Grove Wood Primary School

NEWS - April 2024

Year 1 had a fantastic time at Hyde Hall and explored lots of different activities indoors and outdoors.

Today (22/04) 8 of our Year 6's took part in a mini tennis tournament at The Deanes School. The children were split into 2 teams and competed against several other schools from the area. Our B team won several matches but unfortunately went out in the quarter finals. Our A team however advanced to the final and were able to win a close contest against Edward Francis. In the final there was some great severing and some very long rallies! Well done to all of the children who took part - they all played brilliantly.

Well done to all the children who competed in the cross country county finals. They all did really well in tough races of about 200 children in each race.

What a fantastic response to our Easter bonnet competition - over 250 entries! Great work everyone!

Our girls netball team had their final match on Monday against Riverside. This squad has gone from strength to strength and they ended on a high winning 30-0. All of the girls scored at least one goal and worked so well together in every quarter. We are so proud of all of them!

Look at the concentration on the faces of our Year 2 children learning to play the glockenspiel to accompany the friendship song in music!

It's been a fantastic week for the netball squad. We played our first mixed game against Edward Francis and came from 4-1 down to win 9-8. It was a really tough game and both teams played brilliantly. On Wednesday, our girls team played Downhall. They were exceptional and won 23-2. A huge thank you to Miss Francis and Miss Taylor who give up their time every week to train the squad. Congratulations to both teams.

Year 2 dressed up in their best party clothes last week (1st March) to celebrate the start of our theme ‘Famous Queens’. The children had a fantastic day and enjoyed making finger sandwiches, playing musical thrones and drawing Queen Elizabeth I.

Yesterday, Year 2 had amazing fun building houses and recreating Pudding Lane in miniature. Then starting a fire in the afternoon to end their theme!

Huge congratulations to our Year 6 Boys Team 1 and Year 6 Girls Team 1, who both won their competitions at the Deanes Annual Badminton Tournament! (Feb)

Farewell and safe travels to our new friends. It has been a pleasure to have you as part of our school community. (Feb)

The children from Year 2 have visited the Library in Rayleigh this week. They have been looking at books and sharing stories!

Year 1 enjoyed a special visit from two dragon hunters on our themed Dragon Day (11/01). We learnt about the different types of dragons and even saw some dragon spit! Unfortunately, Fluffy the red dragon, had escaped the cage so we couldn't see her but we wrote some missing dragon posters to describe what she looked like. We had a great day making our own paper plate dragons and looked closely at the features of a dragon to draw our own using oil pastels.

Rochford anglers came to school to donate books on Fishing. Thank you and thank you for all the sessions you have put on for the children over the past two years. What a fantastic opportunity this has been for the children !

Mrs Chase's guitar club played some fantastic Christmas Carols to Rec, Year 1 and 2 at various performances this week! Well done everyone!

The Reception children and their adults had a fantastic time building castles yesterday (14th November)!

We were very fortunate to welcome a very special guest to Grove Wood today. GB gymnast and Commonwealth, European and World Championship Medal Winner, Courtney Tulloch joined us to share his journey and promote the National Year of Maths in conjunction with Active Essex. The children loved hearing his inspirational story and we were very grateful for his generosity with his time. @courtneytulloch

The Essex Library Service bus visited Year 1 - lots of books were borrowed and can be returned to any library!

Rettendon CC run U11s cricket every Monday throughout the summer. U8s will be 17:30 until 18:30, U11s 18:30 until 19:30. All ages, abilities boys & girls are welcome. These sessions are a great way to introduce your children to cricket and help them gain confidence and make new friends. If you'd like to register, please visit the All Stars Cricket website, message us on Facebook/Instagram or contact Chris Abrehart on 07545425574

ACL free courses for families/parents

ACL Essex is the largest provider of adult education in Essex.

ACL Essex AFL3B80Y23 FL Understanding Anxiety (Child Focus)

Clothes Bank totaliser - funds raised so far this academic year 23/24...£414

£899 in the academic year 22/23

£1561 in the academic year 21/22.

Thank you!

St Georges Day Celebration

Today two children from Grove Wood met with children from other Rayleigh Schools and the Chairman of Rayleigh Town Council Danielle Belton to raise the St Georges flag in King Georges Playing Field.

A huge thank you for all your donations, the children, the Easter Bunny and Mr Banks had a fantastic time running around the school. Mr Banks, with your help has managed to raise nearly £2,000 and sends his heartfelt thanks from himself and his family.

The Year 5s have signed off their space topic with an absolutely fascinating time in the Planetarium!

Thank you for your generosity, we raised a total of £1,118.65

The Year 4 teachers got our Red Nose Day Celebrations off to a fantastic start with the children throwing wet sponges at them....they got soaked!

The whole school have had a fantastic time celebrating World Book Day!

Y4 had a wonderful Tudor experience Wednesday (10/01) afternoon with some of the "Company Of Merrie Folke". The children were able to quiz Henry VIII and Queen Catherine about life in Tudor times and discover some new fun facts. They were able to handle lots of artefacts, tried on Tudor clothes, armor, chainmail, held swords, a long bow, handled furs and lucky Tudor charms. They could nibble cheese tarts (so smelly) and root (liquorice), though only the brave tried Tudor cold remedies! They won’t mind going to the modern-day dentist or doctor now and won't forget Tudor remedies of mouse droppings to rot a tooth out or snail slime for healing wounds in a hurry! They even learnt a Tudor dance. Hopefully you've heard all about the fun they had, here are some photos from their experience.

Kindness week in Year 4. 4CS read Kindness is my Superpower and each child wrote a random act of kindness on a post-it note and tried to do it over the week. 4MB made an iMovie all about what kindness means to them and 4LT shared our Shout out Book where children have been spotted for acts of kindness, then made posters and poems.

Years 1-6 had a fantastic day celebrating Times Table Rock Stars. Teachers and staff dressed as Rock Stars to promote Maths with everyone taking part in exciting maths activities!

Patrolled School Crossing Patrol - Safety Concern

Could parents please refrain from parking on the restrictive yellow lines close to the school crossing patrol site. This becomes a safety issue for the pedestrians as the patrol has reduced visibility of approaching traffic and drivers are banking up around the crossing site resulting in having to cross pedestrians within a gridlock traffic situation. Please Park up legally and sensibly for the safety of all Grove Wood School pupils. I have asked the Enforcement Team to monitor this area.

Please avoid doing three point turns close to the crossing site.

Please do not allow children to disembark from vehicles at the crossing site as other drivers may overtake the vehicle close to the patrol and pedestrians.

If you are crossing at the crossing site, please allow the patrol to get to the middle of the road and indicate that it is safe to cross. The danger is that if you do not wait, unaccompanied pupils waiting on the kerb may follow you out into the road when it is not safe to do so. Thank you.

Kind Regards

Sharon Wallace

School Crossing Patrol Co-ordinator for Brentwood, Billericay, Basildon, & Castle Point

We have now received the

Young Carers in School Bronze Award!

PE Days

Reception - Thursday AM

Year 1 - Friday AM

Year 2 - Tuesday AM

Year 3 - Thursday PM

Year 4 - Monday PM

Year 5 - Wednesday PM

Year 6 - Tuesday PM

FOOD BANK

Every Wednesday we are doing a 'Food Bank Wednesday Collection'. There will be a shopping trolley outside the main entrance for anyone who wishes to contribute. Any items collected will go to the foodbank at the Megacentre. Thank you!

Stars of the week

19th April

Stars of the week

28th March

Stars of the week

22nd March

Stars of the week

8th March

Stars of the week

1st March

The Deanes Community Bike Loan Scheme

This is an initiative in partnership with Active Essex and the Bikeability Trust, whereby The Deanes SSP has been able to create a community cycling hub with a stock of adult and junior bikes for local families to borrow free of charge.

We are ready to take bookings as from today, so contact us directly ASAP!

“My foster parents have shaped my life, now I have a future to look forward to.”

Charlotte was just 9 years old when she was fostered by Cara. Now, at age 17, she is studying Health and Social Care in college with the dream to help other children in the future.Charlotte said: “I don’t see Cara as my foster carer, she’s like my mum. She got me into a good school, encouraged me to get good grades, she wants me to be the best that I can be. I wouldn’t be sat here today if I stayed where I was, Cara has changed everything for me.”

You can watch Charlotte’s video on youtube.

From as little as a weekend a month you can help a child to heal from their trauma and unlock their true potential. Essex County Council match children to your family, offer 24/7 support, training and your family will receive on average £504 per child, per week. Find out more about fostering by joining a local information event or call 0800 801 530.

Fostering is incredibly rewarding, offers flexibility and puts family at its heart.

This Friday is our first of many pop-up drop-in Cost of Living Crisis Support Session.

We would appreciate it if you could please share this with your SEND departments and families. We support families with children and young adults 0-25 years old with SEND, suspected or diagnosed.

This Friday we are at The Health Centre, Canvey SS8 9SU with lots of Cost of Living Support: