Benhall Infant and Pre-School Parent Portal - 6th October 2023

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Friday Letter - 6th October 2023

Dear Parents,

Being a part of Benhall is so special and this week has demonstrated what a wonderful community we have.

The school hall and reception classrooms has been a buzz of chatter as the parents and teachers chatted about how well the children have settled in to their new classes. We often run late and I am sure that you will appreciate that this comes from how privileged the team feel about being a part of your children's journey and how proud they are of each of them.

On Monday, the new PTA had their first meeting and it was a pleasure to be part of such a positive meeting. Thank you to everyone who attended online and in person. There are so many exciting things in the pipeline. We really appreciate everything a PTA can bring to a school.

On Wednesday, I met with the new school council and what a committed group of purple learners they are. They are ready to litter-pick, fundraise, be role models for their classes and the wider school.

Have a restful weekend everyone.

Love from Miss Morris and team

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Pre-School News

This week in Pre-School we continued with our topic of ‘Marvellous Me,’ with more fantastic self-portraits being created, the children have looked at their features in detail, understanding they are all unique and different. We have looked at and talked about how we are all different heights and created height charts in gold and silver families, which we will revisit to look at how much we have grown. In our groups we asked open ended questions to prompt thinking, we covered the importance of hygiene, such as washing our hands and bodies also cleaning our teeth. Understanding that it is important to eat healthy, take exercise and to sleep. We have talked about our emotions with the children covering what makes us happy and what might make us feel sad, we emphasised to all of the children it is important that they share how they are feeling. We had a first visit to the hall and the children enjoyed playing ring games, and meditation. Our Little Wandle Letter Sound this week has been ‘a.’ We had a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mrs Muirhead and Mrs Callaghan. Next week we start a new topic of ‘Autumn.’ Have a lovely weekend, The Pre-School Team.

Mrs Bennett and the Pre-School Team

We have had another busy week in Year One. The children have been working really hard and have created some fabulous weather reports for around the UK, check them out on Tapestry 🙂 We have introduced the maths symbols for greater than, less than, and equal to this week, and the children have shown good understanding whilst working with an adult and independently in provision. Our new write-stuff unit about penguins has gone down brilliantly. The children have been so engrossed in learning about different types of penguins, where they live, and other fun facts. We look forward to learning even more about penguins in the coming weeks 🙂 Have a lovely weekend!

The Year One Team

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Dear parents and carers,

I am Marijana Filipovic-Carter from Move-More, your school’s Family engagement and support lead. My job is to help families with issues that might not necessarily be seen as educational but can have a significant impact on children and their learning. The aim is to support you so that you can help your children achieve their potential and enjoy school.

As part of my role, I will be running several online sessions (webinars) for parents and carers. I will also write and share family newsletters with you. Webinars and newsletters will be focusing on a number of different topics, including behaviour issues, anxiety, anger, tantrums and meltdowns, morning and evening routines.

I will also share 3 family programmes with you. These programmes will focus on picky eating and encouraging your children to develop a healthy attitude towards food. More information will follow.

If you have any questions, you can either contact the school or me directly on marijana@move-more.org.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Marijana

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PTA News and Diary Dates

Thank you to everyone who supported our first meeting. We have had lots of responses to our survey and will be looking into all of the suggestions as we progress through the year.

Dates for your diary

Autumn Disco at School on Thursday 26th October 2023 - Times and ticket information to follow.

Christmas Fair is on Friday 8th December 2023 - Watch this space for more information.

Next PTA meeting at school on Tuesday 10th October 2023 at 7.30pm. You can join online if you prefer.

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZTYxODMwZjItMGUwMS00NzYzLWI5ODItMjBiZmJmN2E1NzFi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22de02c941-a3b2-478d-b9a7-eb505aa5339b%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2269f4a13e-8d91-4936-b411-6a25a84b408b%22%7d

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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Notices

Children must not use the climbing frames and timber trail before and after school. Staff will ask your children to get down if they see them using it.

Please do not park in the school carpark at drop or collection. This is for staff only. There was a near miss earlier this week.

Purple Learning Focus

This week the Benhall family have continued to ‘embrace challenge’ and this is visible in every environment you go into. During lunchtimes our new Reception children have been embracing challenge going into the hall, collecting their cutlery and meal as well as going out onto the big playground. Our fantastic Year 2 buddies have been wonderful and have embraced being role models by collecting children from the hall when they have finished and supporting them in play on the playground. As well as all of this some of our Benhall family have been embracing challenges such as sewing, funky finger activities, forecasting the weather, making bird feeders and practising to use the play pod correctly at lunchtimes . What a special school we all get to be part of ?

Parents don’t forget we would love to hear from you and how you have embraced any challenges recently. Please email Miss Bilton with any accomplishments.

rebeccabilton@benhall.gloucs.sch.uk

Purple Learners of the Week

Theo H
Jude
Elizabeth
Monty
Harry
Dotty

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

Lunchtimes at Benhall

Our wonderful lunchtime staff Mrs Smurthwaite, Mrs Owen Mrs Maddock, Mrs Semken and Mrs Smiley work very hard to make sure the children enjoy their lunches and that they feel happy and safe during this hour. The lunchtime team would like to set a challenge for all children to ‘practise cutting food independently with a knife and fork’ and ‘practise dancing to music’ for when they are inside and outside at lunchtimes. Please send photos to Miss Bilton and she will display them in school.

School Council at Benhall

School Council

On Wednesday afternoon, the school council met with Miss Morris and Miss Bilton to begin to plan out important jobs that School Council will need to complete. School Council also shared with Miss Morris ideas that they had about how they would like to raise some money for our school – more information to follow over the next couple of weeks. We are going to be doing a Thursday lunchtime litter pick over the next couple of weeks and will be choosing friends to join us. As well as this Miss Morris has asked us to create posters for the Autumn disco which will be happening at the end of this term. What a busy meeting! Our next meeting will be Wednesday 11^th October where we will be assigning jobs to each school council member. 😊

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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:

Sebastian

Aiden

James

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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 - Wednesday and Friday
Forest School Days - Starting week beginning 19/9/23 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

Yellow Class
PE Days - Wednesday and Friday
Forest School Days - Starting week beginning 19/9/23 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 Mrs Skelton

Green Class
PE Days - Tuesday and Thursday
Forest School Days - Starting week beginning 19/9/23 every other Thursday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - When 3 reads in class completed
Spelling Books - Thursday
PPA Day and Cover - Tuesday am by Mrs Selby

Blue Class
PE Days - Tuesday and Thursday
Forest School Days - Starting week beginning 19/9/23 every other Thursday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - When 3 reads in class completed
Spelling Books - Thursday
PPA Day and Cover - Tuesday am by Mrs Skelton

Indigo Class
PE Days - Monday and Thursday
Forest School Days - Starting week beginning 19/9/23 every other Wednesday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - Friday
Homework - Thursday (Tapestry)
PPA Day and Cover - Thursday am by Mrs Wisdom

Violet Class

PE Days - Monday and Friday
Forest School Days - Starting week beginning 19/9/23 every other Tuesday
Book Bags - Every day please
Book Changes - Friday
Homework - Thursday (Tapestry)
PPA Day and Cover - Thursday am by Mrs Skelton