Author: Susan Shorten

Thomas Russell Infants’ School
‘Our children blossom through nurture and challenge’

Newsletter number 21 01.03.2024

The fun of the disco
Thank you to everyone who volunteered to support at the PTA disco last Friday after school. Everyone had a lovely time and it was so nice to watch the children enjoy themselves so much. At the start of the disco we announced the winners of the decorate a heart competition and we hope that the children enjoyed exploring their prizes over the weekend.

Email: tri-office@tri.jtmat.co.uk website: www.thomasrussellinfants.co.uk Twitter:@trisschool

Stars of the week
RC - Mila for curious questions about the Easter story
RT - Oscar for being curious about everything
1L - Samuel, Jude, Christopher, Theo, Alice for showing curiosity during Forest School
1SB - Francesca for showing curiosity during a science experiment

Comic Relief - Red Nose Day Friday 15th March
This will be a non-uniform day and children are welcome to choose their outfit for the day or to wear something red! In return we are suggesting a donation of £1 be brought in to school for Comic Relief.

Easter service at St James’ Church - Thursday 21st March
The children will be visiting St James’ Church at 2pm and parents and carers are welcome to attend. We recommended a maximum of 2 adults per child attend due to the space available. Children can be taken home straight from the church after the service but, if you aren’t able to attend or your child attends Badgers then please don’t worry we will walk them back to school. Any help walking the children to the church would also be greatly appreciated, so if you are able to help with this please can you let the class teacher know. Thank you.
Easter Activities and Bonnet Parade - Friday 22nd March
Please see the PTA section of the Newsletter for further information. Now is the time to start thinking about your Easter Bonnet creations!
For some inspiration try decorating a baseball cap or a sun hat, make a hat out of cardboard or paper and decorate that, use some natural materials out of the garden to help with the decoration maybe. Take a look at the various designs we found just from a quick google search! Prizes will be awarded for the most inventive and the ones which the children have obviously been hands on with.

World Book Day
It is not long until we will be celebrating World Book Day. Just as a reminder we would like to invite pupils to dress up on the day. This could be in pjs with your favourite bedtime book or dressed as your favourite book character.
There is still time to enter the toilet roll book character competition. Please see the details below. Entries can be brought into school from Monday 4th March and there will be prizes for the winners. Please ensure entries are clearly labelled with your child’s name and class. We are looking forward to seeing your characters.
Book Nook
On Thursday straight after school you will find the new Book Nook open. This is the small shed at the side of the bike shelter. The Book Nook has children's and adult books and can be used to swap or borrow books. To ensure that the Book Nook retains a selection of books please can you ensure that books are swapped or borrowed and returned. We have plenty of children’s books but only a small number of adult books so if you have any at home that you have read, we welcome donations. We hope you will enjoy using it.
On Thursday Ms Pugh is planning a special World Book Day pudding for the children with prizes for those who get a ‘lucky tray’. Don’t forget to make sure you have a school lunch to be in with the chance of winning a prize!

PTA News
Mother’s Day Pop-Up Shop - Friday, March 8th!
Get ready to celebrate the special women in our lives with our much-anticipated Mother's Day Pop-Up Shop! On Friday, March 8th, children from each class will have the opportunity to visit our delightful pop-up shop and choose the perfect gift for that special person.
Suggested Donation: To support our school and continue providing enriching experiences for our students, we kindly ask for a suggested donation of £2 per child.
Friday, March 22nd Easter Bonnet Parade & Cake Sale!
Join us for a delightful morning filled with Easter joy! Our annual Easter Bonnet Parade and Cake Sale are just around the corner, promising a morning of fun and festivities for everyone. Here's what you can look forward to:
**Easter Bonnet Parade:** Get ready to showcase your creativity! Pupils from every year group are invited to enter the bonnet parade. Each year group will have a slot to parade their bonnets and to take part in the letter hunt.
Year 2 will start at 9:15, followed by Year 1 at 9:50 and Reception at 10:30.
**Cake Sale:** Indulge your sweet tooth and support our school community by purchasing delicious treats at our cake sale. We encourage donations of homemade or store-bought goodies to make this event even more scrumptious. Every contribution is greatly appreciated!
**Letter Hunt:** Embark on an exciting letter hunt adventure around the school playground. Can you find all the hidden letters and crack the Easter code?
Thank you
From Thomas Russell Infants' School P.T.A.
Becky, Gemma, Hardeep, Kirsty, Lily, Mae, Rachael and Sarah

Some lovely news
We are delighted to share the news that Miss Lamond is expecting a baby! At the time of writing she is 20 weeks pregnant and we all wish her a healthy and happy pregnancy. It is obviously very early days for us to have started planning her maternity arrangements but we will ensure that parents are kept updated as soon as we are able to.

Achievements from home
Please don’t forget that we love to share children’s out of school achievements in our Friday afternoon assembly.
Over the year so far we have seen achievements in sporting activities, dance, gymnastics, horse riding, Rainbows awards and many more. It is always lovely not just to celebrate children’s out of school achievements but also to see what sort of activities our children get up to.

Dates for your Diary
Lunch menu from Monday 4th March will be Week 2 Revised Menu

Wed 6 March - Parent consultations
Thu 7 March - World Book Day
Wed 13 March - Parent consultations
Thu 14 March - Parent consultations
Fri 15 March - Red Nose Day
Mon 18 March - Y1 Music performance to parents 1SB at 1.30pm & 1L at 2.10pm
Thurs 21 March - World Down’ Syndrome Day (wear your funkiest socks)
Thu 21 March - Easter assembly in church 2pm
Fri 22 March - Last day of term
Mon 8th April - Back to school new term starts
Mon 6th May - Bank holiday
Fri 10 May - Country dancing and whole school singing to parents 2.30pm
Thurs 23 May - 1SB parents invited to forest school 1.30pm
Fri 24 May - Inset Day school closed to pupils
Mon 27 May - Fri 31st May - Half term (school closed)
Tues 4 June - 2MS parents invited to forest school 1.30pm
Thurs 6 June - 1L parents invited to forest school 1.30pm
Wed 12 June - Sports Day & Summer Fair
Wed 26 June - Reserve Sports day
Fri 5 July - Inset Day - JTMAT Staff Training Day (school closed to pupils)
Wed 17 July - Year 2 leavers assembly to parents 2.00pm
Thurs 18 July - Year 2 leavers party 3.15– 5.00pm
Fri 19 July - School closes

Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Burton and Mrs Moore