Guys and Dolls

Year 2

This week year 2 had a visit from Anne Wan, a local author, this week. She has written a book called “Manners Fit for the Queen.” This fits with our current topic called “What would you do if you were royal for a day.”

Anne, along with her puppet Isobel, read us the story, shared some insight in to how she went about writing it and getting inspiration and gave some tips to budding authors in the class.

Anne also shared how she wrote to the Queen and sent her book, there is a very formal way of writing to the Queen and we all felt inspired to have a go ourselves at the end of this topic. Maybe we will get a letter back from Her Majesty!

Year 5 and 6

It has been lovely to see the children all settle so well back into school after half term. Year 5 and 6 have started a new text in English this week called Black Powder, and as a hook they made their very own ‘penny for the guy.’ The children loved choosing an outfit and were able to link the work with our topic for this term - ‘Does Justice always whirl in equal measure.’ I think you can agree the guys were very creative.

Stanmore Post - 22 October 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

This half term seems to have flown by. Throughout the school, across all subjects I am proud of the work in the children's books. It is possible to see how hard they have worked and both the quantity and quality of what they have produced is impressive. Children have been collecting Headteacher Merits and House points in recognition of their efforts and attitude. Our reward system is linked to our 'Keys for Success: organisation, confidence, resilience, persistence, co-operation and respect. At the moment Lark are the winning house with the other three houses, Heron, Kingfisher and Buzzard closing the gap. Congratulations to everyone who has earned a merit card or house point this term. You have contributed to our value of Excellence. 

See more of our work here.

In the latest Enrichment Curriculum activities, our football team played their first match. Although the result was not what we had hoped for, we did score a superb goal in the second half. Team spirits were high throughout and the team are focused and better prepared as a result. Their next match after half term will be a home game. The Halloween Disco gave the children the opportunity to have an enjoyable evening with their friends. The costumes and dancing were 'spooktacular.' Thank you to the Friends of Stanmore for running another successful event, we appreciate your time and energy, and to all the parents who adapted so quickly to the change of timings.  

Thank you to the parents who joined us for the maths curriculum event. Miss Evers talked parents through the maths curriculum and there were good questions about how best to support children at home. Maths has strengthened across the school and children are more able to reason and problem solve as a result of the work that we have done to link mathematical ideas and concepts. The meeting was virtual and you can watch it again at https://www.stanmore.hants.sch.uk/maths

As you will be aware, we have had some positive Covid cases in school this week. It has been challenging but I am proud of the strength of our community and the way in which, once again, we have adapted and responded. Like you, I hope the measures that we have introduced will be short lived. We have so much planned after half term and many events to look forward to. For now, I hope that you have a happy and healthy half term.

Best wishes

Sharon Taylor

Football and Science fairs

Stanmore Football Team

Our Year 6 football team took part in their first match this week. The rain was pouring and Otterborne were a formidable side, but everyone played brilliantly and the level of support for each other was amazing. One child even reminded the team of the fact that one of our keys to success was ‘Organisation’ so that what’s they needed to do! Well done to all involved and special thanks to Mr Firth for standing in the rain for an hour!

Year 2

Some of the year 2s have been writing stories this week about going on an adventure through a magical portal. For the last couple of days we have been typing up the stories on the chrome books. Mr Read has then done some live editing with children where he opens up their work on his chrome book and types a comment to the child who then sees it immediately and acts on it. This might be spelling corrections, suggestions of additions to work or a word they could make more adventurous.

Year 5 and 6

Year 2 visited a science fair in Oak class this week to learn all about light from the pupils in Year 5 and 6. They tried all the investigations and then evaluated their experience, identifying what they had learnt about light. They gave a big thumbs up for the event.

Classes were kept busy this week designing a creative information page exploring prisoners of the Tower of London. the key question was - Is justice always fair? - and the children were horrified to learn about the Princes that were imprisoned.

Stanmore Post - 15 October 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

This term we have been able to return to whole school events and a more typical Autumn Term. One of the many benefits to this is that the children have greater responsibility and more of a voice in the way decisions that affect them are made in school. One example of this is our School council representatives, who are taking ideas from their class about how the playground areas are structured during break times. They are very keen to have dedicated areas for quiet games or dance as well as football and the woodland den building. The changes will take place after half term and we are looking forward to the installation of the new KS1 play equipment at the beginning of January. The Eco Council have been looking at ways to improve the environment and are encouraging others to re-cycle. They are encouraging children to reduce litter by having a healthy snack instead of crisps at break time. The House Captains have counted over £180 from the charity collection for Young Minds. Thank you for your generosity in supporting our 'Hello Yellow' Day. Mrs Atkins is currently recruiting Sports Leaders from Year 5 and 6 and I am very proud to announce that our school football team are playing in their first match of the season in Otterbourne on Monday. The children say that they feel proud and honoured to represent the school. We wish all the team the best of luck.  

During the week, Children in Year 1 had an autumn bonfire and enjoyed toasting marshmallows. They recited autumn poetry that they have been learning. In Year 3 / 4 children have been considering how great Alfred the Great actually was and the conclusion of their discussion text was that Alfred deserves his statue in Winchester High Street. In Year 5 / 6 children have been making periscopes and learning about A Midsummer Night's Dream.

See more of our work here.

Thank you to Year 3 / 4 parents for supporting our 'Beyond the Beat' Parent Workshop. This was well attended and parents had the opportunity to find out from our Hampshire Music Service Colleagues about how to support music practice at home. There were some excellent top tips which could be related to any kind of homework. This included: finding a regular timeslot that becomes part of the daily routine, having a suitable environment in which to focus on the work or practice without too many distractions, and praising the process rather than the outcome. This helps reduce the stress on the children to 'perform' well and the risk of it all ending in tears.  

As the weather begins to turn children are beginning to wear their winter PE kit so that they are suitably dressed for a colder day. We have decided to keep with PE kits for the whole day on which the children have PE to reduce the time spent on changing and minimise lost clothing. We do want the children to continue to look smart on PE days, promoting a feeling of belonging to our school. The kit for winter is black jogging bottoms and a hoodie and a gold t shirt. This can be purchased from https://www.direct4logos.com/ Trainers should only be worn on PE days. If you have any difficulties with school uniform, we may be able to help you so please contact the school office adminoffice@stanmore.hants.sch.uk to find out about second hand PE uniform.  

Over the weekend Mr Foard will be installing bollards at the end of the school drive to improve site security in the evenings and over the weekends. This will be in place from the beginning of November. Please can I remind all site users that the carpark is for staff only and the school drive should not be accessed by cars during school hours. This is to keep everyone on our site safe. 

Best wishes

Sharon Taylor

Periscopes, plays and pine trees

Year 1

For our science longitudinal study, we have been focusing on how the trees on our school grounds are affected by seasonal changes! As a class, we picked a Beech and a Pine tree and have been tracking changes through our weekly Mother Nature Monday sessions! The children have noticed that the Beech tree has acquired some brown and yellow leaves, while the Pine tree has not changed yet. We have been looking closely at leaves to see if this helps explain. We can't wait to keep track of our trees over the next few weeks to observe further changes!

Alongside our science longitudinal study, we have also been very interested in the season of Autumn! We have been using adjectives to describe features of Autumn and have learned an Autumn themed poem! The children got the chance to perform their poem around a bonfire and also got a marshmallow to live the full Autumn experience!

We are very proud of Maple class!

Year 1 Poem

Year 2

n year two we have carried on exploring measurement in maths. This week we are looking at length and the children started off by making sure they could use a ruler correctly and then used this skill to compare and order lengths of string. They then carried this investigation on by finding items in the classroom whose length was between the pieces of string they had already measured. The children showed great co-operation and organisation while completing their work.

Year 3 and 4

On Monday 11th October the whole school took part in Hello Yellow day raising awareness of Young Minds. The children completed lots of fun activities and explored ways in which they could look after their own mental health. It was a very colourful day!

year 5 and 6

This week, we started our next text: A Midsummer Night's Dream. To help us understand the complex plot, we created a 12 point summary and used freeze frames to piece the story together.

In science the children took their knowledge about light and reflection and used these to create their very own periscopes!

Stanmore Post - 8 October 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

As we are a Hampshire Local Authority School our ongoing improvement work is evaluated on a regular basis.  We work closely with the Hampshire Inspector and Advisory service to ensure that the Quality of Education is strong throughout the school. Our monitoring visit on Monday included three Local Authority inspectors who spent the day talking to leaders in detail about the school improvements that we shared with parents at the meeting last week. They visited classes evaluating the curriculum work and the behaviour and attitudes of the children. It was a pleasure to share our work and the outcome of the visit was positive. In particular, they commented on the excellent learning behaviour of the children. As you will be aware, we are overdue an OFSTED inspection as a result of the Pandemic. Opportunities for an external perspective of the how well the school is progressing is both helpful and positive. As soon as we are notified by OFSTED that they intend to visit we will let you know, it could happen at any time during this academic year.   

Earlier this week we were proud to receive a tree as part of the 'Plant a tree for the Jubilee' initiative. Throughout the county seventy trees will be planted creating the Queen's Green Canopy (QGC) for her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee. The QGC Celebration Trees initiative aims to highlight the educational aspects of trees and the significance of giving young people access to nature, encouraging wider engagement with the QGC across the school curriculum. Our School Eco Council were invited to join the Mayor of Winchester and the Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire for the ceremonial planting.  

See more of this event

We celebrated National Poetry Day on Monday 4th October with a visit from Winchesters 'Poet on the High Street.' Johnny Seagrave. As part of Winchester Poetry Festival, Johnny was commissioned to celebrate the city and reconnect people with the place following the Pandemic. He worked with each class to create a poem that explored their home city and their imagination. Our poetry will be part of an online book of poems to be published soon.  

Our 'Beyond the Beat' Year 3 and 4 music programme is continuing to go well. Parents are invited to watch a lesson being delivered by Hampshire Music Staff in order to help support children at home. This will take place in the hall on Wednesday 13th October starting at 4pm. You are welcome to come round to the hall after school.  

On Monday please remember that children need to wear a yellow item or accessory for 'Hello Yellow' day, supporting Young Minds. Our House Captains will be on the gate with buckets on Monday morning if you would like to make a donation to this charity.

Best wishes,

Sharon Taylor

A special platinum tribute for the Queen

The Queen’s Green Canopy

This week the eco team at Stanmore Primary were delighted to welcome the Major of Winchester and the Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire to our school to plant a tree in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. 69 schools have been chosen around the country to take part in the Queen’s Green Canopy project and for Stanmore this is extra special as were part of the silver jubilee celebrations in 1977 - the tree is still there and thriving.

The children were excellent ambassadors for the school and were even featured on South Today.

Yr 1 and 2

This week in year 2 we have been focusing on money in maths. The children have learnt to recognise the coins and understand their value. We have been exploring making amounts in different ways and also beginning to add amounts using a number line.

Yr 3 and 4

This week, we have started our RE unit on Devotion. The children explored the meaning of the word, and what 'devotion' might look like in their lives and the lives of others. We unpacked an exciting box containing Hindu objects which are placed on a shrine to show devotion. We learnt about some of the different objects and their purpose on the shrine. We will continue this learning during the week.

In History our task this week was to work out who was in charge of Britain at different times: the Vikings or the Anglo-Saxons. We met some important people from history, including our very own Alfred the Great and we started to wonder about what it was that made him so great. Our Key to Success: co-operation was really important for this.

In English we started our brand new book 'The Buried Crown' by listening to an old Anglo-Saxon legend sat around the campfire... It was magical!

Year 5 and 6

This week in Year 5/6, we have been recalling the ways in which we represent multiplication and division facts. We used counters to build arrays, number lines to demonstrate repeated addition and then moved on to the area model. Drawing on the tables was the best bit!

We also wrote some fantastic monologues in English from the point of view from characters from The Highwayman. The children showed fantastic perseverance and the writing looked very impressive on the ‘old paper’.

Stanmore Post - 1 October 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Yesterday we held our annual school improvement meeting. Thank you to the parents and staff who were able to attend. The PowerPoint is attached to this post.  

It is a pleasure to share the highlights and the successes of our ongoing work. The school is in a very positive position and the evening illustrated our shared sense of purpose and community. Our core values Belonging Excellence Support and Trust are the foundations of our work and last year we successfully embedded our ‘belonging’ value. Children are met by trusted adults and receive consistent messages about their value as a member of our school community. They are encouraged to have their own identity in the school as well as being a member of the class and house.   As a result we have seen an improvement in attendance and more children arriving in school on time. Our House Captains are proving to be excellent role models, most recently leading whole school assemblies, virtually and during House Assembly on a Friday. This year we are striving for excellence, embedding our Stanmore Curriculum and ensuring that children have opportunities outside of the classroom experience. 

You can see more of our excellent work here.

This half term clubs have been limited to dance and football as staff and children have got used to a more active lifestyle with the relaxing of Covid restrictions.  After half term we will begin to increase our range of after school clubs starting with a homework club on a Thursday after school for children in KS2 which will run until 4:15pm. KS2 Parents are welcome to attend if they would like to find out more about how to support children with homework. Year 3 / 4 Parents are also invited to our music workshop at 4pm on Wednesday 13th October. This event, run by Hampshire Music Service, is aimed at giving parents some skills and confidence to support music practice at home. No previous experience of playing an instrument is required, you will not be asked to play. You will just find out what your child is being taught in their music lessons and how to support them at home. Please come along. Our next curriculum event for all parents is on Thursday 21st October at 3:30pm. The focus of this will be mathematics.  

Hello Yellow Day was a popular event last year and we are committed to supporting emotional wellbeing. The date that we have set aside this year is Monday 11th October. Children can come to school wearing an item of yellow clothing or accessories and they will take part in a range of activities.  We will have a collection for Young Minds on the gate before school if you would like to contribute. 

 Best wishes,

Sharon Taylor

A poet comes to school

Yr 5 and 6

This week, we had a REAL LIFE poet visit our school! Jon Seagrave is poet, who is collecting poems for The Winchester map of poems. He recited his own poem based on seagulls- which made us laugh- and we even got to join in by shouting like football fans.

To help Jon with his poem, In this city.... we all had to write a line about what we do in Winchester. Some of us came up with very weird and wonderful things!!!

Aspen class started work on their Longitudinal study, exploring the question “Do we all the change at the same rate?” The children measured their partners and will repeat the task once a month. I wonder if our height picture might change?

In all three classes, the children took part in a debate to decide whether the Highwayman was really a criminal or not.

Stanmore Post - 24 September 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers, 

The children have had a fantastic week in Stubbington and we are really proud of their exemplary behaviour. Staff at Stubbington were extremely complimentary about their positive attitude and conduct during the week. Thank you to all of the staff who led the trip for giving the children such a great opportunity. While Year 6 have been away children have continued to experience the wider curriculum back in school. We had an exciting Winchester College Boys v. Stanmore Chess afternoon and our chess players represented us well. For some, it was their first game but others played and even won, very confidently. Kings pupils visited us earlier in the week and performed in woodwind brass and string ensembles to inspire our musicians for our joint concert in December. We are hoping that this will be held at Kings and that parents will be invited.  

This week I have enjoyed reading high quality writing on the Highwayman from Year 5 and imaginative writing linked to the Tin Forest in Year 3 and 4 when children collected their Head teacher's merit from me. Children across the school have settled into their groups for spelling and our phonics lessons Read write Inc. In Year 1 and 2 children have begun work on their Mondrian art project.  

See more photos of our work here.

I would like to remind you about a couple of items. If you are still having difficulty in logging on to SIMs Parent please the office and Mrs Eagle will send out another invitation. It is really important for us to have up to date contact information, consent for images and any health care needs or entitlement to the pupil premium grant for free school meals.  

For parents in Birch, Sycamore and Willow, please ensure that your children take great care of the musical instruments. It is a wonderful opportunity for every child in Year 3 and 4 at Stanmore to access a musical instrument, but they are expensive and there will be a charge to parents for lost or damaged items. We can store them in school if you prefer.  

Next Thursday evening at 6:30pm we are looking forward to seeing parents in the hall for our Keys to Success evening where you can find out more about our school improvement priorities and achievements. I hope that you are able to join us then.

Best regards

Sharon Taylor