This week at Bentley...
It has been another busy week at school and as I write, early on Friday morning, I know there may have to be some difficult decisions ahead today as we try and fulfil the government directive to host further key worker children whose parents may not have known they were categorised as this just a couple of weeks ago.
A huge thank you to those of you who have been in touch offering to give up your own child’s place to help another, and to those who have offered support and understanding in realising this is not down to the school’s choice, but how this pandemic has required the Department for Education to roll out more and more instructions. None of us anticipated this bizarre year!
As I write today, I am relieved that we all remain healthy in school and I can only thank my staff for their resilience, fortitude and creativity in the work they do. It is great news this week for our single parent families who can now link with one other household. Let us hope COVID cases continue to drop and the weeks ahead may lead to more restrictions in our current lockdown being lifted to finally allow play dates and social interaction again.
This week in school we are grateful for…
The support of colleagues
Brilliant engagement from the Virtual Schoolers at home
Our governors
Smiles
Kindness
Biscuits
Children’s laughter
Our cleaners at school keeping us safe
Friends
Family
Our first holiday since 20th March ahead
Sunshine AND rain (both needed)
Rainbows
Good health
The Internet
Funny photos and videos from MANY Virtual sports challenges at home (please keep posting!)
Our jobs
Hugs – the ones in the future if not allowed now
An occasional takeaway
Mr Lucas doing a great job welcoming families on site safely each day
A moment’s peace
Our beautiful local area
Weekends off from handwashing and all the intensity of keeping everyone safe
Having no plans
Our Faith
and YOU for reading this and being part of our School Community!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Pinchess, Headteacher
THANK YOU TO…
…Abi Jackson and family for a fantastic PTFA Family Lockdown Quiz which was much enjoyed by all the participants on Wednesday evening and raised £159. Brilliantly organised, lots of fun and blue house retained their winning Quiz run as Rose H-R and family were the triumphant winners!
…Eva and family who delivered an amazing staff ‘well-being box’ which was a huge morale lifter. Thank you for the lovely words and yummy treats.
…Ed Pinchess for being our YouTube guru since lockdown and uploading the assemblies and story videos and audio files.
…Dr Oetker who donated some pizzas to support the school’s catering in lockdown
PADDINGTON BEAR
Mrs Vogel, Miss Smith and Mr Goddard have all been reading about Paddington Bear’s adventures this week. You can listen in order or mix it up as each chapter is a separate story. (These are listen only with no video) You can listen by clicking here..
Happy Birthday to…
… Harrison, Gabriel, Ben, Caspian, and Noah! We are sorry the whole school couldn’t all sing Happy Birthday in collective worship as we usually would, but Bubble Group 6 have sung it instead :) You can download the audio file from the foot of this page.
We hope you had a really super birthday!
UPDATED HANDWASHING ADVICE
The DfE has updated their handwashing advice. In school many children still sing Happy birthday twice which works for them but here is the ‘new’ advice and video!
It is essential that everyone washes their hands more often, using soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Hand washing with soap employs mechanical action that loosens bacteria and viruses from the skin, rinsing them into the drain. Drying hands afterwards makes the skin less hospitable to the virus. Hand sanitiser can be effective if soap is not available or the situation makes using soap less feasible (i.e. when outside) but using hand sanitiser provides none of the virus-destroying friction that rubbing your hands together and rinsing with water provides.
The latest guidance and video on hand washing can be found by clicking here.
