Bures C.E. Primary School Newsletter

Transcription

1 Bures C.E. Primary School Newsletter Contact us: Date: 25th January 2019 Big Question of the Week Do you think people read more or less books now than 50 years ago? Would you describe yourself as a passionate reader? Attendance and Punctuality I am thrilled to say that our attendance figures are gradually increasing and are now almost in line with the national average figure. We all know that we are not in any way an average school so I would ask you all to keep working hard to ensure your children attend every day so we can exceed that national figure. Our Educational Welfare Officer, who was here for the late gate on Monday, was very impressed with the fact that he only saw a couple of children arriving after the gate was closed. Thank you to those parents who I know find it tricky to be on time for making an extra effort (especially as it was so icy on Monday). If you can achieve it one day you can make it a habit to be on time if you are determined to. I cannot stress how important it is for the children to be on time and ready to learn each day. A late start can cause them to be anxious and miss out on important aspects of learning. It can also lead to bad habits which can impact on their working life as they grow older. Let s give all our children the best chance to succeed every day. The EWO has agreed to come and do a few random late gate checks so we all need to be on our mettle. I finish with a special thank you to those parents who are as meticulous as I am about attendance and punctuality. It will stand your children in good stead! Online Safety On Tuesday evening our Governors attended a training session about Online Safeguarding. The session was very informative but also slightly alarming. As a fairly ancient woman, I often feel quite ill-informed about the world of Social Media and tend to avoid using it as much as possible but this session reminded me what an exciting world this can appear to our children and young people and how important it is that we (and particularly you as parents) travel the journey into this exciting but often risky world with them. In order to do this you need as much information as possible at your fingertips. With this in mind and with some financial support from the PSA, Mrs Holmes, our Online Safeguarding Lead, has booked three separate sessions one for children, one for staff and one for parents with the Two Johns (former Police Officers) who will provide you with some scary information about what your children s online activity and how these apps and games can lead to information about your child making its way to the dark web. The good news is they will also provide you with lots of information about how you can ensure you and your children can have good fun on the internet without getting into difficulties. The parents session will take place on Wednesday 13th February at 6.30pm. It is vital that at least one adult is at that session to represent each of the children. Please ensure the date is firmly fixed in your diary you will be amazed at how much you will learn and how much you are unaware of even if you are far more computer-savvy than me. For more information about the Two Johns visit their website at It has links to lots of useful resources to support you in your role.

2 Collective Worship This term as well as thinking about the value of Friendship we will also be exploring the story of Easter using posters depicting The Stations of the Cross. On Monday, Mrs Bennie shared the story of Peter denying Jesus using the poster which shows Jesus being condemned to death. She talked about standing up for what you believe in even when it is hard or even a bit frightening. On Tuesday, Reverend Steve began to talk to children about the Communion Service. Together he and the children thought about how food sometimes reminds us of particular things, people or places which led into a discussion about how early Christian friends when they met for a meal would be reminded about what Jesus did and said. We are planning to share communion at our Easter service later this term so we are teaching the children about the meaning behind this particular Christian celebration. On Thursday, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day (21st January) by thinking about tolerance. We talked about Martin Luther King s special speech and about his belief in working peacefully to achieve his important aims. Hello and Goodbye As many of you will have noticed, Mrs Berry has not been with us in Reception for a while and I can now confirm that she will not be returning. However, we are pleased to say that we have appointed a new LSA to support in Reception. Ms Tonie Bower is currently working as a Secondary History Teacher but has decided that she would like to learn more about primary education and has taken on this post in order to do just that. She will join us properly after Easter but will be visiting often over the next few weeks to get to know the children and their routines. We are very much looking forward to working with her. In the meantime I would like to say an extra big thank you to our EYFS Team Mrs Wilcox, Miss Moore, Mrs Manning, Mrs Hearnden and Miss Main for pulling together to support the reception children whilst we have been carrying out the recruitment process. I would like to thank Mrs Manning in particular as she has been running from Reception to Nursery in the mornings, leading our MDA team at lunchtime and then heading back in to Reception on a Thursday and Friday afternoon to offer further support there! She is definitely earning her weekends!! EFL Football Tournament On the 23rd January 2019, Harry, Josh, Hayden, Monty, Maurice and Ollie went to a football tournament held on the 3G pitch at Portman Road the Ipswich Town Football Ground. First we warmed up and entered the 3G pitch and took some shots. After 10 minutes it was announced that we were playing second, so we had time for a snack. Then we played Pakesfield losing to a last minute goal. Next we lost 2-0, and drew our last two matches. Overall we came 3rd in our group out of 5 teams. It was extremely fun and an amazing experience to play at Ipswich Town F.C. By Harry and Josh

3 PSA NEWS PSA Spring Term Meeting Update At our meeting on Wednesday, we celebrated the success of our autumn term fundraising initiatives and spent time planning events and activities for We reviewed how PSA funds have been spent so far this academic year and heard from Ms Slater about ways in which we can support the school over the coming months. Look out for more news about this over the coming weeks! Class Reps As part of our ongoing work to communicate more effectively with parents and the wider school community, we have introduced PSA Class Reps. These people will provide an informal link between the PSA committee and parents in each year group and will act as a point of contact for their class should you have a query relating to any PSA matters. Our class reps are: Nursery: Clare Frewin Reception: Joanne Kendall Year 1: Tracey Verguld Year 2: Helen Lane Year 3: Jenny Wheeler Year 4: Helen Foster Year 5: Ruth Woodman Year 6: Hayley Brasier Disco - Payment Deadline and Parent Helpers Just a reminder that the payment deadline for our forthcoming disco is Tuesday 29th January. If your child wishes to attend this popular event, please ensure that we receive your payment along with your completed emergency contact slip by Tuesday at the latest. We are still in need of a few more parent helpers too. If you are able to help out at either disco, please let Helen Foster know, or leave a message via the school office. Popcorn Stall Thanks to everyone who bought popcorn last week. You helped us to raise for our school. Forthcoming PSA Events Disco - Friday 1st February World Book Day Book Stall - Thursday 7th March Mothers Day event / activities - Friday 31st March (tbc) Attendance Whole School so far this academic year 94.1% Reception Year One Year Two Year Three Year Four Year Five Year Six Gold = % Green = % Red = % Purple = <90% Well done Reception in what was a poor attendance week! Hope everyone is feeling better after the weekend.

4 KS1 Florist visit We made flower arrangements with Mrs Coe because she's a florist. She explained what a florist does. then she showed us how to make our own flower arrangements. We pushed the flowers into the green stuff (oasis) in patterns of 1 and 3. Next we put tissue paper around using some special pins and string called raffia. It was very exciting and our families enjoyed their gifts. A huge thanks to Mrs Coe for organising such a wonderful experience for all the children in Brambly Hedge and Emerald City. By Sofia and Amelia U11 Swimming Gala Last Friday a few individual swimmers in Y5 and 6 were chosen to swim 25m at Kingfisher swimming pool. First we did solo races in backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Sam came first and all the others did extremely well in their races, even though some of us don t get to practise our swimming as much as we d like to. Next came the relays where 4 people were in each race doing their best stroke, and after that came a relay with everyone doing freestyle. When the gala was finished, we came 9th out of 13 schools. On the way back, we went by train. Most of us were really excited as we saw deer just eating a few metres away from the track! Finally, we got off the train at Bures station and walked back to school all feeling very pleased. By Sam and Marlie-Rai

5 Our Learning Ambassadors for this week are: Hannah, Ryan, Arianna, Maurice, Alex, April, Maya, Casey, Layla, Kitty, Marley-Ray, Connar, Millie and Annabelle Well Done to all of them! Term Dates Please see below our confirmed term dates for 2019 to Autumn Term 2019 Non-Pupil Days Term Starts: Monday 2nd September Monday 2nd September Half Term: Monday 21st October to Friday 25th October Tuesday 3rd September End of Term: Thursday 19th December Monday 28th October Spring Term 2020 Term Starts: Monday 6th January Friday 14th February Half Term: End of Term: Monday 17th February to Friday 21st February Thursday 2nd April Summer Term 2020 Tern Starts: Monday 20th April Monday 1st June Half Term: End of Term: Monday 25th May to Friday 29thMay Wednesday 22nd July

6 Nut Free School Just a reminder that we are a nut free school. We do have children with nut allergies and as you will no doubt have seen in the news, these allergies can be potentially lifethreatening. This applies to all food coming into school including lunches, snack and donations to cake stalls. Nutella both in sandwiches and snack pots is not permissible. Uniform Ordering Deadline The next order deadline will be Thursday 31st January.