Summer Term 2016

PEGASUS NEWS
The Headmaster writes...
Firstly may I start by thanking everyone who brought their children
along to the Open Morning last Saturday morning. The sun was shining and Long Close looked wonderful. I do always state that visitors
should come back and see us in action if they can but the children
who attended left the visiting parents in no doubt that Long Close
children are a delightful bunch who create a happy and caring school
atmosphere. We had a good number of people look around the
school and I have met with various parents this week, all of whom
commented individually about their guides and how impressive they
were! Well done parents for having such wonderful children! I would
also like to thank the PTA who were there representing this important
part of school life. And whilst on this theme may I take the opportunity to remind you all about the school Summer Fayre on Saturday 18th June, which is
doubling up as the school’s 75th birthday celebration. There will be more details about this
in due course but once again, my thanks go out to the PTA committee for everything that
they have already done for this. It is going to be a wonderful day and a fantastic celebration of a big birthday so let’s just keep our fingers crossed for good weather!
Another thank you but this time on another theme. In total, 103 of you responded to the
‘Voice of the Parent’ survey that concluded last Tuesday. This is an excellent response rate
and I am truly grateful to all of you who spent time making carefully considered responses.
I will be responding fully to the themes and issues raised through this and will communicate in more detail after half-term about how we plan to act in response to these issues.
For the time-being I thought it would be useful to list a few of the common themes for
which you can expect some action points.
Areas for improvement include:
Catering - the choice, quantity and vegetarian options in particular.
Facilities - hygiene of toilets and changing rooms; requirement for sports hall/bigger main
hall for events; better facilities for the senior school.
Technology - better equipment and use of ICT in lessons.
Extra-curricular activities - need a wider range of activities on offer, especially for the seniors.
Communication - general feedback that parents aren't getting enough information about
their child's progress from teachers and some confusion over the number of channels used
for school communication i.e. SchoolComms, newsletters, letters home, website, Facebook.
PTA – there was a feeling that there is a need to bring in class rep positions to help share
the load and to reintroduce the PEG meetings.
There were also lots of positive comments which were heartening to read and much of this
was themed around the wonderful atmosphere at the school and the great teachers that
we have here. As already stated, I will be working with all of this information over the next
couple of weeks, reading each and every response in detail and my full response will be
with you shortly after half term.
With only one week to go until half term many of the children will be getting anxious about
their end of year examinations that will be immediately after half-term. We are going to be
having an ‘exam fortnight’ and part of our assessment process this year will be to use
online tests called ‘Progress Tests in Maths’ and the same in English for each year group
from Year 1 to Year 8. This is partly in response to the disappearance of levels from the
National Curriculum and will help us to track children and their progress as they move
through the school. Full information about the exams should be coming from the class
teachers and tutors so do please shout if you feel that you do not have all the information
you need. Please also remember that many of the children need a good rest, particularly
the very little ones! I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Brendan Pavey
SUMMER TERM
ISSUE 5
FRIDAY 20 MAY 2016
Inside this issue:
Early Year News
2
Prep School News
3
Senior School News
4
Music and Sports
5
School Notices
6
Summer Fayre
7
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY
Saturday 18 June 2016
1-5pm
LONG CLOSE SCHOOL
SUMMER FAYRE
Come and celebrate
our 75th Anniversary
with a BBQ, stalls, special events and lots of
fun activities for all the
family to enjoy!
See page 7 for more
details.
AFTER SCHOOL CARE
MOBILE NUMBERS
ASC team members can be
contacted on the following
numbers between 3.30 and
6.00 each day.
If you are running late in collecting your child from ASC a
quick call to the staff on duty
would be appreciated.
Yellow, Red, Blue Room
& Reception:
07783 198998
Years 1-11 (Mrs Bahri):
07986 316132
PEGASUS NEWS
SUMMER TERM ISSUE 5
FRIDAY 20 MAY 2016
EARLY YEARS NEWS BY MRS HARRIS
YELLOW ROOM
The children in the Yellow room have had such a fun mini beast week. They made ladybird, caterpillar,
butterfly and spider hats using paint, collage and mark-making resources - they all looked fabulous!
The children helped Mrs Bailey to release the butterflies that we had watched transform from caterpillars into cocoons and then butterflies, which was so exciting for the children as the Hungry Caterpillar
story came to life! They asked for and listened to the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' so many
times this week and they enjoyed recalling and role playing the story by crawling through the caterpillar tunnel and eating delicious fruit at the end of their exercise. We ended the week by having a mini
beast parade around the school and enjoying yummy treats at our Mini Beast Ball. The children couldn't quite believe all the other children's costumes in the Red and Blue rooms. A lot of fun was had by
all!
RED AND BLUE ROOMS
The children in Red and Blue rooms have had a very busy week as we have reached the end of our life
cycle and mini beast topics. Our week started as we celebrated the arrival of our butterflies. Some of
the butterflies broke through their cocoons at the weekend and we were lucky to see the majority of
the butterflies appear on Monday. The children were so excited to see the butterflies and share the
news with their families. Mrs Bailey gave the butterflies some banana, pineapple and sugar water to
give them some energy. On Tuesday we released most of the butterflies onto the school field and into
the nursery garden. Some of the butterflies were very hesitant to fly away and landed on the children
before taking flight and finally making their bid for freedom. It was lovely to see one of the butterflies
revisit us, resting on a tree in the field at lunchtime on Thursday. For home sharing last weekend, we
asked our families to create costumes for our Mini Beast Ball. We were so happy to see all the children
in their amazing costumes. There was an array of butterflies, ladybirds, bees, caterpillars and other
types of bugs. We had so much fun painting the children’s faces and playing party games with them.
Thank you for your continued support with providing such fun outfits for your children.
Next week we look forward to exploring activities around the subject of dinosaurs with the children.
RECEPTION
The week began with great excitement as the children returned to school on Monday morning to discover our caterpillars had turned into butterflies! The children really enjoyed exploring their colours,
features and watching them flutter around in the net. On Wednesday it was time to release the butterflies into our garden. It was sad to say goodbye to them - hopefully we will see them flying around
while enjoying outside play!
The children have been learning all about their bodies this week. They started off learning about the
structure inside their bodies called the skeleton. They found out many fascinating facts about bones,
such as: the number of bones that we have in our bodies (206!); the biggest bone is the femur (leg
bone); and the smallest bone is inside our ears! The children also wanted to know about the organs in
our body. They investigated the heart, brain, lungs and our stomachs. The children drew around each
other to make the outline of a body, and then placed the organs where they thought they belonged
and did a super job at labelling all the various parts of our bodies. The children displayed amazing team
work - well done Reception!
Later on in the week the children got busy making salt dough, shaping the dough into bones. They then
used the bones the following day for a maths comparing activity as they measured their lengths and
placed them in order of size. The week ended with all of the Reception performing the ‘skeleton dance’
to foundation stage at our weekly assembly, super dancing from everyone!
PEGASUS NEWS
SUMMER TERM ISSUE 5
FRIDAY 20 MAY 2016
PREP SCHOOL NEWS BY MS FIELD
KEY STAGE 1:
This week has been very fun for Year 1 and
they have managed to get through so
many activities! In Maths, the children
have been developing their knowledge of
measures by looking at weight and capacity. Predictably, the children loved playing
with the water to find out about the capacity of different containers! They also did a
wonderful experiment on forces, as they
raced each other to blow a table tennis ball
around an exciting obstacle course! Overall, it has been a great week and the children have all worked very hard.
In Science this week, the Year 2 children
have been looking closely at living things
and investigating the life cycle of a caterpillar. They have been observing the changes
over the last few weeks from tiny caterpillars to chrysalises. They are watching the
chrysalises harden every day and are eagerly awaiting the transformation into
butterflies - watch this space! The children
had a great time putting their acting skills
to the test and recreating disagreements
friends may have in the playground during
their PSHE lesson. The Year 2 teachers
were so impressed with the children’s ability to solve problems by listening to one
another’s feelings. Well done Year 2!
KEY STAGE 2:
This week, Year 3 have been working on
poetry in English. They have studied the
poem 'The Magic Box', by Kit Wright and
have started to create their own poems in
this style. They thought of lots of things
they would want to keep in a magic box if
they had their own, such as: 'the cosy cuddles from my mum' and 'the silly faces my
dad pulls to cheer me up'. In Science, the
children have been planting up the beans
they have grown from a seed in the vegetable patch. They will continue to monitor
them to see how quickly they grow.
In English Year 4 have been learning how
to write a summary. In groups they created steps to success for this and then wrote
their own summaries based on a non fiction passage. Year 4 loved having a range
of equipment out this week including
bulbs, buzzers, wires, switches and battery
packs to make complete circuits. They also
investigated what makes an effective
switch. This knowledge will support the
pupils when creating a nightlight in DT lessons over the next few weeks.
Both classes in Year 5 have been developing their creative writing character and
setting descriptions, based on the 'Theseus
and Minotaur' ancient Greek myth. This,
and other stories about Theseus, were
written down by such people as: Plutarch
(46 – 120 AD), a Greek historian and biographer, Ovid (43BC – 17 AD) - along with
many others! The story, however, is likely
to be much older, having been passed
down the generations by word of mouth.
The children are enjoying checking the
growth of their plants and there have been
many discussions about what would help
their plants grow faster! They have also
been fascinated by the different ways
plants spread their seeds and the reasons
why it is important to the species’ survival.
Year 6 have begun a board game project in
Maths. They have been busy designing
and planning board games which they will
make in order to challenge the mathematical knowledge and thinking of Year 2 children. They are very excited about this project and look forward to working with Year
2 in a few weeks time.
Arran Lad in 5R (below)
won the Golden Boot
award for scoring the
highest number of goals
(63 of them!) at his
football club this season. Well done Arran what a fantastic
achievement!
PEGASUS CERTIFICATES
Congratulations to this
week’s Pegasus
certificate winners:
1R Maryam Iqbal
1W Simran Sur
2M Ramini Choudhary
2W Eesa Alam
3D Bilal Bah
3W Jeevan Pangali
4M Raheim Wahedally
5C Mehul Chourasia
5R Edward Howie
All Year 6!
PEGASUS NEWS
SUMMER TERM ISSUE 5
FRIDAY 20 MAY 2016
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS
YEAR 8 & 9 TRIP TO THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
On Friday 13th May, Years 8 and 9 travelled to central London to visit the Houses of Parliament. By the
date - Friday 13th - it could have been a terrible day, but it was quite the opposite, with a great and
informative tour of Parliament followed by the highlight of the day - a debating workshop.
As part of the tour, we were lucky enough to visit the House of Commons, where important debates
take place and bills are passed. We also visited the central lobby, where statues of the most significant
prime ministers in history - Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, David Lloyd George - are displayed
around the walls.
Following this, we participated in a debating workshop where we explored good argument techniques
and how to behave in the House of Commons. We then used these skills to debate whether or not the
voting age should be lowered to sixteen. I argued against this motion, and as we were given facts and
evidence to support our opinion, a very good debate was made!
Overall, it was a fun and educational day, with perfect weather - so it was not a 'Friday 13th' type of
day after all!
Arun Ramtale, Year 9
Good luck to our Year
10 and 11 pupils as
they continue with
their GCSE Exams!
SUMMER TERM ISSUE 5
FRIDAY 20 MAY 2016
PEGASUS NEWS
MUSIC AND SPORT
FROM THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT:
Rehearsals in Years 5 and 6 are cracking on apace with preparations for the summer
production of Bugsy Malone on Wednesday 29 June. Costume lists have been issued
and hoodies will be ordered over half term. Please ensure that hoodie slips are returned
by 9am on Friday 27th May 2016.
The Senior and Junior Choirs are rehearsing hard for the PTA event on Saturday 18 June,
and are looking forward to testing out the new PA system with a variety of songs from
Adele to the Jackson 5. The orchestra are working hard for their performance at Speech
Day so the Music Department is a busy place to be at the moment!
Mrs Bingham, Director of Music
Slough Philharmonic Society
The Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith have
obviously been influenced by Long Close
School and they are putting on their own
professional production of Bugsy Malone
from Saturday 11 June if any parents are
interested in taking their children along to
see it! www.lyric.co.uk
Our local amateur orchestra are putting on a
Family Concert 'Music from Stage and
Screen', which is taking place on Sunday 22
May at 4.30pm at Caldicott School. Tickets
can be purchased on the door or via their
website. This promises to be a lovely afternoon concert with a fantastic programme of
music from well known films including Star
Wars, The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.
www.sloughphil.org
SPORTS FIXTURES FOR W/C 23 MAY
Mon 23 May - U15 Cricket v Charters (A) Depart: 14:40 Return: 18:00
Tues 24 May – U9 Cricket v Dair House (A) Depart: 14:00 Return: 16:00-16:20
Tues 24 May - U9 Rounders v Brigidine (A) Tbc
Weds 25 May – U11 Cricket v Claires Court (H) Start: 14:30
PEGASUS NEWS
SUMMER TERM ISSUE 5
FRIDAY 20 MAY 2016
SCHOOL NOTICES
SUMMER HATS
Please could you ensure that pupils bring their LCS summer hats into school each
day. Hats can be purchased from the school uniform supplier, Billings & Edmunds.
Early Years – burgundy LCS hat:
SCHOOL EVENTS FOR W/C 23 MAY
Years 1 and above - navy LCS hat:
BIG SMILES HOLIDAY CLUB
TUESDAY 31 MAY - FRIDAY 3 JUNE 2016
Mon 23 May: GCSE English Lit Exam (09:00)
Tues 24 May: GCSE Geography Exam (14:00)
Wed 25 May: Year 10 GCSE Physics Exam
(14:00)
Thurs 26 May: GCSE Maths Exam (09:00)
Thurs 26 May: Year 10 Geography Controlled
Assessment Day
Thurs 19 May: Year 10 GCSE Chemistry Exam
(09:00)
Fri 27 May: PTA Coffee Morning (08:30)
Fri 27 May: GCSE English Lit Exam (09:00)
No club on Monday 30 May - Spring Bank Holiday
8.30am - 5.00pm
£29.50 per day
Please provide Packed Lunch and Packed Tea
Go to https://www.scrumys.co.uk/big-smilesholidayclub for
more information
SUMMER 2016 HALF TERM
Reminder that we will be on summer
half-term holidays from:
Monday 30 May to Friday 1 June (inclusive).
Note: Monday 30 May 2016 is Spring Bank Holiday Monday.
PEGASUS NEWS