St Bede Church of England Primary School Newsletter School website ...
St Bede Church of England Primary School Newsletter School website address:www.stbedewinchester.co.uk Thursday 26th May 2016 Dear Parents, Wykeham and Millais Assemblies We have been delighted to welcome parents from Wykeham and Millais classes to our Celebration Assemblies this week. The children have worked so well together we are very proud of them. It has been especially important to share and celebrate how we are enriching the curriculum and ensuring that children are still accessing broad and diverse learning opportunities when we know there are numerous reports in the media about children only being taught to tests and struggling with pressures placed on them. Please see some reflective thoughts from Year 6 at the end of the letter this week. Hursley cricket tournament Our cricket team demonstrated excellent sportsmanship at the School Games tournament on Tuesday 24 th June. Whilst sadly being knocked out of the cup, the team showed great perseverance to reach the semi-finals of the trophy plate where they were beaten by just five points. We are extremely proud of how the team represented themselves and our school and for the valiant effort they put in.
Author Jeremy Strong Visit to St Bede – Wednesday 24th May In collaboration with P.G. Wells Bookshop, we were delighted to welcome the well known children’s author Jeremy Strong to school yesterday. The visit was planned for Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 children from St Bede and from other local schools. We welcomed children from Stanmore School, St Swithuns Junior School and Pilgrims School. Jeremy talked to the children about the inspiration for his books and had fun chatting to the children and we were especially proud of how engaged and knowledgeable our children were. Children were able to purchase books which were signed by Jeremy. The school were pleased to receive commission from book sales and we were able to purchase a full set of his books, brought to the event by the book shop, for our school library.
Construction of Flood Wall As many parents may know the school was flooded in the year 2000 and the grounds were flooded again in 2014. As reported to parents previously, a new flood wall is to be built along the edge of the playground, this will help to protect the school and grounds from future flooding. Work will commence at the end of August and is programmed to be completed during October half term. In August a 2 metre fence will be constructed around the site area and during half term (next week), there will be some felling of large trees on the edge of the playground. We are working closely with Hampshire County Council regarding the building of the wall, a Senior Engineer from Hampshire County Council has prepared the following statement for parents:
As part of the North Winchester Flood Defence works a new flood wall needs to be constructed along the edge of the school playground. The location of the wall is in close proximity to existing trees located behind the playground fencing, these trees are self seeding and have been allowed to grow naturally. Excavating through this area to form the foundations will sever the roots and result in the trees becoming unstable and eventually dying, therefore as part of the flood defence works trees will need to be removed. The trees will be replaced with a hedgerow which will provide screening to the playground in due course. Any trees that self seed in the future will be managed so that they do not grow to such a size that they impact on the new flood wall, playground or concrete river channel. Okehampton Meeting – Year 6 An information meeting for parents of children attending the Year 6 residential trip to Okehampton will be held on Tuesday 14th June 3.30 p.m. in the school hall. Sports Day Arrangements Just to remind parents that we will be holding our annual Sports Days soon, weather permitting. The dates are as follows: Year R, Year 1 and Year 2 – Thursday 9th June at 10.00 a.m. KS2 – Year 3,4,5 and 6 Friday 17th June at 10.00 a.m. Sports day events are always great fun and a special occasion for our school community. Each sports day event will start at approximately 10.00am on the fields behind the Leisure Centre. PE kits will be sent home the night before sports day so that children can come to school dressed in full P.E. kit. Please ensure children have appropriate footwear (well-fitting trainers or plimsolls) to enable them to run well. Children should wear their ‘House T-shirts’ or a T-shirt in their house colour (Gryphon – yellow; Phoenix – red; Dragon – green) if possible. Children will need to bring a water bottle with them, wear a sun hat (if it’s hot!) and to have sun cream applied before they come to school After the event, parents are invited to stay for a picnic on the field with their children, family and friends. Children who normally have a hot school dinner on the day of the sports will be provided with a packed lunch from the school kitchen. Obviously, the children who take part in the sports days will stay to have a picnic with their parents; if parents are not coming to the event, the children should still bring a picnic and they will be supervised by the teaching staff. If parents are unable to attend and would like their children to accompany friends, please write in advance so that staff know the exact arrangements for each child. Children will not be allowed to accompany other families unless written instructions have been received by staff. We are very keen to ensure that all our children are kept safe and that we all know where they are and with whom! Once the sports day events have ended, staff will gather their classes together and then they will hand over responsibility of the children to parents who are present. School will officially end for these children then and parents may take their children home early if they wish. If parents do not wish to take their children home early, then staff will bring them back to school for the afternoon when they can be collected at the usual time of 3.20pm. Please note that older or younger siblings who are not taking part in the sports days will not be able to join families for a picnic and cannot be collected early from school (i.e. KS2 children will not be at the KS1 Sports Day and vice versa). Thank you. We are looking forward to these special occasions – keep fingers crossed for dry weather! Head Lice in School We have had a number of reports of headlice in school this week, please could parents check and treat hair accordingly during the half term break. Percussion Lessons – Friday 27th May 2016 A reminder that Mr Askew, Percussion teacher will be in school tomorrow for drum lessons. Please could parents inform the school office if their child will/will not be attending their lesson tomorrow. School Orchestra Thank you to all members for their hard work this half term. Orchestra will recommence on Tuesday 14th June (second week back).
School Dinner Money- Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 Thank you to all parents who have now cleared their dinner money debts. There is still some outstanding payments due. The school office would be grateful if these amounts can be paid either on line or by cheque or cash at the school office. For parents who wish to pay in advance for the next term June 6th – July 19th the amounts are listed below. 5 days per week – 67.20 4 days per week – 54.60 3 days per week – 42.00 2 days per week – 29.40 1 day per week - 14.70 Request for unwanted groundsheets During the summer months staff often take children to the Winchester Recreation area for outside lessons, sport activities and sports days. Sometimes the grass may be slightly damp, we would delighted to receive any unwanted groundsheets that class teachers could use to take outside for children to sit on. All the fun of the...HSA Summer Fair 2016 - Friday 17th June Plans are well underway for this year's Summer Fair and we will have lots of activities for the whole family to enjoy. To make the event a success, we need your help. Please click here: http://goo.gl/forms/BmBzJ33FGyVsUpVI3 and volunteer a little of your time at this event. Forms will also be available from the school office. There will be Bouncy castles, Barbecue, Licensed bar, Entertainment, Bottle Tombola, Glitter Tattoos, Yucky Dip, Lucky Cups, Cookie Decorating, Teddy Tombola, Governors' Raffle and much more... We can't do it without your help, so please volunteer. Any questions, please contact: [email protected] Teddy Bede and Cake Sale We are pleased to report that last week's Teddy Bede raised £96 and Cake Sale raised £128 - thanks for your generous support. Message from St Bartholomew’s Church The next Messy Church will be held on Saturday 11th June from 4.00 p.m. – 6.00 p.m. The subject will be Faithfulness. There will be activities for the whole family and a short worship. Please bring picnic food to share. Contact points: The Parish office at [email protected] 01962 849434 or Sally at [email protected] 01962 867251 Final words from Year 6 After the national curriculum tests, Year 6 pupils were asked to reflect on their experiences. We thought you might be interested to read a few of their comments. ‘I only worried about it on the first day but as I got used to it, I didn’t mind it so much. I don’t know why there is so much fuss.’ ‘I thought it was easy and a little hard, sometimes I wanted to give up but kept trying my hardest and my best and now I’m happy that it’s all over, but we still have got to do a lot more writing.’ ‘It’s just a test and I don’t get the fuss.’ ‘Personally, I don’t like the idea of tests like SATs because they put me under pressure. As far as I’m aware, tests are only for the teachers and might affect the group that I’m in. I don’t see why the Government can’t judge me on the work that I do in my maths book.’ ‘I don’t know what the fuss was about. It was difficult but I didn’t lose sleep or have stress. The build-up was worse than it actually was.’ ‘I thought it was not too stressful as the school took great care of us.’ The staff and I hope you have a lovely half term break. We look forward to seeing you back at school at 8.55 a.m. on Monday 6th June. With my best wishes, Sarah Duck
Author Jeremy Strong Visit to St Bede – Wednesday 24th May In collaboration with P.G. Wells Bookshop, we were delighted to welcome the well known children’s author Jeremy Strong to school yesterday. The visit was planned for Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 children from St Bede and from other local schools. We welcomed children from Stanmore School, St Swithuns Junior School and Pilgrims School. Jeremy talked to the children about the inspiration for his books and had fun chatting to the children and we were especially proud of how engaged and knowledgeable our children were. Children were able to purchase books which were signed by Jeremy. The school were pleased to receive commission from book sales and we were able to purchase a full set of his books, brought to the event by the book shop, for our school library.
Construction of Flood Wall As many parents may know the school was flooded in the year 2000 and the grounds were flooded again in 2014. As reported to parents previously, a new flood wall is to be built along the edge of the playground, this will help to protect the school and grounds from future flooding. Work will commence at the end of August and is programmed to be completed during October half term. In August a 2 metre fence will be constructed around the site area and during half term (next week), there will be some felling of large trees on the edge of the playground. We are working closely with Hampshire County Council regarding the building of the wall, a Senior Engineer from Hampshire County Council has prepared the following statement for parents:
As part of the North Winchester Flood Defence works a new flood wall needs to be constructed along the edge of the school playground. The location of the wall is in close proximity to existing trees located behind the playground fencing, these trees are self seeding and have been allowed to grow naturally. Excavating through this area to form the foundations will sever the roots and result in the trees becoming unstable and eventually dying, therefore as part of the flood defence works trees will need to be removed. The trees will be replaced with a hedgerow which will provide screening to the playground in due course. Any trees that self seed in the future will be managed so that they do not grow to such a size that they impact on the new flood wall, playground or concrete river channel. Okehampton Meeting – Year 6 An information meeting for parents of children attending the Year 6 residential trip to Okehampton will be held on Tuesday 14th June 3.30 p.m. in the school hall. Sports Day Arrangements Just to remind parents that we will be holding our annual Sports Days soon, weather permitting. The dates are as follows: Year R, Year 1 and Year 2 – Thursday 9th June at 10.00 a.m. KS2 – Year 3,4,5 and 6 Friday 17th June at 10.00 a.m. Sports day events are always great fun and a special occasion for our school community. Each sports day event will start at approximately 10.00am on the fields behind the Leisure Centre. PE kits will be sent home the night before sports day so that children can come to school dressed in full P.E. kit. Please ensure children have appropriate footwear (well-fitting trainers or plimsolls) to enable them to run well. Children should wear their ‘House T-shirts’ or a T-shirt in their house colour (Gryphon – yellow; Phoenix – red; Dragon – green) if possible. Children will need to bring a water bottle with them, wear a sun hat (if it’s hot!) and to have sun cream applied before they come to school After the event, parents are invited to stay for a picnic on the field with their children, family and friends. Children who normally have a hot school dinner on the day of the sports will be provided with a packed lunch from the school kitchen. Obviously, the children who take part in the sports days will stay to have a picnic with their parents; if parents are not coming to the event, the children should still bring a picnic and they will be supervised by the teaching staff. If parents are unable to attend and would like their children to accompany friends, please write in advance so that staff know the exact arrangements for each child. Children will not be allowed to accompany other families unless written instructions have been received by staff. We are very keen to ensure that all our children are kept safe and that we all know where they are and with whom! Once the sports day events have ended, staff will gather their classes together and then they will hand over responsibility of the children to parents who are present. School will officially end for these children then and parents may take their children home early if they wish. If parents do not wish to take their children home early, then staff will bring them back to school for the afternoon when they can be collected at the usual time of 3.20pm. Please note that older or younger siblings who are not taking part in the sports days will not be able to join families for a picnic and cannot be collected early from school (i.e. KS2 children will not be at the KS1 Sports Day and vice versa). Thank you. We are looking forward to these special occasions – keep fingers crossed for dry weather! Head Lice in School We have had a number of reports of headlice in school this week, please could parents check and treat hair accordingly during the half term break. Percussion Lessons – Friday 27th May 2016 A reminder that Mr Askew, Percussion teacher will be in school tomorrow for drum lessons. Please could parents inform the school office if their child will/will not be attending their lesson tomorrow. School Orchestra Thank you to all members for their hard work this half term. Orchestra will recommence on Tuesday 14th June (second week back).
School Dinner Money- Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 Thank you to all parents who have now cleared their dinner money debts. There is still some outstanding payments due. The school office would be grateful if these amounts can be paid either on line or by cheque or cash at the school office. For parents who wish to pay in advance for the next term June 6th – July 19th the amounts are listed below. 5 days per week – 67.20 4 days per week – 54.60 3 days per week – 42.00 2 days per week – 29.40 1 day per week - 14.70 Request for unwanted groundsheets During the summer months staff often take children to the Winchester Recreation area for outside lessons, sport activities and sports days. Sometimes the grass may be slightly damp, we would delighted to receive any unwanted groundsheets that class teachers could use to take outside for children to sit on. All the fun of the...HSA Summer Fair 2016 - Friday 17th June Plans are well underway for this year's Summer Fair and we will have lots of activities for the whole family to enjoy. To make the event a success, we need your help. Please click here: http://goo.gl/forms/BmBzJ33FGyVsUpVI3 and volunteer a little of your time at this event. Forms will also be available from the school office. There will be Bouncy castles, Barbecue, Licensed bar, Entertainment, Bottle Tombola, Glitter Tattoos, Yucky Dip, Lucky Cups, Cookie Decorating, Teddy Tombola, Governors' Raffle and much more... We can't do it without your help, so please volunteer. Any questions, please contact: [email protected] Teddy Bede and Cake Sale We are pleased to report that last week's Teddy Bede raised £96 and Cake Sale raised £128 - thanks for your generous support. Message from St Bartholomew’s Church The next Messy Church will be held on Saturday 11th June from 4.00 p.m. – 6.00 p.m. The subject will be Faithfulness. There will be activities for the whole family and a short worship. Please bring picnic food to share. Contact points: The Parish office at [email protected] 01962 849434 or Sally at [email protected] 01962 867251 Final words from Year 6 After the national curriculum tests, Year 6 pupils were asked to reflect on their experiences. We thought you might be interested to read a few of their comments. ‘I only worried about it on the first day but as I got used to it, I didn’t mind it so much. I don’t know why there is so much fuss.’ ‘I thought it was easy and a little hard, sometimes I wanted to give up but kept trying my hardest and my best and now I’m happy that it’s all over, but we still have got to do a lot more writing.’ ‘It’s just a test and I don’t get the fuss.’ ‘Personally, I don’t like the idea of tests like SATs because they put me under pressure. As far as I’m aware, tests are only for the teachers and might affect the group that I’m in. I don’t see why the Government can’t judge me on the work that I do in my maths book.’ ‘I don’t know what the fuss was about. It was difficult but I didn’t lose sleep or have stress. The build-up was worse than it actually was.’ ‘I thought it was not too stressful as the school took great care of us.’ The staff and I hope you have a lovely half term break. We look forward to seeing you back at school at 8.55 a.m. on Monday 6th June. With my best wishes, Sarah Duck
