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The academic year draws to a close...

...and the Year 6 parents are starting to arrive for the annual sporting fun, before our oldest children leave the school forever today!

I must mention all the staff of the school firstly for their resilience, brilliance and perseverance. We would not be the school we are without your input and energy. Please REST and recharge over the summer…ready for all the amazing plans we have a foot for next year!

Thank you to all the many volunteers, clubs providers, governors, PTFA and extra-curricular teachers who have also made such a difference this year. We hope that we have thanked each and every one of you and PLEASE come back and spread the word so that we can continue to offer so many special opportunities to each and every child at our school.

A big well done to EVERY pupil – you have worked so hard and you should be proud of your effort and outcomes. I know that I leave school today as a very happy Headteacher because I am so proud of YOU. Please remember to be happy, rest and relax this summer. I know that you will keep reading and I can’t wait to see how many of you wow us with your Space Chase Library Challenge awards in the autumn – keep reading!!!

To all the grown-ups – my goodness we have worked hard too! Enjoy a break from the school run and routines and we look forward to seeing you in the autumn too. We would love it if you would keep collecting all the ECO items for charity & PTFA fundraising this summer;

  • Plastic milk bottle lids (sorry no other lids as yet)
  • Foreign coins/old coins or notes 
  • Clean (washed) crisp packets
  • Used stamps
  • Any old clothes/material
  • Good quality school uniform

Good luck to everyone who entered the brilliant homework projects into the Bentley Flower Show. To those who are going - enjoy the show tomorrow and definitely go and admire the work of the Year 1 gardening team and all the children in the tents!

Enjoy your holidays with your lovely children and I wish you all lots of special memories together.

Katy Pinchess, Headteacher  

 

Awards galore!

There was a super buzz of excitement this morning in assembly as we asked everyone to reflect on their hard work and many proud moments over the year. We also handed out lots of awards and certificates to children for their achievements this term.  It was lovely to see how delighted all the children were for their classmates and their pride in themselves.

Our STEP Award (Sorry, Thank You, Excuse Me, Please) recipients are chosen by the class teachers each term, and ratified by every member of staff, in recognition of consistently demonstrating excellent manners in all aspects of school life.  This term we are very proud of:

Year R – Annabel, Finley, Flora-Rose

Year 1 – Evie, Harriet, Lucas

Year 2 – Emma, Eva, Izzy

Year 3 – Charlotte, Louis, Luke

Year 4 – Dillon, Rhys, Sienna

Year 5 – Alex, Bart, Isabel

Year 6 – Cam, Ellie, Saffy

The Callaway Cup is presented to one child in each year and this term’s winners are:

Year R – Hamish for excellence in mathematics

Year 1 – Laurie for his love of learning and enthusiasm

Year 2 – Kate for her enthusiasm, effort and all round positive attitude to life

Year 3 – Joe for excellence in music, performance and fantastic progress in maths

Year 4 – Will for excellence in maths and science

Year 5 – Harry for super progress in all learning and confidence throughout the year

Year 6 – Adam for progress in all areas of learning

Each child receives a cup to enjoy at home until the end of the Autumn term.

Excellent Attendance certificates were awarded to all children with attendance for the Summer term of 98% and above.  This level of attendance is still the goal set by our Governing Body and one we hope all children will achieve at Bentley.  Golden badges were given to the following children who have 100% attendance for the whole school year:

Year 2 – Emily, Emma, George, Mary

Year 3 – Alex, Amelia, Elliott, Olivia

Year 4 – Alfie, Alistair, Darrell, Millie

Year 5 – Connor, Maddison

Year 6 – Charlotte, Gabriella, Lauren, Louis

We were also delighted to award several children with their certificates for reaching the next level in their Times Tables Superheroes. It is great to see a significant rise in the number of children who are accessing the fabulous Times Table Rockstars – you all have the ‘logs ins’ so the children can keep practising over the holidays! Your new teachers will look out for who is top of the leader board and who has made the best progress over the summer – you can do it Bentley!  

 

Update from Madame Jones

This term has seen the children develop their confidence and resilience during our French lessons, with plenty of emphasis on speaking skills.  If you are visiting a French-speaking country this holiday, please encourage your child to practise some of their French – even if it’s just a bonjour or merci! 

Year R The learning in Year R has centred around songs about farmers to fit in with our topic ‘A la Ferme’, including the French versions of Old MacDonald and The Farmer’s in his Den.  In addition, the children have been exploring the French version of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ which gave us the opportunity to engage in some market role plays.

Year 1  This term the children have learnt about rooms in a house and linked this learning to their topic on Castles.  In addition, they have also learnt how to say some family words which they will build on next year.  Finally the children have participated in some simple boulangerie role plays.

Year 2  This term the focus has been on the home and family.  The children have learnt how to talk and write about their family as well as the traditional French song, Frère Jacques.  To conclude the term, the children have also participated in some boulangerie role plays.

Year 3  This term the children have been building on their knowledge of the weather  This culminated with a group weather forecast in front of the class.

Year 4  This term the children completed their correspondence with their French penfriends with a final letter about things they like using J’aime.  They have also learnt how to have a simple conversation in Spanish as well as the numbers to 10 in Spanish.

Year 5 The term started with the final of Bentley Eurovision 2019 which was won by Basit, Spencer and Hayden who created a great song in French based on the Peppa Pig theme tune! Finally, Year 5 have been studying the fabulous book ‘Le Loup qui voulait faire le tour du monde’ which is the story of Loup’s travels around the world.

Year 6  After finishing their fantastic Mr Men books, this term the children have been focussing on using their spoken French from memory.  The children are increasingly confident asking and answering a range of questions in French, including a café role play.  This week they hosted our inaugural Parents’ French Café during which they assumed the role of French waiters and waitresses.

French Termly Awards

Well done to the following children for receiving a French award:

Year 3 – Elliott; Year 4 – Darrell; Year 5 – Sarah; Year 6 – Jack

French Day 2019

This year’s French Day will take place in September and will centre around the theme of the French-speaking world.  More information will follow in the Autumn Term.

 

Minibus and PTFA Update

We have had another wonderful year of fundraising.  Every event – big and small – has added to the total this year and we would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has baked, bought, made, drunk, danced, watched, BBQ-ed, cycled, walked, sponsored, promised, bid on, raffled, donated, slurped ice creams, volunteered, bounced and attended. 

We are delighted to announce the total raised is over £23,000. AMAZING!

A very special thank you to all the wonderful minibus drivers and to everyone who has supported our school visits. Our children come to school in a tiny rural village but have access some phenomenal learning opportunities over the year. This year we used the minibuses for 53 school visits and if we had had to pay for coaches this would have cost £15,900! Clearly there is no way that we could have covered this expense and therefore the opportunities would have been lost. Your support for the PTFA has saved parents approximately £75 each in coach charges. Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who has donated money this year. Some people have set up standing orders and other have written very generous cheques. All money is used to support the school and we are very, very grateful for your generosity.

Special thanks go to…

… our PTFA Reps – Jenny Shaylor, Sophie Robinson, Laura Wellstead, Ellena Bentley-Woods, Sophie Biggs, Vanessa Miller, Gill Ormond, Abi Jackson, Emma Refausse, Lora Bowden, Lucy Hilken, Luke Correa, Steph Bryan and Charlotte Day – you have been amazing.   

Juliette Treacher and Sian Stratton-Brown for running the weekly second hand uniform sales. 

Jo Dobson for being PTFA Secretary, counting the money after each event and for arranging the raffles over the year. 

Jo Guppy for counting and paying in the money raised.

Laura Wellstead for the amazing design and artwork for the PTFA Events this year

all the school staff for their support and help

We are delighted Kathleen Proud is taking the reins as PTFA Chair next year, and know that you will all get involved to support the new ideas for 2019-20! She won’t be able to do this without your help and we hope we can count on each and every family to give at least an hour of their time over the year to volunteer at an event. A real strength of our school community is that everyone pulls together and so many people support in so many different ways. It is ALL appreciated.     

Finally, we look forward to seeing you all at the Welcome BBQ on Friday 6th September from 4pm.

 

iRock School of Music

We are very excited to welcome iRock School of Music to our roster of music tutors for the Autumn Term.  There are a few available slots left to be part of an iRock band.  Simply click here to register your interest.

 

School Lunches

As you are aware, the cost of school lunches is set to rise in September to £2.40 per meal, per day for Junior children.  This should be paid in advance, via your Scopay account.  All Infant school meals remain free. 

 

Kaira Konko Breakfast

Many delicious bacon, vegetarian sausage rolls, pastry items and drinks were sold on Wednesday morning.  Huge thanks to Alison, our lovely cook, for coming in early and cooking for us!  We raised £49 for the charity.  Thank you! The news from Sitahuma is that it is now the rainy season and it is starting to look very green in the Gambia. The grown-ups are spending their time on the rice fields and the children will be helping too as school breaks up for our international friends there too today. We look forward to hearing from them more next school year.

 

Thank you…

… to Miss Kirby’s lovely mummy, Janet, who came and helped Mrs Drew in the office on Thursday. You are a star!

… to the Bingham family for the super games donated to After School Club

… to everyone who has brought in their outgrown uniform

 

Gold Mark

We are delighted to announce that Bentley Primary School has retained the Gold standard in the School Games Programme. The School Games Mark is a Government led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community and provides a unique opportunity to motivate and inspire millions of young people across the country to take part in more competitive school sport. 

We worked very hard to earn this award last year and retaining the Gold level is no easy task. In a school this size it requires that we have different levels of sports available and on offer for all children. The amount of work involved in co-ordinating PE is huge at Bentley and we could not have achieved this accolade without all the hard work of our PE leader, Miss Kirby, who has led the school brilliantly this year.  With her encouragement, 200 of our 210 children on roll this year have taken part in a sports activity or competition outside of their usual PE lessons.  At Bentley sport is truly for ALL!

 

Key Dates for your diaries

Wednesday 4th September - Staff INSET day – school closed

Thursday 5th September - Back to School for pupils

Friday 6th September - Welcome BBQ 4pm-7pm

Wednesday 11th September - Meet the Teacher event

 

Clubs

Most clubs will start week commencing 16th September but you should contact the individual provider for details and to sign up in advance.  All the details of our external providers can be found by clicking here.  Details of Teacher-led clubs for the Autumn Term will come out during the first week back at school.

 

Whole school photographs

There are a few remaining mounted photographs available from the school office. Please email if you would like to reserve one. They cost £17.50 each. Alternatively, you can go online and place your order for delivery to school after the holidays.