Benhall Infant and Pre-School Parent Portal - 11th October 2024

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Friday Letter - 11th October 2024

Dear Parents,

At parents' evenings this week, we really enjoyed sharing how well your children have settled into their new classes. Thank you to everyone who came. We hope that you found the time with your child's teacher(s) useful.

Working in partnership with parents is an important factor in how successful children are during their education.

We continue to look at ways you can be involved in the life of our school. Opportunities currently on offer are

- Tapestry, which is used to share information about your child's learning. Please check your child's account regularly. Remember to post anything your child is proud of at home. We love hearing what the children are doing as Purple Learners outside the classroom so that we can celebrate them at school.

- Parent Pop-Ins allow you to come into the classroom and spend time looking at your child's books. The children love to talk about their learning with you.

-Parent events are an opportunity to spend a longer period of time sharing in a learning opportunity at school or in the local area. Popular events include a reading café, litterpicking in the park, craft and a sponsored Mini-Marathon.

-Sports Day and Performances are times to cheer on your child. Be prepared to join in our Sports Day activities alongside your child.

-Volunteering on a school trip. We always need extra adults to allow us to access learning or extracurricular curricular activities off site. Thank you to everyone who supported KS1 during their trip to the Literature Festival today.

-Finally, have you thought about joining the PTA or supporting one of their events? They raise valuable funds that impact so positively on all of our children from Pre-School to year 2. If you want to find out more about how you can support the PTA, please reach out on your class WhatsApp group, drop an email to PTA@benhall.gloucs.sch.uk or follow them on the Benhall PTA Facebook page.

Love from Miss Morris and the team

Years 1 and 2 to Literature Festival

Curriculum meeting for Reception parents

6:00pm – 7:00pm

23
October

Break the Rules Day - further info on newsletter dated 11th October

9:00am – 3:00pm

24
October

Inset Day - school and pre-school closed to children

9:00am – 3:00pm

25
October

PTA Autumn Event - Scarecrow Trail

12:00pm – 3:00pm

26
October

Children in Need- children to wear spots for a donation to the charity

9:00am – 3:00pm

15
November

PTA Xmas craft evening

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Attendance

We are aware of some early glitches with our new parent communication app (Arbor) and how this is reporting attendance data to parents. Mrs Evans and Mrs Wintle continue to work with Arbor to ensure that you have all the correct information.

Attendance at school during term time is really important. Just a few days off could lead to gaps in your child's learning. We ask that you avoid any holidays/day trips during school time.

You may be concerned about keeping your child at home when poorly because of missing learning. However, poorly children cannot learn effectively and therefore are better off at home. To reduce the risk of spreading infections please keep your child at home if they have

infectious illnesses -please check with the office if you are not sure
temperatures
if you have given paracetamol to relieve symptoms
if they have had the symptoms of an upset stomach (remain off school for 48 from the last evidence of symptoms

Report absence by 9am on the absence line (01242 234717) or by reporting the absence through the Arbor App. Click on the 3 lines on top of the screen, then click attendance on the left hand and log absence. Reporting your child's absence through the App sends a message directly to the office and the class teacher informing them of the absence.

Purple Learning

This week, we wanted to share some of the comments that our purple learners have said related to being curious. We think you will agree that these are the comments that make Benhall such a special place to be.

‘Quick, let’s add the magpie down to the tally chart…that’s 14!’

‘Did you know that robins have sharp beaks so they can peck at worms?’

‘Look at all these graphemes on our wall, look as well 2 letters, but it makes one sound.’

‘My dot became a surfing fish’

‘We had a dot on our paper and I turned it into a secret door.’

‘Look, this is my moving open-top bus that is going to London!’

These are just a snapshot of exciting comments we have heard around school this week. Well done everyone – keep being curious!

Our Purple Learners this week are:

August

Annbel

Freddie

Olivia

Alayna

Alfie M

Well done everyone.

School Council

Our super School Council have been very busy planning a ‘Break the rules’ day and we can now confirm our plans 😊

Break the rules day will be on Thursday 24^th October. School Council are going to be trying to raise as much money as possible for our own environments, including Pre-School. We are all so motivated and excited to see how much we can raise, the money will be split equally between the six classes and Pre-School so please do support us and let’s see what we can raise as a family.

8.30am

Red room playground for a simple face paint – please bring 50p along with you if you would like this done before school

8.45am

Wear pjs or non-school uniform for a minimum donation of £1

Crazy and silly hair for a minimum donation of £1

If you would like to do both of the above then it will be a minimum donation of £2 please.

During the school day:

Each class will be allowed a biscuit and drink of squash. We will be having a play afternoon where the children will be allowed to play games of their choice.

2.45pm-3.15pm

We will be having a cake sale on the main playground. If you could kindly donate cakes, we would really appreciate it. Please drop them in to the school office by Thursday 24^th October @12pm.

Please can we remind you that children will need to bring their donation (for pjs/non uniform and crazy hair) to the class door and that they should not bring money for the cake sale, instead you can pick your child up as normal and then check out what delicisous treats we have after school.

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Benhall PTA Scarecrow Trail

Date: 26th October

Time: 12-3pm

Location: Benhall park

Join us at any time between 12-3pm for a fun family afternoon - spot your favourite Hero and Villain characters in scarecrow form around Benhall Park and Woods.

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Christmas Card Competition

Our local MP is running a Christmas Card Competition. This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase your child's creativity and spread some festive cheer through the community. The deadline for submissions will be 18th October and they ask that all entries are submitted to Max Wilkinson MP by post in A4 hard copy; 15 Hewlett Road, Cheltenham, GL52 6AA.

Wishing you the very best of luck to all those who take part and we hope you enjoy the challenge!

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PE in the Autumn Term

Reception - Wednesday and Friday

Year 1 - Monday and Friday

Year 2 - Tuesday and Thursday

Children should come to school in their PE kit which is-

Navy Tracksuit bottoms or shorts
White or Purple T-Shirt
Navy Jumper
Trainers or daps

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Forest School in the Autumn Term

We are thrilled that Mrs Stephens will be leading forest school sessions for us again this year. Children will wear their uniform under the waterproofs provided by the school.

A huge thank you to the PTA who support us with purchasing our new waterproofs this year.

Please make sure that your child wears trousers as part of their uniform on Forest School Days which are as follows -

Reception - Thursday (every other week starting from 4/10/24)
Year 1 - Tuesday (every other week starting from 17/9/24)
Year 2 - Wednesday (every other week starting from 18/9/24)

Newsletters

11th October 2024 - Friday Letter