Bentley Weekly Update 03.03.17
Lent and Shrove Tuesday Activities – We had great fun this week making and tossing pancakes; thank you to those parents who kindly sent frying pans in. As well as coating the hall in flour and eggs, we looked at the meaning of Shrove Tuesday and Lent and wrote prayers, reflected on our own actions and talked about what Lent means to us. You may remember last year the children came home with booklets with fun and achievable activities to complete for Lent. Each week there are 4 challenges and parents need to sign next to challenges as children complete them. Children who have achieved at least 15 out of the 20 challenges at the end of the challenge will be able to choose something from the treasure chest. You will see that on week 3 one of the challenges is to walk to school every day that week – morning club children will have the opportunity to complete this challenge as we will walk the equivalent distance of walking from the memorial to school round the playground during the session Monday to Thursday and after Easter Club on Friday.
Quiz Night at East Bergholt High School – As a feeder Primary School for EBHS, they would like to invite our parents to join in with their forthcoming quiz night. You can have teams of up to 8 people and tickets are just £5 each (including nibbles). For tickets and further information please call 01206 298122 or 07753 422474.
Easter Bonnets – Our annual tradition continues this year and we invite children to design and make their own unique Easter Bonnet for this year’s competition. With the numbers as they are in the school now, we have decided to have a prize for each year group. The bonnets will be paraded during family assembly on Friday 31st March; to accommodate this event as well as all the other celebrations of achievement that we usually have, family assembly will start earlier on this day at 2:30pm.
Reception Photos – In the last newsletter we asked if children in Reception could bring in a photo of their family for a topic they are doing. To date we have only had 3 photos in. Please could you send your child in with a photo, if you have not already done so, on Monday.
Basketball - Both Bentley and Copdock attended a basketball tournament for small schools on Tuesday. In total ten small schools competed and fun was had by all. Copdock came joint 7th whilst Bentley came 6th! There was a fantastic team spirit from both schools and the allocated captains managed their teams well. A fair player award was given to A.J from Copdock and William at Bentley. All the children were a credit to both schools.
Tractors in School – We were visited last Friday by local farmer, George Harris, who brought his tractor onto the playground for the children to explore and talked to them about life in farming. We are very grateful to him for his time and the children certainly asked lots of questions! A photographer from the East Anglian Daily Times came in and took a couple of shots, we cannot know of course which pictures will be used, but photos of the day will be published in EADT on Tuesday 7th March.
World Book Day – We had a bewildering display of book characters brought to life today, well done to all those of you who created such imaginative costumes for the occasion. We were thrilled to welcome children’s author Lisa Kellett to our school. Lisa writes under the name of Lisa Thompson and wrote the story that Adders are currently enjoying with Mrs Robinson, The Goldfish Boy. She was inspiring to listen to and gave the children an insight in to how she wrote about such an unusual and complicated personality as the main character, Matthew. Lisa’s book can be purchased from a variety of outlets including Amazon.
Homework and PE Kits – Years 3 and 4 have reading homework to be completed by next Friday. Year 5 have reading and maths homework. Reminder – homework books need to be in every day please, children are still forgetting, particularly on Mondays. We are experiencing problems with children not having their PE kit in school when they need it. PE happens throughout different times in the week, not just on Thursdays, and children need their PE kit in school every day. We are frequently wasting a great deal of time at the start of sessions trying to cobble together bits of kit for children who do not have theirs with them. Each child needs both an indoor and an outdoor kit in their bag. Kits can be left at school and washed at the end of each half term rather than being taken home every week. Thank you for your help with this.
Parents’ Evenings / Consultations – There have been a few changes made to the details around parent consultations. The times and days are now quite varying and we hope to make the appointment booking system live on Monday. When it does go live, you will need to log in to the website and you will see the days and times available for you to book an appointment with your child’s teacher. All children in Mrs Rudge’s teaching group, including Reception, will be seen on Tuesday 14th March, however, the times have been extended to accommodate everyone. Hedgehogs will have appointments available across the two dates previously advised and Adders have a selection of dates and times to select from, including a number of morning sessions, in order for Mrs Robinson to get round the whole group. Year 6 will have their parent consultations on the afternoon of Monday 13th March – Mrs Parnell is travelling to Bentley so that both teachers can be there.
Red Nose Day – Just a reminder that Friday 24th March will be a non-uniform day (optional) and children can come to school wearing something red in exchange for a £1 donation that will go to Comic Relief. There will also be cakes for sale during break and after school to raise money for this charity; cakes will be either 20p or 50p.
Coffee and Chat – The next Coffee and Chat session is scheduled for Tuesday 28th March at 2:30pm. Please do come along if you can, particularly if you have any ideas for solutions to the current parking issues.
Easter Experience – As in past years, the whole school will walk down to the church and take part in the Easter Experience organised by Rev. Mehen and the team. Stations will be set up around the church for the children to explore and find out more about the story and significance of Easter. This year it will take place on Wednesday 29th March and children will need to be collected from the church (St Mary’s) at 3:15, rather than from the school.
Family Shared Learning Session – Parents and carers of children in Wolves and Hedgehogs are warmly invited to come and join in on a fun, interactive session where we are being visited by a dental hygienist and a healthy eating advisor who will be coming in to talk to the children about how to keep healthy. If you would like to join us we would love to see you from 1pm on Friday 31st March.
Dates for your diary:
Monday-Friday 13th – 17th Parent consultations
Monday-Friday 13th – 17th Science Week
Tuesday 14th March Wolves trip to Colchester
Friday 17th March PTA Easter Bingo
Friday 24th March Wear Something Red for Comic Relief
Tuesday 28th March Coffee and Chat at 2:30pm
Wednesday 29th March Easter Experience – collect from church 3:15pm
Friday 31st March Family session staying healthy (Wolves and Hedgehogs)
Friday 31st March Extended family assembly from 2:30 inc Easter Bonnets
Friday 31st March Last day of half term