Benhall Infant and Pre-School Parent Portal - 20th January 2023

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Friday Letter - 20th January 2023

Dear Parents,

We have had such an exciting week at school this week. Last week Mrs Spence our truly inspiring Science Lead asked the children to help her to persuade me to have some school pets to support the children's learning about animals including humans. The children presented their research in assembly on Wednesday and I was delighted to announce that we would be welcoming two new gerbils to our Benhall Family. Lucy brought them into assembly and the sheer delight from all the children was wonderful to see. Our new gerbils are currently nameless so Mrs Spence is running a competition to name them. Pop your suggestions on her tapestry post. We will be voting next week and the new name will be announced next week.

On Wednesday our subject leads were able to share all of the learning that happens in their area of the curriculum with the colleagues from across the Cheltenham Schools. They came away feeling really proud of the feedback they received about our wonderful school. Thank you to Mrs Spence for hosting the science leads from across Cheltenham, they were blown away by our inspiring environments.

Love from Miss Morris and team xx

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Pre School News

Our focus theme this week has been the story of the “The Three Little Pigs.” The children have been learning the story through a variety of ways such as listening to the story being read, story mapping, using a story board to sequence the cards and watching an animated version on the interactive board. The children went for a walk to collect sticks, we then created stick brushes to use as a tool to explore paint with, with some really interesting mark making creations. They have played and constructed with assorted bricks, counted out how many pigs are in the sty and then had a go at matching the number and quantity and explored bricks and shaving foam. The children have role played the Three Little Pigs story using themed masks and role play puppets. On Tuesday we played what’s the time Mr Wolf in the school hall and on Friday the children were challenged to an obstacle course. Our Little Wandle letter this week has been “P” and we have being learning this using the activity Bertha the Bus, the children are always really enthusiastic to participate. Next week our focus them is Chinese New Year. Have a lovely weekend, The Pre-School Team.

Year Group In Focus - Year 2

What a fabulous couple of weeks it has been for wonderful Year 2! As part of our science unit on Variation, we all got to handle and explore a real-life sea bass. We looked for the key features of the fish including its dorsal fins, lateral line and caudal fin. Year 2 sketched the sea bass carefully and created fact sheets providing key information. In PE, we have started our training for the kids mini London Marathon. The children will be improving their running ability and stamina this term ready to run a whooping 2.6 miles for charity - more details to follow. In maths, we have been learning to multiply and the children have been using arrays to solve a range of problems. Any support you can give your children with this at home would be massively appreciated. As always, Year 2 have been a joy to teach and their growing enthusiasm for learning is such a treat to observe.

School Lottery - please consider signing up to our weekly lottery draw. Guarantee one person from Benhall will win a small prize each week and entry to the larger £25k too. https://www.yourschoollottery.co.uk/lottery/school/benhall-infant-and-pre-school?fbclid=IwAR0rUMXuSJkEwlSv70blK4UUdKENqdBxoF-bk_MQ1-nfMgxgef-7zEQpwQs

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PTA News

We have lots of uniform in storage and will be holding uniform sales across the rest of the term. Following feedback from parents about the timing of these sales we are mixing up the days, so hopefully there will be a day everyone can make.

Tuesday 24th January at 3pm
Wednesday 1st February at 3pm
Thursday 8th February at 3pm
Friday 17th February at 3pm

Follow the QR Code to pre-order!

Super School Council

This week we had our first Super School Council meeting and what a wonderful time we all had. The children are such brilliant role models and we couldn’t be prouder of them stepping into their new role so excited and full of enthusiasm. At our meeting this week we:

all introduced ourselves saying our names and the class we are in
we talked about being confident and how some of us felt a little bit nervous and that this feeling was ok
we voted for or first job and a school litter pick was the most popular – each school council member will pick someone to bring a long to this too
we have got to speak to our classes about the litter pick and explain to each class what we are looking for in our team members to decide who will help on the litter pick

Our next meeting will be Thursday 26^th January.

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A special thank you

The staff and children at Benhall would like to thank Jonas who runs ‘Jonas @ Gl50’ for coming in to school and leading an assembly all about being a chef. It has inspired so many of us and we thank you for taking your spare time to visit us. 😊

Lunchtimes

As you will know we are currently working really hard to make our lunchtimes enjoyable, fun and we have been aiming to provide a range of opportunities for all of our children.

The weather at the moment is so hit and miss that we are unable to have the fancy dress out every day, which is such a shame as the children really enjoy using it within their imaginative play. At our pupil supervisor meeting, we decided we would create an ‘Accessories box’ so that the children still have things to use. We would love donations of: tiaras, wands, plastic helmets/hats etc - please drop them off at the office and Mrs Evans/Mrs Wintle will pass onto the lunchtime team.

Purple Learning Focus

This week we have been thinking in depth about one of our school rules ‘Safe’. Please chat with your child at home about how they can be safe at home and also when they are out and about.

Our purple learner board in school is full of superb purple learning and last week we had lots of children and staff have been commenting on how exciting to see it being added to frequently. We have also been sending home purple learner notes – we are trying to encourage our purple learners to explain the purple learner skills they have shown in that particularly activity so please do chat with them about this.

Purple Learners of the Week

Emily
Alayna
Luna
Aisha
Rory
Max W
MIss Boakes
Miss Pates

Well done everyone, we are all really proud of you.

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We would like to wish members of our Benhall Family who have celebrated their birthday a really happy birthday. Happy birthday to:

Dontay
Sasha R
Alfie W-R

Class Routines

PE Kit

What a great start to wearing school PE kit on PE days – thank you parents for your help with this.

PE Kit reminder:

Navy blue shorts or tracksuit bottoms
Plain white or purple T-shirt
Navy blue hoody or sweatshirt
Trainers

If your child has joined an after school sports club they can wear their school PE Kit on club days too (no football strips).

Orange Class
PE Days - Monday and Wednesday
Forest School Days Starts 27/9/22 - every other Tuesday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - Bring in on Wednesday go home on Friday
Sound Books - Back in on Wednesday
PPA Day and Cover - Weds am by Miss Everett

Yellow Class
PE Days - Monday and Wednesday
Forest School Days Starts 27/9/22 - every other Tuesday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - Bring in on Wednesday go home on Friday
Sound Books - Back in on Wednesday
PPA Day and Cover - Weds am by Miss Bilton

Green Class
PE Days - Wednesday and Thursday
Forest School Days - Starting on 29th September then every other Thursday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - Friday
PPA Day and Cover - Weds pm by Miss Bilton and Mrs Smurthwaite

Blue Class
PE Days - Wednesday and Thursday
Forest School Days - Starting on 29th September then every other Thursday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - Friday
PPA Day and Cover - Weds pm by Miss Bilton and Mrs Smurthwaite

Indigo Class
PE Days - Monday and Friday
Forest School Days - Starting on 28th September then every other Wednesday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - Friday
Homework - Thursday (Tapestry)
PPA Day and Cover - Tues by Mrs Aitken

Violet Class
PE Days - Monday and Friday
Forest School Days - Starting on 28th September then every other Wednesday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - Thursday
Homework - Thursday (Tapestry)
PPA Day and Cover - Tues am by Miss Morris