Dear parents & carers,
We have had a very busy few weeks full of special and memorable events.
We have had a lovely Book Week! A huge thank you for dressing your children up on World Book Day and supporting our Book Fair. And a very big thank you to our staff, especially Ms Anstee for organising the events. We had a magical time.
The purpose is, of course, to encourage reading. Never underestimate the importance of reading. It is the single biggest indicator of academic achievement and, therefore, life chances.
The Girls Football Experience for International Women's Day was amazingly successful. Thank you to Mr Padgett for organising the event and Ms Spendelow and Ms Brittain for organising the football - the girls were so inspired. Thank you.
https://www.itv.com/watch/news/international-womens-day-400000-girls-join-in-biggest-ever-football-session/ctsq8bd
Thank you to our families for attending our Science Family Day and Maths workshops. Thank you to Mrs Smartt, Mrs Toyer and Mrs Ahmed for organising this. We have further workshops for reading planned for later in the year.
Face-to-face Parent-Teacher Conferences will occur in school on Monday 18th and Wednesday 20th March. You should have made your appointments via School Cloud. Appointments are 10 minutes long, and we will have to stick to this schedule. If you need a longer appointment, please contact the school office.
At the PTCs, there will be an Art Gallery displaying the work of R - Yr 5, which can be purchased. Year 6 will have their own opportunity later.
Our attendance has generally improved, thank you. However, sickness absence before and after half-term holidays is still high. Please make every effort to travel during the holidays. You can see how Bushmead's absence around the school holidays differs from that of national figures:
And please make sure you are here on time. Gates open at 8.30 and registers close at 8.55.
All younger children (Yrs R - 2) should be dropped off and collected by an adult. Older siblings shouldn't be walking children out of school or home, it is too much responsibility. If you have exceptional circumstances, please contact me via the school office.
Ramadan Mubarak to all those who will be fasting from this weekend. If our older children in years 5 & 6 are fasting, please let us know so we can take extra care of them. They will be allowed to sit in a separate space whilst others are eating lunch.
Hut A will be used for those wishing to pray at lunchtime too. This will be supervised by staff.
If you are in receipt of a Free School Meal and your child is fasting, please let us know if you would like them to take a packed lunch home for when they break fast.
If younger children are partially fasting, please do let your class teacher know.
A group of our children enjoyed a trip to the Hat Factory to watch Belongings performed by the Tangled Feet Company. A wonderful experience. Thank you to Mrs Scarrott for organising this and Mrs Blair and Mrs Moore for taking the children.
Red Nose Day for Comic Relief is back on Friday 15th March and Bushmead Primary School will be turning RED to celebrate. We are inviting children to wear non-uniform for a £1 donation and wear something red to go ‘red-to-toe’. So, dust off your ruby slippers, pop on your lobster suit or simply don some scarlet socks - how far you take it is up to you!
This donation, and any other you wish to add to the fundraiser, can be made on this link. JUST GIVING
On that day, children will have the opportunity to share jokes (that are topic and age-appropriate) in class. Let's get laughing!
Children are also welcome to wear Comic Relief Red Noses and other merchandise on March 15th. In the week beginning March 11th, we will have a limited supply of this year's official Red Nose Day noses for sale at the retail price of £2. We will also have a selection of excess stock from previous years. Red noses and headboppers (labelled 2019) will be sold for a donation of £1-£2 cash. All proceeds will go to Comic Relief.
Have a lovely weekend.
Joanne Travi
Headteacher
