A Safeguarding Reminder

To keep our school safe for everyone, we kindly ask that parents only enter the school building through reception. If you would like to speak with your child’s class teacher, please contact the school office, and they will happily arrange a meeting for you. Thank you for your cooperation.

With so much happening over the coming weeks, here is a reminder of key dates and events to help you stay organised.

 

Upcoming Events

Christmas Fair – Friday 29^th November, 3:00–5:00 p.m.

The festive season kicks off with our Christmas Fair next Friday! The Choir will perform a selection of songs outside the Sports Hall at 3:00 p.m. to set the tone for this joyful event.

 

To allow children to enjoy the Fair while it’s less busy:

Year 1 and Year 2 children can be collected from the back playground at 2:55 p.m., and Year R from their playground gate.

Children not collected at this time will remain with their teacher and be dismissed as usual at 3:15 p.m., unless attending afterschool club.

Years 3, 4, and 5 will finish as normal at 3:15 p.m. Year 6 students will be helping with stalls and fulfilling their 'elf' duties – more details to follow from Mrs. Blake.

With games, delicious food, and festive activities for all, this is an event not to be missed!

 

Year 1 & 2 Christmas Production – Prickly Hay

A letter will be sent out next week with details about how you can buy tickets, but the performances will be on

Tuesday 10^th December at 2pm

Wednesday 11^th December at 6pm

 

Year 3, 4 & 5 Christmas Production – Tinsel and Tea-towels

Join us for Year 3, 4, and 5’s festive production, Tinsel and Tea-towels. A letter with details about buying tickets will follow in the next couple of weeks.

Tuesday 17^th December at 6.30pm

Wednesday 18^th December at 6.30pm

 

Christmas Jumper Day & Christmas Lunch

On Thursday 19th December, we will combine the joy of Christmas Jumper Day with a delicious Christmas lunch! The menu will be confirmed nearer the time.

 

St. Mary’s Church Service

Year 6 and Year R will lead our annual service at St. Mary’s Church, Bentley, on Friday 20th December at 11:00 a.m.

Due to space limitations, attendance is limited to parents of children in Year 6, Year R, and the after school choir.

After the service, these children (and their siblings) will be dismissed from the church. All other children will return to school for collection at 12:30 p.m., when school closes for the holidays. The school bus will leave at 12:30 p.m., and there will be no afterschool club on this day.

New Term

We look forward to welcoming children back to school on Tuesday 7^th  January 2025.

Thank you for your ongoing support, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Hallett

 

ATTENDANCE

Good attendance in school is key to children feeling happy and settled, as well as improving academic outcomes. Each week during celebration assembly Mrs Hallett shares with the children the statistics for attendance for each class. Governors have set the attendance target for the school at 97%. These are the figures for last week: Congratulations to Year 4 for 100% attendance!

Year Group	Attendance Marks
Year R	90.38%
Year Y1	98.57%
Year Y2	97.74%
Year Y3	95.63%
Year Y4	100%
Year Y5	95.83%
Year Y6	90.37%

 

 

THANK YOU…

…to The Anchor for supplying the mulled cider for the bar at the fireworks and Andy Phillips for the Cold Frame. We are very grateful for your donations.

 

PARKING

We have unfortunately received complaints from local residents about parking at pick up time. Please ensure that you park away from the yellow zig-zags and double yellow lines, to ensure the safety of all our children.

 

TT ROCKSTARS!

Well done to Year 6!  This week they won the Battle of the Bands competition, which involved all of the key stage two classes.  Excellent work for practising your times tables and helping your class to win this week!

The next Battle of the Bands will be a house competition! Keep practising your tables and try to help your house to win! This will run Friday 22^nd November until Thursday 28^th November at 7pm. Good luck everyone!

IRON AGE DAY

Year 3 enjoyed an Iron Age day on Monday…

‘On the 18^th of November it was a special day called Iron Age. We had so much fun!

We did:

Learning about the Iron Age and a lot more ages in the morning.

In the afternoon we were chosen into groups to see what the kitchen looked like, what the chief wore (very nice armour!) and then looking at animal skins!

My favourite thing that we did was Iron Age training! It was so brilliant! I really liked Iron Age Matt!

All of it was great! I can’t wait to learn more!’

Eleanor

‘On Iron Age day it was brilliant. In the morning we looked at shields and sharp swords and it was a bit crazy. We learnt about the things that you need to survive in the Iron Age. Iron Age Matt led it all. We made spear tips.’

Tommy

ECO UPDATE

Regift-Reuse-Relove Christmas Stall

This year Eco Council is going to be hosting a stall at the upcoming Christmas Fair (see poster below).  The Regift-Reuse-Relove stall aims to encourage us all to buy second-hand this Christmas – saving money and the planet at the same time!  So this weekend, why not have a sort out! We are searching for GOOD QUALITY CHILDREN’S BOOKS, CHRISTMAS JUMPERS, TOYS AND GAMES (so no holes, missing pieces or alike!).  Please bring the item(s) to school and donate in the drop off point on the playground.  All items will be sold for 50p and will raise funds for the PTFA.  Thank you to the PTFA for supporting this event and also for your donations!

 

Young ACAN Pollinators Poster Competition

This week Eco Council shared an exciting competition being organised by Young ACAN (Alton Climate Action Network).  As a partner school, we would like as many children as possible to get involved. This year has been a terrible year for our pollinators and there is great concern about the decrease in butterflies and bumblebees.  To raise awareness and to encourage us all to take action, Young ACAN is asking young people from 4-18 to create a poster. There will be prizes for the best entries as well as a public exhibition.  Closing date: 2^nd December.

 

Wanted: Pre-loved wellies and waterproofs

 

Thank you so much for the kind donation of wellies. Sorry, we didn’t get your name, but we very grateful.  We would still very much welcome your pre-loved wellies and waterproofs to add to our current stock for use at Forest Explorers and other outdoor learning opportunties.  Please bring your donations into school and they will be very gratefully received!  Thank you once again in advance.

 

Forest Explorers Shed

A huge thank you to the PFTA for the fabulous new Forest Explorers shed and to Mr Lucas for building it.  It will certainly save a lot of time when setting up and packing away which will be especially appreciated in the pouring rain and on dark, winter afternoons!

 

 

 

STARTING SCHOOL – SEPTEMBER 2025

 

Applications are now open for Year R starters in 2024. 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 holding open events for prospective parents. Click here to find out more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PTFA

 

Christmas Fair - Friday 29th November, 3-5pm

We hope you can all join us at the Christmas fair next Friday evening. Infants will be able to go to the fair at 3pm and juniors will be let out at 3:15. All children need to be accompanied by an adult. 

How can you help?

🎄 Donate teddies to the teddy tombola. Yellow tubs will be on the playground each day. 

🎄 Donate mince pies for the refreshment stall. Please drop them in to the office or yellow tubs. 

🎄 Donate second hand gifts for the eco stall (please see the attached poster)

🎄 Return your raffle ticket stubs and money, and any unwanted raffle tickets, as soon as possible

🎄 Sign up for a slot on one of the stalls:

Name the elf & Raffle

https://volunteersignup.org/ME39X

Hot drinks & Mince pies

https://volunteersignup.org/LK9QX

Refreshments

https://volunteersignup.org/DRCY4

Santa's Grotto

https://volunteersignup.org/CMTKM

Setup & Tidy up

https://volunteersignup.org/HFTRC

Also,  please look out for specific requests from your class reps for your class stalls. Each year group is organising a stall and may need donations and help. (Yr 6s are elves and should know what they’re doing and what’s needed!)

Year 5: volunteersignup.org/RJY9M

Year 4: volunteersignup.org/8MPRP

Year 3: volunteersignup.org/YCDFC

Year 2: volunteersignup.org/TQR7T

Year 1: volunteersignup.org/CBW7Q

Year R: volunteersignup.org/83ACC

Christmas Trees

Our wonderful Christmas Trees are on sale again this year. They will be available to collect at the fair. Please visit www.pta-events.co.uk/bentley to purchase. Sales end on Tuesday. 

Christmas Photoshoot

The brilliant Forresters still have slots available to their Christmas Photoshoots on Sunday 1st December. These photos make beautiful Christmas presents. Please visit www.pta-events.co.uk/bentley to book your session. 

We’re doing well on our Mission for Laptops!

We’re at £4,500! We need about £19,000, so please keep sharing. Remember, we can claim gift aid on anything donated to the PTFA via go fund me. 

Here’s the link: 

https://gofund.me/0f704714