A new term!

This term our topics are:

‘Who’s That Trip Trapping Over My Bridge?’ & ‘What Makes a Good Farmer’

We are thrilled to share our plans for an action-packed Spring Term, filled with exciting learning adventures for your children.
In the first half of the term, we’ll step into the magical world of traditional tales. The children will reenact The Three Billy Goats Gruff, bake gingerbread men, and cook porridge. They’ll unleash their creativity by imagining new endings to classic stories and take on exciting challenges like building a tower for Rapunzel and designing a basket for Little Red Riding Hood.

After half term, we’ll swap fairy tales for the farmyard! The children will learn how to care for animals, discover the importance of planting seeds, and even experience the magic of hatching chicks as we incubate our own eggs. To bring this topic to life, we’re looking forward to a much-anticipated trip to Bocketts Farm—an unforgettable day where the children can get up close with the animals and immerse themselves in the wonders of farm life.

We can’t wait to embark on these wonderful adventures with the children and see their imaginations and curiosity flourish this term!

You can see more detail in our topic tree here.

Arc Pathway is our online system for sharing observations, making assessments of children’s progress and sharing reports. You can also use this to share key moments from home.

If you have not yet signed up to use Arc, please use the link here to do so. Please let James Davis know if you have any questions.

Reception will be visiting Bocketts Farm on Friday 21 March. This trip is linked to our topic ‘What makes a good farmer?’ We will enjoy a great day out at Bocketts Farm whatever the weather! There are lots of friendly farm animals, plenty of fun activities and indoor and outdoor play for the children to get stuck into!

We’re so excited to be able to offer the children some real-world experience of what they are learning in school. Trips are a brilliant way of making learning more tangible and memorable, as they enable the children to engage with the material in a more active and immersive way than can often be possible in the classroom. They are a powerful tool for broadening the children’s horizons, and also a lot of fun; we cannot wait to enjoy this day out!

More information will follow nearer to the date.

For all absences, please complete the absence request form via the Parent Portal. Please see the guide here on how to request an absence for your child.

Please ensure your child is well enough to attend school each day. If they’ve required Calpol in the morning, they aren’t well enough for school, so please don’t send them in. If in any doubt, please contact Matron to discuss your concerns.

If your child will need any prescribed or over-the-counter medication administered during the school day, please complete the following form here. No medication can be administered without this form.

Children may be brought to the Reception classrooms via the rear classroom doors between 8:15am – 8:25am for registration, so please make sure your child is in school ready to start by this time. Children arriving earlier should please be booked in for breakfast from 7:30am or join our Early Birds in the Pre-Prep Hall from 8:00am.

The afternoon session finishes at 3:00pm. From 3:00-4:00pm, Reception children will be invited to join classroom club, with quiet games, drawing and an opportunity to rest before going home or joining an extended day club. The cost of after school care will remain as it is currently structured with care provided free of charge from the end of the school day at 3:00pm until 4:00pm.

Please wait to meet your child outside the Reception classrooms at the rear of the Pre-Prep building, and make sure your child has ‘blobbed out’ with their teacher. If they are going to after school supervision, or a hobby, the children will be taken to that directly from the classroom. 

If you’d like your child to join us for breakfast, or stay beyond 4:00pm, please contact extendedday@pennthorpe.com to arrange this.

As well as your pocket-sized diary, parents can also view the Spring Term calendar via the website and Parent Portal.

Please do have a look through and pop important dates in your diary.  Of course, sometimes plans need to be updated, and so any changes will be updated on our electronic calendar and communicated to you as soon as possible.

The key events for our Reception parents can also be found in Mr Murray’s Start of Spring Term Letter here.

Our brilliant Friends of Pennthorpe, as always, will be doing lots to support our school and community this term. Key things for you to watch out for include:

• The Spring Term Friends of Pennthorpe meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 14 January at 8:30am. Everyone is welcome to attend to help develop upcoming FoP plans.
• Bags of Support Collections on Thursday 30 January and Friday 28 March.
• Pop Up Treat Shop on Friday 14 February from 3:00pm
• Friends of Pennthorpe Second Hand Uniform Shop & Blueblood Sports Pop Up Shop on Tuesday 11 March.
• ‘A Night in Bloom’ Ball on Saturday 22 March 2025. For further information and to book your tickets click here.
• The Friends of Pennthorpe Mother’s Day Shop will open its doors on Tuesday 25 March.

With the continuing cold weather, please can you ensure your child has a named Pennthorpe hat, scarf and gloves in school each day.

The children should have their play coat, waterproof clothing and wellies in school at all times, as we will get outside in all weathers at break times, as well as for our Forest School session on a Fridays. If things get particularly muddy, these will be sent home to be washed, but please can they be returned to school on the following Monday.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the children have their Games and PE lessons. On these days, we ask that the children come to school wearing their Games Kit to reduce the amount of time spent changing. Normal uniform is not required on these days.

Swimming is on a Monday morning, and the children will be taken to Billingshurst Leisure Centre by Minibus, and return in time for school pick up time. Billingshurst Leisure Centre ask that ALL children wear a swimming hat as part of their kit.

Uniform is available to order online, for further information please click here.

Please do not park in the drop-off lanes at the front of school if you are coming past the gates to drop your child into school, or collect them from the Pre-Prep. These lanes are intended for dropping-off only!

Instead, please park up in the car park, or find a safe place to park on the neighbouring roads (being considerate of our neighbours, especially with regards parking near to junctions or driveways).

Our Wellbeing Ambassadors, who are children in Year 8, are available to support families at the busy drop off time by walking children from Reception to Year 2 down to the Pre-Prep. Please do use this option if you are in a rush and need to drop your child and leave.