We have been inundated with ideas of how to support people affected in Ukraine. Thank you to everyone who has made suggestions and I took these to the School Council who had spoken to their classmates.

There are still some collections of equipment going on, such as one at St Mary’s at Binsted, but at this time, money seems to be the way to help most easily and effectively. Here are two well-regarded agencies who are raising money from charitable donations (more information is available on their websites); Christian Aid and Disasters Emergency Committee.

As usual in school, staff were all impressed by how sensibly the children dealt with the news. They do have worries, but know they can ask questions at home and school. I am so proud of their response, which was in thinking about others and imagining how they might feel. This ‘common humanity’ is something we strive to teach our Bentley pupils. As a school group, they showed both kindness and compassion for others, thinking beyond their own experiences.

We are also aware that sometimes worries come out in ‘silly’ talk or odd questions. Sometimes what and how children play changes. Imaginative games with guns and war are usually just imaginative but during times of war it is not unusual for children to act out what they see and sometimes an adult can misconstrue this play. We will remain alert to such behaviours and ensure we help children to process what is happening in a safe environment.

There are useful sites online to help you explain what is going on. Things are changing rapidly but the BBC or First News are good places to look.  If in doubt, stay factual, stay calm but be honest. Children will look to you for security if they are feeling worried and sometimes the news on television is hard to screen, so switch it off.  

In school the classes have been enjoying school life to the full;

Year R have enjoyed spotting the signs of spring from millipedes to smelling daffodils

Year 1 love addition and playing with numbers in maths

Year 2 really enjoyed their trip to Gilbert White and were intrigued by the smell of penguin poo

Year 3 have thoroughly enjoyed their science work investigating the best material to protect from the power of the sun

Year 4 relished their art lesson creating multimedia with watercolours and other materials

Year 5 have had the best time at Calshot – please see the blog at the link in the ‘rest of the newsletter’ below

Year 6 have applied what they know systematically to solve algebra problems

Mrs Katy Pinchess, Headteacher

 

COVID

We are still recording positive Covid cases in both children and staff.  Please be mindful of the main symptoms and check on the NHS website for up-to-date isolation advice.

 

Plastic bottles

Please keep collecting – we have over a 100 but need 200 please!

 

Thank you to…

… everyone who joined us for the PTFA Quiz Night on Friday – it was a great event!  Well done to all the teams. Thanks also to Mrs Cavanough for counting and banking all the cash – we will update on you on the total sum raised when all the costs are in!

… the Bowler family for the lovely books

 

Calshot

We welcomed Year 5 back to school this afternoon after their residential visit to Calshot.  They have enjoyed four great days at Calshot – they have been enhancing their geography knowledge with coastal studies, improving their team working skills with a series of challenges, learning to ski, overcoming fears and scaling the climbing wall.  The pandemic has meant this group of children missed their Year 3 and Year 4 residential visits to the Gordon Brown Centre so for many this was the first time away from home. Mrs Ashby, Mrs Miffling and Mrs Patey have been incredibly impressed with their exemplary behaviour, will to learn and ‘have a go’ attitude.  They really have embodied our school motto of ‘Together we are Aming High’.  If you’d like to read more about what they got up to, check out the blog by clicking here.

 

School meals

The cost of school lunches is set to rise to £2.60 from Monday 25 April 2022.  HC3S last increased the school lunch cost in November 2020 and kept it at that level throughout 2021 to assist parents during the pandemic.  This price increase applies to junior children only as meals for infant and Pupil Premium children remain free.

 

Alton Climate Action Network

ACAN have published their latest newsletter which gives details of their lottery funding projects and the exciting new event, ‘Back on the Rack’ on April 2nd.  You can download the newsletter from the foot of our Community page.

 

Eat them to defeat them

The drive to encourage our children to eat vegetables is on once again through VegPower’s ‘Eat the to defeat them’ campaign. Last week featured carrots, this week was peppers and next week is broccoli with peas and tomatoes to follow.  HC3S, our school meal provider, is further highlighting the need for our children to eat more vegetables by running a super competition for the children to create the scariest vegetable character that they want to defeat. This may be in the form of a collage, a huge poster or even a model!  You can find out more about the competition by clicking here.

Governor of the week

Hi, I’m James. I have been a governor since 2018 and with George in Year 6 and Henry in Year 3, we are blessed by the associated community life of Bentley CE Primary School most days.

I currently chair the School Resources Committee, which keeps oversight of the school’s annual budget; this committee tries to head off any financial issues before they could impact the day to day running of the school.

With Bentley being a Church of England primary school, we are fortunate to come under the responsibility of the Diocese of Winchester and as Christian, I am also one of the two Foundation Governors at the school, responsible for our link to the Diocese.

Running my own Digital Marketing business, affords me flexibility. With this, I love getting involved and can often be found helping at Science Club, driving a school minibus, on a school trip or leading the peloton at a Bentley PTFA cycling event.

Bentley School only prospers (as it is a wonderfully complex mix of lots of moving parts) because of the dedication and passions of many, many people. To those of you already involved, I thank you, for those of you yet to be, come and join the party.

James Aston

Click here to find out what’s happening next week and

here to get more information about what’s going on in the local area