Welcome back for Term 5, I hope you all had a great Easter and were able to enjoy some of the lovely sunshine during the holidays.

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1 NEWSLETTER TERM WELCOME TO TERM 5 Welcome back for Term 5, I hope you all had a great Easter and were able to enjoy some of the lovely sunshine during the holidays. We are hoping the warmer weather and lighter days will inspire us in Term 5 to use our wonderful school grounds and the surrounding area to support our learning journey all about Lewes and our natural environment. We look forward to welcoming you to view the resulting work at our Open Afternoon on 20th May at 2.45 pm. The Year 6 s will also be taking their new style SATs tests this term We wish them all the best of luck as they sit tests on punctuation, grammar, spelling, reading comprehension, written and mental maths and much more! Thank you to all parents and carers for your continued support this term, we couldn t reach for the stars without you! Fund raising news Thank you for your very generous contributions to our several fundraising activities last term. Two Year 4 children organised an exciting day in aid of the RSPB. Not only was there the chance to dress in bird related clothing but they created activities to support bird watching around the school. They raised a total of Well done to Elizabeth and Megan! We also supported Sport Relief this year and managed to raise The children enjoyed seeing what sporting gear their friends were wearing and then all took part in a whole school marathon. Each child ran laps of the field which were totalled to create the necessary 26 miles! Not only was it fun but it certainly helped us all stay fit! Watch out for our Fun Run this term! Some Attendance facts and figures There are 190 school days each year which leaves 175 days for family time, holidays, shopping and other non-school activities. Attendance rates can impact on your child s chances of success. Research shows that children who attend less than 88% of the time have a 27% chance of achieving grades A*-C at GCSE whilst those that attend more than 95% of the time have a 74% chance. This term we will be looking for all the children who have managed % attendance (excluding any exceptional medical absences). They will be awarded a special certificate in our stars assembly at the end of term. Correction: last term s newsletter should have read congratulations Bradley R for his improved punctuality.

2 News from our Early Years We have had a busy time during the Autumn and Spring terms starting with settling in lots of new children, focusing our learning on the Gruffalo story (one of our favourites), a Nativity show for our parents, and then learning about nursery rhymes and space in the Spring term. For the Summer term we will be learning about What s in my garden? starting by reading the Jack and the beanstalk story and inviting our parents in to help us plant beans. To complete the year we will learn about animals from around the world. Nursery News! We are very excited about the new outside area that is going to be developed for us with a climbing frame with slide and some new surface being laid for our bikes. Our new sand pit has been a huge success. We are currently taking applications for September Was your child born between September 2012 and 31st August 2013 or do you know someone with a child who was? We can offer flexible sessions based on 15 hours per week at our wonderful school nursery. For more information, to book a visit or to collect our handbook and space reservation form, contact Catherine in the nursery by phone or / nursery@southmalling.esussex.sch.uk Extra Reception class for September 2016 This year there were 52 first preferences for a place in the Reception class at South Malling School. When the admissions department at County Hall looked at where the applicants lived they realised that the majority were from the Malling area. As a result we have been asked by the local authority to take an additional reception class for this year only. We are delighted that our school is so popular and has been recognised as such by the local authority. We have already experienced taking a bulge year when we took an additional class in 2011 (now in Year 4) so we think it should be fairly simple to set up learning for 60 rather than 30 children. In July we will be losing 43 children from Year 6 (currently in 2 classes) so it will also help our budget situation to take an additional class in Reception. We look forward to welcoming our two Red Reception classes in September.

3 SPORTS NEWS NETBALL Last term, South Malling sent two teams to compete in a netball tournament at Wallands. Both teams were very competitive during their group rounds with the A team making it through to the semi-finals. Unfortunately, a sudden hailstorm meant the postponement of the semi-finals and finals to the following week. When the team returned to Wallands our semi -final opponents were Southover, who had beaten us a few weeks earlier in our league match. However, the team were feeling positive and were prepared to show their drive and determination. The match got off to a nervous start and at half time the score was 1-1. With the team rotated and in new positions their commitment and perseverance shone through. Fabulous movement and shooting from Yasmin, William and Molly meant the final score ended up as 6-1. The final was against Wallands A and the quality of play from both teams was amazing and the game was played at a quick pace. At half time we were losing 2-0. A sudden burst of enthusiasm and continued possession from the team saw Archie bring the score back to 2-1. With only a few minutes remaining we started to dominate the game but before we knew it the whistle had blown. Although we finished as runners up, we received many comments about how skilful our team were and how difficult they made it for other teams. The same team has also performed well over the course of the season and, after winning all of their final round of matches, finished second to Wallands A team in the area netball league. Congratulations to Yasmin, Sophia, William, Archie, Saskia and Molly and a huge thank you to Rachael Burgess our coach. Netball Club is on Tuesdays from 3.15pm pm for years 4, 5 and 6. If you are interested in joining us, we are particularly looking for new members in years 4 and 5 to help the school participate in the Netball League and Tournaments for 2016/17. No booking required, just pop along after school on Tuesday and join in! FOOTBALL The football league also finished at the end of last term. Both A and B teams put in competitive performances over the course of the season as a whole. We haven't had the final league tables through from Priory yet, but the A-team will have finished mid-table with the B's a little way below them. Well done to all involved! TERM 5 As the weather hopefully improves, a lot of our PE sessions will move outside and we will start to prepare both for our own Sports Day and the District Sports event that will take place towards the end of term 6. There will also be an opportunity for some of the Year 4 children to compete in a tennis festival at the Southdown Club; while, very excitingly, we will also have a representative at a national final for the first time. Having won the county under-11 girls' competition, Yasmin in year 6 will be representing not just South Malling but the whole of East Sussex at the English Schools Table Tennis Association's national finals. Good luck Yasmin!

4 Admin information and reminders: National Curriculum Tests (SATs) During Term 5 the children in Year 6 will be participating in Statutory Assessment Tests (SATs) in reading, grammar, punctuation, spelling and maths. The tests happen in the week beginning 9th May and take place in the mornings. Please make sure your children attend school during the test period. It is known to be helpful if they can get a good night s sleep and eat a nourishing breakfast before they start the tests each morning. Children in Year 2 will also undertake some assessments this term but this is done in a more informal manner throughout the term. All the children in Years 3, 4, 5 will also be assessed at the beginning of term 6, using the Optional SATs in reading and maths and the Big Write in writing. Children in Year 1 will take a Phonics assessment in June and assessments will be completed using teacher observations for the children in Reception. All the assessment information will be reported to parents in the end of year reports in July. This year is the first year where there are no National Curriculum levels. Instead we will be reporting on whether your child has met the expected standard for their year group. We will also use our in-school system to report on the progress they have made over the year. Further information on the new assessment without levels can be found on our website. Parents from each class are invited to Stars Assembly again this term, after which a brief overview of the new assessment system will be shared. Read the weekly newsletter to find out which date you are invited on. Grandparents Tea Parties Our popular Grandparent (and relative) Tea Parties will be running again this year. On Friday 29th April we will host our KS1 (Infant) Grandparents for coffee in the morning at am. and then our KS2 (Junior) Grandparents for tea at 2.00 pm. (Grandparents with children in KS1 and KS2 are welcome to both or either event). Both sittings will have the chance to visit their grandchild s class and view their work for half an hour before being treated to refreshments and a performance from each class in the hall. We do hope many relatives will be able to join us and enjoy the chance to spend time in our school. Summer uniform We are hoping that the weather will warm up this term and the children will get a chance to wear our smart and distinctive summer uniform. Please see the prospectus on the school s website if you are unsure what the uniform includes. N.B ONLY white, black or purple sandals, canvas shoes or smart white trainers will be accepted as the summer school uniform footwear. Crocs, jelly shoes, sparkly sandals or shoes with charms are not part of the school summer uniform. In winter the school footwear is black school shoes only. If your child wears leggings please make sure they also wear a skirt or dress. Leggings with a T-shirt / fleece are not currently part of the school uniform.

5 DATES Contact Details: April 11th - return to school after Easter holiday 14th Parents Forum 9.00 am. 18th Friends committee meeting South Malling CE Primary and Nursery School Church Lane, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2HS office@southmalling.e-sussex.sch.uk 21st Year 4 and Year 5 performances at 2.15 and 6.00 pm. 29th- Grandparents tea party (am. KS1 and pm. KS2) 29th E-Safety working group May 2nd - Bank Holiday 5th - Phil the Bag 5th Year 5 to Southease Week beginning 9th Year 6 SATs 13th SEND parents forum 9am 20th Open pm. 26th Fun Run 26th - Last day before half term holiday 27th - INSET day, no children in school June 6th- INSET day, no children in school 7th-return to school for children 8th Class Photos 13th Friends committee meeting 15th, 16th and 17th-Bowles residential trip -Year 6 24th-non uniform day; children to bring in fete items 28th - Sports Day 29th - Reserve Sports Day 28th - New Parents evening Year 1 Phonics test July 2nd - Summer fete 4th - Reports out 19th- Year and 6.30 pm. 21st-Celebration event 22nd - Year 6 Leavers Assembly+ Tea 22nd - last day for children before summer holiday September 6th Return to school Clubs update All clubs start back in the week beginning 18th April. Please see the website or ask at the office if you would like any information on the clubs available. Additional funds to support your child? Even if your child doesn t want to eat a school lunch, the school receives additional funding for any child registered on Free School Meals. This money can be used to support your child with after school clubs, trips out, additional learning support amongst other things Have you checked your eligibility for Free School Meals recently? You may be missing out on this important benefit if not. Pop into the office if you think your child might be entitled to this important additional support. We also be receive additional funding for children who are, or have been, adopted. If this could apply to your child please let Mrs O Donoghue know. E-Safety E-safety is vitally important to ensure children stay safe on-line. To learn more about the risks facing our children when they use computers and how to reduce them, please log on to the school s website and xbox-live/online-privacy-and-safety/online-