Latest News
Family event in the community
22nd of April Earth day
The UK Government has set an ambitious target to reduce carbon emissions by 68% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels – and is the only major economy to have set a target of 77% for 2035. With this in mind, we decided to raise awareness and pledge to help reduce Severnbanks School's waste and be carbon-neutral.
We held Earth Hour on the 22nd April. We turned the lights off and reduced the use of electronics. We thought about how we could pledge to reduce our use of electricity in school.
Mock Trials
Some of our Year 6 children have been lucky enough to take part in the Gloucestershire Magistrates’ Courts Mock Trials in the old Magistrates Courtroom at Coleford Police Station. They assumed a range of ‘court roles’, including Magistrates, Defendant, Defence Lawyers, witnesses, Court Usher, Court Artist and Court Reporter. They did an incredible job and managed to persuade the (real life) Magistrate that the (pretend) Defendant was not guilty! It was lovely to see so many budding lawyers and other court professionals in the making. They should be so proud of themselves!
Parking !
A huge thank you to the PTFA for supporting the school in purchasing road signs to keep us safe crossing the road. We hope the drivers take notice of the signs.
Y3 Andy Seed visit.
Year 3 children were very lucky to have a visit from Andy Seed with his Egyptian workshop. Andy Seed has written many books based on history and today, introduced us to his book ‘The Curse of the Tomb Robbers’ based on Ancient Egypt. Both Year 3 classes have a copy of the book to explore in their classrooms. Andy also showed us the replica coffin he had made based on his Ancient Egypt research and knowledge.
Girls Football.
Well done to the Y5/6 football team. We travelled to Newent School to play in the finals on 20th March 24. A huge thank you to Newent School and Alan Beard for organising the event. Well done to St Whites Primary for winning. All teams played really well and demonstrated great sports person ship.
Super proud of our girls who came third only missing second place by one goal.
Red Nose Day 2024!
Well done all for participating in mismatch day. Lovely to see how creative the outfits were. We raised £115.00
Emotions in Art competition.
Children were given A4 piece of paper, to draw, paint or colour a picture which reflects an emotion, e.g. overjoyed, elated, panicked, worried, frustrated, silly, excited, happy, focused, calm, proud, sad, bored and tired. Entries were collected and winners chosen.
The winning artwork will be displayed in our Well-being Hub for all children to see.
Well done to Leah in y2, Kapser in Y4 and Nevaeh in Y6.
.Svitlo's World Record Assembly
On Friday 1st March the school took part in a world record attempt.
The assembly was more than just a gathering; it was a celebration of unity, resilience, and power
of education to bring about positive change. We joined to show commitment to making a difference in the lives of young people around the world. This also helps with fostering a sense of global citizenship, empathy, and understanding. The assembly showed motivational stories of three Ukrainian pupils and the power of hope over darkness. Please see the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kloA7Ot1s74
HAF Activities
Please see the attached poster below relating to activities on offer to families.
Come along to Severnbanks' Wellbeing Coffee Morning on the 5th March 9- 10:30. Hosted by Mrs Challenger at the RCC. See poster at the bottom of the news page.
World Book Day is being held on Thursday 7th March. We will be completing some poetry activities in school as well as reading some new story books that the PTFA have very kindly given us.
At home, we would like the children to make their favourite book character using a lollipop stick. The children will be given a lollipop stick tomorrow (Friday) and they can use anything they like to transform it into their character. Why don't you have a look at some of the photos below for some ideas? The children need to bring their finished character (with theri name on) into school on Thursday 7th March and we will display them for everyone to see. Good Luck!
Mrs. Jones and Mrs. McQueen - Oliver
Sports for Champions update.
On 29th January, we were lucky enough to welcome, Chris Tawiah, a professional basketball player, into school to talk about his inspiring journey to becoming a top-class athlete. He talked to the children about loving sport as a child and even did wrestling at the age of 8! He only discovered basketball as a teenager when he was going to play football with friends and was noticed because of his height - due to his practise, perseverance and love of the sport, he has been able to play the sport professionally for a number of years.
After hearing Chris's inspirational story, all children took part in a sponsored fitness fundraiser, undertaking 4 minutes of high-impact exercises - jumping jacks, push-ups, mountain climbers and spotty dogs. We were able to raise an incredible £1,269.00 for the school as well as to help support other athletes pursue their professional careers. Thank you to all those who took part and all sponsors who donated so generously!
Girl's Football
Our Year 5 and 6 Girls Football Team enjoyed an amazing success last term when they played in a 6-a-side tournament against other primary schools in the Forest at Forest High secondary school, organised by School Games.
The girls overcame some very talented teams and scored enough points in the initial rounds to make it through to the finals on the day which they won, beating Pillowell in a tightly-fought 1-0 victory! This means the girls will now play in the finals of the county-wide competition on the 20th March - well done girls, an awesome achievement, we wish you every success in the finals!
Following on from our 'Speak out Stay Safe' assembly last week , Year 6 participated in an NSPCC workshop exploring how they can ensure they keep themselves and others safe, understanding how they can seek help and support if they need to.
5th Feb - 9th Feb
For Children's Mental Health Week, our School Council Wellbeing Champions have organised a series of events:
On Tuesday 6th February 24 they will be running an assembly to introduce our Well-being Buddies and how children in school can use the Well-being Hub from this week.
On Thursday 8th February 24 we are holding a cake sale to raise funds for our Well-being Hub. Cake donations would be greatly appreciated. Please could they be brought into school on Thursday morning. All cakes will be 20p.
Finally, we are holding an Emotions in Art competition. On an A4 piece of paper, could children please draw, paint or colour a picture which reflects an emotion, e.g. overjoyed, elated, panicked, worried, frustrated, silly, excited, happy, focused, calm, proud, sad, bored and tired. We will collect entries the first week back after half-term. Prizes will be given for winning artwork which will be displayed in our Well being Hub for all children to see.
Thank you for all of your support
School Council Wellbeing ChampionsEmile competition Feb 24 We did it!! A huge congratulations to Year 6 who, after topping the Gloucestershire league, have won the National Final of the Emile TimesTables Cup, answering over 50,000 correct times tables questions in just over 24 hours 🎉🎉🎉🎉🏆🏆🏆🏆
Well done to Luca, Hezron, Daisy and Neveah who answered an incredible 20,000 questions between them, an amazing effort!!
Well done Year 6, we are so proud of you, our times tables recall speeds are now record breaking!! 🤩🤩🤩 
Sports for Champion UK
What an exciting afternoon we had! Thank you to Chris Tawiah who has played for the London Lions Basketball Team and the Sports for Champion UK. Mrs Sayers organised a sponsored event for all pupils to participate. They are completed timed spotty dogs, star jumpers, press-ups and leg drives/mountain climbers. Chris also held two assemblies to talk to the children about aspirations and following their dreams - being STARS. Thank you to everyone who sponsored the children.
Club Connect
River Children and Family Centre are hosting a friendly, relaxed group to support people experiencing chronic pain. It will start on the 19th February, and it will be the first and third Monday of every month. It will be a chance to connect with others and find out about local services, support, information and activities. For more information, please contact the Community Wellbeing Service on 01594 812447 or email community.wellbeing@fdean,gov.uk .
Severnbanks Choir arrive in Birmingham
The Choir ventured to Birmingham to participate in Young Voices 22/1/24. What an experience they have had. Thank you to the staff for accompanying the pupils. It was a very long day but so much fun.
Winners of the Reading Bingo Challenge
Well done to all those who completed the reading bingo challenge set over the Christmas period. Everyone who took part had their names in the raffle draw. K S 1 and K S 2 were pulled out separately. The winners were Dialinn in y4 and Evalinn in y2.
Look out for the Easter Reading Challenge!!
Violins
Year 1 have started their music lessons. They are learning to play the violin! What a fantastic opportunity for all the class to enjoy making music and learning a new skill.
Reading Nook
We are delighted to have opened a Reading Nook in school to promote and celebrate reading for pleasure. Year 6 children are loving their new role as reading ambassadors / buddies and this week have been reading with Year 2 children, exploring fiction and non-fiction texts relating to all things cold and wintry! The children have really enjoyed talking about what they have read, making predictions and inferences and discovering a whole new world of reading books!
Sports for Champions UK
We have a sports person visiting on 29th January 24. We are working alongside Sports For Champions UK. We have decided to engage with Sports For Champions UK to promote sport, competition/ engagement. We are hoping that this will encourage children to be more active. On this day, the children will participate in a sponsored sports session.
"Severnbanks Primary School are excited to be hosting an inspirational workshop with Leicester Riders BBL Championship Winner Chris Tawiah. "
"Severnbanks Primary School are committed to placing the 'United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child' at the heart of all pupils that attend the school. Every effort is made to provide a full, varied and interesting curriculum, preparing them for their future education."
What we need is for every child to be sponsored to take part. The money is then divided between the charity and the school.
Every little bit helps.
It will be a fun day for all to be active and learn about healthy living, eating and the elements of success, teamwork, responsibility, communication and creativity.
Please see the link to take you to more information.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-severnbanks-primary-school-fundraiser
Remember Children will earn awards for the amount of money raised:
£5 - £14.99 = BRONZE award
£15 - £34.99 = SILVER award
£35+ = GOLD award
Thank you all.
Thank you to the PTFA
Santa came to every class today with presents for the class. He asked the teachers what the classes needed to support their learning.
ACES course for adults.
RCC are running an ACES course in January 24. Please see the poster at the bottom of the page.
Nativity
EYFS and KS1 performed Hey Ewe this year for parents, carers and friends. The teachers were super proud and everyone enjoyed the singing, acting and music-making!
The collection raised £105.10 and the money will be sent to Young Minds Matter.
Carols and Community
The choir and the children have been busy. The choir visited Noden's and Rodley House nursing homes to entertain the residents. A very warm welcome was given. Thank you to the staff for their kindness.
Some of the choir sang for the public at TESCO. They collected donations for YMM. Thank you to those who donated any spare change.
There were aany compliments from the store visitors!
Christmas Fayre
Well done to the PTFA and Year 6 enterprise team. A very well-supported Christmas Fayre was held on Friday 8th December. Father Christmas was in attendance, many stalls, raffles, face painting etc. The school choir and A Local Brass band entertained the visitors. Approximately £1400 was made for the School. Thank you
The book fair was very successful. It was lovely to see and hear children so excited to look, browse and buy new books.
Book Fair
We are very excited to announce that we are going to be holding a Book Fair in school, run by Books for Bugs.
Books for Bugs is a local children's book company offering amazing high-quality, brand new books at very low prices! You can visit their website to see what they have to offer at www.booksforbugs.co.uk
The Book Fair will open from 11:00 am for children to visit with their classes. They will have the opportunity to browse through the books and to purchase one. All books will be priced at £3 each and are available to take away on the day. Please can children bring in £3 in a named envelope and give it to their class teacher by Tuesday 5th December. If they would like to bring in more money then please just include this in the envelope with the amount on the front. It is an excellent opportunity to encourage our children’s love of books and reading.
Parents and Carers are also invited to visit the fair for some Christmas shopping from 2:45 and it will stay open for a short period after school if you would like to browse the books once children have been collected.
For every FIVE books our children and parents purchase, Books for Bugs will donate one book free to add to our classroom bookshelves. Thank you for continuing to support our love of reading at Severnbanks.
Bee Zee Bodies
Fussy eating affects 1 in 4 school age children, so we know this is a big deal for many of the children, young people and families you support.
BeeZee Bodies, and their family nutritionists deliver FREE heathy lifestyles programmes to hundreds of families across Gloucestershire.
BeeZee Bodies also have FREE in-person healthy lifestyle programmes beginning in January to support families to build healthy habits around food and physical activity. Alternatively, anyone can start their journey now with their online programmes too.
Visit their website for more details
<https://beezeebodies.com/programs/beezee-families/?utm_source=Email+Campaign&utm_medium=Parent+Mail&utm_campaign=B2C+Parent+Mail+-+Glos+X22-1923&utm_id=BZB&utm_term=Join+programme&utm_content=QR+Code+Front>
Remembrance Parade
Head boy/girl and their deputies attended the Remembrance Parade in Lydney on Sunday 12th November. We joined other schools, youth groups and veterans in the parade to remember those who have fought and given their lives so we can live ours. Other children in school attended parades as part of cubs, brownies, scouts, girl guides etc.
Indoor Athletics
Well done to the Y5/6 pupils who attended the School Games Athletics at Dene Magna School. The children showed great teamwork and resilience. Lots of smiles and laughter too. Thank you to Alan Beard and School Games for their hard work
.
SPACES in our Starlets Nursery
We have spaces available from January 24 for nursery children. Please contact the office for more information and visit the EYFS pages on this website. Please see the prospectus below!
Progressive Sports visited our school again to provide the children with a range of new sporting opportunities. One of the activities was archery. The children learnt new skills.
Open days - Looking for a reception place for September 24. See below the dates and times for open sessions. Come and visit our setting and experience first hand what we have to offer.
Head boys and girl and their deputies announced. Well done to Harry and Klarra and Henry and Kirsty.
