I would like to extend a huge well done to our new Year R children. They have settled in beautifully and it has been a joy to see their enthusiasm and excitement for learning each day. They have embraced starting school with open hearts and minds, and we couldn’t be prouder of them.

We have also had a number of educational visits over the past few weeks, which I believe are so important in bringing learning to life. The children have had the chance to explore new environments, connect what they have learned in the classroom, and experience hands-on activities that deepen their understanding. Thank you for your continued support in making these visits possible.

On Thursday, we hosted our first Open Afternoon for prospective Year R children starting in 2025. It was wonderful to meet many new faces. If you know anyone with school-aged children for next year, please do encourage them to come and visit us. We would love the opportunity to share all that Bentley has to offer.

A special thank you also to everyone who came to support our Afternoon Tea last week. This was the first time we have done this at Bentley, and it was a huge success! It was heart-warming to see our school community come together, chat, and have fun. I am delighted to share that we managed to raise £228, which is fantastic! Thank you to the PTFA for organising this lovely event and to the children who made scones, sandwiches, and beautiful table decorations. It is safe to say this will become an annual tradition!

This morning, we held our first inter-house competition of the year. The children (and staff!) showed great enthusiasm as they gathered in their houses to perform a song to the rest of the school. Myself, along with four other impartial judges, had the difficult task of deciding the winning house based on singing, enthusiasm, and entertainment value. I am thrilled to announce that the winning house was Kolbe. A huge well done to everyone involved!

Finally, I wish you all a wonderful half-term break. In my infinite wisdom, I have decided to take my daughter camping for a couple of nights, so I’ll be hoping and praying for dry weather!

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you all after the break.

Vicky Hallett

Headteacher

 

THANK YOU…

…to Robert Tagg, Rebecca Aitken, John Kirkpatrick, Eleanor Towsey and anonymous donors for their generous donations to the PTFA laptop fund.

 

TT ROCKSTARS!

Well done to Year 3!  This week they won the Battle of the Bands competition, which involved all of the key stage two classes.  Excellent work for practising your times tables and helping your class to win this week!

Battle of the Bands will run again from Friday 25^th October until 8am Friday 8^th November.  Good luck everyone!

 

ECO UPDATE

Eco Council Plans

Eco Council is excited to share the three projects which they will be working on this year. 

 

1. Project Food Waste – This continues the work Eco Council started last year.  The children at Bentley are throwing away an average of 10kg of food waste every day.  Eco Council recognises how wasteful this is in terms of money but also time and are keen to reduce the amount of food waste thrown away at lunchtimes.
2. Bentley Pollinator Garden – Through their annual citizen science projects, Butterfly Conservation and Bumblebee Conservation Trust have reported an alarming decline in butterfly and bumblebee species with Butterfly Conservation announcing an ‘emergency’ following the lowest number of butterflies on record this summer.  In response to this, Eco Council would like to create a pollinator garden.  They will be launching a competition after half-term to design the garden. For more information about bumblebees, click here - https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/ and for butterflies, click here - https://butterfly-conservation.org/
3. Young ACAN 5 Rs Project – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle – Bentley is a Young ACAN Partner School along with most of our local primary and secondary schools as well as Alton College. We are working together to tackle climate change.  This year we are focusing on ‘stuff’ with the aim to educate the children in our community about how to manage their stuff from refusing to buy new to reusing and repairing.  They will also learn how to recycle well and how recycling is the last resort. 

If you are able to help Eco Council with their projects, please contact Madame Jones via the school office. Thank you.

 

 

Wanted: Pre-loved wellies and waterproofs

 

If you have children in Year 6, Nature Club or Wild Adventures, you will know that our woods are very muddy! The children are taught about the importance of wearing the right clothes so that they can enjoy nature whatever the weather and at this time of year that means wellies and waterproofs.  We would very much welcome your pre-loved wellies and waterproofs to add to our current stock.  Please bring your donations into school and they will be very gratefully received!  Thank you in advance.

 

 

MENU CHANGES

 

The new school lunch menus start straight after half term, and continue until April 2025.

The menus can be found here.

 

On Friday 8^th November there will be a special menu for Bonfire Night

 

 

 

STARTING SCHOOL AND MOVING TO SECONDARY SCHOOL – SEPTEMBER 2025

 

It is already time to be looking ahead to next September! If your child is in Year 6, please look at our community pages for information about open events for our local secondary schools, Eggars and Amery Hill. Applications are already open.

If you have a younger child who turns 4 between 1^st September 2024 and 31^st August 2025 (or know someone locally who does) we are already advertising our open events for prospective parents. Click here to find out more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PTFA

 

Bonfire night:

Bentley Bonfire Night is on Friday 8th November. The PTFA provide all the refreshments! The bar, bbq and kids refreshment stalls are always very busy but good fun. 

Please help us fill the slots - sign up here:

BBQ serving: https://volunteersignup.org/MMYB9

Bar & children’s refreshments: https://volunteersignup.org/9WEKQ

Toffee apples & glow items: 

https://volunteersignup.org/W7L84

Tidy up:  https://volunteersignup.org/LHHYJ

Thank you in advance to everyone!

Toffee Apples: Please can all children bring in an apple (the small ones are best) on Tuesday 5th November. These will be used to make toffee apples to sell at Bonfire Night. The perfect, traditional bonfire night treat!

 

Laptops

We’re doing well on our Mission for Laptops!

We’re at £4,500! We need about £19,000, so please keep sharing. Remember, we can claim gift aid on anything donated to the PTFA via go fund me. 

Here’s the link: 

https://gofund.me/0f704714

 

Parentkind: the charity that supports school PTAs - have teamed up with Asda, who is making millions of pounds available to donate to primary schools across the UK through their ‘Cashpot for Schools’ initiative – all you have to do is: opt in through the Asda Rewards app, choose our primary school and shop and scan in store or shop online at Asda.com, between 2nd September and 30th November 2024 Asda will donate 0.5% of the value of your shop to our PTA. Also, every time somebody opts in, Asda will give an additional £1 to the school Cashpot. Plus, it doesn’t stop there – Asda are also giving £50 to every school to get them started.

 

Apples

The apple season has now come to an end and we are grateful to everyone who has donated or helped pick apples this year. We will not be taking any more donation of apples this year.