Campsbourne Newsletter

Welcome back to the start of the second half of the Autumn term. It will be a very busy few weeks in the run up to Christmas with a lot to look forward to. We have our first set of parent / carer consultations evenings taking place next week which will be closely followed by the HSA Winter Fair. Tickets are now on sale. It promises to be another spectacular event so please make every effort to attend. Rehearsals for the end of term plays and concerts start next week and we are looking forward to watching the children perform next month. Whilst the weather remains very pleasant the number of lost property items continues to mount up. Please make sure that your child’s coat has their name in it and is easily identifiable. Thank you to everyone who has made a donation this week in support of two very important initiatives that are taking place in the school –  The Royal British Legion Poppy appeal and Anti Bullying Workshops. Your contributions have been gratefully received.

GROUNDS MAINTENANCE MORNING – Saturday 15th November, 9:30am – 12:00pm

We are very fortunate to have received a generous donation of plants and shrubs from Amazon, which have been kindly provided by one of our families. To help us make the most of this wonderful gift, we’re inviting parents, carers, and friends of the school to join us for a Grounds Improvement Morning. We’ll be:

• Planting the donated plants and shrubs (please bring along a pitchfork, shovel, trowel, or spade if you can).
• Staining the new picnic benches recently purchased for our younger children by the HSA (paintbrushes welcome!).
• Clearing the school grounds of old and unwanted items that have built up over the years. We’ll need help transporting these to the local refuse centre — including old sheet metal panels, broken tables, and other disused equipment.

Your time and effort will make a huge difference to the appearance and safety of our school grounds. We look forward to welcoming you on Saturday 15th November, from 9:30am to 12:00pm. Thank you in advance for your support and community spirit.

SOFT START TO THE SCHOOL DAY – Starting in January we will be introducing a soft start to the school day. A soft start is a very effective way of ensuring a smooth and relatively calm start to the school day and avoids any potential accidents from happening on a very busy site. It also gives teachers an opportunity to  to work with children at the start of the school day and for the children to complete a number of short learning activities. It is a highly effective initiative that is used across schools throughout the country and one that I have used successfully in previous settings.

The main gates on Nightingale Lane will open at 8:40am and parents and carers of children in the upper building (Years 2 through to 6) should drop their child off at either door which leads in to the building. They will be greeted by a member of the Senior Leadership Team before making their way to class. Children in our Reception classes can be escorted on to the school site and dropped off at their classroom but children in Year 1 must be dropped off at the gate which leads on to Eastfield Road. They will also be greeted by a member of the Senior Leadership Team and then make their way to  class. Both sets of gates will close at 8:55am. The table below explains clearly which gates year groups should access when they enter the school grounds.

Any new initiative will always take time to adjust to, but the benefits of creating a positive start to the day where children can access learning will help the school to deliver on its mission. I also understand this change has caused concern among certain parents and carers but please feel reassured that it is a necessary move forward and one that helps your child to become more independent which is a key life skill. If you need to speak to your child’s class teacher, appointments can always be made for you through the school office and there will always be an opportunity to talk to them at the end of the school day.

This notice will continue to be published in the weekly newsletter until the end of the term.

COMPUTER SCIENCE CLUB  (UPDATE) – We are delighted to announce that we will be starting a new Computer Science Club at Campsbourne. This will begin on Friday 14th November (next week) between 3:30pm – 4:30pm. If you are interested in joining, please do continue to let Mr Mattocks know, as we still have spaces available – he will be making those children who have registered an interest aware that they can attend next week. The club is tailored for children in Years 4 ,5 and 6 only at the moment, so if you have let him know that you would like your child to go but they are in a younger year group they will unfortunately not be able to attend. The club will take place in 6 Himid’s classroom.

In the club the children will be doing activities and puzzles that explore computer science without computers. They will be asking questions such as: If computers only know two numbers, how do they count? If you had ten guesses, could you find the prize hidden in one of 1000 boxes? How do secret codes work? Can you decrypt this? URYYB JBEYQ. This is a great opportunity for the children so please do sign up!

We can’t wait to get started and apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

THIS WEEK’S LEARNING –

Both of our Year 5 classes spent a day the Velodrome at the London Stadium complex learning how to ride and navigate the BMX course. Some of the children said That they really enjoyed learning about how to ride a BMX. They were able to learn to go over the bumps, round the berms and being able to drop in at the start. It was very thrilling and they enjoyed learning this new experience.

Year 2 loved creating their own acrostic poems about Remembrance Day. They also loved the opportunity to show their creative flair through painting a field of poppies.

LATEST FROM THE HSA – AGM info

INDIVIDUAL & SIBLING / FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS – The photographers from Van Cols will take the children’s individual photographs on Wednesday 19th November. Sibling / family photographs will be taken between 8:30am and 9:00am in the Gymnasium.  Families should enter the gymnasium from the entrance nearest to the main gates of the school and leave by the gate on Newlands Road.

ATTENDANCE – Well done to  2 MOORE   in the Infants and 4 WHITEREAD in the Juniors for registering the highest attendance for week ending 7th November 2025.

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind Regards

Charles Soyka
Headteacher

In the news this week…