Bentley Weekly Update 13.01.17
Spring Term is looking decidedly wintery at the moment. However, hibernation is not an option and we remain super busy here in school.
New Screens – Last academic year, the PTA kindly funded a fantastic new interactive screen for Adders class and the year before that one in Wolves class. This new technology has had an immediate impact on the children’s learning and is being utilised all day, every day. We are now very excited to confirm that a new interactive screen will be installed in Hedgehogs Class next week! This is another significant investment by the PTA and is thanks to their fundraising and parents and families supporting their events. Thank you all.
Menu Change Thursday – There will be a special dessert on offer next Thursday, chocolate pudding with ice cream and sprinkles!!!! The meal options will remain the same and the biscuit and juice that was on the menu will be offered on Friday instead. This change is for one week only and not a permanent change to the menu (shame, we quiet like sprinkles).
Parking - We appreciate that parking is a real challenge at the moment and when the weather is wet and cold parents want to try and park as close to the school gate as possible. However, we also appreciate the danger that it is creating for the children, YOUR children, and we do not want to be the next school included in statistics for deaths or serious injury.
It is important that we work together to ensure high levels of safety as a priority. This means drivers need to ensure they are following the highway code and parking safely and legally.
You MUST NOT leave your vehicle or trailer in a dangerous position or where it causes any unnecessary obstruction of the road (Rule 242).
DO NOT park on a bend or in front of an entrance to a property (Rule 243).
We would appreciate your support to alleviate the current pressures. This can be done in the following ways:
- People who live in the village and CAN WALK, please do so.
- If you need to drive please park at the top of the village and walk up to school. There is space and it is not far.
We would also be interested in talking to parents about running a 'walking bus' from the village to school. This would have a drop off place for people to gather and walk up supervised by adults. We can provide high-vis jackets to support this. However, it would need to be managed by a small group of adults each day. Please let us know if you may be able to help.
We are currently looking into longer term solutions for parking and will keep you updated as any further progress is made on this.
We thank you for your help and support in this extremely important matter. Together we can keep our children safe.
Toys in School – There have been a few incidents recently where children have brought toys in to school from home (some with parents knowing and other times when parents have been unaware) that have resulted in disruption in class and/or items going missing or getting damaged. We have spoken to the children about this and we would appreciate your support in ensuring your child/ren refrains from bringing in toys from home. If it becomes apparent that a child does have something with them they shouldn’t, the class teacher will put it away for safe keeping until a parent can collect it at the end of the day.
Census – Another school census is due to take place this month; these events are a statutory process that every school in the country has to complete, whereby the government gather data about schools including numbers of children, attendance, specific learning needs etc. As many of you may remember, we asked you for information for the last census about your child’s place of birth and nationality. Some parents nationally asked for clarification on how this information is used and we have this week received this communication from the Department for Education:
“The school census is used for the purpose of improving and promoting the education and well-being of children in England. It helps us to make sure we are allocating funds where they are needed and that no groups of children are missing out on the education they deserve.
This year we asked schools for additional information on the nationality, country of birth and English language proficiency of pupils. This new data will help us understand a range of factors, allowing us to better plan to meet needs within the school system. For example, what extra support we may need to provide to schools with high numbers of children who don't speak or understand English sufficiently to access the curriculum, whether particular groups of pupils are making good progress with their education, or where there is evidence of good practice with children of different nationalities that could be shared. Understanding trends in migration and the associated needs in the school system helps us ensure that all children, wherever they are from, have the best possible education”.
As we understand it, the individual names of the children are not used in this part of the data collection, just the number of each code we have to use to indicate nationality and language. We hope this helps to answer some of the questions you may have. If you think we may have the wrong information about your child’s country of birth or nationality, please do call the office who can check very quickly and make any amendments as necessary. Thank you.
Head Lice – Further to the email sent out this week from Mrs Rudge, please check your child for nits as we have had a couple of cases in school and as you know, they can spread very quickly. It is not always possible to identify an infestation by simply looking at your child’s hair, they need to be checked regularly with a nit comb. Thank you in anticipation for your support in this – prevention is better than cure.
Dates for your diary
Monday 16th Jan Mrs Robinson out in the morning, Mrs Gibbons supply
New screen being installed in Hedgehogs
Wednesday 18th Jan Nurse checks for children turning 5 this term
Thursday 19th Jan Student teacher working in Wolves class
Drum / Guitar lessons commence
Friday 20th Jan PTA meeting at 3:15pm