As we approach the end of Spring Term One, the children at Garden Village Primary Academy have once again achieved superbly and have so much to be proud of.

Thank you for attending your child's parents' evening this week. It was delightful to read your feedback on the children's books that were sent home. Your parental support is so appreciated.

Last week, the recruitment process for the Year Two class teacher for September 2026 commenced. There has been a wonderful positive response.

Spring Term Two is an exciting but busy term. Please take note of the dates at the end of the newsletter for your diary.

Attendance has slightly increased to 94.3%. Thank you again for supporting your child's attendance and punctuality.

Miss Matthews and Mrs Guild are so proud of the achievements of Reception Maple in Spring Term 1. Here are so highlights form the past two weeks.

Drawing Club

This term, the children have made fantastic progress in their early writing skills. They are increasingly confident in hearing and matching digraphs and trigraphs to words and using their phonics knowledge to identify the first sound in words and link it to the correct letter. Many children are now beginning to write short phrases independently, using their growing awareness of sounds to segment words. They have also enjoyed writing labels for their models, drawings, and role-play activities, showing pride in giving meaning to their marks. It has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm grow as they experiment with writing in purposeful, playful ways. The children are also becoming increasingly confident in writing tricky words independently, using their phonic knowledge and growing word recognition. Well done everyone!

Mathematics

In Maths, the children have been exploring height and length through practical, hands-on activities. They have enjoyed comparing objects, using vocabulary such as ‘taller’, ‘shorter’, ‘longer’ and ‘smaller’, and ordering items by size. The children have also begun using non-standard units—like cubes, blocks and ribbons—to measure different objects around the classroom.

We have also been learning the days of the week and the children are beginning to use this vocabulary confidently during daily routines. Through songs, stories, and practical activities, they are recognising the order of the days and starting to talk about what happens ‘today’, ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’. Their growing understanding is helping them make simple connections between time and their own experiences. To further support with our learning of time, we have been learning how to sequence instructions by exploring the steps needed to make a jam sandwich. Through modelling and hands-on activities, they talked about what needs to happen ‘first’, ‘next’, ‘then’ and ‘last’. Reception Maple enjoyed helping Miss Matthews draw a set of instructions, and they thoroughly enjoyed making jam sandwiches in the special practical room!

Phonics and Reading

Reception Maple continue to make good progress in their phonic knowledge and application to their writing. 

Handwriting

We are taking so much pride in our new Little Wandle handwriting books. 

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

Reception Maple have been learning about Chinese New Year and exploring how it is celebrated. They listened to stories about the zodiac animals, tried using simple Chinese greetings, and enjoyed finding out about traditions such as lanterns, dragons, and giving red envelopes. Through craft activities, music, and role-play, the children developed an understanding of how families prepare for and celebrate the festival. We even went into the hall to perform our own Dragon Dance! Well done everyone.

Expressive Arts and Design

Through the work of the artist Megan Coyle, the children have been learning how to create a landscape collage by exploring different textures, colours and materials. As a whole class, they carefully selected, arranged and stuck items such as paper and fabric to create an image of an oak tree. Through this process, they experimented with layering, overlapping, and making choices about how to place each piece. The activity supported their fine motor skills, encouraged creativity, and helped them talk about their ideas and artistic choices with growing confidence.

Literacy Tree

The children have well and truly exceeded our expectations during our Literacy Tree learning. Their fact files about famous buildings around the world were simply phenomenal! A huge thank you to all the parents who left thoughtful and encouraging comments in their books – your support is genuinely appreciated. It was wonderful to see just how engaged the children were as they explored famous landmarks, eagerly asking questions and wanting to discover even more. Using our construction materials and peg boards, they even recreated some of these world-famous buildings – can you guess which ones we made? This week, we travelled further into our learning with the story The Magic Bed. The children wrote beautifully detailed descriptive paragraphs about where they would like to travel on their very own magic beds. Their imagination and vocabulary have been amazing to see!

Maths

Number Day was a tremendous success! “6 + 7” might just be the most-loved equation in Year 1 after how many times it was joyfully shouted out across the classroom. The children had the exciting opportunity to make and bake their own domino biscuits and the children generated numbers to 20 and represented them in a variety of ways. It was hands-on, purposeful and lots of fun!

Art and Design

We’ve also been busy getting creative! Ms Rogers kindly surprised us with famous London landmarks to decorate. The children loved transforming their very own models of Big Ben and Tower Bridge, adding colour, personality and plenty of sparkle. Their artistic talents truly shone!

Geography

In Geography, the children have continued their work on the United Kingdom. This week, they transformed into confident weather presenters to deliver the Garden Village Weather Forecast! Using their knowledge of North, East, South and West, they accurately described the weather in different UK locations and had fantastic fun stepping into the role of real meteorologists.

March Personal Development Opportunities

From Monday 16th to Sunday 22nd February, Jessie’s Journey will be opening a seven-day pop-up charity shop and community hub in Tamworth, with a full programme of FREE events for children and families.

Jessie is a five-year-old girl from Tamworth who is currently in active treatment battling leukaemia, having been diagnosed at just three years old.

Her family have created this pop-up to raise funds and support families affected by childhood cancer across Tamworth and the wider Midlands.

This is a fantastic opportunity for families to save money over the half-term holiday, enjoy free activities, and support a local charity. It’s only here for one week, so please come along to shop, socialise, and have fun.

The Jessie’s Journey Team

Thank you to everyone who continues to park respectfully. Unfortunately, last week, an email from an upset resident was received regarding parental parking. Please be mindful that the residents who live close to school have the right to access their property and the double yellow lines mean no parking at anytime of the day unless you are a Blue Badge Holder. Once again, I thank you in advance for your continued support of this.  

On Wednesday 11th February, the Garden Village Primary Academy Local Governing Committee met for the Spring Term Curriculum and Standards meeting. It was a highly positive meeting, and we are delighted to announce the election of our new Chair of Governors – Mr Mathew Newman and a new co-opted governor, Mrs Angela Mulligan.

For further information about the Trust, please use this link: Fierté Multi-Academy Trust - Home

Telephone: 01827 214630

Office Email: office@gardenvillage.fierte.org

Headteacher / SENCO: headteacher@gardenvillage.fierte.org