Thank you all for your support on Monday morning with the late start. Unfortunately we had a flood (clean water from a tap) which had started over the weekend. Fortunately, I popped into school and Mr Lucas was free to come to the rescue. It was quite a shock to find a lake streaming down the corridors! Mr Lucas and Hampshire Buildings Emergency Maintenance worked incredibly hard to remove furniture and resources and empty the water. With the heating on and the work of our super team the building was all usable by the time the children came back into school after the weekend, for which I am truly grateful.

After the plague (of Covid), the winds of Eunice and now the flood of March this winter has proven to be quite a challenge with logistics at school. Roll on the joys of spring with blossoms, lambs and chicks!

In the classrooms this week…

Year R have been learning about the colourful festival Holi, creating our own special artwork.

Year 1 have designed and created polystyrene tile printing blocks to make some special cards.

Year 2 are really getting to grips with 3D shape properties, vertices, faces and edges.

Year 3 enjoyed their Hindu temple visit. They had an insightful and incredible trip to the Hindu temple on Monday. It was fascinating learning about all the Gods and Goddesses and how Hindu’s pray.

Year 4 are actors and actresses in the making! They have been working hard during play rehearsal and practising their lines and dances.

Year 5 have been learning all about international trade in Geography and discovering where our food comes from.

Year 6 have worked hard in the classroom and on the roads, as they have had the brilliant opportunity to take their cycling proficiency tests. They worked hard to improve and certificates and badges are ready to come home. Well done everyone!

I hope you can all enjoy some of the spring beauty this weekend in the sunshine.

Mrs Katy Pinchess, Headteacher

 

Thank you to…

… everyone who has already paid in cash or online for the Ready Steady Read sponsored read.  We are so close to our target of £600!  Please keep sending the sponsorship forms and cash into school, or pay online at www.scopay.com

…everyone who contributed items for Hart Wildlife Rescue who came in to speak to the Science Club last week – they were delighted with all the donations

 

EAT THEM TO DEFEAT THEM

The kitchen and lunchtime supervisors report that children have been getting involved and trying new vegetables over the current promotion. You can join in at home too – this week the vegetable has been broccoli and next week is tomato week.

 

EMBRACE FAMILY SUPPORT

The Alton Cluster Schools have been working in partnership with ELKOLET since 2019 to support the delivery of our local Family Support Work. Covid and changes in staffing, leadership, and budgets across schools have caused us to review and, at this time, schools have made the decision to stop using Family Support with ELKOLET from 31st March 2022. 

We know that many of you have really benefited from the work of ELKOLET’s family support team, and the support from Sarah and Emma particularly. They have made a huge difference for many local families and will be missed by families and staff alike. We wish them all the very best for the future. 

ELKOLET plans to continue to offer family support to the community in the form of advice, workshops, training and community initiatives such as their Youth Today Food Kits.   Please contact ELKOLET directly if you wish to have your contact details added or removed from their systems. You can find the contact details on their useful website https://www.elkolet.com  or contact info@elkolet.com directly.  

Please do contact Mrs Pinchess or Mrs Rhodes via the school email address if you would like to discuss further.   

 

Prejudicial Language and Behaviour Survey

This week our pupils have all completed a short survey to find out more about their perspectives about behaviour and how pupils treat one another at school. This information will inform staff and governors in order to plan strategically for future work. We will share the findings with you via the newsletter once the results have been collated. More information about the survey can be downloaded from the foot of this page.

 

Change to attendance data frequency

Prior to the pandemic the Department for Education only recorded attendance on a termly basis and this does not give enough data for DfE to make timely interventions to support vulnerable children.  To inform operational and policy decisions throughout the pandemic the DfE needed to understand attendance on a more frequent basis, resulting in the move to daily collections in March 2020.  This daily functionality proved invaluable, with the data provided helping to shape the government’s response to the pandemic and offering new insights into the attendance pattern of pupils.

As we move into Covid Recovery work it is vital that children attend school and continue their learning to achieve the best possible outcomes they can. The Children’s Commissioner, Ofsted and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities all raise concerns about the disproportionate impact COVID has on vulnerable children, including mental health and the increased risks of self-harm.

We are dealing with unprecedented challenges, and we don’t know what the long-term impacts of the COVID pandemic are on children’s education, wellbeing and mental health. The DfE recognise termly, and even weekly absence data collection will not enable the level of analysis required to support schools in taking early action, identifying trends and issues requiring immediate action and support children in their care. 

As a Hampshire school, we are taking part in a trial which enables the DfE to collect daily attendance data directly from our management information system, SIMS.  The personal data items they will be processing is Surname, forename, Date of Birth, sex, ethnicity, and Unique pupil number.  The Privacy Notice relating to this can be downloaded from here.

 

Governor of the week

My name is Trevor Nixon and I have been a foundation governor at Bentley C of E Primary school since 2019. I am currently a member of the Resources Committee with a bias to Health & Safety. I am now retired from work but have a career background in project engineering management, which started with an Engineering and Construction contractor in the petrochemical field and ending in the Biotech/Pharmaceutical arena, as a Project Engineer with a drug manufacturer based in the USA.  Many of these projects required overseas assignments all adding to my gaining very valuable experience which I hope I can put to good use for the school.

My hobbies include walking the dog, watching sports, gardening and when time and weather permits, tinkering with DIY projects.

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