THIS WEEK AT BENTLEY...
I can hardly believe how quickly this half term has flown by! With all the exciting activities and learning opportunities we plan in, I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised.
This week, we enjoyed the first of our half-termly music performances. As part of the music curriculum, each class learns a different song and Mrs Blake introduced the children performing to the rest of the school. I was so impressed with their enthusiasm and confidence, as there were actions, splits and percussion instruments played. It was wonderful to see the children demonstrating not only their learning but also our school value of courage. A big thank you to Mrs. Blake, who has recently taken on the role of Music Subject Lead and is already making such a positive impact!
I hope you all have a fantastic half-term break. My family and I are heading to Center Parcs with friends next week. One of our pupils recently told me they went down the rapids 21 times—I made the mistake of sharing this with my daughter, who is now determined that we must beat it! I have a feeling my week may be more energetic than relaxing!
Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable break. See you after half term!
Mrs Hallett
Headteacher
ATTENDANCE
Governors have set the attendance target for the school at 97%. Last week the attendance rate for the whole school was 95.19%.
Attendance figures for each class last week are below:
HOUSEPOINTS
This week’s housepoints totals:
|
236 |
186 |
278 |
308
|
SAFEGUARDING – EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS
This week: We have a full safeguarding curriculum. One section of this is called One Decision. This gives the children a scenario where they have options of what they should do. Children have discussion time or maybe a short activity to explore this. Each decision option has a short video showing how this ‘plays out’. This enables our children to not just ‘give the right answers’ but also see the true implications of being unsafe. So if you hear your child mention One Decision, please ask them about the scenario and the options.
ADDITIONAL NEEDS SUPPORT
Alton Cluster Family Support are holding a series of coffee mornings throughout the next few months in Alton. Everyone is welcome, regardless of the support you need.
There is also an upcoming workshop focusing on Autism in Girls and Young Women being held at Alton College.
A REQUEST FOR TISSUES
It’s that time of year again when noses seem to become extra sniffly and it would be great if every family could help keep those germs at bay by donating a box of tissues, so we can ‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’! We would really appreciate your donations this year in:
February – Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5
Please give your box of tissues to your child’s class teacher or hand them in at the office. Thank you!
ISABELLE’S PARLIAMENT VISIT
Isabelle’s visit to Parliament was in the Farnham Herald!
SPRING INTO ACTION WEEK
We are pleased to be supporting Hampshire’s Spring into Action Week 2025!
The event runs from Monday 3rd to Sunday 9th March.
To encourage you and your family to walk, wheel, scoot and cycle on the school run and other journeys, the Travel Planning Team at Hampshire County Council has launched the Spring into Action Toolkit for 2025! You are invited to choose an activity from the toolkit to try each day throughout the week. These could be enjoyed on your walk, wheel, scoot or cycle to and from school or in your leisure time, after school and at the weekend. This year’s theme is the weather, with ideas to help us engage with nature and think about how being out in all types of weather can benefit our health and wellbeing. For more information click here.
ECO UPDATE
Design our Bee and Butterfly Garden Competition
We have had a fantastic response to our garden design competition with over a quarter of our children participating from Year R to Year 6. Eco Council now has the unenviable task of selecting the winners who will help transform the garden into a paradise for the bees and butterflies as well as a wonderful space for the school community to visit.
Butterfly Garden Ground Force Day – Sunday 9th March – 1-4pm
We would like to recruit a small team of willing volunteers to come and clear the garden site on Sunday 9th March. Due to the nature of the work, we would only like adults please to participate on this occasion. The job will involve removing brambles and clearing the site of rubbish so that it is ready to welcome the children’s garden ideas in the Spring. It would be useful if you could provide your own heavy duty gloves and tools such as secateurs and loppers. We are allocating 3 hours to do the job but if you are only available for a couple of hours, please do let us know. Hot drinks and refreshments will be provided.
If you are interested in helping, please contact Madame Jones via the school office. Thank you in advance!
Young ACAN and Eco Council Treasure Not Trash Assembly
This week 6 members of Eco Council delivered important and sometimes shocking messages about waste through their ‘Waste Beast Busting Superheroes Training Camp’. The children learnt about the problems of waste and how humans need to reduce waste or the ‘waste beast’. Children were especially shocked to learn that clothing is a huge problem and that we actually have enough clothing in the world to clothe the next six generations. As well as learning about the problems, the children learnt about some fabulous solutions available in our local community including the Alton Repair Café and the refill shop, Fill Up. At the end of the training camp, children were asked to think what they would do to reduce waste. Key Stage Two children were also invited to participate in a very exciting competition to create a story involving a superhero who defeats the waste beast. This Young ACAN competition is open to all young people in our community aged from Year 3 upwards and the winner(s) will see their story come alive as an animation by professional animator, Flo Waters. See poster for details – closing date March 3rd. For inspiration, the children have been read the book ‘The Rubbish Monster Thing’ by Simon Chadwick which is full of great ways to reduce waste from composting to repairing. For more details, click here.
PTFA
Halfway through the year, so here’s our PTFA halfway highlights
So far this academic year… one new shed, hundreds of apples picked, 10 events done, lots of memories made and we’re nearly at £15,000 raised already!
Bonfire night and the Christmas fair were the biggest fundraisers so far, but with lots of our smaller events adding up, it all counts. We have taken nearly £1k from fun club alone!
And thanks to all our additional generous donations for the laptops and iPads, this year is looking to be the best year yet.
Woah, we’re half way there!! 
Let’s keep it going! With some amazing events planned for the rest of this academic year, we can’t wait to see what’s in store.
We’d like to thank everyone who has helped in any way over the first 1.5 terms. We couldn’t have done any of it without you! Please keep volunteering with us! 
Happy half term everyone! 
Our next cake sale is Friday 28th, straight after school, in the playground. This week is run by Year 5. Cakes are 50p each - cash or card available (minimum transaction for card is £1)
Year 5 pupils/adults, please leave your cakes at the office or bring at pick up
PTFA Afterschool Club - Friday 28th February, 3:15-5pm. Tickets are available to buy on pta-events.co.uk/bentley. Last time we sold out, so please buy your tickets quickly and please volunteer if you can as this means we can accept more children.
Any children who are coming to the afterschool club who also want to buy a cake from the cake sale, please send money with them and we will help them before heading into the hall.
Quiz Night, hosted by Naomi Blake
Friday 7th March, 7:30 arrive for 8pm start.
Tickets available to buy on www.pta-events.co.uk/bentley
Join us for a night of quizzing, games and pizza.
Max of 8 per team!
For those that like to plan ahead, here are some dates for your diary
Colour Run Friday 2nd May
Sponsored Event Saturday 14th June
Summer Party Saturday 5th July
