Notices

Contributor: Julie Hillman, Headteacher

Bonneville parents have achieved so much for the school over the last few years. With a changeover of parents at the start of a new year we are keen to inspire as many of you as possible to GET INVOLVED. The commitment need not be long term, anything would be appreciated.

^{You are all invited to a coffee morning on 22 September at 9.00am in the Community Room (formerly Parents}' ^Room!).

^{Improving Motivation}

^{We know how much the children love being in "Houses" for Sports Day; and so we have decided to extend the system across the whole year for Key Stage 1 and 2 children. All children will be able to earn House Points for effort, achievement, good behaviour etc. These House Points will be collated each half term with a Winners Cup for Infants and Juniors being awarded in a special assembly.}

^{We have just received funding from Transport for London for covered bike racks and helmet storage. This coupled with the bike pool we are hoping to launch later this term, will mean that more children will be learning to ride a bike and hopefully cycling to school.}

^{Schools are no longer required to produce a Governors}' ^{Annual Report, or hold an Annual General Meeting. Instead a School Profile is produced which is published on the internet at http://schoolprofile.parentscentre.gov.uk Paper copies are available at the School Office. Please note that the 2004/05 report is currently available, the 2005/06 will follow later this term.}

^{Thank you to the parents who were involved in the drafting of our new Homework Guidelines. These Guidelines will be coming home to you within your child}'^{s new Homework Book. I hope that they clarify the amount of time and level of support your child will need. We feel strongly that homework is both a way of extending and enriching learning, but also a way of letting you know the type of work your child is doing at home.}

^{The children have come back to school looking very smart. Please make sure that your child has the correct uniform, which can be ordered from the school office. It is important that the children change into PE kit, white t-shirt and shorts, to take part in games or gymnastics. The wearing of jewellery other than small ear studs or sleepers is not allowed. If your child wears a piece of jewellery for religious reasons, please can you write me a short note explaining this. However, no jewellery is allowed for PE/Games.}

^{Please name all uniform!}

^{Bonneville is committed to promoting healthy living. We would like to encourage children to bring in named water bottles to use throughout the day. Research shows that children learn more effectively when they are well hydrated. Children in Key Stage 1 receive a piece of fruit each day; older children are encouraged to bring fruit in for play time. Children are not allowed sweets or biscuits in school.}

^{A school lunch presently costs ́1.45, therefore ́7.25 for the week. Please ensure that all monies are paid on a Monday in a marked envelope, which your child can give to their class teacher. Please do not pay money directly to the school office. It would be a great help if the correct money could be paid. Any cheques are to be made payable to Bonneville Primary School.}

^{If you are in receipt of Income Support or Income Based Job Seekers Allowance, your child is entitled to Free School Meals. All children receive their meal in the same way, regardless of payment method. It is certainly worthwhile, particularly in the winter, to consider the option of your child eating a cooked meal.}

^{You can register for Free School Meals at the school office. Even if your child has packed lunches it benefits the school financially for you to make a claim. All claims will be treated in confidence. Money received from the Government in this manner is put to great use within school.}

^{Please make sure that the school office has an up to date emergency contact form. Please let us know if you change your mobile phone number.}

^{Whilst I appreciate the parking difficulties in the area, my main concern is the health and safety of the children. Please do not park on the zig zag yellow lines outside school, even if it is just for a few minutes. Many young children cross the road directly outside school; it would be terrible if a child was knocked over because of a parent illegally parked.}

^{Previous Newsletters}

Summer Term 2006 Newsletter

The Summer Term is always a busy one for schools with a mixture of assessments for children, sports days,the Summer Fayre, school trips and farewells. This year will be no different and I hope that you will be able to join us for some of the events we have planned.Farmers Market

Later this term we will be hosting a weekly Sunday Farmers Market in the school playground. I am hoping that this will raise a small income for the school, whilst attracting people from the local community who perhaps have never visited the school before. I hope you will join me in supporting the market. Please let me know of any issues that arise during the trial period, which hopefully we can solve if the market were to become a permanent feature of the community.Attendance and Punctuality

The attendance and punctuality at Bonneville has improved over the year. Children can only make progress with their learning if they are in school regularly and for the complete school day.

A number of parents have queried the position with regards to taking family holidays in term time. There is no entitlement for time out of school; whether or not leave is authorised is at the discretion of the Governing Body. Factors such as the child's attendance record to date, whether or not they are receiving additional support in school are all taken into account when deciding whether or not to authorise the absence. Although there are clear benefits to children having family holidays, it is important to be aware that children find the break from school quite disruptive in terms of the friendship groups and of course the teaching they have missed. The nature of the curriculum is such that children can quite easily miss whole topics or aspects of subjects that are not revisited. Requests for time off during school term need to be made to the Governors on a form available from the school office. It is important to note that no school place can be guaranteed to be held open for children who are on extended holidays.

School Uniform

As (hopefully) the warmer weather arrives it is important that children continue to come to school looking smart and proud of their Bonneville school uniform. Please make sure that your child has the correct uniform, which can be ordered from the school office. It is important that the children change into PE kit, white shorts and T shirt, in order to take part in games or gymnastics. Please make sure that sweatshirts in particular are named as it is very difficult to find un named items. We do not sell summer dresses in school as blue and white striped/checked dresses are widely available on the high street.Mobile Phones

Please can you make sure that your child is not bringing their mobile phone to school. If your child has a phone for safety reasons, perhaps if they travel to/from school by themselves, please send a note to this effect into school. Such phones must be handed into the school office at the start of each day. We cannot take responsibility for any phone that goes missing from school.Homework

As part of our review of the school's Homework Policy, the next Headteacher's Forum will be an opportunity for you to tell Ms Buckle and myself, your views on the type/amount of homework you think the children need. This meeting will take place on 23 May at 9.00 am. I hope to see as many of you there as possible.Water Bottles

I would like to encourage children to bring water bottles into school. It is important that children are well hydrated throughout the day - it helps them learn too! Please name all bottles that come into school so that we can make sure that children are only drinking from their own bottle.Tesco and Sainsbury Vouchers

We would be grateful for any of the above vouchers. Depending on how many we collect the school will receive computer and PE equipment.Assessments

Year 6 children will be taking their SATs during the week 8 May. It is important they come to school each day, on time, feeling rested and happy! Year 6 teachers try to build in some fun activities during the week, but you can support your child during this time by making sure they relax in the evenings, get the correct amount of sleep and have a good breakfast! All we expect from the children is that they do their best and I am sure you echo these sentiments to them.

Other year groups are also assessed during the summer term and it is important to discuss any planned absences with the class teacher to ensure that your child will not miss out on any assessment or test. As always, please keep medical/dental appointments during school hours to a minimum.

School CouncilThis term the school council have been discussing promoting positive behaviour, homework and the state of the childrens' toilets! The childrens' views of behaviour and homework will be reflected in the revised school policies that we are about to produce - and the childrens' toilets will be refurbished on a rolling programme starting, hopefully, in the summer holiday.Improvements to the Foundation Stage Playground

We are working with the Arts Community Exchange (ACE) to create a new mural in the Foundation Stage playground. We hope that children and staff will be involved in this exciting project.SEALs

Our theme for this half term is "relationships". Children across the school will be doing work that focuses on the feelings we experience within relationships with families and friends. Children will start to bring activities home to share with you - it would be lovely if you could find time to talk to your child about the important issues that these activities highlight.Sun Safe

Although we have some shade in our playgrounds you may want to send your child into school with a hat for very sunny days. Please also consider applying sun protection cream to arms and faces. Sun glasses are not however necessary!Dates for the Diary

4 May - School closed, POLLING DAY

5 May - Year 3 trip to the British Museum

Wk beg. 8 May - Year 6 SATs

16 May - Open Morning for prospective Nursery/Reception parents

23 May at 1.00pm - Parents for Inclusion Meeting

25 May - International Evening

29 May - 2 June: HALF TERM5 June - School closed INSET day

12 - 16 - Year 6 PGL trip

17 June - Summer Fayre

22 June - Class photos

25 June - First Farmers Market

27 June - 1M trip to the Science Museum (1)

4 July - Year 2 trip to the London Aquarium

6 July - 1M Science trip (2)

14 July - Reports go out to parents

20 July, 6.30pm - Year 6 Production

21 July, 2.15pm - Leavers' Assembly

24 July, 3.30pm - LAST DAY FOR CHILDREN25 July, 9.00 am - 12.30pm - Open Morning for parents to discuss any issues arising from the Annual Report to Parent

Other class trips are planned and parents will be informed of dates and details as they are confirmed.

SPRING LETTER FROM JULIE HILLMAN, HEADTEACHER

Dear Parents

Happy New Year to everyone!

WELCOME!

I'd like to welcome several new Teaching Assistants to Bonneville. Sharon Thomas will be supporting Year 6, Kelly Barrett will be supporting in Reception and Paul Collins will be supporting in Year 5.

Gisela Wilkinson is now working as a Learning Mentor and will support children across the school.

Finally, I would like to welcome Jorge back and thank Luis for offering such great cover in his absence. Happily, we will still have Luis working in school as a cleaner, so no doubt you will still see him around school from time to time.

SEAL PROJECT

No, this isn't a new school pet for the playground ... but stands for Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning! We have just launched a new social skills programme across the school which focuses on qualities and skills that help children (and adults) manage life and learning effectively.

This term children will be encouraged to see themselves as valued individuals within a community. They will be encouraged to think about what makes their school a happy and positive community and ways to improve it. They will also explore feelings, whilst learning to put into practice a whole school model for calming down and solving problems.

You can support your child in this work at home in two ways. From time to time they will bring home an activity to complete at home. This is not formal homework as such, but an invitation to spend quality time reinforcing discussion at school. The activity may be a simple game, they may be asked to interview you about a topic covered in class - either way I hope you see these activities as being an opportunity to spend quality time with your child.

Secondly, you may want to adopt the whole school approach to calming your child down before solving the problem/issue they may have. I enclose a poster describing the process that we will be using at school. It may be that the same approach at school and home will make a lot of sense for children.

EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS!

One of our aims is to increase your involvement in school life! To this end I will continue to hold Headteacher Forums, the next one will be on Wednesday 22nd February, during which I would like to update you on work we are doing in school to promote positive behaviour. Additionally, Parent Governors will be holding a regular "surgery", to give you the opportunity to raise any important matters that relate to the school. The first surgery will be held this Friday, 13th January at 9.00am. I hope that these initiatives improve communication between school and yourselves.

PUNCTUALITY

CHILDREN HATE BEING LATE!

Parents have a duty in law to get their children to school on time everyday, unless the child is ill.

Please can I encourage all of you to get your children to school on time.

All children should be in their playground, ready to line up at 9.00 am.

A large number of children are coming into school a few minutes late. By the time they go through the office, hang up their coat and into their classroom they have lost more time. It is very hard for children to walk into a settled class and pick up on the teaching that has already begun.

As you may have noticed, we have started up a system of recording lateness at the school gate. All families who are persistently late will be referred in the first instance to the school's Attendance & Punctuality Officer, this can be followed up by a referral to the Education Welfare Officer.

At the same time we are looking for ways to reward children and classes who have a good punctuality record.

EMERGENCY CONTACT FORM

It is vital that we have up to date contact details for all children. New emergency forms will be sent out over the next week. Please complete this form and return it to the office. If you change your mobile number or address during the year please let the school office know.

School Lunches

A school lunch presently costs Ě??1.40, therefore Ě??7.00 for the week. Please ensure that all monies are paid on a Monday in a marked envelope, which your child can give to their class teacher. Please do not pay money directly to the school office. It would be a great help if the correct money could be paid. Any cheques are to be made payable to Bonneville Primary School.

If you are in receipt of Income Support or Income Based Job Seekers Allowance, your child is entitled to Free School Meals. All children receive their meal in the same way, regardless of payment method. It is certainly worthwhile, particularly in the winter, to consider the option of your child eating a cooked meal.

You can register for Free School Meals at the school office. Even if your child has packed lunches it benefits the school financially for you to make a claim. All claims will be treated in confidence. Money received from the Government in this manner is put to great use within school.

SCHOOL TRIPS TO LONDON

We have regularly reviewed our approach to taking children on public transport into London since the attacks in the summer. I am please to tell you that after a lot of thought and discussion we are willing to organise trips on public transport as before. As always thorough risk assessments are made before taking any group out. You will receive full information regarding transport arrangements before being asked for your consent.

Spring 2006 Dates

Best wishes

MsHillman Head teacher