We had our final OPAL audit this week and I am delighted to share that we have been accredited with a gold standard! We are the first school in West Berkshire to receive OPAL accreditation and I am delighted with the outcome. The journey continues and your input will help us plan the next steps.

The Eco Council led last Monday’s assembly and gave us some top tips for how to have a more environmentally friendly Christmas including: making homemade gifts and decorations, reusing decorations, shopping locally and trying to minimise food waste.

Thank you to all families who took part in Cut Your Carbon this year. We had 12 children complete the checklist, resulting in 143.71 kgCO2 e of carbon savings. This is roughly equivalent to driving an average car about 350-400 km (around 220-250 miles), powering an average UK home's electricity for 1-2 months or making 14,000 cups of tea! We would love to encourage even more families to take part next year. Please let us know, via our Facebook page , if you have any ideas to

Year 4 have written some very passionate letters to Luiz da Silva, President of Brazil, about deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. "I am writing you this letter because I am not very happy. I would like you to stop chopping down the trees." - Freddie "The rainforest is home to indigenous people - if you destroy it, where will they live? We are losing 5000 species a year due to deforestation. Cutting down trees creates more carbon dioxide, droughts and a rise in global temp

We are delighted to hear that some of our PDP families have been enjoying cooking Good Grub Club recipes and grateful to one of our Year 4 pupils, Edie, for sharing what she made! Edie says “It was really easy to make although it was a bit tricky to open the tins so my Mum had to help me. I had my hotpot with pasta and a bit of bread and butter. I wasn’t a big fan of the kidney beans but the sausages were really good! I put a bit of Worcester sauce in the hotpot and some grat

Come join us for the PDSA Christmas Fair, after school on Friday 12th December. The fair will be spread across the hall, Seal Club and The Pod. There will be refreshments, games, gifts and much more! We hope to see you there!

The School Council have been busy this term. In Monday’s assembly they shared their trip to the launch of the West Berkshire Toy Appeal: https://toyappeal.co.uk/ They’ve also volunteered their services at next Friday’s PDSA Christmas fayre and to be this year’s Christmas post box elves. It’s really lovely to see them embracing community spirit.

We have launched our first ever Christmas writing competition. Infant pupils can enter by drawing a Christmas picture and labelling it OR write a short Christmas story (up to 300 words). Junior pupils are being challenged to write a short story (up to 500 words). Entries need to be brought in by Friday 12th December. The School Council will be judging the entries.

Our U11 Boys’ football team braved the wet and windy weather this afternoon in a mini tournament at Long Lane Primary. They battled hard but lost 3 games and drew one which unfortunately means they don’t go through to the next stage. Great effort boys!

Congratulations to the girls on making the ESFA finals! The team had an amazing afternoon of football, involving 6 schools. Up against some tough competition, in the pouring rain and muddy conditions, Parsons Down lost 1 game, drew 2 games and won 2 games, coming in third overall in the District, a fantastic achievement! Thank you to the parents for your support.

In our Eco Meeting this week, we talked about how we can have an eco friendly Christmas. The children had lots of brilliant ideas which we have put into a PowerPoint to share in assembly next week. We also made some environmentally friendly Christmas crackers which the eco councillors were able to take home to enjoy over Christmas!

Pupils have really enjoyed cooking Sausage & Bean hotpot this term and have been excited to take the ingredients home to re-create the same recipe! Our next recipe is Tuna & Tomato pasta bake which, again, is budget friendly, easy to make and provides a good balance of vegetables, protein and carbohydrates. You can substitute the sweetcorn for fresh veggies or other tinned vegetables. We would LOVE to see what children are making at home so please send any photos through to..