Latest News
Posted on: 19/05/2023A message from The Head Emma Johns
Dear Families,
How good it is to finally see some consistently sunny days – a reminder that summer is just around the corner.
We started this school term with new staff on board and I would like to welcome Tina Legg as our new KS2 class teacher, Julie White and Tirion Johns as our new KS2 LSAs. The children have settled well into the changes – showing their usual resilience and positivity. All of our new staff felt quickly welcomed and all have expressed what a wonderful school Winsham is to be a part of. I should also mention that we have a new caretaker working hard behind the scenes and we welcome Peter Rattew to this post.
As usual, the children have been extremely busy with their learning. Both Year 6 and Year 2 had the added experience of SATs this month and they have all equipped themselves admirably.
I think a highlight for the children will have been their Coronation Teddy Bears’ Picnic – even rain didn’t dampen their spirits. The children had an amazing day – all of the food consumed in the afternoon they had worked together to make in the morning. The hall was decorated with the bunting they had made in commemoration of the coronation.
Our PTA have been busy as usual, and the children are soon to be the recipients of some exciting new playground equipment. Last week saw a disco in the village for children 11 and under which was a roaring success and there is more planned for us all to take part in! We are very grateful for all of the support with which they provide the school.
Three of our KS2 children took part in a Trust wide public speaking event the topic of which centered around equality of human rights, discrimination and how children can promote this equality of entitlement for all. They did us proud and received lots of positive comments from those who watched and listened to them.
This week has been Mental Health Awareness week and the children were invited to plan for and enjoy a ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’. They asked for a wide variety of activities and experiences –a favorite part of which was a Junior Bake Off competition in their houses. “Air’ won with their delicious milk chocolate cookies but everyone made tasty treats and there wasn’t a crumb left by the end of the day.
We still have plenty of things to look forward to this coming term – the teachers will start writing reports, we have sports day, summer fayre, a PTA organised ‘make the rules day’ and summer event (TBC) as well as a sponsored walk to Forde Abbey! A case of ‘watch this space’ I believe.
Finally, I need to share with you the news that Mrs. Hawkins will be leaving her role at Winsham on June 10 th . Mrs. Hawkins has very much loved her time at the school and will be missed but we wish her well for whatever exciting times may lie ahead. Mrs. Hawkins has the following message for you all:
‘I am sad to say that I will be leaving Winsham Pre-school. I have enjoyed watching the children grow and find their personalities, they all have their own unique characters and they are all brilliant. I have loved working with Sarah as my manager. She has taught me so much and I appreciate every big and small thing that she has taught me. I will remember it all. I also owe a big thanks to Maureen and Kay who have also helped me in my path as well. It’s been a great learning journey for myself and I won’t forget it. Lastly, thank you to the children and parents for all your kindness towards me.’
Emma Johns
Head of School
Posted on: 11/11/2022A messsage from Emma Johns Head of School
The children and staff of Winsham School spent a busy first term engaging with their learning and working hard. There has been a busy and productive feel to the school everyday, with many exciting learning opportunities taking place across the curriculum. This term sees us preparing for our many Christmas events!
We started the new term with an author focussed day on which the children enjoyed reading the books of and finding out about the author, Michael Morpurgo. We had our extreme reading competition – photos are proudly displayed in the hall – and really enjoyed welcoming so many parents into the school at the end of the day.
KS2 had the recent excitement of an orienteering event with the other schools in the hub – I am sure Miss Dobinson and Mrs. King will elaborate on this! I also have been fortunate enough to have popped in on a fair few exciting Science experiments as well as their cross curricular lessons on volcanoes. Exciting stuff.
FS/KS1 have enjoyed their text, ‘Tidy’, which has helped them to think about looking after our community as well as the wider world. The KS1 children produced some amazing writing, re-telling the story. Their work looking at local folk music was extended to include African music and they very much enjoyed finding out about the musician, Abel Selaocoe. Our Geography work about the village and maps is complete and we are excited to be now thinking about the village in terms of History.
As I mentioned in our last newsletter, our Big Question involved discussing how sharing food binds together a community. The children very much enjoyed their free ice cream from Noodles – there were some extremely ice-cream covered faces, with many children wearing possibly more than they were eating! All of the children contributed to pictures, poems, cards – and cakes – of thanks to the ice cream van man. The FS/KS1 class also chose to make cakes and cards for our friends who work so hard in our village shop and we delivered these once free of sticky ice cream!
Our Harvest celebration in church, where sharing food and thinking about community was again uppermost in our minds, may not have gone without hitches but it was lovely to gather together in the church and to see families and members of the community join us in giving thanks. The donations of food you all kindly gave have been taken to the Lord’s Larder, who have expressed their gratitude.
Forthcoming dates for your calendar – on November 19 th the school will be part of the Craft Fair being held to raise money for First Responders, so please do come along, we also have a Family Service in Church for Stir Up Sunday, on Sunday 20th which I have been told the children will all be very welcome to attend.
I look forward to a busy but exciting and fun filled term!
Emma Johns
Head of School
Posted on: 16/07/2021End of Term Letter from Trust
Dear Parents and Carers;
As we race towards the finish line of this very unique academic year, our schools have still been a hive of activity with sports days, school trips and much more, all following covid guidance and restrictions. We would like to thank all those involved in the planning, preparation and facilitation of these activities for our pupils. We would also like to thank our parents, carers and local communities for your understanding of the changes that had to be made to ensure everyone’s safety. Although parents and carers were unable to be there in person, all our schools are delighted to share some fabulous pictures from these events on Social Media and our school websites so please check these out.
Throughout the year there have been a plethora of good news stories across all our schools. Our children have benefitted from health weeks, winter wonderlands, art exhibitions, special community contacts, fundraising, returning to church school status, a new school joining ( a special welcome to Stockland C of E Primary Academy), forest school activities and art projects. In a year that has been so changeable we have been immensely proud of all the achievements and activities that our staff have managed to organise.
The Trust would like to offer a fond farewell to our year 6’s. It’s been a pleasure to see you flourish and develop and we wish you well on your journey to secondary school.
As this is our last newsletter of the school year, we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work through what has been a very busy, certainly different and sometimes difficult year, we wish you all a very happy and relaxing summer break.
Best Wishes
Suzanne Flack
CEO, TRLP
Sue Rogers
DCEO, TRLP
