Many of you met my daughter, Emily, who was desperate for a tour of the school. She particularly liked the outdoor space and was excited to hear that Bentley has been doing Forest School for a while. This is something that her school is only just starting, and her final words were that ‘Bentley children were so lucky to have been doing it for years’ and I have to agree with her! This was compounded when Mrs Jones (the forest school leader) sent me some photos of year 6 Forest Explorer time this week – it looked fantastic.

I was amazed to read about all the after-school clubs that are available for Bentley children - I have never worked at a school where so many are offered and the staff work incredibly hard to ensure there is variation for year groups and options throughout the year. Thank you to the staff for offering up their time to give the children these opportunities and a special thanks must go to the wonderful team in the office, as organising this must be challenging!

In Collective Worship, the children have been thinking about the value of ‘generosity’. Mrs Miffling and other staff members led the way, and I popped up in a video to set the classes a generosity challenge (who would have thought the skills we learnt from lock down would be so transferable and come in so handy!) Being generous can come in many different forms, we can be generous with time, knowledge, kindness, to name but a few.

 Corinthians 9:6-8

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Well done to the children for another wonderful week – thank goodness the weather has been cooler!

Mrs Hallett

Headteacher

Meet our new friends – the developing dragons!

At Bentley our motto is to ‘aim high’ with our learning.  In collective worship this week some very special friends were introduced to the children.  Each class now has a lovely, green, cuddly dragon to remind them to keep trying and develop their learning.  Eva and Amelie in Year 1 said, ‘Daisy helps us to learn.’ 

‘Mrs Matthews read a story about friendship and not giving up.  We acted it out and I was the knight,’ said Amelie in Year 2.

Lyra in Year 3 remarked, ‘It was great!  Dizzy reminds us not to be afraid of making mistakes.’

‘You can learn from your mistakes and do better next time.  We use our green pens to make our work better.  The D in Dennis stands for development’, said William in Year 4.

The dragons, all with different names, will be visiting the desks of those children who show super effort in developing their learning.

Mrs Matthews - Maths Leader

Eco Council Update

Over the summer, last year’s Eco Council and Nature Reserve Club received two exciting letters from the incredible and inspirational Sir David Attenborough and Blue Peter. In his letter, Sir David congratulated the school on its environmental work, saying “I congratulate you on all you are doing to explain to your pupils the problems that human beings have inflicted on the world – and what must be done to solve them.” 

Ellen Evans, Editor for Blue Peter wrote in her letter “Thank you for your wonderful letter with lots of fun photos, telling about yourselves and all your fantastic eco activities – very well done to you all, and keep up the fantastic efforts!”  The Nature Reserve was also mentioned in an article in the Alton Herald.

This week the new Eco Council met for the first time and spoke about what we should do this year to help the planet. They celebrated the Nature Reserve and our new solar panels and had a grumble about litter, plastic and waste! In the spirit of democracy, they are now consulting with their classes and we hope to have some news very soon of this year’s projects.

Litter Picker Backpacks

Next week the school will take delivery of 20 foldable litter pickers ready for the classes’ ‘Litter Picker Backpacks’.  The litter pickers have been kindly given to us by local group, Young ACAN (Alton Climate Action Network), thanks to a grant from EHDC Cllr Ginny Boxall. We currently have two backpacks but would love to have two backpacks available for every class so that families can litter pick in their local communities at the weekends.  Litter is a huge worry for our children and litter picking is a great way of helping to protect our environment.  It’s also free and good exercise!

Please send the backpacks into school and pass them onto the Eco Council. 

Thank you in advance.

Madame Jones and Eco Council

Clubs

Clubs start next week.  There are still places on Board Games Club and Yo-Chi.  If you are interested in Yo-Chi and would like to do a free taster session, please contact Sara Wood directly sara@nbalance.co.uk

Meet the teacher Dates this coming week

Yr4 – Monday 18^th September 2.45pm

Yr6 – Tuesday 19^th September 2.45pm

Yr3 – Thursday 21^st September 2.45pm

Summer reading challenge

A reminder that the deadline for the summer reading challenge is tomorrow. It would be wonderful if those who complete it could bring in their certificates and medals on Friday 22^nd for collective worship.

APPLE PICKING

The children’s apple picking days are as follows.  Please send your child into school in their own clothes and sensible shoes on their day.  The PTFA would be very grateful for any help from parents with the annual apple picking.

 

Class dates are as follows:-

Yr5 – Thursday 21^st September at 9am.

Yr4 – Monday 25^th September at 9am.

YrR and Yr6 – Thursday 28^th September at 9am.

Yr2 – Monday 2^nd October at 9am.

Yr3 – Thursday 5^th October at 9am.

We are sorry yr1’s apple pick on 19^th September had to be cancelled, it will be re-arranged.

Fund Raising

Thank you to everyone who took part in the Smarty tube challenge.  The money was counted by the PTFA today and you raised over £800!! The winning class will be revealed shortly……

Thank you too to everyone who purchased (and donated) second hand uniform last yesterday.  That raised a brilliant £84.00.

Bentley PTFA (Parents, Teachers & Friends association)

Visit the PTFA website by clicking here

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