We have also received some fantastic items from our Amazon Wish List, and I would like to extend a special thank you to those who have made these contributions—whether you were able to leave your name or chose to remain anonymous, please know that both the children and I are deeply grateful for your kindness. As we continue to enhance our playtime resources, the next step in our plan is to ensure we have the right storage in place. This will help us keep all of these wonderful items easily accessible for the children, so they can make the most of them during their breaks.

Looking ahead, I am very excited to be working with our School Council to develop new zones on the playground. We want to ensure that as many interests as possible are catered for, and I know the children will have some great ideas on how to make our playtimes even better!

This week also saw our Year 2 class enjoy a wonderful trip to Royal Victoria Chapel, where they had a fantastic time exploring and learning. It is always a joy to see their excitement and curiosity during these trips. Miss Bonwitt shared:

Penguin class had the opportunity to visit Royal Victoria Chapel, Netley on Tuesday. We had an enthralling experience and learnt many new nuggets of information about Florence Nightingale. Our first workshop took us through Florence’s life. We learnt that she studied nursing in Germany before coming to England. Her first overseas nursing trip was to Scutari (modern day Turkey) to help those injured in the Crimean War. We were surprised to find out that when Florence arrived, the team were not welcoming, as we would have thought. The children were horrified to learn that this was because Florence and her team were women rather than men! Our second workshop had us making our own lanterns and learning more through different artefacts. After lunch, we had a quick walk down to the pier before retreating back in the heavy downpour. All in all, a wonderful trip that was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Thursday was a particularly special day, as the school was a sea of yellow in recognition of World Mental Health Awareness Day. The children had the chance to wear something yellow and spent time in class talking about how we can support our mental health. They watched a touching video about a child who uses doodling as a way to care for their mental wellbeing, and then the whole school joined in to create a giant doodle together! It looks fantastic, and I am sure it was a very therapeutic and fun experience for everyone.

As always, thank you for your continued support and generosity. It is a privilege to be part of such a caring and engaged community.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Vicky Hallett

Headteacher

THANK YOU…

…to the Meagher family and Ms Aitken for donating some items from our Amazon wishlist, the Eveson family for the giant dominoes, the Forbes family for arts and crafts supplies and the Hamid family for the ride-on toys. We are very grateful for your generous donations and support.

We have also received some other kind donations, but we don’t know who from. Do please let us know so that we can thank you properly!

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN SCHOOL

Lots of our fantastic children have taken on extra roles and responsibilities this year, helping within their class or across the school. Thank you to the following children – you are already doing an amazing job!

School Council:

Year 1 - Edie and Lawrence

Year 2 – Oscar and Nancy

Year 3 – Tommy and Rose

Year 4 – Oliver and Elliott

Year 5 – Seb and Freddie

Year 6 – Barnes, Myla, Ariana and Lexi

Eco Leaders:

Year 1 – Madden and Alex

Year 2 – Charlie and Ruby

Year 3 – Amelie and Finn

Year 4 – Ellen and Ava

Year 5 – Holly and Max

Year 6 – Lexi and Flora-Rose

Worship Leaders:

Year 1 – Darcy and Bea

Year 2 – George and Amelie

Year 3 – Rowen and Olivia

Year 4 – Elizabeth and Josie

Year 5 – Isabelle

Year 6 – Barnes and Myla

Digital Leaders:

Year 1 – Robin and Pen

Year 2 – Nelly and Christopher

Year 3 – Owen and Orla

Year 4 – Dottie and Montanna-Marie

Year 5 – Arthur and Bertie

Year 6 – Eleanor, Annabelle, Finley and James

Library Monitors:

Year 1 - Faris

Year 2 – Teddy and Dottie

Year 3 – Hugo and Annika

Year 4 – Sarmad and Indianna

Year 5 – William

Year 6 – Henry, Georgia and Viki

PARKING AND SAFETY CONCERNS NEAR OUR SCHOOL

We would like to remind parents and carers of the ongoing parking issues outside our school. Despite previous requests, unsafe and inconsiderate parking continues to cause problems for both local residents and our community. We have now contacted the Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) to assist with monitoring the situation, and we were pleased to see that he arrived yesterday and is set to return again. Our primary concern is the safety of our children, particularly when crossing roads during busy drop-off and pick-up times. Please ensure you are parking responsibly and with care for the residents and children, to help us maintain a safe environment for everyone.

TT ROCKSTARS!

Well done to Year 3!  This week they won the Battle of the Bands competition, which involved all of the key stage two classes.  Excellent work for practising your timetables and helping your class to win this week!

Battle of the Bands will run again from Friday 11^th October until Thursday 17^th October.  Good luck everyone!

RUGBY FESTIVAL

On Tuesday, a group of children attended a rugby festival. The children showed utterly amazing teamwork and sportsmanship. Bentley played 5 other teams and came 2nd overall! We even beat one of the teams 5-0! There was no complaining from our super sports team despite the pretty relentless rain. Well done Bentley! 

HARVEST FESTIVAL

The children have been busy preparing for our Harvest Festival next week and parents and families are warmly welcomed into school to share collective worship with us on Thursday 17th October.  Infant harvest festival will be at 9.05am and Juniors at 9.30am. 

In keeping with our Christian value for this half-term of generosity, we would be very grateful if every child could bring in a donation of dried or canned food (non-perishable and no glass items as children carry these from the classroom into the hall themselves, and please check for expiry dates!).  We will pass these much-needed supplies onto the Alton Food Bank.

CLUBS

A reminder that during the week of Parents Evenings (week beginning 21^st October) no teacher-led clubs will be running. Artbox and Fun Science club will not be running this week either.

CELEBRATION ASSEMBLY

Each Friday we celebrate achievements together during assembly. These achievements can be both in and out of school, so if your child has done anything extra special (gone up a level in swimming, won star player in a match at the weekend or gone above and beyond to help someone, for example) do please let the school office know, along with a copy of any certificates if possible.

UNIFORM SHED

We have lots of stock in our second-hand uniform shed at the moment. The shed will be open for sales during the afternoon tea event, but you can also collect the key from the school office at any time if you would like to make a purchase. We are especially well-stocked with larger sizes, so if you need any extra uniform for your year 4, 5 or 6 child make sure you take a look.

NURTURING PROGRAMME

Alton Cluster Support Service are running an 8 week parenting course starting on 14^th October. Children are rewarding, stimulating and fun, but looking after them can be stressful and challenging. The Nurturing Programme helps deal with those challenges so that you can have a calmer, happier life. A tried and tested programme, it helps us think about what we do, why we do it and how it makes us feel. More information can be found on our community page 

Click here to book your place!

STARTING SCHOOL AND MOVING TO SECONDARY SCHOOL – SEPTEMBER 2025

It is already time to be looking ahead to next September! If your child is in Year 6, please look at our community pages for information about open events for our local secondary schools, Eggars and Amery Hill. Applications are already open.

If you have a younger child who turns 4 between 1^st September 2024 and 31^st August 2025 (or know someone locally who does) we are already advertising our open events for prospective parents. Click here to find out more.

PTFA

What’s coming up?

Welcome Afternoon tea:

Friday 18th October, straight after school. Hosted by the infants, this event is set to be a lovely addition to our school calendar - a lovely way to meet new families, chat to staff and catch up with friends.  

Cake donations will be gratefully received! Scones and sandwiches are being made by the Year 6s and Year Rs.

We need some volunteers! Please sign up here: 

https://volunteersignup.org/LEYHE

No need to buy a ticket, just turn up on the evening. Hot drinks, scones, cake and sandwiches will be available to buy. Card only. 

Other notices:

All our ticketed events can be viewed on www.pta-events.co.uk/bentley. 

For all our ticketed events, e.g. Fun Club, all children need to have a pre-booked ticket. We cannot accept any children into the events on the day of the event. The ticket sales will close the day before the event. No tickets can be purchased or reserved after this - we need to know exact numbers for adult:children ratios, overall safety and for purchasing the right amount of food.

Parentkind: the charity that supports school PTAs - have teamed up with Asda, who is making millions of pounds available to donate to primary schools across the UK through their ‘Cashpot for Schools’ initiative – all you have to do is: opt in through the Asda Rewards app, choose our primary school and shop and scan in store or shop online at Asda.com, between 2nd September and 30th November 2024 Asda will donate 0.5% of the value of your shop to our PTA. Also, every time somebody opts in, Asda will give an additional £1 to the school Cashpot. Plus, it doesn’t stop there – Asda are also giving £50 to every school to get them started.

Wanted: Craft material donations for fun club. This could be paper, pens, glue, tissue paper, paint, paint brushes/pallets, string, stamps, craft sets (eg beads) etc

Please drop to your rep, the chairs or into the office.