Latest News

• Update 19.03.20

  Thu 19 Mar 2020

  Dear Parents/Carers,

   

  As you are aware, we have now been instructed to close the school to almost all children after this Friday until further notice. 
  As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers and children with certain needs.  We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means.
   
  All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards. 
  Please note that this is a national closure, so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is as soon as is possible. This we will do through ParentMail, website and DOJO 
   
  What we’ll continue doing while your child is at home: 
  Your child’s learning is important to us, so we’ll continue to help your child to learn as best we can within the constraints we’re working in. We are planning to use school DOJO to share learning activities for you to complete. More details will be sent out about this as soon as we have them finalised.

  
  If your child usually receives benefit-based free school meals we will also be in touch with more information about how we will continue to provide this, with support from a scheme that the government has just announced. 
   
  What we won’t be able to go ahead with: 
  We have to follow Government, Public Health and Local Authority directives, so, from next Monday, we will not be able to accept any children into school who do not meet the criteria set out by the government.  
   
  This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience with us as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops. If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so. 
   
  Also remember: if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please use NHS 111 online. 
   
  As always, our love and best wishes goes out to all our children and their families at this time.

  Kind regards,

   

  Ellie Game

   

• Home Learning

  Tue 17 Mar 2020 Mr Pardoe

  Home learning

  
  If for any reason, children need to stay at home over the coming weeks, we have compiled a list of possible home-learning opportunities for them to use if they would like to. 

  
  Whilst at home, reading with an adult or independently is a great place to start. Most children will also have a TT Rock Star and Mathletics or Sumdog password. The links for these can be found on the ‘Useful Links’ tab under the parents section of our website. There are also lots of possible activities and home-learning suggestions on each of the year group pages. 

   

  Twinkl and Classroom Secrets are two educational resource sites who are offering free parent accounts during the coming weeks. These sites both have a wealth of resources for all age groups:

  
  Twinkl - go to www.twinkl.co.uk/offer  and enter the code UKTWINKLHELPS
  Classroom Secrets - https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/

  
  The following websites also offer good quality learning opportunities:

  
  Hit The Button – Quick fire questions on number bonds, times tables, doubling and halving, multiples, division facts and square numbers - https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button 

  
  Phonics Hero - phonics activities for Reception and Key Stage One pupils - www.phonicshero.com 

  
  Hungry little minds - for Reception parents -https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/

  
  Oxford owl - access to free e books - https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

  
  Prodigy maths - maths activities - https://www.prodigygame.com/

  
  Reading realm - free activity packs - https://thereadingrealm.co.uk/category/resources/

  
  Corbett maths - Year 6 maths revision site - https://corbettmathsprimary.com/

  
  Epic books - books, learning videos and quizzes - https://www.getepic.com/

  
  Phonics play - phonics activities for Reception and Key Stage One pupils https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ParentsMenu.htm

  
  BBC Bite Size - a range of learning activities - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary

  
  Typing Club - learn touch-typing for free - https://www.typingclub.com/

  
  Purple Mash - free during any school closures - https://www.purplemash.com/login/

  
  BBC Super Movers - https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers

  
  Mathsbot - https://mathsbot.com/

  
  Edshed - a range of resources for English and Maths - https://www.edshed.com/en-gb
   

• Music Mark

  Tue 11 Feb 2020 Mr. Pardoe

  We had some amazing music news today! Chris Jones came in from Dudley Performing Arts to award us with our Music Mark for all the fantastic music that goes on throughout school.. This is a fantastic achievement for us. We are really proud that our brilliant contribution towards inspiring musical talent has been recognised.

  

• St. Mary's Church Window Repairs

  Thu 23 Jan 2020 Mrs F Wooldridge

   

  During the week of 19th January St. Mary's Church was targeted twice by vandals who threw stones at the windows of the Church on the south side of the building. They caused considerable damage to the leaded windows, parts of which contained decorative coloured glass. To repair this damage the Church need a specialist contractor who is going to have to remove the whole window to carry out the repairs. The insurance on the building will cover part of the cost but they still have to find £1000 to cover the excess on the policy. We would be very grateful for any help with this so that the windows can be repaired back to how they should be and maintain the good order of the building for all to enjoy. Please follow this link to donate: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/stmarysoldswinford

• Christmas Jumper Day

  Wed 11 Dec 2019 Mr Pardoe
  Please join us on Friday 13th December to celebrate Christmas Jumper Day to support the Save The Children. All children are welcome to come into school wearing their Christmas jumpers or any festive clothing and pay a donation which will go towards this important charity. 

• We need your help!

  Thu 07 Nov 2019

  Don’t forget help raise funds for Oldswinford CE Primary School whenever you shop online!

  Use easyfundraising to shop with over 4,000 big name retailers including Amazon, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, and Booking.com – and when you shop, you’ll raise a free donation for us every time. It’s that easy!

  Help support us: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/oldswinfordceprimaryschool/

  When you shop on your mobile with the #easyfundraising App. Simply open the App, find the retailer you want to shop with and then shop as usual. They’ll donate to Oldswinford CE Primary School when you make a purchase – at no extra cost to you! 4,000 shops and sites will donate to us in this way, so you can help us out no matter what you’re buying!

  Get it on iOS or Android here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/easyfundraising-app/

   

   

• Disco Fever hits Oldswinford!

  Mon 21 Oct 2019

  On Friday night we had our annual school discos which were a fantastic success, as always. KS1 were kept well entertained and played all the usual classic party games, whilst KS2 danced the night away with their glow sticks and enjoyed plenty of sweet treats. The DJs kept everyone dancing with classics such as We Will Rock You and the YMCA as well as playing plenty of more modern favourites. I know Mrs Game and Mrs Wooldridge even joined in for a boogie too!

  A huge thanks to our wonderful PTA for organising the event and to all of the volunteers who helped out during the evening.

• Harvest Thanksgiving

  Fri 04 Oct 2019 Mrs Jo Seker

   

  We have, once again, been overwhelmed by the generosity of our school community at Harvest time. This morning’s worship, led by Rev. French from St. Mary’s Church, was a wonderful celebration of praise and thanks. 

   

  Every child was thanked for their donations and a special mention was given to Poppy and Sophia who raised £42 by doing extra chores at home; they then went shopping with their food bank list to purchase goods for those in need in our local community. George and all at the Giving Hands mission will be thrilled with what we have to offer.

  

• Climate Campaign

  Fri 20 Sep 2019 Mrs Jo Seker
  Buddy and I met up with the climate protesters on Stourbridge Ring Road this morning as I was sharing the work of Greta Thunberg in today’s worship. We were pleasantly surprised to see Rev John from St. Mary’s Church there too! Today, we read a poem about Greta and shared part of her speech from her book, “ No One Is Too Small To Make a Difference.’
  
  One of our children was awarded a green Blue Peter badge this morning too, in recognition of a letter she sent in to the BBC about the work she does with our Global Neighbours, reducing the school’s use of single-use plastic. I challenged all the children to see if they too could earn a green Blue Peter badge and maybe we could get our school a special mention!
  
  Like Greta, we too can make a difference to our environment, and live out our school’s vision and values of being good stewards of God’s creation.

  

• Our new music hut

  Tue 10 Sep 2019 Mr Pardoe
  We are extremely pleased to share our brand new music hut which was built over the summer holidays. It is already being used on a daily basis for all of the peripatetic music lessons throughout school and it really is a fantastic space for children and staff to make the most of.