Benhall Infant and Pre-School Parent Portal - 10th February 2023

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Friday Letter - 10th February 2023

Dear Parents,

It has been an absolute joy to be at Benhall this week. The children have been demonstrating how much they love their learning. There is so much I could tell you about but lets focus on just a few things that I love to see around our school and that I see every day regardless of which classroom or shared learning space I am in.

Purple Learners who love to learn, always supporting and celebrating each other
Committed staff who love being part of your children's learning journey
Supportive parents who are such an integral part of their child's learning journey
Inviting environments that celebrate

Then to finish off the week with a disco organised by our fabulous PTA!

Love from Miss Morris and team xx

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Pre School News

In Pre-School this week we continued with our theme of Physical, for our gross motor skills the children have enjoyed riding bikes, completing an obstacle course, playing parachute and ring games in the hall, exploring the Timber trail and taking part in cosmic yoga. They have also enjoyed lots of outdoor play with hoops, bats and balls, and the climbing frame tunnel and tyres. To support their fine motor skills the children have been threading numbers and pasta, practicing their scissor skills, exploring transient art and printing with assorted texture blocks. We continued with the story We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, and the children created some wonderful story maps and drawings. In Gold Family we have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Freddie. Next week our theme is Super Heroes!

Have a pleasant weekend all, The Pre-School Team.

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This week Year 1 had a super time meeting the author Steve Antony. He read us the Queens Hat and explained to us what his job was as an author and illustrator. We asked him lots of questions and he told us all about using your imagination to tell and write stories. He told us that he sometimes writes in his studio but sometimes he writes on a train or on a bus, in fact you can write anywhere. We found out that he was colour blind but he calls it his super power and it lets him imagine what colour things could be! We thought he was definitely a purple learner!

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Year 2 Mini-Marathon Challenge

Over the past term, Year 2 have been improving their running skills in their PE sessions. We sneakily signed them up for the Mini-Marathon Challenge in March - as you can imagine they rose to the challenge. On Thursday 23^rd March they will be running 2.6 miles and they have decided to fundraise and collect money for charity. Year 2 have chosen to raise money for Winston's Wish, a Cheltenham based charity who support children who have lost a parent or a sibling. Winston's Wish have supported many of our Benhall families over the years and it will be wonderful to say a thank you for all they do. After a heart-warming class meeting, the children have decided to run their miles to remember Jacob and Freddie's Daddies, who were sadly taken away from them far too soon. So, would you like to support our fabulous Year 2 team? The children have set a target of £100, and we cannot wait to see their faces if they reach this target. Any contribution on our Just Giving page would be massively appreciated. Love Mrs Spence, Miss Boakes and Team Year 2 xxx

ttps://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hannah-spence7

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

School Council

It has been a pleasure to meet with the new School Council and talk about how they can help me to ensure that the we have a school that is ready, respectful and safe and packed with purple learning. Their first job was to take one of our school governors, Mark Clements, on a school tour. He was so excited by what they wanted to show him. Great job school council!

Purple Learning Focus

This week our purple learning focus has been ‘Safety’. It is important that our children and staff are aware of how to be safe in school, from being in their learning environments to having fun on the playground at break time. We have our School Council who promote this in class meetings and around school. Our three school rules ‘Ready, Respectful and Safe’ fit into all aspects of life so please promote these at home too 😊. We have recently celebrated Annabelle in Year 2, Clara in Year 1 and Alfie in Reception for all developing their purple learning skills at home from cooking to sports and even helping around the home. If you think your child has shown superb purple learning skills then please do email Miss Bilton so that we can celebrate these children in our Wednesday Purple Learning assembly. Please email rebeccabilton@benhall.gloucs.sch.uk

Purple Learners of the Week

Connor W
Ronnie
Lois
Archie
Aanya
Miss Mason

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

Workshop

As you will know, we have a wonderful Design Technology workshop at Benhall which we aim to teach children lots of new skills within woodwork, sewing, constructing and . If you can come in and help teach/deliver some sessions related to these skills then please let Miss Bilton know. 😊

Lunchtimes

Do you enjoy playing traditional games? Do you have a passion for outdoor learning? Are you looking for a job role where you can encourage and support all children? If so, we currently have vacancies for our pupil supervisor roles and would love to hear from you. If this is something of interest to you or someone you know then please email Miss Bilton to find out more. Please email rebeccabilton@benhall.gloucs.sch.uk

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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:

Elizabeth W
Isaac J
Tabitha
Sasha L

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