this week at Bentley....

I can’t believe it’s Friday already – the weeks really are zooming by! As usual, there has been lots of great learning happening (see below for the best learning of the week from each class) and staff have been commenting on how proud they are of our children’s fantastic attitude towards their work.

We have welcomed lots of visitors into school this week. On Tuesday, Hampshire Fire and Rescue visited Year 1 and Year 6 to help them learn all about fire safety, and on Thursday, the Church School Councillors hosted the termly Church School Council Meeting, which is attended by representatives from other church schools in our local area.

As I write this, Year 2 are visiting The Sea City Museum in Southampton to support their learning about The Titanic, and in sporting news, Mr Goddard took a team of runners to the cross-country event at Binsted on Thursday. We have been very busy indeed!

Here are the children’s learning highlights of the week:

Year R – have been conducting surveys of everyone’s favourite food. The favourite fun food was ice-cream and the favourite breakfast food item was cereal.

Year 1 – have been learning all about number bonds to 20 in their maths lessons.

Year 2 – have been really enjoying learning all about The Titanic and were very excited about their trip today! They will let us know all about it in the newsletter next week.

Year 3 – went to their second swimming lesson at Alton Sports Centre and are really enjoying developing their swimming skills.

Year 4 – have been learning all about electrical circuits in their science lessons. They used circuit components to make their own circuits.

Year 5 – have become impressionists this week by using oil pastels to create pictures in the impressionist style.

Year 6 – have been creating dichotomous keys in their science lessons in order to identify big cats and different breeds of dogs.

Mrs Miffling

Acting Head Teacher

Staff News

We are very happy to announce that Miss Rachel Smith has joined us as our new Breakfast Club Assistant. Miss Smith knows our school really well, being mum to two of our pupils and we are really pleased to welcome her to the Bentley team.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service

On Tuesday morning the Fire Brigade came to talk to us. It was very exciting. We learned all lots of great things – not only about fire, but about their cool uniform and how they save people and animals. They taught us how to save ourselves in a fire and how to stay extra safe. We were taught the elements that fire needs; which are oxygen, fuel and heat. The most important thing to do if there’s a fire in your house is to get out, stay out and call 999. We had a wonderful morning and now we have knowledge that might one day save our lives.

Written by Jessica – Year 6

Cross Country Event

On Thursday 25^th January, I took a team of Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 children to Binsted recreation ground to take part in this term’s cross-country event. All the children performed brilliantly on what turned out to be a rather soggy course, with Benedict in Year 4 winning his race and George and Sam in Year 6 coming third and fourth in their races. I’m particularly proud of Kaidy-Mai in Year 4 for her outstanding team spirit and demonstration of our school values as she supported and encouraged other members of our team. Well done to all the children who took part. They all represented Bentley extremely well and it was a fantastic event to be a part of.

Mr Goddard

Attendance

This week’s whole school attendance is 93.5%.

The government sets a target of 95% for primary schools and our governors have set a target of 98% for our school. An attendance rate of 95% means that your child would have had approximately ten days of absence throughout the year; this is considered to be a significant loss to learning.

The class with the best attendance this week is…Year 4!

Eco Council News

Eco Council Update

Eco Council led an assembly this week to share their plans for this year’s Eco Schools Award. In partnership with their classes, three themes have been chosen for our projects: marine, waste and energy.

Marine – To help protect our rivers and oceans.

Waste – To reduce food waste at lunchtimes.

Energy – To reduce the amount of energy we use at school.

These projects will run alongside our existing projects, which include the Litter Picker Backpack, the Nature Reserve and recycling of stationery through the Rymans Terracycle scheme. To help your child understand the importance of these projects, please could you:

· Supervise their litter picking when the Litter Picker Backpack comes home.

· Encourage them to switch off lights and devices not in use at home.

· Encourage them to not waste water by switching off taps when cleaning teeth.

· Encourage them to not waste food at home and at school.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch (26-28 January)

This weekend is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. It is a really important citizen science project which provides lots of information about our bird populations in the UK. Year 5 participated in the Big Schools Birdwatch at Forest Explorers on Monday and spotted 6 species of birds in the Nature Reserve including blue tits and robins. To participate, please follow this link

PTFA

Following feedback from parents regarding volunteering and having more notice of the dates where help is needed, we have made signup sheets for all the remaining events this term. Please have a look and see if you’re able to help.

Disco- Friday 2nd Feb volunteersignup.org/D89TE

Leap Event- Thurs 29th Feb volunteersignup.org/7M83R

Golden Ticket- 5th, 7th, 8th March. volunteersignup.org/QHFPF

Pizza delivery- Fri 8th March. volunteersignup.org/JH7BH

Film/Games- Fri 15th March volunteersignup.org/KP44D

Thank you in advance!

We would like to make some hamper prizes for the children to win at our golden ticket event, do you have a children’s item you’re willing to donate?

Games, new toys, colouring books, sweets... Please leave any donation in the box by the gate by Friday 9th Feb. Thank you for your help!

Coming up next….