This academic year we have been focusing on further developing the children's vocabulary so that they have a wider range of words to choose from. Part of this learning has been to make sure that we explain the meaning of words which will improve their understanding of what they read and hopefully encourage them to use a richer variety of vocabulary in their written work.

As a school staff, we have joined in with this and are launching a 'Word of the Week' for adults, and we thought that you, as parents and carers, would like to join in. Each week for the next half-term, we will be posting the word of the week here. The idea is that we look for opportunities to use these words and others our day-to-day conversations.

You can find this week's word below:

 

Transition

This half-term, we will be spending some time getting the children ready for their next steps in education, and we thought that it would be good to share with you some of the plans that we have to help the children prepare for moving on.

PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) lessons focus on transition this half-term and children begin to learn that change can be a good thing and that moving on to another class or school is just part of their learning journey.

Class mixes

Reception to Year 1

When the Reception children move to Year 1 in September, they will be in new class groups. We take this opportunity to mix children from Ants and Bees to create 2 new classes: Butterflies and Ladybirds. This is to enable us to balance the classes using our in-depth knowledge of the children, something that we didn't have last July. Reception children and their parents will find out which class they will be in on Tuesday 7th July.

Year 1 to Year 2

The mix of children in Year 1 will not be changed for their move to Year 2. They will find out which class they are moving to on Tuesday 7th July.

Year 2 to Holy Trinity

Year 2 children who are going to Holy Trinity Junior School will be mixed and put into 2 new class groups ready for their move. Again, we will use our in-depth knowledge of the children to make as balanced a mix as possible. Holy Trinity will then add children from other schools, starting with them in September, to the 2 groups. Children and parents will find out their class on Tuesday 7th July

Transition activities

This week, we started the first of our transition activities. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the Reception children visited the Year 1 classrooms. They spent time in each of the classes so that they could meet some of the Year 1 team and familiarise themselves with the Year 1 learning environment. They have not visited their class teachers for next year nor were they in their new class groups; they simply visited Year 1.

Also, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the children in Year 1 visited Year 2. They visited one classroom on Tuesday and the other on Thursday. Again, this is for children to meet the Year 2 team and get used to the Year 2 classrooms, which are very different to the Year 1 learning environment.

In addition to this, on both Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we also welcomed some of our new Reception intake to spend some time in school.

For the Year 2s, on Tuesday 17^th June in the afternoon, they will be visiting Holy Trinity School (if that is where they are going to for their Key Stage 2 years). They will spend some time playing on the field, will meet the Year 3 teachers and will have the opportunity to ask them questions.

There are more activities planned over the coming weeks and there will be more details in future newsletters.

Refugee Week

Next week, the RRS Ambassadors will mark Refugee Week 2025. The Ambassadors will lead school worship on Tuesday and share their learning about refugees and why it is important to try and help them.

The Ambassadors are organising some fundraising for Wycombe Refugee Partnership and this will take the form of a sale of 'goods'.

Next week, all the children in the school will be busy making items to sell in the sale.

Reception will make biscuits, Year 1 will decorate cakes and Year 2 will be making friendship bracelets.

The RRS Ambassadors will sell the items for donations in our Eco Barn during school time from 2.00pm on Friday 19th J and the idea is the children will visit the sale with their classes and buy 1 item. Please would parents/carers send in a small donation on Friday 19^th June so that your child/ren can choose to buy an item. This money will then be donated to Wycombe Refugee Partnership.

Higginson Park Birthday Bunting Project 🎨

Date: Saturday 20th June 2.00-4.00pm

If you are looking for something to do after the PFA Summer Fair, why not go and celebrate 100 years of Higginson Park?

 There will be: 

🌱 Tree planting ceremony 

🚤 Story-telling by renowned children's author Simon Mole. 

🎨 En Plein Air painting with the Community Painting Group 

🚶 Local history tours of the park.  Please secure your free place by booking here 

🌿 Children’s trail of Higginson Park and a display of our community created Birthday Bunting! If you want to join in meet by the Little Green Boat Cafe.

More information can be found at: www.marlowmuseum.org/events-news/

MUFTI Day

Date: Friday 19^th June

As a thank you to children who bring in a donation for the Summer Fair Tombola will be able to enjoy a non-school uniform day on Friday 19^th June! Donations can be dropped off at the front of school next week, from Monday to Friday. More details are in the PFA section below.

Sports Day

• Date:Wednesday 24th June, 9am – 11.30am

Come and join us for a fun and supportive morning of sport and with the PFA providing refreshments for the adults. What more could you want for a Wednesday morning?

The morning will start at around 9.30am after our young athletes have been registered and organised into their teams. The children will spend the first half of the morning in teams of mixed year groups (siblings will be together) taking part in a round-robin of sporting activities. These should finish at around 10.30am, when the children will go back inside the school for a drink and fruit snack.

At 11.00am they will come back out onto the field in their classes and will take part in a running race against their classmates. The event will finish before lunch at 12.

If the weather isn't favourable for Sports Day to take place, we will let parents and carers know as soon as possible.

Open Afternoon

• Date: Wednesday 8th July, 4pm – 6pm

Open Afternoon is a chance for your family to come in to see the school building and grounds in a very relaxed, social way after the school day. The children in Years 1 & R will have spent the previous morning in the classroom they are moving to in September and this will be an opportunity for them to show this to you. You can come and see some of the work the children have done, which is displayed in classrooms and communal areas. You do not have to stay for the whole time, but we would appreciate the children being there for their year group or club performance. It is a relaxed event and families can come and go as suits them and their other commitments.

Each year group is working on a short performance, a dance or a song, which they will give during the afternoon and the Maypole and Sandygate Singers will also perform. The timings below are rough ones, but the events will take place in this order:

• 4.00pm – Looking around classrooms
• 4.30pm– Maypole Club
• 4.45pm – Reception
• 5.00pm – Year 1
• 5.15pm – Sandyate Singers
• 5.30pm – Year 2 

Fences at the front of school

Please could parents and carers make sure that their children do not climb on the fences and gates which are around the sides of the car park at the front of school.

Lighthouse still have places for children who live or are at school in Marlow who are in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 for the Lighthouse holiday week running from 3^rd – 7^thAugust.

Lighthouse is a free, fun-filled week full of craft, drama and sports, so if you would like your child to attend, please register them at https://app.signmeup.org.uk/lighthouse-marlow/45

It costs about £15 per child per day to run the Lighthouse, but instead of charging a set fee, we ask for a donation of however much you can give to help keep the club running.

Thank you!

Thank you to those of you who participated in our Eco Day of Action, where the children came dressed in blue. We would like to say a big thank you to all of you that kindly donated. The children have so far raised £190 for WaterAid!

It's still not too late to donate!

You can donate here

Parent helpers for Outdoor Learning

During July, in Outdoor Learning, the children will be harvesting vegetables and cooking on the firepit. We require 2 parent helpers for each year group to support this. This will be for the whole morning. If you are available to help on the below days, please let us know via the link below. 

Year 2–Tuesday 14th July (Harvesting vegetables and cooking cinnamon bites on the firepit)

Year 1–Thursday 16th July (Harvesting vegetables and cooking fruit kebabs on the firepit)

Reception - Wednesday 8th July (Harvesting Potatoes)

                    - Wednesday 15th July (Potato Crisp cooking on the firepit) 

Calling all creatives!

Dates: 14th 17th July, 1.00pm-3.00pm

We would love your help to make our 2026 Creative Week inspiring, exciting and fun.

We would like to show the children different types of art, whether that be painting, drawing, printing, sculpting or more!

If you are creative and would like to run a workshop for an afternoon, please email the school office.

We will assign you to a Year Group for the afternoon where you will run 2 workshops (1 for each class).

Pentecost Service

• Date: Thursday 18th June, 9.15am-9.45am

The day of Pentecost marks fifty days since Easter Day and brings the Easter season to an end. It is a major feast of the Church’s year when Christians recall how God’s Holy Spirit was given to the disciples after Jesus’ ascension, empowering them to begin the work of making disciples of all nations.

On Thursday 18th June, 9.15am-9.45am, we would like to invite families to join us in watching the service. Due to the size of the hall, we can only invite 1 parent/carer per family, and have a maximum of 100 tickets.

If you would like to join us, please book your ticket below.

Marlow Regatta 2026

Please see below for those children joining us to sing at the regatta this year, and here as information for those wanting to come along and spectate.

Thank you to those who will be joining the Combined Primary Schools choir event which forms part of the Sunday Festival Day at the Marlow Regatta 2026.

We hope the sun will be shining and that the children will have a lot of fun singing in Higginson Park with the amazing Sheila Wilson of Redhead Music.

Marlow Infant School children can wear their own clothes, but we ask that they wear their school jumper or cardigan for the performance.

Here are some details about the day for your information:

· Date: Sunday 14th June

· Time to assemble in the park – 11.45pm

· Choir performance to commence at 12.00pm

· Meeting point to the left of the stage as you look at it

· Look for Cathy Stewart and the team who will be wearing Regatta tabards/Hi-vis jackets and Mrs Reynolds who will be coordinating the children from Marlow Infants.

· It is an open event, so photography is unrestricted.

· After the performance, children will be released individually by Mrs Reynolds to a known relative/ carer for safety. Parents, please be patient in this process to ensure the safety of children.

The Sunday Festival Day has many other family events throughout the day to appeal to children and adults alike. We hope you will stay after the performance to enjoy these events:

Fun Dog show (free entry); Categories: Best treat catcher, Best young handler and Judges Pick

Amateur cake competition (free entry):This includes a children-only Cupcake section at 2pm – so your child might like to enter this free competition! Categories : best tasting Cake, best decorated cake and best original cupcake design

There is ALSO a Round Table bar, free entertainment, dragon boat racing on the river, trade and craft stalls and ‘Have a go art and craft’ for children.

We are all looking forward to an amazing family fun day in Marlow!

Act of Service

This half-term, our school value in focus is Service. Children will be learning that service is about thinking of and helping others without expecting a reward.

Both Year 2 classes will be walking to May Balfour Gardens to perform their Act of Service. Dragonfly class will be going on Wednesday 1st July and Grasshopper class will be visiting on Thursday 2nd July.

We will be leaving school around 9am, walking to May Balfour Gardens, litter picking, planting bulbs and washing the sundial for the community to benefit from. We plan to return to school before 12.00pm. If your child has a litter picker and would like to bring it in, that would be much appreciated.

We are looking for 6 parent volunteers to join us on this trip for each class.

If you would like to accompany us:

Recycling items required!

We would like all Year 2 children to bring in some toilet roll or kitchen roll tubes to use in our RE lesson in a couple of weeks' time.

Footsteps Training Programme

We will be offering Year 2 children the chance to take part in the Footsteps Training Programme again this year. Last year, it was a huge success, and it helped the Year 2s become safer, more confident, independent pedestrians.

Mrs Higham and a couple of parent helpers will be taking the children out twice during the following afternoons from 1.15pm-3.00pm:

• Monday 29^th June
• Tuesday 30^th June
• Monday 6th July
• Tuesday 7^th July

We would like all the children to take part, but we do need to have your permission for them to participate.

**Volunteers Required**

We require some parent helpers to support with the Footsteps Training programme. If you are able to help, you will need to attend an hour's training session on Monday 22nd June from 1.30pm-2.30pm. Please note that the training is not required if you have already helped with this training previously. If you are available to support any of the above sessions and attend the training, please use the link below to volunteer.

Click here to volunteer

Playground Leader Experience for Year 1 Pupils

This year, alongside the Playground Leader Team Building Morning, our Year 1 pupils will have a special opportunity to gain an insight into the role of a Playground Leader by shadowing our current Year 2 leaders.

Over four weeks, the Year 1 children will join the Year 2 team and experience each area of responsibility within the role. This will allow them to spend one week in each area, developing their understanding of how Playground Leaders support and enhance playtimes.

We are excited to offer this experience, helping to build confidence, responsibility, and teamwork as our younger pupils prepare for their future roles.

This experience helps to build leadership skills in several important ways. By observing and then taking part in the role alongside Year 2 pupils, Year 1 children begin to understand what it means to be responsible for others, make fair decisions, and model positive behaviour. Working across different areas each week allows them to practise communication, teamwork, and problem-solving in real situations.

Shadowing older peers also gives them strong role models to learn from, helping them develop confidence and independence in a supportive environment. Overall, this early exposure lays the foundations for future leadership by encouraging empathy, responsibility, and the ability to guide and support others during play.

The Year 1s will then have a training morning on 13th July where they will take part in leadership and team building games and apply for the role of Playground Leader if they wish to participate in the programme when they are in Year 2.

Science Enquiry 

The Year 1 children, as part of their scientific enquiry, will be investigating how to make the largest of bubbles. If we could please ask parents/carers to have a look at home, for the children to bring in any of the resources from the list below: 

• Plastic bottles – any size
• Sticks (can be up to a metre long, no longer)
• Rubber bands
• Any spare bubble wands,
• Pipe cleaners or wire coat hangers
• Any old T-shirts (these will be cut up)

Act of Service

This half-term, our school value in focus is Service. Children will be learning that service is about thinking of and helping others without expecting a reward.

The Year 1 children will be performing an act of service by singing to invited members of the church and local community in the school hall.

Their Act of Service will take place on Monday 29^th June between 1.30-3.00pm. To ensure that our guests are looked after, we will need 2–3 volunteers to help with setting up, serving tea & coffee and clearing away everything at the end of the performance.

If you are available to help, please contact the school office.

Reception Act of Service – trip to All Saints Churchyard 

During the morning of Tuesday 23rd June the Reception children will be walking to All Saints Church to perform their act of service. 

We will be leaving school around 9.00am, walking to the church, tidying the churchyard. We plan to return to school around 11.30am. 

We are looking for 9 parent volunteers to join us on this trip. 

If you would like to accompany the children, please sign up via the link below by Wednesday 17th June. 

Reception Induction Feedback

We are in the process of planning and setting up our plans for the new academic year, and we would love to have your feedback about the first year for your child at Marlow Infants.

We have set up a form here, and we would like to encourage as many Reception parents and carers to complete this to help us shape our future plans.

A big thank you to those of you that have already provided feedback. For those of you who haven't yet, there is still time!

• Adult tombola donations: 15^th - 19^th June (drop off and pick up)

• Summer Fair and colour run: Saturday 20^th June

• Small change challenge: Monday 22^nd June onwards

• Camp night!:Saturday18^th July

When: Adult donations 15th June - 19th June (drop off and pick up)

Spare a thought for the Summer Fair and PFA! Donations for the Adult tombola will start and continue all week from Monday 15^th June at drop off and pick up.

As a big THANK YOU, children who bring in a donation will be able to enjoy a non-school uniform day on Friday 19^th June!

We will be gratefully accepting donations for our tombolas, including:

• Toiletries
• Bottles
• Gifts
• Chocolates
• Other tombola goodies

Thank you for your continued support!

Where: The Donation Box at the School Office

We’re currently collecting donations for our pre-loved uniform stock and would be very grateful for any items in good, clean condition that your children have outgrown.

We are in need of all sizes and school-branded items, but all donations are welcome. Donated uniform helps support families within our school community while also giving good-quality clothing a second life.

We are hosting a new intake evening next Wednesday so any donations of smaller aged items before then would be very much appreciated. 

Thank you for your support!

When: Saturday 20^th June 11.30am until 3.30pm

Join us on Saturday 20th June from 11.30am-3.30pm for Sandygate’s Summer Fair and Colour Run! 

Let the kids go wild with arts & crafts, face painting and endless fun on the bouncy castle, as well as traditional fair games, tombolas, dance performances and much more! With a well-stocked bar, tuck shop and BBQ, there is no better place to enjoy the sunshine!

The Summer Fair will close with an eruption of colour as the Colour Run returns! The Colour Run is more than just a fundraiser—it's an opportunity to bring children, families, and the wider community together in an energetic and inclusive environment. The children will run, walk, or jog along a course while being splashed with bursts of safe, non-toxic coloured powder at various stations. It promises to be a day full of laughter, fitness, and school spirit!

One of our favourite traditions at the Summer Fair is the performances! These will take place throughout the day, as follows:

• Gates Open – 11.30pm
• Maypole dancing - 12.00pm
• Sandygate Singers - 12.30pm
• Jane Douglas dance school - 1.00pm

When: Saturday 8^th June at Sandygate's Summer Fair 

Don’t forget to sign up your children for this year's Colour Run! We have had a great number of kids sign up already, so don’t miss out!

Why not embrace the challenge further, and raise some sponsorship for their run?? All proceeds will go directly towards the school, and it makes it even more of an event!

Make sure to share the link below with friends and family:

https://superkind.org/campaign/marlow-c-of-e-infant-school-parents-friends-association-sandygate-colour-run-2026

When: 18^th July from 4pm 

The ever-popular camp night is on its way! Sandygate's annual camp out is a night of pizzas, treats and great merriment – a big social event for the whole family!

Pack your tents and your sleeping bags to join us from 4pm on the school field for a night of fun and novelty!

Available on ParentPay NOW –there are a limited number of pitches available, so make sure not to miss them and book yours!

When booking please specify how many adults and children will be in your tent, and we kindly ask you only bring your own children.