year 6 children, they have started the year showing their maturity and what great role models they are for the younger children. We announced the winners in assembly this morning:

Yellow House Captain Callum and Vice-Captain Liberty

Green House Captain Leonie and Vice-Captain Skyla

Red House Captain Freddie and Vice-Captain Ruby B

Blue House Captain Sophia and Vice-Captain Lexi

Well done children! We look forward to your leadership contributions to your teams, I am sure you are going to make us all proud 😊.

In starting the new school year, we have reflected on the achievements of Team GB at the Olympics. In assembly, we discussed some of the athletes and watched a montage which included photos and films of them practising their sports as children and then their medal winning moments. To see this was both awe-inspiring and moving. It doesn’t matter how many times I watch that montage I still well up!

The children were encouraged to think about what they would like to achieve both this school year and as adults. Some children may already know what they want to be when they ‘grow up’ whilst others won’t, but may be inspired by their favourite subject or sport.

It is really important that our children have aspiration. Aspiration acts as a motivator and helps children maintain a positive attitude to learning; spend some time talking to your children about their dreams for the future. As their teachers we won’t have the pleasure of seeing them achieve their future goals but you will. Why not write down or take a photo of them doing their ‘thing’ and keep it somewhere safe to show them when they achieve it.

The children all looked so smart in their new uniform and shiny shoes when they returned to school yesterday. It has been wonderful to reconnect with them (and you!) and to hear their news. From lovely holidays, to days at the beach, breakfasts with princesses, new puppies and even new baby siblings there has been much to share and smiles have abounded.

We also have lovely family news to share from the holidays. Miss Davies had her baby, a boy Luka Victor, Miss Angus became Mrs Barrett and yesterday as we returned to school Mrs Luckett had her baby; a boy Kasper Thomas.

A very warm welcome to the new Foundation Stage children and their parents, any new families that have joined us and new staff too. I hope you all quickly settle into our lovely school community and we look forward to getting to know you.

I hope that the 2024-2025 school year is a happy and successful one for you and your children; we are very excited for all that we have planned and to see the many achievements your children will make.

Academic Year 2022-2023