What a wonderful final week of the half-term it has been! We have finished off our Terrific Tales theme in style with Rapunzel and had a fantastic harvest service on Thursday morning. It was lovely to see even more of you on Wednesday to talk about the children and how far they've come. Eight weeks is not a long time at all and what the children have achieved is something to be really proud of.

Reminders:

• Over the halfterm please can you practise common daily tasks with the children such as putting on and zipping coats, and eating with knives and forks. These things can seem so simple but are so important for children in boosting their confidence and reducing transition times.

What we’ve been up to:

• We started our last Terrific Tale of the halfterm with the iconic Rapunzel! A real fan favourite as the children engaged fantastically with the book.
• In Drawing Club this week the children drew their own Rapunzel and thought about what special ability their Rapunzel's hair has. One suggestion was that it spins so quickly that it turns her into a helicopter and she can fly off!
• We consolidated our maths learning from this halfterm, recapping everything we have done.
• We continued our phonics, consolidating our previous learning. It's incredible how far they've come in phonics and they are now making words on their own magnetic boards!

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/resources/vc-pathways/550317/QhEwAo4sv7QBnMd6

• On Thursday morning we attended our first ever harvest service! The children were beyond amazing, walking to and from the service incredibly well. They performed songs and sat so patiently throughout and all seemed like they had a fantastic time.
• On Thursday afternoon we reflected on the past eight weeks, thinking about what we’ve enjoyed and how far we’ve come.

Open Morning
Saturday 7th November 10am-12pm is our annual Open Day. While this day is predominately aimed towards families who may want to join our school next academic year, we open the school to existing families too. There will be a range of activities for the children to enjoy. All families are welcome, however children are unable to attend without an adult to supervise them.

It has been such a brilliant first half-term together and an absolute pleasure getting to know all the children. We are so proud of how far the children have come and we hope you all are too! Thank you all so much for your support and getting the children to school every day. We understand how difficult mornings can be sometimes but all of your hard work has meant that we were the class with the highest attendance this half-term! We hope that you all have a great break and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone back soon!

Best wishes,

Dear Cygnus Families,

What a great week it has been! It was so lovely to speak to so many of you on Wednesday and share how settled and happy the children have become in the past seven weeks. It's amazing how far the children have come in such a short space of time, and Wednesday provided a great opportunity to reflect and appreciate that. I’m looking forward to meeting even more of you next Wednesday!

Harvest Service

We are excited for our annual Harvest Service! All families are warmly welcome to join us at St Peter and St Paul's Church on Thursday 22nd October at 10:00am.

We would be very grateful for any parents or grandparents who are able to volunteer to walk down to the church with us—we will be leaving school at 9:15am. Please email your child's phase inbox if you are able to help.

Children are invited to bring an in-date, dry good as an act of service to be donated to the Oxford Food Hub (such as pasta, tinned goods, or cereal). Please note that children will need to be able to carry their donation themselves, as they will not be taking backpacks to the church.

Reminders:

• Please make sure that your child brings in any books they have borrowed on Monday.

What we’ve been up to:

• We finished off our split-pin gingerbread men from last week. The children loved this activity and playing with the moving parts.

• We started this week's terrific tale: Hansel and Gretel! The children engaged really well with the story and the activities we did around it.

• For this week's drawing club we drew our own food-making machines! We thought about where our machines would be, what our secret codes were, and what kind of food they would make. Once again, the ideas were fantastic!

• On Thursday we had an amazing visit from The Story Museum! James from The Story Museum was brilliant and the children's minds were truly captivated for both of our sessions. We looked at the Brothers Grimm and their stories, learning that we are all storytellers in different ways.

• We continued our phonics journey. Here is the link for our sounds this week.

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/resources/vc-pathways/541316/G3rx9jwPjDqAP8oW

• We engaged with new and continuous provision throughout the week.

• We continued our maths work, solidifying our foundations and understanding of numbers.

Next week:

Monday: Book day and PE day. Please remember your books and the children wear their PE kit and trainers.

Tuesday: Nothing to remember today!

Wednesday: PE day. Please remember the children wear their PE kit and trainers.

Thursday: Harvest Service! Please refer to the information about the service at the beginning of the reflect and review.

Friday: Inset day.

Dates for the Diary:

Wed 21st October - Parent Evening

Thur 22nd October - Harvest Service (thank you to those of you who have offered to walk with us)

Fri 23rd October - INSET Day - school closed to children

             26th - 30th October - Half term

Mon 2nd November - INSET Day - school closed ot children

Tues 3rd November - Term 2 starts

Sat 7th November - Open Morning

Fri 13th November  - flu vaccinations in school

Fri 18th December -  term 2 ends at 1pm

Thank you all for another great week, I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again on Monday for our final week of the Autumn 1 term. The time has flown by!

Best wishes,

The Cygnus Team.