Newsletter: Friday 24th November
We had a wonderful start to the day today, with our Year 6 class putting on an incredible assembly to showcase their learning all about Ancient Civilisations. They took us on a whistle-stop tour from the Sumerians through to the Ancient Greeks, teaching us all about their ways of life. The children wrote the script themselves and organised all of their own props; we are so proud of them all and they have certainly set a brilliant example for the rest of the school! Well done Year 6!
The children in Early Years and KS1 have also been busy practising for their Nativity performances! Tickets for these will be available next week, with two tickets per family, per performance allocated. Siblings in school will have the chance to watch the performance at school. The evening performance on Tuesday 5th will be an adults only performance and we respectfully request that you do not bring younger siblings to the afternoon performance. If this is unavoidable, babies under the age of 1 can sit on the lap of an adult but children over the age of 1 will require a ticket. If you are bringing a ‘babe-in-arms’ please do sit at the end of an aisle in case you need to duck out, should they become restless.
The School Parliament are excited to announce our chosen charities for this year! After lots of discussion, the charities we have decided to support are Breast Cancer UK and SNAAP. Breast Cancer is something that has affected members of our Bidborough family and so the children thought it would be a lovely idea to raise awareness of this. SNAAP (Special Needs and Advisories Activities Project) is an organisation based in Kent whose work relies heavily on donations. SNAAP provides respite care for children and young people with additional needs in the form of youth groups, 1:1 support and stay and play sessions, to name just a few. Miss Birkett had the pleasure of working for SNAAP for several years and so knows how vital their services are to both the community and the families they support. The School Parliament are keen to give those with additional needs a voice and to show their support for those who Breast Cancer has impacted. We are so excited to raise funds for the two charities in the form of our school fundraising events, the first of which will be The Great Bidborough Bake Off. More information on this will be shared soon!
We have been asked to share the following message from Dame Rachel De Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, about the Government’s Big Ambition campaign:
‘As Children’s Commissioner for England, I have a statutory duty to protect and promote the views and interests of children. The Big Ambition provides a much-needed opportunity for the children of England to tell political decision makers what is important to them ahead of the General Election. I will be sharing their responses with Government to ensure that children’s voices are heard.’
If you would like your child to take part in the survey, please follow this link: www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/thebigambition.
A few notices:
- The PTA Christmas Fair takes place tomorrow between 12 and 3pm. Please do come along to support the school and get into the festive spirit! You will also find attached information about all other Christmas dates for this year.
- Next Thursday, children in St Andrew’s Team can dress in blue to mark St Andrew’s Day.
- In the first week of term after Christmas, there will be a slightly different menu for school dinners. Please see this attached.
- Please remember that cars should not be driven down Spring Lane when dropping children off at Breakfast Club in the mornings. Our usual parking policy applies for all morning and after school clubs. Please see the parking map attached.
Although we do still have quite a lot of illnesses lingering, we have seen a small improvement in our attendance percentage this week. As the weather turns colder and icier, please ensure you are leaving plenty of time for children to arrive at school on time, to avoid an increase in our late figures. Remember, the gates close at 8.50 and this is when registers are taken.
Have a great weekend and we hope to see lots of you at the Christmas Fair tomorrow!
Julie Burton and the Bidborough Team
November
25th – PTA Christmas Fair
30th – St Andrew’s Day (dress up)
December
5th – KS1 performances
8th – assessment data home to parents, Open Classrooms
14th – KS2 performances
15th – Christmas lunch for children
