Monday 14th May

It's lovely to see the sun shining this week: our children will be able to enjoy the fresh air at playtimes after their hard work in lessons.


This week is SATs week for our Year 6 children. We wish them all the best and know that they will work hard to achieve their targets. You are all very special and we know you can do it!


The schedule for the tests is as follows:


Monday 14th May
Reading test


Wednesday 16th May
Mental Maths and Maths paper A


Thursday 17th May
Maths Paper B


Friday 18th May
Writing


Where possible, please make sure that your child has a good night's sleep, is as calm as possible and arrives at school in plenty of time each day. Breakfast Club is available free for all Year 6 children this week.


Learning Conversations
This week children in Years 1, 3, 4 and 5 will be spending 1 to 1 time with their teachers to hold a 'learning conversation'. Teachers will talk to each child in their class about their targets for Maths, Reading and Writing. The children will be able to talk to the teacher about what they need to do to reach their targets. Teachers will give advice and support to guide the children through this. We have already held learning conversations in Years 2 and 6 and these have been very powerful in helping children to understand the next steps in their learning.

Cannon Hall Farm
On Tuesday, 15th May, all the children from Reception classes will be visiting Cannon Hall Farm for the day. This links to the children's work on animals with a particular focus on how to look after them. I am sure that everyone will have a lovely day and hope that the weather stays fine.

Developing and celebrating diversity
An important driver for our creative curriculum is the development of cultural understanding. In order to enable us to ensure that we are addressing this aim throughout the curriculum we have decided to strive for achievement of the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard. This standard provides us with a clear picture of how diversity can be developed and celebrated in school. At Copthorne we already celebrate diversity though our visits to a number of places of worship, our weekly assemblies and in our vision and mission statement which is clear as children move through school. I now believe that it is time to ensure that the development of racial harmony, cultural understanding and respect is a distinct part of our creative curriculum and that every opportunity is made available to promote this.

Important dates:
May 30th: School photographs - children can come to school in non-uniform clothes for their photo's.
June 1st: Jubilee Street Party: School closes at 12pm and the event begins at 1pm and will finish at 4pm. School will then be closed for 1 week and a day, reopening on June 12th.

Mr Bagherian is leaving Copthorne
Congratulations to Mr Bagherian who has secured the position of Assistant Head at Westminster School. He will be leaving Copthorne on June 1st after the Jubilee Street Party. Mr Bagherian is a much loved member of staff, successfully leading the Foundation Stage for almost the past 2 years to ensure that every child makes excellent progress and as the most positive start possible to their education. We will miss him so very much. We wish him every success in the future and hope that he will drop in to see us when he gets the chance.
If anyone wishes to contribute to a parents' leaving gift for Mr Bagherian please leave a donation at the school office or with any member of the Foundation Stage staff apart from Mr Bagherian himself!

Unwanted soft toys/gifts
The year 6 children will be running a Teddy Bear Tombola on the day of the Jubilee Street Party. They are in desperate need of any unwanted soft toys which will be used as prizes. Please bring your unwanted soft toys to the office at any time from now on, where they will be gratefully received. In addition, we would also welcome any unwanted gifts for the tombola. Thank you.

Wishing you all a good week.
Mrs Shepherd