Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Sporting successes all round!

  Thu 25 Feb 2016 Mr Gray

  This week saw so many successes that it took the entirety of Friday's assembly to talk about them all!

   

  Netball

   

  Our Year 5 and 6 Netballers took part in the Newark Schools League tournament at Lilley and Stone on Wednesday evening.  Of a gruelling five matches, the team won three and narrowly lost two.  A tremendous effort - thanks to Mrs Davies and Mrs Fryer for their coaching!

   

  Basketball

   

  Congratulations to The Year 5 Basketball team who beat Collingham 19 - 14 yesterday. This is a great extension to the Year 6 Basketball team's 98 - 40 victory against Collingham last week.

   

  Congratulations to Year 6 Basketball Team members Daniel C., Tom H., Xander P. and George E. who achieved their skills award at the Newark Club - and to Josh C., Manni N., Thomas G., Sam W. and Evie M who achieved theirs at the school club. 

   

  Following Daniel C and Tom H's selection for Nottinghamshire County Basketball, we look forward to hearing about their games in the forthcoming regional tournament in Leicester.  Check out the Newark Advertiser here to read their interview with the boys about their latest achievements. 

   

  Football

   

  Congratulations to the Football A-Team who secured another win in the Newark Schools League this week with a 2 - 0 victory against Bishop Alexander Academy. Manni was our leading goal scorer but special mention also goes to Thomas G. for his excellent goal-keeping skills and Jake who was awarded "Man of the Match".

   

• A busy end to a busy half term!

  Fri 12 Feb 2016 Mr Gray

  The first half term of 2016 culminated with a Valentine's themed non-uniform day to raise funds for children to take part in professional cooking experiences with our School Chef, Mrs Quick. 

   

  During the last few weeks, each class has continued to enjoy some exciting and innovative learning experiences: 

  Foundation Class have enjoyed their "Bear Theme" with a bear cave role-play area and some fabulous writing about polar bears.  The Teddy Bears' Picnic saw some tasty cakes being shared too! 

  Class 1's Victorian topic saw some excellent costumes being worn to the Lincolnshire Life Museum whilst Class 2 finished the half term with a performance of their very own musical scores and compositions to the school. 

  Class 3's enjoyed meeting each others' pets - thank you to the parents who enabled this.  The class are getting to know animals inside and out with skeletons on loan from the Museum Service having taken up residence in the classroom too.

  In Class 4, a round the world tour of food on Thursday was enjoyed by children wearing many different examples of traditional national dress.  The energy was definitely needed for their sumo competition!

  Class 5's learning about the Civil War was enhanced by a fantastic visit to the Civil War Centre in Newark - adults and children alike were really impressed by the learning on offer at this new attraction on our doorstep.

  Class 6 are continuing to work hard towards the very high standards of the new National Tests, but continue to have time for their topic work on Japan too.  Next time you are in school, look out for their beautiful Japanese inspired paintings which are on display outside the Year 6 classroom. 

   

  Congratulations also go to our sporting teams.

  The Football "A" Team won their match at home against Lovers Lane Primary in the Newark League last week, whilst the "B" Team fought through the rain, hail and wind to win their away match against Sutton-On-Trent Primary in the Tuxford League. 

  Our newly formed basketball team played a match against the Collingham team, recording a spectacular win.  Special notice must be given to Dan C and Thomas H who have been successful in the County Youth Trials this term and now represent  Nottinghamshire as well as their Newark club and our school - very impressive indeed!

• Muskham in the News

  Mon 11 Jan 2016 Mr Gray

  Thank you for the many emails and comments regarding our Ofsted report.  I have said to some of you that many regular visitors have commented on how accurate a reflection the report really is. We are certainly proud of what we are achieving on behalf of the pupils - and looking forward to the next improvements too! 

   

  As with any 'big story', the Newark Advertiser have published a piece about us this week.  You can see their article at http://newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Raising-expectationstransforms-learning-

• Happy New Year

  Sun 03 Jan 2016 Mr Gray

  Happy New Year to you; I hope you and your family had an enjoyable Christmas break.

   

  Just a reminder that Tuesday 5th January is an INSET Day so school will be closed to pupils. Although the teachers and most TAs will be at another school developing their knowledge of mastery teaching techniques in mathematics, the school office will be open if you need to get in touch (new uniform ordering, sQuid, water bottle purchases etc).  For parents of the new part-time Foundation Stage 1 children, Mrs Goodwin (FS1 Key Person) will also be available for any last questions before the start of term. 

   

  I look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Wednesday 6th January:

  Foundation 1: Front doors open from 1250 (Children at play group in the morning will change jumpers and be walked to school by playgroup and school staff). 

  Foundation 2: Doors open from 0845 as normal

  Classes 1 to 6: Gates open at 0845 with playground bell just before 0900 as normal

   

  Don't forget that it is now easier than ever to keep up to date with events in school - remember you can now sync your own calendar to the school diary using the link in the Calendar Dates tab at the bottom of the home page.

   

  Mr Gray

• See our performances!

  Thu 17 Dec 2015 Mr Gray

  You are able to see some clips from Class 2 & 3's Christmas performances in the "Children" Tab under "Performance Videos" .

   

  Photos of the Foundation / Year 1 Nativity can be found on the Newark Advertiser webpage and their DVD video is expected to be available soon!

   

  Merry Christmas!

• Head Teacher's Blog

  Fri 04 Dec 2015 Mr Gray

  What a busy start to December - and one that the children, as always, have taken in their stride! 

   

  Classes 2 and 3 have been finalising their Christmas Presentation ready for next week's concerts.  The children's speaking, poetry and singing are a credit to their effort and their determination to succeed.  Meanwhile Foundation and Class 1 have been busy preparing their traditional Nativity Performance.  They have already tested their voices in Church and are concentrating brilliantly on learning their parts. 

   

  Class 6's completion of their Drugs and Alcohol Resistance Education (DARE) programme means that they too have been preparing for a presentation to parents.  I was delighted to award a total of six Head Teacher Awards for exceptional extended reports on the topic - check the Gallery of Excellence to see these superb examples of writing.  I was equally impressed with some beautifully crafted pieces of creative writing and complex multiplication of fractions from Class 5. 

   

  Class 3's learning about the Ancient Egyptians concluded with a fascinating visit to the Weston Park Museum in Sheffield; pupils took part in many interesting activities, including practising mummification techniques on a life-size dummy!  Class 4 will be concluding this term's Religious Education learning with a festive visit to Lincoln Cathedral in the final week - what a fitting end to the Christmas term! 

   

  Well done to the Choir who performed in the village this week.  You contributed to the raising of over a thousand pounds for charity and Mrs Booth and Mrs Davies were, as always, impressed with your sound.

   

  Finally to sport.  Well done to the Year 5 Basketball Team on competing in their first ever match.  Although the final score was 20 - 6 (and not to us), I was proud of how well you threw yourselves into the game after only a few training sessions with Andy.  The last word has to go to the Football A Team, who played their Newark League match against the reigning champions, John Blow Primary Collingham.  Perfect sportsmanship and a strong team dynamic led to a convincing 4 - 0 win; special congratulations to Josh who was named "Man of the match". 

• 5 - 18 School Buses Consultation

  Wed 02 Dec 2015

  2 December 2015

   

  Nottinghamshire County Council

  Home to School and Post 16 Transport – Public Consultation

   

  I am writing to inform you that Nottinghamshire County Council is consulting on proposals to cease the provision of discretionary travel services to schools, colleges and other educational establishments in Nottinghamshire from September 2018.

   

  Under the proposals the statutory entitlements of children and young people will continue to be protected. Children and young people attending their qualifying (catchment) school living beyond the statutory walking distance will continue to qualify for travel assistance from the Local Authority. 

   

  Children from low income families have extended rights to free travel which will be protected. For primary age pupils this is a reduction in the statutory walking distance and for secondary age pupils travel assistance will be provided to one of the three nearest qualifying schools (catchment or preferred) between two and six miles from home. For low income children attending their nearest suitable school preferred on grounds of faith, they will receive free travel where the school is between 2 and 20 miles (primary) or 2 and 25 miles (secondary) from their home.

   

  The financial challenge facing Nottinghamshire County Council is significant and some difficult decisions will be needed to help us balance the budget. Over the next three years we are facing a budget shortfall of £62m.

   

  Nottinghamshire along with many other local authorities is having to make difficult decisions regarding the services they offer.  Protecting services that are statutory unfortunately means that many discretional services may have to be reduced or ceased. Increasingly the trend over recent years is for councils across the country to review their expenditure and to critically assess the affordability of all services.

   

  You can view this and all of our budget proposals on the Nottinghamshire County Council website at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/budget.

   

  These are just proposals at this stage and you can have your say by visiting nottinghamshire.gov.uk/budget, phoning 0300 500 80 80 or responding to copies of consultation documents in any County Council library. We value responses from all stakeholders.

   

  The budget consultation starts on 9 December, 2015, and will close on 5 February, 2016. Final decisions will be made by elected members at Full Council on 25 February, 2016.

   

  Yours sincerely

   

  John Slater

  Service Director for Education, Standards and Inclusion

  Children, Families and Cultural Services

  Nottinghamshire County Council

• Difficult conversations

  Sat 21 Nov 2015 Mr Gray

  Following last week's attacks in Paris, staff have been astonished by the level of knowledge children have brought into school this week.  Conversations - started by pupils - included comments on 'government rules being for everyone' from a child in Class 1, and a commentary on 'ISIS online propaganda' from a child in Class 5. 

   

  With such significant events having taken root in our children's minds, school staff have taken care to ensure that age-appropriate discussions have taken place in class.  Teachers and Assistants have made sure that pupils do not have misunderstandings or misrepresentations of the events or people involved.  They have also made sure that children are confident in feeling safe and secure. 

   

  An article about how schools across the country have talked with children about the attacks can be viewed here.  We are confident that our approach has matched our pupils' needs and has added to their education appropriately.  Do speak to your child's teacher should you require any clarification about conversations held in their class. 

• Anti-Bullying Week

  Sat 21 Nov 2015 Mr Gray

  This week, the school marked national anti-bullying week with a focus in assemblies, in class discussions and in Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) lessons. 

   

  Some of the activities engaged in by pupils included:

  - reviewing the school anti-bullying policy (written by pupils in 2014)

  - identifying where the "Safe use of technologies agreement" links to anti-bullying

  - talking about empathy and how we spot each others' emotions

  - knowing the mnemonic "STOP" (Several Times On Purpose) to understand the difference between falling out and being bullied. 

  - considering the responsibility of everyone for reporting bullying, and who they feel confident to tell.

   

   

• Children in Need

  Sun 15 Nov 2015

  Thank you to everyone who got involved with the Community Council's Children in Need event this year.  The children organised a cake sale and came dressed in the national theme of heroes - from Santa to Professor Brian Cox!

  Our final fundraising total was £277.40 - well done!