This week at Bentley...
Thank you for all your support, kindness and care for our school COMMUNITY this year. As teachers wrote their reports it became very clear we experienced this academic year in three parts; Autumn term, lockdown January to March, then 8th March to now! As we enter our summer holiday I hope everyone in our Bentley family can relax, replenish and enjoy some more normality, before our September 2nd new beginning.
Well done to all our fantastic pupils. They have brought us all so much joy and have wowed us in the way they have shown COURAGE in their learning, both coming back into school and in lockdown. They have made significant progress and we know each of them will continue with their learning journeys tenaciously this autumn.
A big thank you to our amazing staff team. Every single person works so very hard for our Bentley children with such a LOVE for learning. They show care, kindness and patience in every role and in every aspect of what they do. A huge thanks to each and every one who works here. I know you all join me in saying thank you for this year and wishing them all a good break.
I need to say an extra special thank you to our Chair of Governors, Dave Ibbotson. He has made the job look so easy, but has worked incredibly hard and has supported the school through a very ‘interesting’ three years having planned to lead us for just one. A big thank you from us all Dave for volunteering your time and making such a difference for us all. We are so glad you will still be on the board next year, as you pass the Chair role onto Nick Austin.
We will miss both our staff and pupil Leavers. We have found out today Ms Newman has been successful in getting a job in the NHS. We cannot think of a nicer person to support and care for people at hospital! We wish her and Miss Hand, Miss Wiggins and Miss Smith good luck for their new roles and we know they will all stay in touch. Our Year 6 pupils impressed their parents and the staff last night on our special 2021 Leavers Zoom Celebration. They made fantastic videos to sum up their time at the school and there were lots of smiles (and a few tears) as we said goodbye to them all. We wish them all our Leavers the very best!
This summer, I have three wishes for our Bentley children;
Firstly…to keep reading! Do try the Library challenge (virtual or in person), read stories as a family but keep enjoying books.
Secondly, to learn how to ‘be’ again as our world, hopefully, continues to open up. A recent well-being survey we did with all the school uncovered a worry about ‘being alone’ which is linked to the pandemic. Please help children to re-learn the skills of being happy in themselves. Playing safely in the garden or in another room in the house. Learning to self-entertain and avoid boredom (without constant adult intervention). These are all important life skills and there are 40 glorious days ahead to practice!
Lastly, for us all, to reconnect with family, friends and hobbies as we are free of ‘bubbles’ and many of the restrictions which have been in place to allow schools to stay open. Hug grandparents, play with cousins, see friends and enjoy some FUN!
Mrs Katy Pinchess, Headteacher
THANK YOU TO…
…all the families and children for the very generous gifts for the staff and the lovely gifts for the school, including all the amazing families who have made donations to our school this year.
… those children leaving the school who have continued the tradition of gifting a special book to the library. Your Leaver’s books will be added to our library with your lovely front page messages so that your child will always be remembered at Bentley!
…our wonderful governors who have continued to meet, plan and lead the school throughout the year and so creatively during Lockdown. Thank you to; Becky, Claire, Esther, Greg, James, Laura, Mark, Natalie, Nick, Paul, Trevor, Yann, and Dave. Your support, perspective and leadership have been hugely appreciated.
…our Gardening Club Team who returned as volunteers, once Covid allowed outdoor contact but continued watering and planting outside of school hours all though the year. They have watered and tended the school gardens. They have made such a difference to Science learning in Year 1 yet again. Thank you to Mrs Proud, Ms Coombs, Ms Crosse and Mrs Hansen.
Wrap-a-round childcare
Thank you to all the families who took part in our recent survey. Breakfast club will start back up on Friday 3rd September. Afterschool Club will restart from Monday 6th September when it will return to staying open until 6pm. We will continue to offer the two pick up times with 4.15pm and 6pm.
Congratulations to…
…Miss Wiggins to completing her epic challenge last Saturday in such extreme heat! We are all incredibly proud of her.
PTFA
It has been another strange year for the PTFA – we have not been able to run our usual big events and we have really missed getting everyone together. Despite this, I am delighted to announce we have raised an extraordinary £12,500 and I cannot thank you enough for all your support along the way.
The children have really enjoyed the special events we created in school, from the birthday parties to ‘Break the rules Day’. An especially big thank you to the school staff who led on these.
It was an amazing year for apple juice in particular so a big thank you to everyone involved, especially Cress. It has been so lovely to see you in person at our Covid friendly ‘pop up shops’ for cake sales, ice cream, apple products and garden items. Thank you to everyone for buying, making and setting these up. A special thank you to Sian for running the second hand uniform so brilliantly.
A huge thank you to our Class Reps who have been invaluable in passing on the school reminders, masterminding end of term collections and welcoming our new families – Sarah & Amy, Cat & Elise, Amy & Sophie, Sarah & Lisa, Cress & Sarah, Sarah & Sophie, Lucy & Alison – you have been fabulous!
I’m really looking forward to working with our new Class Reps in September. Let’s hope the new school year will bring us the opportunity to have our usual events including welcome BBQ, Bonfire Night, Christmas Fair and events for the children.
Kathleen Proud, Chair
S.T.E.P Awards
Good manners are not only encouraged, but expected at Bentley and excellent manners and behaviour is often mentioned by parents, relatives and visitors who come to the school as well as when pupils are out on school visits. We want all of our children to follow the 'Sorry, Thank You, Excuse Me, Please' (S.T.E.P.) code all the time. Each term three children from each year group, who have shown superb manners over the term in many different situations as noted by all staff, are selected to receive a S.T.E.P. award.
We are incredibly proud of our S.T.E.P. award winners this term.
Year R - Alec, Frankie, Heather
Year 1 - Mollie, Rafe, Rayyan
Year 2 - Agnes, ben, James
Year 3 - Charlotte, Frank, Rose
Year 4 - Matej, Oliver, Willa
Year 5 - Charlotte, George, Nicholas
Year 6 - Archie, Dillon, Megan
Values Cup
Our School values of Love, Courage and Community are woven into all aspects of the school day at Bentley - in the classroom, in the playground, in the lunch hall, on the sports field, everywhere. We encourage each child to recognise how important these values are and to do their best to embody them throughout their time here and, we hope, when they move on to secondary school.
This year we asked the staff members to vote for two children, a boy and a girl, who they believe typifies our values in their behaviour.
In our end of term assembly we were delighted and very proud to announce the winners of the Values Cups as Hamish, Year 2 & Phoebe, Year 3
Kindness Cup
At Bentley we recognise kindness in all sorts of ways and encourage the children to always consider others.
This year staff nominated Emma, Year 4, as a child in the school who they believe to be incredibly kind. Well done Emma!
Madame Jones – All things Eco Update
Eco-Lesson
On Wednesday the children had their final Eco-lesson of the year and the theme this time was HOPE – the children learnt being hopeful inspires us to take action, whether it’s a litter pick or planting flowers for bees. As part of the lesson the children were asked to use their imagination to think about what they would like the planet to look like in the future – some children were also able to draw this. Despite the heat, the children were full of wonderful ideas showing that they could easily imagine a beautiful vision for the future of the planet.
Below are links to the resources used in the lessons:
KS1
Greta and the Giants by Zoe Tucker - click here to watch on Youtube
Can you imagine? SOS from the Kids - click here to watch on Youtube
KS2
Benjamin Zephaniah poem - Click here to watch video
Can you imagine? SOS from the Kids - click here to watch on Youtube
Plastic Free Schools Award
The Eco-Council has made a great start, against the odds, with the SAS Plastic Free Schools Award. The team has just written to our MP Damian Hinds and next term they will start looking at which 3 single-use plastic items should be removed from the school! Well done to the Eco-Council – Lyra, Edie, Emilia, Max, Ivy, Alex, Charlotte, Dominic, Sophie, George, Nicholas, Eva, Lewis and Sienna.
How can you help the planet?
If you were able to come to the recent Eco-Fair in Alton, you would have seen many positive things happening in and around our community to be hopeful about: projects like – Repair Café, Community Share, Plastic Free Alton and an award-winning community wildlife garden. Doing positive things for the environment is a great way to counteract eco-anxiety and it gives us great hope for the future. Here are some things that you can do this summer to help our planet:
- Be prepared on days out – pack picnics, use reusables and take your rubbish home with you.
- Litter picking is a brilliant family activity both in your community and when you are on holiday – especially on the beach!
- Make your garden wildlife-friendly – plant flowers loved by pollinators and create bug hotels for starters!
- It’s Plastic Free July! Can you make a pledge to reduce your use of single-use plastic? Maybe start with some simple swaps – visiting FillUp in Alton is a good place to start!
