this week at Bentley

It has been a whirlwind of activities and excitement here at Bentley Primary School. Let me share with you the highlights of the past week.

On Monday, Year 2 visited the Winchester Science Museum. They have been learning all about space and the moon landing, so this trip really helped to bring their knowledge alive! They enjoyed making and launching their own rockets, as well as seeing the moon up close in the Planetarium. George said "I loved the Science Centre it was great. My favourite thing was the rocket experiment." Our youngest learners in Year R visited Marwell Zoo as part of their topic. The children didn’t let the rain dampen their enthusiasm for learning and exploring as they had a fantastic day. These outings not only provide hands-on learning experiences but also create lasting memories for our children.

In addition, the entire school community participated in a thought-provoking prayer space session, where students experienced prayer spaces set up around the school. A heartfelt thank you to Mrs. Scott Bromley for organising this meaningful event.

As part of the global celebration of World Numeracy Day, Mrs. Matthews orchestrated a fun-filled Mathletics challenge in the school hall. In house teams, children raced against each other to solve mathematical calculations, fostering a spirit of friendly competition and a love for numbers. Congratulations to the winning house ‘Tutu’ for earning the most points, and a big thank you to Mrs. Matthews for her efforts in organising this engaging activity.

This week also marked the conclusion of our worship theme, "Service." The children had the opportunity to share real-life experiences alongside biblical stories that exemplified the act of service. At Bentley, we witnessed service in action during last week's Quiz Night. It was a wonderful evening filled with a fantastic atmosphere and a delicious pudding auction that was a firm favourite. Thank you to all who contributed, attended, and, of course, our wonderful PTFA. Your generosity enabled us to raise an amazing £700!

Mrs Miffling has been busy auditioning acts for BFEST. She has shared that the acts are incredible and it fills her with Bentley pride watching the children put themselves forward with such courage.

Lastly, we had another visit from the Hampshire Music Service, who has been helping us write a school song. The children contributed ideas about what makes Bentley special, and these words have been woven together to create our very own song. We are eagerly looking forward to performing it for you at the upcoming BFest.

Have a wonderful Half Term break and we look forward to welcoming you back after the week off. Remember, Monday 3rd June is an INSET day – we will see you on Tuesday 4th.

Vicky Hallett

Headteacher

Attendance

This week’s whole school attendance is 96.79 %

Although the government sets a target of 95% for primary schools, our governors have set a target of 98% for our school. This is because an attendance rate of 95% still means that your child would have had approximately ten days of absence throughout the year; this is considered a significant loss to learning.

The class with the best attendance this week is year R with 98.8%. Well done year 2

Eco Update

Nature Reserve

This term our Nature Wardens have been busy at Nature Club upgrading our lovely school Nature Reserve. So far, the children have started relaying the paths with wood chip and continued making homes for all sorts of creatures including mice, hedgehogs and minibeasts. In addition, the Go Bugging bug hunting area has been expanded to allow classes to visit during their lessons.

#30 Days Wild

The month of June is the Wildlife Trusts, #30DaysWild – a free, month long event to encourage us all to get outside and to connect with nature. To sign up, click here. As part of your sign up, you will receive a welcome pack with lots of resources to help inspire your adventures in the wild. Why not, create a bug hotel or go on a snail and slug safari? Can you commit to doing one ‘wild’ activity every day during the month of June? Download the free wallchart when you join so that you can track your activities.

Thank you

Finally, a big thank you to Evie in Year 6 for donating some beautiful nature books for the children to use at Forest Explorers.

National Numeracy Day 2024

It was an absolute pleasure to witness the children of Bentley School having such fun with numbers this Wednesday. It started with a live presentation in the hall from the National Numeracy charity in which astrophysics engineers were interviewed and we also danced with Katya Jones from Strictly. During the day, Years 1-6 all competed in fun Maths relays. Children cheered on their house team-mates, cooperating well to answer 20 questions and earn precious points towards the house cup. The final results were very close but it was Tutu House who ended up being victorious!

Lessie and Finn, Tutu house captains said ‘The Maths Relay was great fun - we really enjoyed encouraging our teammates and helping them out. Some of the questions were quite mind-boggling, but we managed to solve every one by working together. When we heard the other yellow team in the Year 5 and 6 relay shout for joy when they had won, we ran over to celebrate our victory together. When the news was announced that we were the overall winners, we knew our hard work had paid off. It was an exciting way to do Maths and we think it got everyone enthusiastic about Maths!'

Madame Jones had also planned fun French lessons involving numbers for all of the classes too and although Reception were at Marwell, they have also used numbers this week when raising money to adopt their giraffe.

marwell zoo trip

On Wednesday, we went to Marwell Zoo. We had a brilliant time even though it was a bit rainy.

We saw lots of animals while we were there but we were especially excited to see the giraffes because we managed to make enough money at our cake and postcard sale to adopt one! We don’t know which one belongs to us yet, but we think it is the tallest one…

Here are some things we wanted to say about our trip:

“We had so much time, it was really cool.”

“I liked the rhinos’ horns because they were really pointy.”

“I liked the zebras because they are stripey.”

“The lemurs looked so cute.”

“I liked the giraffe’s head. His eyes were big.”

“I liked the giraffes’ long necks, because they had a pattern.”

“I liked the penguins.”

“I liked the tropical house because it is hot.”

“I liked thee giraffes’ legs because they can reach to eat’”

“I liked the tigers because they are stripey.”

“I loved the giraffe’s face.”

“ I liked the tortoise because it’s grey’”

“I liked the penguins’ wings.”

“I like the rhinos’ horns, they use them to fight.”

We want to thank all the adults who helped us on our trip, and everyone who bought cakes and postcards.

By Year R

Mrs Scott-Bromley

Alternative Sports event last Friday.

Last Friday children from Key Stage 2 attended the inter school Alternative Sports Festival at Eggar's School. It was so much fun! The children were able to try out fencing, archery, Kinball (controlling a huge inflatable ball with a team), Roundnet to develop hand-eye coordination, Stacking Cups - to improve fine motor skills and strategy, and Reaction Lights where children had to stamp on the light up pods when their colour was showing. Well done to all of the children for trying out these fun, new sports with confidence and perseverance!

Jenny Matthews