Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Winners galore at the end of term House Point assemblies!

  Wed 14 Dec 2022

  There were lots of winners at today's House Point assemblies.  Not only were a boy and girl in each class awarded with a certificate for the most house points this half term but a whole host of prizes and awards were given out for other successes too. 

   

  St David's are now top of the House Point leaderboard for this year after accumulating 44 whole school points at the end of the second half term.  However, it's still a close race. 

   

  Class winners of the PTA Christmas decoration competition were also announced with special decoration prizes being awarded to them.  

   

  So far this year, over 150 pupils across the school have achieved their first WOW badge after logging an active journey at least once a week in November.  The team of Junior Travel Ambassadors will be giving out the badges over the next two days. 

   

  Finally, well done to Year 4 Chaffinches who were awarded a certificate for achieving 97% attendance so far this year, the best of any class in the school.  This was closely followed by year 3 Wrens where children have attended school 96.8% of the time.  A special mention should go to Year 2 Badgers who had the best attendance in KS1 and EY with 96.3%.  

  

• Design & Technology lessons showcasing future inventors, innovators, engineers and designers of the future here at Greswold!

  Mon 12 Dec 2022

  Design and Technology has seen some major changes to its curriculum this year and already, school is seeing the positive impact on the children's learning. 

   

  Year 4 have been appreciating the generosity of the Greswold school community by using the Lego kindly donated by families to experiment with prototypes, eventually designing skyscrapers and buildings which house a n effective lighting system.

   

  In recent weeks, year 2 have completed a vehicle making project around the mechanisms of axles and wheels based on their history topic of the Great Fire of London.  Year 5's Controllable Vehicles project best demonstrates the progressive nature of the D&T curriculum with children using their knowledge of axles to construct chassis which accommodate electrical components to power a pulley, allowing their vehicles to move.  This project also showcased how the curriculum encourages children to learn in different ways by pupils within each team learning a different skill and adopt a certain role generating a purposeful collaborative project.  

   

  From there, year 6 are using their knowledge of pulleys and electrical components to design toys for younger pupils to play with.  They've surveyed Reception children to see what sort of things entertain them and used the feedback to design and make carousel products.  This approach epitomizes the approach of adding purpose and context to each D&T unit of work. 

   

  With this in mind, watch out for muffins being designed and made by the older pupils to be sold at the PTA Summer Fayre in July!

  

• The Snowman launches Greswold's end of term writing event!

  Mon 12 Dec 2022

  It may be the last week of the term but the children of Greswold are still striving to do their very best in writing, with the launch of 'The Snowman' themed writing event.  Year 6 pupils helped Miss Nock and Mrs Mitchell to introduce the week's theme and set the scene for an enjoyable, imaginative and creative writing experience using the famous Raymond Briggs' winter themed book.  We look forward to seeing the children's work at the end of the week. 

  

• The spirit of Christmas and togetherness very much evident at Greswold this week

  Mon 12 Dec 2022

  It's been a very festive week here at Greswold this week.  Not only was the PTA Christmas decoration competition judged by Mrs Scott and Mr Hornsey (A very difficult job indeed!) but the Christmas trees in each hall were decorated with the entries.  It was also Christmas jumper day for the staff on Wednesday and the end of week concluded with a wonderful PTA Christmas Fayre.  Huge thanks must go to Mrs Langston and her PTA team for putting on such an enjoyable community event with so much for families to do, see, play and eat! 

   

  So far, the event has raised around £5000 profit which is a remarkable achievement.  Thank you to all the families who attended and made it such a successful community and fundraising event, with the profits eventually being used for curriculum enhancements for all the children at Greswold.  Well done everyone.  

  

• Half term attendance figures above national

  Mon 12 Dec 2022

  We are pleased to announce that our attendance figures for this half term are above the national average (91%). Our average attendance for this half term was 93.6% (which is unfortunately slightly down from 95.7% in Autumn 1). However, we know that this time of year can present its challenges with coughs and colds etc. We hope that next term we can work in partnership to increase our attendance to 97%.

   

  Although we would like our figures for this half term to be higher, we still have successes to celebrate. Every week the classes with the highest or most improved attendance are presented with the weekly attendance award. This is displayed in the classroom for children and parents to see. Below is a table of our winners for this half term. This week Mr Hornsey will be presenting certificates for the best attendance over the entire half term; who will be successful this time?

   

  	EYFS/KS1	KS2
  17/10 – 21/10	Otters 98.8%	Oaks 99.2%
  31/10 – 4/11	Dragonflies 4.1% increase	Willows 6.2% increase
  7/11 – 11/11	Hedgehogs 97.4%	Chaffinches 99.6%
  14/11 – 18/11	Badgers 98.5%	Willows 100%
  21/11 – 25/11	Squirrels 98.1%  Badgers 100%	Maples 99.6%
  28/11-2/12	Owls 96.7%	Oaks 98.7%
  5/12 – 9/12	Owls 96.3%	Willows and Chaffinches 96.3%

   

• More writing at Greswold

  Fri 09 Dec 2022

  Mrs Scott has enjoyed reading some fantastic writing recently including some which was celebrated in  Star Pupil assembly. She was particularly impressed by children who are finding opportunities to write in their own time at home or at lunchtime. Have a look at the very first edition of Greswold Tea Time newsletter written by 4 pupils from Y6. You might like to enter their Star Writer competition. One child in Y5 has written two books about Pudsey which he enjoyed sharing with some pupils from Dragonflies class. The next book in the series is now underway and it is called 'Merry Christmas Pudsey'. A pupil from Y3 has shared his love of Thomas stories too and Mrs Scott recognised the hard work put in by two boys in Y4 Chaffinches using technology very effectively to write non-chronological reports. Mrs Scott and Miss Carpenter also enjoyed reading some descriptive narratives written by Y4 Nightingales. A Harry Potter play is also underway in Y5. Keep writing!

  

• Greswold pupils demonstrating values in and out of school.......and being rewarded!

  Thu 08 Dec 2022

  This week, Greswold entered a team into the annual School Games Dodgeball tournament, and guess what.....they won!  The outcome of the tournament is decided by the values displayed by each competing team and, at the culmination of the event, Greswold were voted as being the team who exhibited the best sportsmanship and the Spirit of the Games Values.  Well done to all the children involved.  It's great to see our pupils demonstrating our school values both in and out of school.   

  

• Blast off for year 5!

  Fri 02 Dec 2022

  This week, all year 5 pupils were treated to a fresh way of being immersed in their learning.  A mobile planetarium called WonderDome came to Greswold, allowing the children to experience space, planets and the solar system up close.  Thank you to the staff for organising such a powerful and inspiring experience for the children, something which will help to influence their knowledge, thinking and creativity in future cross-curricular lessons.   

  

• An unexpected visitor to thank the children for their kindness

  Fri 02 Dec 2022

  The children were treated to an unexpected visitor today in assembly!

   

  Pudsey arrived to show his appreciation for all of the children's fundraising efforts during the recent Children in Need day.  The day was a culmination of Kindness Week, organised by Miss Ceillam, who  explained the impact that the fundraising has had, especially on local community projects. 

  

• Impressive new venue for a night of drama, quality and mixed fortunes!

  Fri 02 Dec 2022

  The stadium of Solihull Moors at Damson Parkway was the new venue for the next round of the boys' large school football league on Thursday and what a memorable evening it was.  

   

  The incredibly exciting first game against Dorridge was quoted by Mr Hornsey as being 'The best game of school football I've seen and refereed in years!'.

   

  Although the team suffered their first loss of the season, eventually losing 4-2, the match was full of commitment, quality and fast flowing football, a perfect accompaniment to the current World Cup finals!

   

  Although disappointed to lose, Greswold took heart from their strong performance and used it to motivate themselves against Balsall Common, in their second match, eventually winning 3-0.  It marks a very strong start to the league season at the halfway point with 4 matches won out of 5.  Well done to all the players and for their families who continue to give wonderful support.