Dear Parent/Carer 

We are very much looking forward to welcoming the children back on Monday, all of the staff have been working hard this week to get everything ready for their return.  We are hoping that the children will quickly settle into the new normal and feel safe and happy in their new classes. 
Hopefully, all of the children can remember who their new teachers are and which classroom they are based in.  The only change we have made is that Ms Mitchell has stayed in the same room and so the Sparrow sign has been moved along to the other end of the corridor! 
Mr Watkins and I will be around on Monday for any help with directions and questions, please try to keep them brief as lots of parents will want to talk to us.  There will be signs up to help everyone find their way around and the children should know which doors to come in by.  The only change to this, to support the bubble system, is that Year 3 will be using the door next to my office to enter and leave. 
As part of making our school Covid safe we have brought in new systems for lunchtimes and playtimes, ensuring that the bubbles are able to move freely around school without coming into close contact with each other.  The children will find it strange at first, but hopefully will see the benefits of a more leisurely lunch with their classmates.  Children can bring in packed lunches, please ensure the boxes are washed each day. 
Children will need to bring in water bottles as the water fountains are now turned off, there will be facilities for re-filling them still.  PE kits will be needed in school, to avoid sharing of kits we will no longer be able to lend kits to children. 
I am sure the children and you will be happy to hear that we intend to continue sending reading books and homework out each week, although there will be some changes to the methods.  To help reduce how many people touch books we will not be signing homework diaries, but they will still be checked each day, with children having them open on their desks. 
Also, as part of our attempt to reduce contact, the teachers will be doing less marking in the children’s books, they will still be supported and provided with feedback for all of their work, it will just be less visible to those not in the lessons with them.   
The advice for primary schools around the wearing of face coverings remains the same.  Children should not wear them at school.  We are happy for the children to wear them on the way to school, but ask that they remove them as they enter the school site.  Parents and carers dropping off and collecting children are more than welcome, in fact encouraged, to wear them on the school grounds.  We continue to ask that wherever possible parents say goodbye to the children at the gate and let them make their own way into school, they manage to find their way around the rest of the day without you!  Please remember, parents are not allowed into the school building where children are, and respect social distancing with all staff at all times. 
Finally, I would like to say that whilst this letter deals mainly with the practical aspects of the response to the current pandemic, we are also extremely focused on the emotional impact on the children the last few months will have had.  We are planning lots of fun and engaging activities to develop their confidence and make them feel comfortable around school again.  We will be taking time to understand how it has been for them and to find out how they coped with the work we sent home.  Only when we are confident they are ready and resilient enough will we begin the process of trying to catch them up on the time they have missed in school.  We will not be trying to do this in the first month and you should not expect it either! 
As ever, please do contact us if we can help in any way, although please remember to avoid coming into the office if possible and use phone or email. 
I look forward to seeing the smiling faces of the children and the relieved ones of the parents on Monday. 
Best wishes 
 
Andrew Hastings 
Headteacher 

Dear Parents/Carers

I hope your children enjoyed last week's virtual school trip to the Cambridge Science Centre. Here is this week's. Please use the log in details below this week to access the show: Sonic Science.

URL: http://www.cambridgesciencecentre.org/virtualschooltrip/sonicscience/

Password:xz5qeh4

Your access is valid for one week, and will end at 11:59 pm on Sunday.

Please note: Subtitles are available for the show. They can be switched on using the control bar at the bottom of the video.

We hope you enjoy your trip!

Best wishes

Sophie Mitchell

Science Lead

Dear Parents/Carers

This week the Cambridge Science Centre has offered us a virtual school trip. Please click on the link below to access the Stronger By Design video. 

Your access is valid for one week, and will end at 11:59 pm on Sunday.

We hope you enjoy your trip!

URL: http://www.cambridgesciencecentre.org/virtualschooltrip/29thjunestrongerbydesign_virtualschooltrip/

Password:uf674an

Please note: Subtitles are available for the show. They can be switched on using the control bar at the bottom of the video.

Best wishes

Sophie Mitchell

Science Leader

Mrs Brown, our school SENCO, coordinates volunteers in our school. As part of our role in supporting volunteer readers we have been provided with some resources for students to access during lockdown. 

Dear parents and carers,

Please see below links to three stories read by a volunteer from the charity Schoolreaders, who provide free volunteers to listen to children read 1:1 in primary schools. As the volunteers can’t go into schools at the moment, they have arranged for some volunteers to do reading videos instead.

Schoolreaders Storytime - 'The Ravenous Beast' by Niamh Sharkey

The ravenous beast is hungry; he’s hungry, hungry, hungry. But is he the hungriest animal of all?

Reading age: 5+

Schoolreaders Storytime - 'One is a snail, ten is a crab' by April Pulley Sayre

If one is a snail and two is a person, we must be counting by feet!

Reading age: 3+

Schoolreaders Storytime - 'This is Our House' by Michael Rosen

A book about the power of sharing. George says the cardboard house is his and no one else can share it.

Reading age: 5+

Optional activities to accompany each story can be found here

Miss K has suggested you can take a virtual tour of 12 world famous museums.

www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours  

You may like to write a fact-file about your favourite object/painting. 

Mrs Lightning has suggested you search for `draw with Rob' where you can find information on how to illustrate with Rob Biddulph. 

Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic Colville Primary School is now closed. School staff have been reallocated to help provide childcare services for the children of key workers and vulnerable students. This means school staff have a full time workload delivering childcare to help in the fight against Coronavirus. Parents of pupils who are now at home can find our Coronavirus Home Learning page under the parents menu of the website. 

Thank you to everyone who made such a fantastic effort with their world book day costumes! We had a really enjoyable day undertaking lots of different reading and storytelling activities. The end result was a story that had been worked on by the different classes throughout the day. With none of the pupils seeing what the other classes had written! 

WORLD BOOK DAY 2020: School Story

PART ONE: Greenfinches

Once upon a time there was a cute, fluffy bunny called Crunch. He was called Crunch because he liked to crunch carrots all day long. One day, Crunch was having a hopping race with his bunny friends. No matter how hard Crunch tried he was always coming last in the race. Crunch felt very sad. Crunch decided to give up and head home for a bowl of carrot soup to cheer him up. On the way home, he bumped into his friend Shelley the tortoise. Shelley asked Crunch, “What is the matter?” Crunch told Shelley all about being the slowest in the hopping races.

Shelley knew how she could help. She had a magic spell to help animals go faster!

PART TWO: Wagtails

Shelly took a pair of lime green sunglasses out of her pocket and put them on. She said the magic words:

Abracadabra,

Zipity Zee,

Make the animals

Go faster for me!

As Shelley shouted the magic spell, the sunglasses got bigger and bigger and bigger until they were enormous! The sunglasses were so large they spread the magic power around all the animals and they all began to speed up.

PART THREE: Robins

The animals were running around as fast as lightning. But one animal tripped up and grazed his hip. He was right at the back of the large group and no one noticed he was hurt and left behind. He tried very hard to get up but he was in too much pain. Suddenly, a mean hunter came around the corner and threw a huge net over him. He was scared and trapped inside. He let out a huge growl. GRAHHH! The other animals heard the noise and looked behind to see that he was trapped and hurt. At super speed, they ran back towards their friend. They frightened the hunter away and tried to scratch open the net. It was tiring work but eventually they freed him from the net and carried on their way – going at super speed again.

PART FOUR: Sparrows

Suddenly, they saw a large, blue sand-timer. “What would happen if we touched it?” said James. As he reached out to touch it, the friends were suddenly transported to the bottom of a volcano. They tried to climb up, but however hard they tried, they strangely seemed to be back at the bottom. They were running out of time! Endingman swooped past them and shouted, “I’ll put a soon-to-be irreversible spell on the volcano so you will never reach the op. Miss Freeman has been captured and is that the top of the volcano, about to die!” Luckily, James realized the sand-timer was a time machine, so he pushed on the top to see what would happen…

PART FIVE: Woodpeckers

Suddenly, his body was sucked into the timer and he fell like a grain of sand into the darkness of time. It felt like hours. James questioned his life choices. His normal worries of his boss, girlfriend and COVID-19 seemed so trivial now. Coming-to slowly, he could see bright yellow sand and dark brown wood. He couldn’t see houses, roads, people or cars. In fact, he couldn’t see anything he recognized. In the distance, James heard a terrible guttural roar. It didn’t sound like a wolf or a tiger. The sound was primordial and James was worried. The thumping footsteps came closer and closer. James’ hands trembled. He gasped. An enormous dinosaur stood over him, towering like a skyscraper.

PART SIX: Herons

His heart was pounding as if it was about to escape from his rib cage. The hairs on his arms stood up like a regimented army. “Stay still,” he whispered to himself as an idea popped into his head. Grabbing onto the dinosaur’s tail, he found the strength to pull himself up onto the dinosaur’s back. As the tail was swinging from side to side, it was almost an impossible task but, eventually, he made it.

             From the dinosaur’s rough back, he could see a small time on the horizon. The day was almost over: the sun was setting, casting long, thin shadows across the fields. Noticing the terrain was hilly, he warned the dinosaur to be cautious…

PART SEVEN: Ospreys

It was a waste of time, of course – Reuben had tripped over his tail too many times to count and – just like the boy had predicted – Reuben’s legs quivered and shook and once more the ground greeted their faces with a thump! Struggling to their feet, the boy looked at the useless dinosaur – “It won’t be long now,” he thought to himself. They just had to reach the small town before the sun set completely. They followed the cobbled path towards the intimidating iron gates.

The boy and Reuben approached the gates apprehensively and stared at the statues that surrounded it – the boy was sure he saw their eyes move. Without hesitation, they boldly moved forward and searched for any sign of the magician. Suddenly out of nowhere, a stout wispy wizard stepped out of the shadows. “I’ve been expecting you.” The boy and Reuben gulped.

PART EIGHT: Owls

For a split second, the boys thought they were going to die. Looking desperately for a way out, Reuben spotted something glimmering in the darkness near his foot. Retreating slowly, he stood as close as he could to the crystal, trying to block it from sight. “You thought you could get away with stealing my potions! Well, this time, it won’t work.” Enraged, the wizard raised his hands and summoned a gigantic fireball. As the fireball hovered in the air, Reuben ducked down and picked up the crystal and held it above his head with his hands trembling with fear. Cool blue light shone from the crystal as the fireball came near. There was a sudden explosion and the wizard disappeared. The crystal fell to the ground with a clatter. The boy and Reuben looked at the crystal and were relieved to see the furious, tiny figure of the wizard trapped inside.

PART NINE: Kestrels

They pulled out a colossal wooden chest made of oak. The crystal was placed gently and carefully into the box and they cast a locking spell: “Hocus-Pocus. Lock us, don’t open us!”  they chanted softly as the key turned. Reuben took the enchanted chest many miles to the glistening glass-like river and threw it beneath the waves. The ancient box sank out of sight and Reuben turned for home.

* * *

Two days later, Elmer the troll was sitting under her bridge when she noticed an illuminating glow coming from a broken chest. She picked up the shining crystal. The light blinded her so much she did not see the crack appear as the wizard began to cackle…