Berewood Bulletin - Berewood Primary School
Berewood Primary School Kentidge Way Waterlooville Hampshire
Thursday 24th March 2016 Spring 3.2016
Berewood Bulletin Head teacher up-date Dear Parents and Carers I write at the end of our busy spring term, just as we see signs that spring is nearly here and as we look forward to a happy Easter holiday weekend. I look back over this very short term with a smile, as I recall sports relief, trips out, sporting competitions and swimming lessons. I have also seen some children making huge strides in their learning, with reading, writing, phonics and mathematics enhanced by special events and an enriched curriculum; indeed today in school we watched Oak and Ash classes “fly” to India. It is a privilege to see such happy children working in their busy classrooms. In this edition of the Berewood Bulletin you will read of some of these special events and find out about the children’s determination to keep us all safe on our journeys to and from school, as well as some new dates in our school diary. I add a quick reminder about parking and driving on the road into school, noting that although we are asked to keep to a speed limit of 10mph, I am aware that some cars are driven much faster than this and are putting our children at risk– please slow down near school! Thank you for all your support this term, and I wish you a very happy and relaxing Easter holiday. Yours sincerely
Diary Dates
Thursday 24th March: Last day of Spring term Monday 11th April: First day of Summer term Friday 15th April: topic books and curriculum information sent home Monday 2nd May: Bank holiday– school closed Monday 9th May: start of Y6 National Curriculum tests Monday 30th May: start of half term Friday 24th June: INSET day please note the change from 6th June Wednesday 29th June: provisional date for sports day Wednesday 6th July: Year 6 transition day Wednesday 20th July: last day of Summer term Monday 5th / Tuesday 6th September: INSET days
Mrs Sue Patrick
Parent and Carers Questionnaire Thank you for returning your parent questionnaires, they have given a very useful insight into your thoughts about our school and our priorities. As promised, they have all been shared with our Governors and will be used as part of our review process as we begin to prepare for 2016-17. Among the strengths you identified were our staff, our friendly community and the lovely building we all enjoy. Although there were no clear, shared concerns, many of you did raise a worry about parking at the school. I am grateful for your time in responding to our questionnaire, and remind you that you can go on line to the Ofsted Parent View website on www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results, and enter the school’s name and address, and you will be able to enter your comments about our school there too.
Sports Relief We all enjoyed wearing our sports kits last week to support Sport Relief. The school raised £131.50 and one of our children, raised a further £105.50 for a sponsored goal kick. Well done to Freddy Gubbins! Many of us also joined in the Fun Run organised by Rev John Thompson, and congratulations to Zach Howgill who won both the children’s and the adult’s races!
School uniform and PE kit I look forward to seeing our children returning to school with their smart school uniforms and school shoes. Can I also remind you to check that your child has the correct PE kit in school each week, with black PE shorts and a plain white t -shirt. Plimsolls or trainers (in key stage 2) will be needed for outside PE during the summer term.
A message from Sue Sansom, CEO, University of Chichester Academy Trust: At the end of another busy term I would like to wish you all a sunny and happy Easter break. The next issue of Academy Update will be published after Easter and will have a focus on school improvement, with tailored information for each academy. We know that parents and carers like to be well-informed about their academy’s Journey to Excellence and are keen to support the efforts to improve their children’s education. A great deal of hard work by children and staff, supported by our University colleagues, has been evident this term and we look forward to sharing this news with you as we set our priorities for the next academic year. With best wishes, Sue Sansom
2
Our own Junior Road Safety Officers! Recognising that we all share concerns about keeping the roads around our school as safe as possible, two children attended Junior Road Safety training this month, and returned to school with many ideas about how to make our children more aware of how to keep safe on the roads. This week they took an assembly and reminded the children of the rules for using bicycles and scooters safely. They brilliantly answered the children’s questions, and even demonstrated how important wearing a helmet is… ask your child to tell you about the egg helmet if they haven’t already told you! Together they have now created a JRSO team with their own deputies, and I look forward to their help in encouraging us all to think more carefully about keeping to the guidance we have shared for safe set down and pick up at the beginning and end of the school day.
Key Stage 1 Trip to India Today, Oak and Ash class enjoyed a fantastic trip to India. They checked in to the school hall this morning and weighed their baggage before departing on “Berewood Airways”, where they watched an in-flight movie and were served drinks by the “cabin crew”. Upon arrival, they experienced the sights and smells of a spice market, tasted some Indian food and wrote postcards home before the return “flight”. It was a wonderful day of learning and fun.
3
Introducing our Governors
Attendance Matters! Our current attendance is 95.8% Please help us to keep our attendance as high as possible. It has risen very slightly since the last Bulletin, but remains lower than our target. Please help us to improve this with 100% attendance next term!
Mr Graham Olway (Chair of Governors) Graham Olway has lived in Waterlooville for 25 years and his children all attended local schools and he wanted to contribute his time and experience to a local school. He has a wide variety of experience in the education sector having worked for the Department for Education and also in various roles with Hampshire, Portsmouth and West Sussex local education authorities. He currently manages school place planning and the capital programme for West Sussex County Council. In 2013, Graham was awarded an MBE for his services to education after serving for six years as National Chairman of the Education Building Development Officers Group (EBDOG). He is a lifelong supporter of Arsenal FC but also follows Accrington Stanley FC, as well as being actively involved in geocaching. Dog Mess
I am told that there are no plans to place any dog bins near the our school at the moment, but I am aware that there is a large amount of mess around the school. If you bring your dog to school, please can I ask you to remove any mess they make, and I will try to contact local dog walkers to ask them to do the same. Thank you.
School Lunches The school dinner menu will change after Easter and, as soon as we receive the menus from HC3S, we will send copies home in book bags. In the mean time we have uploaded one to the school website. Also, please note that the price of a school dinner increases from £2 to £2.10 from 1st April 2016.
Thursday 24th March 2016 Spring 3.2016
Berewood Bulletin Head teacher up-date Dear Parents and Carers I write at the end of our busy spring term, just as we see signs that spring is nearly here and as we look forward to a happy Easter holiday weekend. I look back over this very short term with a smile, as I recall sports relief, trips out, sporting competitions and swimming lessons. I have also seen some children making huge strides in their learning, with reading, writing, phonics and mathematics enhanced by special events and an enriched curriculum; indeed today in school we watched Oak and Ash classes “fly” to India. It is a privilege to see such happy children working in their busy classrooms. In this edition of the Berewood Bulletin you will read of some of these special events and find out about the children’s determination to keep us all safe on our journeys to and from school, as well as some new dates in our school diary. I add a quick reminder about parking and driving on the road into school, noting that although we are asked to keep to a speed limit of 10mph, I am aware that some cars are driven much faster than this and are putting our children at risk– please slow down near school! Thank you for all your support this term, and I wish you a very happy and relaxing Easter holiday. Yours sincerely
Diary Dates
Thursday 24th March: Last day of Spring term Monday 11th April: First day of Summer term Friday 15th April: topic books and curriculum information sent home Monday 2nd May: Bank holiday– school closed Monday 9th May: start of Y6 National Curriculum tests Monday 30th May: start of half term Friday 24th June: INSET day please note the change from 6th June Wednesday 29th June: provisional date for sports day Wednesday 6th July: Year 6 transition day Wednesday 20th July: last day of Summer term Monday 5th / Tuesday 6th September: INSET days
Mrs Sue Patrick
Parent and Carers Questionnaire Thank you for returning your parent questionnaires, they have given a very useful insight into your thoughts about our school and our priorities. As promised, they have all been shared with our Governors and will be used as part of our review process as we begin to prepare for 2016-17. Among the strengths you identified were our staff, our friendly community and the lovely building we all enjoy. Although there were no clear, shared concerns, many of you did raise a worry about parking at the school. I am grateful for your time in responding to our questionnaire, and remind you that you can go on line to the Ofsted Parent View website on www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results, and enter the school’s name and address, and you will be able to enter your comments about our school there too.
Sports Relief We all enjoyed wearing our sports kits last week to support Sport Relief. The school raised £131.50 and one of our children, raised a further £105.50 for a sponsored goal kick. Well done to Freddy Gubbins! Many of us also joined in the Fun Run organised by Rev John Thompson, and congratulations to Zach Howgill who won both the children’s and the adult’s races!
School uniform and PE kit I look forward to seeing our children returning to school with their smart school uniforms and school shoes. Can I also remind you to check that your child has the correct PE kit in school each week, with black PE shorts and a plain white t -shirt. Plimsolls or trainers (in key stage 2) will be needed for outside PE during the summer term.
A message from Sue Sansom, CEO, University of Chichester Academy Trust: At the end of another busy term I would like to wish you all a sunny and happy Easter break. The next issue of Academy Update will be published after Easter and will have a focus on school improvement, with tailored information for each academy. We know that parents and carers like to be well-informed about their academy’s Journey to Excellence and are keen to support the efforts to improve their children’s education. A great deal of hard work by children and staff, supported by our University colleagues, has been evident this term and we look forward to sharing this news with you as we set our priorities for the next academic year. With best wishes, Sue Sansom
2
Our own Junior Road Safety Officers! Recognising that we all share concerns about keeping the roads around our school as safe as possible, two children attended Junior Road Safety training this month, and returned to school with many ideas about how to make our children more aware of how to keep safe on the roads. This week they took an assembly and reminded the children of the rules for using bicycles and scooters safely. They brilliantly answered the children’s questions, and even demonstrated how important wearing a helmet is… ask your child to tell you about the egg helmet if they haven’t already told you! Together they have now created a JRSO team with their own deputies, and I look forward to their help in encouraging us all to think more carefully about keeping to the guidance we have shared for safe set down and pick up at the beginning and end of the school day.
Key Stage 1 Trip to India Today, Oak and Ash class enjoyed a fantastic trip to India. They checked in to the school hall this morning and weighed their baggage before departing on “Berewood Airways”, where they watched an in-flight movie and were served drinks by the “cabin crew”. Upon arrival, they experienced the sights and smells of a spice market, tasted some Indian food and wrote postcards home before the return “flight”. It was a wonderful day of learning and fun.
3
Introducing our Governors
Attendance Matters! Our current attendance is 95.8% Please help us to keep our attendance as high as possible. It has risen very slightly since the last Bulletin, but remains lower than our target. Please help us to improve this with 100% attendance next term!
Mr Graham Olway (Chair of Governors) Graham Olway has lived in Waterlooville for 25 years and his children all attended local schools and he wanted to contribute his time and experience to a local school. He has a wide variety of experience in the education sector having worked for the Department for Education and also in various roles with Hampshire, Portsmouth and West Sussex local education authorities. He currently manages school place planning and the capital programme for West Sussex County Council. In 2013, Graham was awarded an MBE for his services to education after serving for six years as National Chairman of the Education Building Development Officers Group (EBDOG). He is a lifelong supporter of Arsenal FC but also follows Accrington Stanley FC, as well as being actively involved in geocaching. Dog Mess
I am told that there are no plans to place any dog bins near the our school at the moment, but I am aware that there is a large amount of mess around the school. If you bring your dog to school, please can I ask you to remove any mess they make, and I will try to contact local dog walkers to ask them to do the same. Thank you.
School Lunches The school dinner menu will change after Easter and, as soon as we receive the menus from HC3S, we will send copies home in book bags. In the mean time we have uploaded one to the school website. Also, please note that the price of a school dinner increases from £2 to £2.10 from 1st April 2016.
