Newsletter 1 - 2018
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to a new school year and welcome to our new children and families both in Reception class and dotted throughout the school. We have been delighted to see how well all the new starters have settled into our school family and tt has been a real pleasure to see the children return full of excitement this week. Although, despite being a short week for the children, I think we have tired them out!
In school, we have all been thinking of New Years’ Resolutions. The children’s will be on display around the school and staff have been setting themselves goals too. We can always find ways to improve and the staff and governors have been busy planning the next steps for school in this new academic year. Thank you to those who gave feedback through the parent survey last term; your views, along with those of the children and analysis of our attainment data, have already begun to shape the year ahead. I am confident, with my ‘Dream Team’ of staff, governors and your support, that we can take the school from strength to strength.
Twenty of our Year 6 children sat the Kent Selection Tests on Thursday (otherwise known as the 11+). I was immensely proud of how hard they worked throughout the day but also of how the children were so supportive of each other. Year 5 broke into spontaneous applause as Year 6 entered the hall ready for assembly.
The assembly itself was exciting as the children were treated to a street dance demonstration. The dancer, Nick, did seem to imply that my staple ‘2 step’ dance was insufficient in modern dance circles… He will be running a taster session next week, Thursday after school with a view to potentially starting a club at Bidborough. If your child is in Year 2 or above and interested, there will be a slip sent home on Monday to sign up for the taster session.
Also next week, I will be sending home a pack of information for each family. This will include dates for the rest of the year, which we endeavour to stick to, amongst other items. An important date to note immediately though is an early chance to ‘Meet the Teacher’. We are offering the opportunity to hear about the year ahead from the horse’s mouth (no offence intended) on THURSDAY 13th SEPTEMBER at 6pm. Please don’t worry if you can’t make it, we will make the information available on our school website. One of my New Years’ resolutions is to keep this up to date and a good port-of-call for any information you may need.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Key Stage 2 children will be visiting the Life Education Centre Mobile Classroom. The centre aims to aid children in the acquisition of decision-making skills regarding their health and in building their self-esteem. All the programmes link with and support the National Curriculum and each year, as the ‘Life Bus’ returns to our school, children build on this knowledge to establish a positive approach to drug prevention. If you would like the opportunity to visit the ‘Life Bus and see what your children will have been experiencing, please do sign up at the office or email office@bidborough.kent.sch.uk, to attend an open session on Monday afternoon from 2.50 until 3.10pm. There is also the chance to purchase family activity books (£2 each) if you choose to, available from Reception to Year Six.
If you are looking for a new opportunity for this academic year, please do sign up to be a parent volunteer when the letter comes out next week. Alternatively, we are looking for a new member of our Breakfast Club Team. If you are interested in the post, please do speak to Mrs Harrison in the office or myself.
Finally, I hope you have a great weekend. A Top Tip would be to come along to one of the Dragon Boating events at either Bewl on Saturday or Tonbridge on Sunday. Our almost infamous team of parents past and present will be striving to make us all proud as part of the Imperial Bidborough Dragons! Come along and support the team – I’m sure you’ll be swept up in the excitement!
See you all next week. Kind regards,
Julie Burton
Headteacher
