Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Picture News - information for parents
Tue 04 Jun 2024For the past two academic years, Greswold has been using the Picture News publication as a platform for children to explore and discuss some very pertinent modern day topics and to help them learn through the world around them.
Each newsletter is introduced to the children during a Monday assembly through the stimulus of an image and question. The children then find out more about the topic by reflecting and discussing it further using additional resources, in their allocated class assembly later that week. Resources are tailored for EYFS, primary and secondary aged children with relevant and meaningful links to British Values and supporting pupils' personal development. The subjects help to give our curriculum more context and promote the use of spoken language.
This week, Picture News has sent out a very useful guide for parents so they are familiar with the publication whilst also offering guidance on how to tackle sensitive news stories with children and young people. Please see the picture gallery for more details along with a few themes explored last half term. The following link can be used to access the Picture News website.
https://www.picture-news.co.uk/
If parents, family or pupils would like to leave a comment about this Latest News story, please click on the link below:
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Attendance Success!
Mon 03 Jun 2024We are delighted to share that our attendance for the majority of last half term was some of the highest of the year so far, including a record 96.8%! Thank you so much for your support with this. We really hope this continues into the final half term of the year.
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Whole school assembly helps to highlight important messages for this final term
Mon 03 Jun 2024All children from Reception to Year 6 were invited to this morning's whole school assembly. Although a bit of a squeeze, all 630 children, along with all staff, were involved in an assembly which helped to reiterate some very important messages for the final term ahead.
Using some traffic warning signs, similar to those around the local area, Mrs Scott and Mr Hornsey reminded the children of how things help us to keep safe. However, in Greswold we don't have school rules but instead, we use six key values (BRICKS) which help us to demonstrate positive traits and habits.
British Values and the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of a Child were also referenced as well as our lunchtime charters for corridors, halls and outdoor spaces.
The children were also reminded of what to do if something goes wrong at lunchtime or they become upset due to a friendship issue. If a child isn't able to resolve a problem themselves or with the help of their friends, then there are both lunchtime supervisors and play leaders available to ask for help. Children were also encouraged to tell their class teacher or staff, at the start of the afternoon, if they haven't been able to speak to someone up to that point. This is to help school resolve any issues on the same day so that problems don't fester or become longer term issues.
Well done to Y1 Hedgehogs (98%) and Y6 Willows (98%) who had the best attendances for the final week of last term.
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Listen out parents, your children have spoken.....
Fri 24 May 2024In order to maintain Greswold's Modeshift Stars Bronze Award accreditation for commitment to sustainable travel, each class in Y1-6 took part in a travel survey this week.
This involved the children communicating how they usually travelled to school each week and how they would like to travel to school in the future.
The results were very interesting as 197 pupils wanted to cycle to school compared to the 19 that currently do. Only 43 children felt they needed to use the car compared to the 180 that currently do.
Car sharing and walking to school with another family were interesting suggestions put forward by the children.
Greswold can appreciate that for some families, a considerable distance has to be travelled to get to school each day. However, if all vehicle using families could dedicate just one day a week to travelling more actively or sustainably, it would make a big difference to congestion outside school, to the safety of the children and their families and would also help children to achieve their Travel Tracker badge awards.
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House Point and Star Pupil assembly helps to round off this term's value of Independence
Fri 24 May 2024This morning's House Point assembly nicely rounded off our focus on Independence this half term, by exploring the Japanese proverb of 'Send the beloved child on a journey'. This alluded to a news clip viewed by the children about a 7 year old girl from Tokyo who travelled to and from school every day using two trains, all alone. Part of Japanese culture, children are encouraged to travel to school by themselves at an early age.
Although only year 6 children at Greswold are allowed to do this, in the assembly we recognised the important part school staff and families play in providing young people with the guidance they need to become responsible enough to eventually keep themselves safe when they do travel to school independently.
Well done to Y6 Cedars who had the best attendance of this half term (96.8%) while Y3 Sparrows are still out in front with the best attendance for the whole year (96.4%).
Children received certificates for Star Pupil, the most House Points attained in each class as well as Star Reader awards for children who had read one million words at Greswold.
St George's are still first place in this year's House Point Leaderboard but only by one single point from St David's.
Our final value of Curiosity was also introduced to the children.
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Important message about vehicle use and parking
Thu 23 May 2024Dear Parents and Carers,
School has recently received a number of messages and complaints from both families and residents about vehicle use and parking. In the past week alone, there have been two incidents of cars colliding with each other, moving and parked. We have also been notified that a car, usually parked on Links Drive has been blocking part of a resident’s driveway.
As a school, we would like to encourage all of our families, particularly those that use and park vehicles, to drive with the upmost care when travelling to and from school helping to demonstrate our school values.
Please be respectful of the properties on Buryfield Road, Links Drive and Ferndown Road when parking so the residents are not inconvenienced. We take great pride in working in partnership with not only our whole school community but our local area as well.
As this week coincides with Walk to School Week, it would be a perfect chance for families to ditch the car for possibly one day and try alternative modes of transport which will not only help pupils to attain badges through the Travel Tracker but also to move Greswold up the leaderboard using Street Tag. Click on the link below for more details:
https://www.greswold.solihull.sch.uk/sustainable-travel/
https://www.greswold.solihull.sch.uk/parking-guidance-for-greswold-vehicle-users/
Thank you
If parents, family or pupils would like to leave a comment about this Latest News story, please click on the link below:
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Y4 take part in inter-school Orienteering festival
Wed 22 May 202411 children from year 4 were given the opportunity of representing Greswold at the annual Orienteering festival at Lode Heath School yesterday evening.
The children had to complete a challenge involving finding a set of letters that spelt out sporting words. They also had to follow instructions given by another child to complete the course set out in front of them. The final activity was to follow instructions to make a face using bean bags, quoits and cones.
All the children perfectly demonstrated our school values and really enjoyed the experience of orienteering.
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Greswold Prize Collection
Fri 17 May 2024Today, the first child chose an item from the Greswold Prize Collection after collecting a further 100 housepoints after receiving a gold badge. On offer today were Greswold Gold Badges, special Greswold pencils and BRICKS keyrings. Samar from Sycamores chose a BRICKS keyring. Well done, Samar.
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Never a dull moment here at Greswold - KS2 lunchtime arrangements
Fri 17 May 2024After a number of enquiries from parents with regards to outdoor lunchtime arrangements, below are images of how lunchtimes for junior children are structured.
As parents can see, there is a wide choice of activities to choose from each week and a large free play area where pupils can instigate their own games or use additional equipment, purchased for them by the PTA.
Year 5 and Year 6 boys also enjoy a football club ran by the Football Development Scheme on a Wednesday with girls enjoying the same opportunity on a Friday. However, in the final half term, year 4 girls will be invited to the Friday club too.
We have a sizeable compliment of staff, half of which are Lunchtime Supervisors, supplemented by Play Leaders (members of support staff) who help to instigate games.
The library is also available for children to enjoy some quieter time and this opportunity is hosted by Mrs Mason, our school librarian.
We're always looking at ways to improve our lunchtimes and so School Council will be asking for feedback from classes over the next week or so, in preparation for the final half term of the year.
If parents, family or pupils would like to leave a comment about this Latest News story, please click on the link below:
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Y6 SATs: Pupil and staff effort recognised by visitors
Thu 16 May 2024Congratulations to all of our year 6 pupils this week who have demonstrated our Greswold values with perfection during the annual SATs tests.
The week comprised of six different test papers, all undertaken in very strict test conditions and the children were not only a credit to themselves but also to their teachers, the school and their families.
During the test period, Greswold was visited on two separate occasions by visitors checking on our test arrangements and protocols. On Tuesday, a member of Greswold's governing body observed throughout the morning followed by a senior school improvement adviser from Solihull Authority on the Wednesday. Both were very impressed by the attitude of the pupils and the procedures that were put in place. Comments made during the week included:
'I have high confidence in the integrity observed and displayed by all who were involved in this morning's English Reading test'.
'A well-oiled machine, but not robotic'.
Thank you to our year 6 families who have helped to give the children the best preparation for each morning too, a real combined effort! Roll on July 4th when we can celebrate the children's achievements when the results are available!
