We are sorry for any inconvenience the closure of school caused and the work juggling involved. Apologies too, that our communication was not quite as swift as usual. As you will have seen, we had updated the County closures promptly, but our parent texting service has recently changed, which unhelpfully caused us a delay on Wednesday morning.

I can confirm that we plan to open as usual next Wednesday and Thursday when there are local strikes and would keep you posted if anything were to change.

This week it has been busy in the classrooms…

We ALL enjoyed having artist Karen Osborne in school with us on Monday. Karen has taken all the amazing artwork from the children to create a wonderful mural for the dining hall wall. We know it will be colourful, creative and represent our school. We can’t wait to see it!

Year R have had great fun practising their solar system song and performing it in their assembly.  They are really enjoying all the learning on their space topic.

Year 1 have loved listening to the different planet music in Holst’s ‘The Planets’ to work out the different ‘personalities’ of each piece.  

Year 2 have been learning about the division symbol and using it in calculations.

Year 3 are thinking scientifically about light sources and liked spotting shadows and light in everyday life.

Year 4 are very enthusiastic about their Sound topic in Science and have learnt a lot doing different experiments. They are now ready to apply this knowledge to making ear defenders!

Year 5 in English the class have started a new learning journey which links with our eco work. They are building perspectives and ‘mapping’ good language choices to write their views about pollution.

Year 6 have very much enjoyed Design Technology from tasting Greek foods to designing their own Greek style Masterchef menus (yum, yum…when is this ready for external taste testing we all ask?).

Have a great weekend, whatever the weather! Let’s hope the daffodils don’t blow away.

Katy Pinchess, headteacher.

HCS3 News

Our amazing kitchen team are not employed by the school but work for HCS3. They cook over 180 hot dinners for our children every day and we think they do a wonderful job. As you are aware Alison Dombrick, our longstanding Head Cook, has been on long-term sick leave. She is sadly unable to return to a school kitchen role and we wish her all the very best for the future as she starts a new role. The good news is that Wendy Sherwood has been appointed as the Head Cook and we are very pleased to have the continuity for our yummy dinners. Well done Wendy, we are delighted with your news and wish you good luck! Keeeeeeeeep cooking!

Yogurt pots

All children will need a clean ‘yogurt’ type pot (the bigger size if possible) for a planting activity in Kindness week. Other plastic pots would work too (e.g. cream, hummus etc.). Please send in as many washed out pots as you can as we need over 200! If you have time, please can an adult poke some holes in the bottom to help with drainage. This would be much appreciated.

Charity News

The children have been aware of the awful earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. School Council have discussed this and want to support our friends, family and others at this very difficult time. They propose children and families have a collection to raise money for DEC at the end of term Church service. 

In other charity news it is Red Nose Day next Friday. Whilst this is not a charity we have voted for this year, we have traditionally always run an additional cake sale. Are there a couple of kind parent volunteers who would be happy to set this up? We have some very willing Year 6 cake sellers who are happy to help. All baking, shop bought cakes and yummy goodies can be dropped off at the school office next Friday morning – please get involved!  

JAM CODING CLUB

Jam coding will be running a holiday workshop from 3^rd to 6^th April.  Please see the flyer on the community page.

Governor Vacancy

Don’t be shy! We need your help! We are seeking interested new governors but no one has stepped forward yet. Applications are welcome from all interested volunteers; no previous experience is required other than being interested in education and the role comes with full induction and training. We would encourage parents, grandparents, neighbours and community members to consider this rewarding, voluntary, position which makes a huge difference to our pupils. If you are interested, please email the school office or speak to one of our Governor Chairs, Mark Desborough or Emily Spicer.

'We need more school governors who look like me' – BBC article 31st March 2022

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-60912316

CALLING ALL DRIVERS!

As you will be aware, we try to enrich the classroom learning with trips and visits as much as possible. We are very lucky to have a small team of minibus drivers, but we are looking for more volunteers to share the load. In order to keep school visit costs low and to ensure all children have access to the many fantastic learning opportunities we plan for them beyond our village location, we REALLY need your help.

Anyone with a full driving license can take a MiDAS Training course, which is typically a theory lesson in a classroom with a multiple choice test at the end, and a driving test taken locally in the 

school minibus. Mr Goddard is running a training session after school on Thursday 16^th March 2023 (3.45-5.15) which will be classroom based. Following this there will be practical sessions as part of the training.

Most school visits are between 9-3pm but occasionally we have an afterschool event such as a Sports fixture. Some school visits are one-off, but we also have Year 3 swimming lessons which run every week for a half term on a Thursday morning.

The training costs over £150 per person which the school will happily fund. However, we do ask you to make yourself available to drive the minibus at least five times in the school year. We may ask you to drive the minibus for a class which your child is not in.

If you are able to help in this way, please sign up by completing the form on our website (https://www.bentleyprimaryschool.co.uk/form/?pid=45&form=195). If you are interested but can't do 16^th March please complete the form anyway, so that we can gauge interest levels and run another training course if there is demand. The children (and staff) would be very grateful for your support! Thank you to those who have signed up, but there are still several classes without drivers so we encourage others to sign up too.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

There is a lot going on and support available to help families. Please look on our website at the Community pages to see what is new. Click here.

PTFA

There are all sorts of exciting events coming up so do please check the PTFA web page.

The PTFA has a new Instagram account! Follow and keep up to date via this link: 

https://instagram.com/bentley_ptfa?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

⭐️ 🎥 Film night - Friday 17th March 

The film is Sing 2. 

Tickets £6 per child - including popcorn and a hot dog.

Tickets are available to purchase NOW until 16th March http://www.pta-events.co.uk/bentley

 

⭐️Mrs Pinchess’ leaving party 🎉 

Friday 24th March 3:15- 6pm 

There will be bouncy castles, BBQ, Bar and kids refreshments 🍭 

All the money raised on the day will be going to the PTFA funds. 

It will be a fun afternoon 🥳🎉 

There is a collection pot link - https://www.collectionpot.com/pot/3068652/

This is an online money collection platform. All money raised will go towards a gift for Mrs Pinchess to take with her and also a legacy gift in her name for the school 😁 

The event is open to anyone 😁

There will also be a thank you/memory book out on the day for messages to be left for her and also a gift presentation at some point in the evening. 

 

**Bentley Bike Ride**

Saturday 1st July

Join us for this exciting event and ride 30km along The Shipwrights Way.  Last year the bike ride raised over £7000!

Here is a launch video explaining the event and how to enter. The launch video refers to this Google Form