Dear Parents, Carers and our amazing children,
As we reach the end of a busy two terms at Langford, it has been lovely to look back and reflect on all of the things we have done this term.
Key Stage One classes worked very hard to produce an amazing Nativity and our FSU children worked equally as hard on learning all of the songs for their performance to parents.....well done to all the children!
We have seen amazing charitable responses to the Poppy Appeal, Children In Need, Christmas Jumper Day and the Salvation Army Christmas Gift Appeal. You have all been incredibly generous and I know you will have made a real difference to the lives of others in need.
Finally, I want to continue to thank all of the staff for their hard work and enthusiasm, to the families for your ongoing help and support and of course our wonderful children, you are amazing in everything you do.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year and see you all in school on Monday 8th January 2024.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs Sarah Tomlin
Headteacher
Remembrance Day 2023
On Friday 10th November, Langford Village joined in with the annual Remembrance Day celebrations. Children got creative and produced some lovely artwork to mark respect for the fallen soldiers of past and present battles.
Children in KS2 gathered on the playground for our yearly Remembrance service, where the children listened to some readings from our staff and then took part in a 1 minute silence.
We would also like to thank all of the families for your kind donations towards Poppy Appeal 2023. As a school we sold out very quickly! Fortunately, we were able to restock and continued to raise even more money for this good cause.
Children In Need
On Friday 17th November both children and staff alike enjoyed coming to school in their pyjamas in support of BBC Children in Need appeal. Some of us also brought in our teddies from home to share the fun. Together we managed to raise a whopping £638 for this Years BBC Children In Need Appeal. Thank you to everyone that supported this fantastic cause.
Salvation Army Christmas Gift Appeal
Christmas Jumper Day
The school had a wonderful Christmassy feel on Thursday 7th December, as we supported Save the Children by wearing our Christmas jumpers. We raised a fantastic £343 for this worthwhile cause. Thank you to all who donated.
Pupil Leadership Team
Wow, what a busy term we have had! The Pupil Leadership Team began the term by clearing and planting the seeds which were given to schools to commemorate the coronation of King Charles III. The packets of seeds include native annual wildflower species – cornflower, corn poppy, corn chamomile, corncockle, corn marigold and night-flowering catchfly – which if sown this spring, will be in bloom this summer.
The wildflowers will support a wide range of insects including bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Each packet covers around two square metres of blue, white, purple, red, and yellow flowers.
STARS Houses Week
The Pupil Leadership Team were eager to be involved in the launch of Langford’s House system this term having played a key role in naming the houses and choosing the house colours linked to facts we found out about the houses. Planning took place to ensure that the launch of the houses was a fun and vibrant affair.
Cake Sale
The Pupil Leadership team asked to hold the first cake sale in Langford since COVID 19. The team did a great job in running the stalls during the school day and supporting after school and raised close to £500. The money from which, will go towards purchasing playground equipment for the pupils to use in Term 3.
STARS Colour Day
The Pupil Leadership Team were also keen to have a day of STARS colour and the school was awash with colour and fun on the Friday with pupils wearing their house colours! Our Friday assembly was a rainbow of colour. Thank you for supporting the Pupil Leadership Team this term, we look forward to planning ways to make Langford even better next term.
FOLVS Star Gazer Event
As part of STARS week, we were very lucky to be joined by scientists from the University of Oxford Department of Astrophysics department as part of FOLVS Star Gazer evening. They were available to answer space related questions as well as provide some fun demonstrations, including an infra-red camera and some Galaxy Zoo observing. We also had some local astronomers in attendance who brought along their telescopes. There were space themed arts/crafts, hot chocolate, and hot dogs for everybody to enjoy.
This was a fantastic evening that was enjoyed by all who attended and we are very thankful to Ashling Gordon, FOLVS Chairperson, for arranging this for the school. FOLVS are already planning another similar event in 2024 and hopefully it will be a perfect cloud free evening next time, fingers crossed!
STARS House Logo Competition
Thank you to all of the children who have submitted designs for our house logo competition. These have now been compiled and we are very excited to announce the winners in the new year.
Well done to all of the children who have already started to earn lots of points for their houses.
Eco Council
Langford now has its very own Eco-Council. This is a very exciting project and was set up due to the suggestions made by our Pupil Leadership Team. The Eco-Council members, with the help of Mrs Foster and Mrs Garraway will be working towards the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. The award involves a seven stage process throughout the year. The Eco-Council will be meeting up regularly throughout the year to discuss how we can make a positive impact on the environment at our school. They will also be involved in setting up school wide projects. One of the projects that we hope to get off the ground shortly is improving our forest school facility so that we can support biodiversity at Langford. We are also going to take part in the RSPB Big Schools Birdwatch, so watch out for more information about that shortly! The other projects will be voted on by our Eco- Council and the whole school will have the opportunity to be involved.
Mrs Foster and Mrs Garraway are looking forward to working with the children to achieve the Green Flag Award.
Carols on the Playground
After school on Monday 18th December, we all joined together on the playground to sing some Christmas songs. The children had been practicing and have done a fantastic job of learning the lyrics! This was a lovely family event that really showed the spirit of what Christmas is all about. Thank you to all the families for staying and joining us in spreading some Christmas cheer.
Choir
Construction Club
We have been very busy in construction club this term, creating amazing grand designs using K'Nex, Lego, Marble Runs and much more. The children have been brilliant team players, helping each other with design ideas and working together to make such fantastic creations.
Lego Club
This term children have been creating their own villages, various types of transport, and constructing to their hearts content. Each week they put their creations on the shelf so they can add to them the following week. They work either independently or in small groups helping and supporting one another with finding certain pieces or just for moral support. The children have definitely enjoyed their time at Lego Club and looking at each other’s creations.
Warhammer Club
This term has seen the club develop greater skills. We have moved away from the miniatures that the club provides in the ‘starter’ set whereby models are created by pushing out the ‘sprues’ from the moulds. We are now using precision cutters and the glue to build more sophisticated miniatures from a variety of armies both 40k and Age of Sigmar. Some of the members have explored the different armies and visited stores in order to build their armies whereas others are still on the quest to discover the right lore and army for them! As such, Mrs G has been busy primering Space Marines and Orks as well as Amazonians so that members can get to know the different characteristics of some of the armies. At the end of term, there is a competition where each member is given a primed Ork – the competition is a painting challenge. Each member receives an ‘Ork’ and the choice of 3 paints and over the Christmas holidays, members are to design and paint their Ork. Judging will commence in the 2nd week back of Term 3.
FSU Singing - A Magical Musical Christmas
We are so proud of our youngest pupils who learnt a range of songs and actions to perform to their parents on Tuesday 12th December. They did brilliantly and there were many smiles and happy tears in the audience. Photographs of this event have been shared via Tapestry for parents in FSU.
The children have also enjoyed participating in a number of fund raising days this term, including Children in Need, cake sales and Christmas jumper day. These always add an element of excitement to the day as well as an opportunity for the children to learn the importance of helping others. To conclude this term, we have been enjoying lots of Christmas activities including the incredible Magical Musical Christmas. We are all bursting with pride for the children’s enthusiasm and participation when singing the Christmas songs, along with the actions in front of a big audience. The children were FANTASTIC!
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy New year. We look forward to seeing you all again on the 8th January 2024!
Year 1 Local Walk
We have had another fun and busy term in Year 1!
As part of our Geography topic this term, we have had the exciting opportunity to learn and explore our local area. As part of this, we went on a local walk to Jubilee Lake where the children were busy spotting human and physical geographical features.
KS1 Nativity- The Bethlehem Bake Off
Wow, wow, wow what a busy term for Year 1 and 2. The children have worked so hard practicing their lines and learning the songs for our play ‘The Bethlehem Bake off.’ They have made us all so proud, well done Year 1 and 2.
Year 3
This term Year 3 welcomed Dr Helen from Paleoquest in to school, to teach us all about Stone Age artefacts and fossils from even further beyond! The children became archaeologists for the day and experienced a wide range of activities such as excavating fossils and artefacts, preparing items for museum display and investigating and sorting fossils. The children all had a wonderful time and were full of questions for Dr Helen!
Year 4
On Tuesday 21st November, Year 4 enjoyed a wonderful, hands-on trip to Science Oxford in Headington. The focus of the field trip was to learn more about species that live in different habitats as part of our Science topic on ‘Animals and their Habitats’.
Both classes enjoyed exploring the site’s beautiful woodlands and learnt how to measure the age of trees. Once we had been shown, the pupils investigated the ages of the different trees in the woodland area. After that, we learnt about the different animals that lived in the woods – we looked at man-made homes and homes created by the animals themselves. In addition to this, we also looked at the skulls of animals and tried to guess which creature it was.
Once we had explored the woodlands, we headed to the classroom to learn about the different species that live in ponds. We were given the equipment and an identification card and headed to the site’s ponds to explore! Once there, we were delighted to discover a newt, Greater Water-boatmen, dragonfly lymphs, mayfly and leeches. This was great fun and once we returned to the classroom, we used microscopes to further research our specimens.
At the end of the day, we enjoyed experimenting in the ‘Exploration Zone’ where we used scientific equipment such as thermal imaging cameras, microscopes, thermometers, magnets, electrical circuit components and much, much more.
We learnt to much and used a variety of skills. Many of the pupils came back to school enthused and wanting to becomes scientists and engineers!
Year 5
Year 5 have had another very busy and productive term. We have explored many natural disasters including earthquakes, volcanos and tsunamis. The children have developed their map reading skills to locate places using 4 and 6 point grid references. The Snowman has been used as a stimulus for us to write instructions, exciting newspaper reports and adventurous narratives. We had a great science afternoon exploring properties and changes of materials; we particularly enjoyed investigating soluble and insoluble substances. Kestrels had a fun final swimming session learning important survival skills and Hawks have enjoyed their first few successful weeks of their swimming lessons.
In Art, we have learnt about art installations and created our own 3D installations in and around school, exploring space and scale. In the run up to Christmas, Year 5 have been practising their carol singing skills and enjoyed Christmas art activities. Everyone is incredibly excited for the Christmas festivities and we wish everyone a restful break. We are looking forward to starting our new ‘Space’ Science topic with a planetarium experience on our first day back.
Year 6
This term in History, we have continued learning about Democracy in Britain since 1066, focusing on Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragette movement. The children have learnt how women fought for the rights they have today; whether that was as a suffragist who campaigned by writing petitions, or the suffragettes, who campaigned though ‘Deeds not Words!’
We have also been learning about electricity in Science. The children have investigated static electricity and how when two objects come into contact with each other the electrons transfer from the objects and create a static charge, due to one object being positively charged and the other negatively charged. The children have also learnt about electrical circuits and drawn basic electrical diagrams for a series and parallel circuit, and completed an investigation to identify how different circuit components can affect the brightness of a bulb.
Hazard Alley Visit
This term, Year 6 were lucky enough to spend the morning visiting Hazard Alley Safety Centre in Milton Keynes. Inside the centre, the children explored 14 different scenarios mimicking real life dangers. In each, they observed potential dangers, discussed how to keep themselves and others safe as well as practising some important safety skills. Some of the favourite scenarios and skills included: seeing the front end of a real-life train on a railway line, rehearsing the recovery position and making a 999-phone call.
Well done to the following pupils for finishing in the top 10 this month, within the whole school. You will receive a certificate from Mr North!
All of you guys ROCK! Make sure you continue to use TTRS over the Christmas break and get better and better with your times tables!
| Name | Pupil | Class | Year Group | Total Points |
| 1st | Shiven S | Kestrels | Year 5 | 132,426 |
| 2nd | Ajay V | Hawks | Year 5 | 99,498 |
| 3rd | Chidera O | Kestrels | Year 5 | 51,720 |
| 4th | Oakley B | Tawny Owls | Year 4 | 33.184 |
| 4th | Chika O | Tawny Owls | Year 4 | 32,447 |
| 6th | Sam L | Tawny Owls | Year 4 | 21,312 |
| 7th | Elsa J | Tawny Owls | Year 4 | 21,261 |
| 8th | Artie E | Tawny Owls | Year 4 | 18,934 |
| 9th | Stanley C | Kestrels | Year 5 | 17,056 |
| 10th | Theo P | Eagles | Year 6 | 15,746 |
Please ensure that your child is accessing Times Table Rockstars at least 2 to 3 times a week. Maths is a big subject, and we appreciate there is more to it than just times tables and there is more to times tables than learning them off by heart. However, a lot of the rich, interesting maths is all about the multiplicative relationships and these are hard to fully grasp without fluent recall of the tables. For that reason, learning the tables is fundamental – they are a key facilitator to the maths that sits on top. We have always believed that. Pupils can play any of the game formats and start earning their coins, which they can then spend on making sure their avatars are rocking!
Thanks for your support,
Mr North (Maths Co-ordinator)
Disability History Month is recognised in the UK between the 16th November to the 16th December and to celebrate and raise its importance, this term we share with you two amazing STEM heroes! John McFal, the world’s first para astronaut and ‘Space Science Genius’, Stephen Hawkins. For more information see https://www.inventorsandmakers.com
Year 1 Multiskills Event
On Thursday 23rd November Year 1 took part in a multi-skills event at The Cooper School. The sporting afternoon focused on the theme ‘self-belief,’ which our children showed lots of. It was an afternoon full of cheering, shouting and giving events a good go. We had such an awesome time!
Year 4 Girls& Boys Festivals
During this term, some wonderful boys and girls from Year 4 attended a festival of sport at Cooper School sports hall. During the action-packed afternoon there, the children all took part in 5 different exciting activities, including: Trampoline, Volleyball, Basketball, Table Tennis and Archery. The children were encouraged and supported by some helpful Year 10 students – including some former pupils of Langford. Not only did the children impress the teachers with their behaviour during the afternoon, but they were perfectly behaved when walking to and from the event, clocking up nearly 3 miles of walking! Well done to them all!
Take part in any challenges with your family and friends. Give your answers to your class teachers.
Research these facts to discover if they are True or False
Last term's riddle answers:
This month's riddles...good luck!
Riddle: I get chopped down, decorated all over, and I have wings on top. What am I?
Riddle: I’m a cookie you might like to eat, and some might say I’m a favoured Christmas treat. I have brown arms, eyes, and don’t forget my feet. What am I?
Riddle: Where does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?
