Dear Parents/Carers

This morning, all children from Reception to Year 6 were invited to an assembly where they were shown a video of a 'creature' that has been sighted on school grounds. 

The idea of this is to get the children excited about writing a set of instructions for how to trap the creature so that it can be returned to its natural habitat, and it's fair to say that all the children were very excited by the end of the assembly. 

Throughout the day we've been having wonderful discussions with the children about what the creature might be and where it might be hiding or what it might do next. 

All teachers have made it very clear to the children that this creature is a friendly creature and not to be worried about so, please, when the children come home and tell you all about it, remember that it's all a good bit of fun and something exciting for the children to think about during their learning. 

This will be going on for the next couple of weeks so please do amuse the children's imaginations and let them have a bit of fun with it. 

Perhaps talk about ways to take care of it or think about what it might like for lunch or dinner. Maybe the children would like to design it a little place to sleep so that it doesn't get cold. Anything to keep it positive and fun. 

Thanks for the support.

3rd February 2023

Dear Parents/Carers of Reception, Year 1, and Year 2,

We hope this letter finds you well. We are writing to let you know about our new initiative to encourage children to read and enjoy books. Starting from next week, your child will be bringing home three different books every week.

The first book is their phonics book, which is for the child to read to you. This will help to develop their confidence and understanding of the sounds they have learned in class.

The second book is an Oxford Reading Tree book of their choice. Although we would like you to do most of the reading, your child is welcome to have a go if they would like to.

The third book is a library book, chosen by your child and for you both to enjoy together. This is a great opportunity for you to spend some quality time with your child, while also helping to develop their love for books.

We hope that this initiative will provide your child with the opportunity to enjoy books, build their confidence in reading, and develop a lifelong love for reading. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Yours sincerely,

EYFS and KS1 Team

Thornhill Primary School

Monday 6th February - Friday 24th February

The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

                                                                     - Dr. Seuss

Recently, we have had to talk to a number of parents about providing sandwiches with chocolate spread in packed lunch boxes. 

Unfortunately, some chocolate spreads contain nuts or have traces of nuts in them. This means that we really can't allow them in school. We have a number of children with severe nut allergies which can be triggered by smelling nuts from a distance or coming into contact with someone who has recently eaten nuts. 

The school has a strict 'no nut' policy which is mentioned in each of our newsletters. We must ask that all parents follow this rule for the safety of children in school.  

16^th December 2022

Dear Parents/Carers

This letter comes with heartfelt Thank yous from us all.

Thank you for all your continued and tremendous support over this past term. It has been a busy one in school and we are sure we all agree, ‘What a year!’  We hope the Christmas break allows us all to get some much needed down time and that we can rest up for the exciting new term ahead.

Thank you to all the staff, children and parents for your hard work in making the festive season so enjoyable at Thornhill. The children in Nursery, Reception and KS1 loved their Performances this year and were absolutely fantastic, we are so proud of them.

Children loved their Christmas Jumper day where we all came completely off timetable to enjoy a day filled with crafts and activities. Christmas Lunch was enjoyed by all and even the Brussel sprouts went down a treat! The atmosphere in school was creative and exciting.

We all love the run up to Christmas, and after the last couple of years it has been great to watch the children get excited with the Christmas Fayre, Christmas Craft day, Christmas Lunch, performances, treats in class galore and their very special visitor who visited them all today – even our Year 6 children loved it proving you are never too old for a visit from Santa! Children were given a gift of sweets from Thornhill – we hope they enjoy them.

Thank you for your understanding and flexibility when we had to close Grove Road site due to the Gas Works. It was disappointing to have to move the KS1 performances and we are very lucky to have such supportive and empathetic parents. Years 1 and 2 weren’t put off at all even though they performed at Silver Birch site with no scenery, no tree, no costumes and totally different props. They kept going showing how resilient they are. I’m sure you will remember this with laughter and fondness in the years to come.

Internet safety

During the Christmas break can we please request that you continue to check your child’s online activity at home. We are very concerned at the amount of children that are able to tell us how to stay safe online during internet safety lessons in school but are then overheard having discussions with peers that make us think that they don’t believe the rules and advise we give applies to them. Please find below a link to a page, which gives lots of good advice to parents. https://www.internetmatters.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5NGepOGm3wIVBOJ3Ch3skQsYEAAYASAAEgLhtPD_BwE

On behalf of all the staff at Thornhill, Mr Gunning and I would like to sincerely thank you all and wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

We look forward to welcoming all children back to school on Wednesday 4^th January 2023.

We’ll kick off 2023 with the full Newsletter explaining the upcoming term.

Happy Christmas to you all.

Mrs Waite & Mr Gunning